The Wilsons Adventure to Guatemala

Plans...

2009-11-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

Next weekend Phil and I are attending the AMG annual banquet in New Holland, PA. We are excited to be able to go this year, we have not been able to attend in the past so this is going to be a new experience. Bob Hastings will be speaking, it is always a joy to hear him speak, and we are looking forward to what he has to share with us while we are there. We are also very excited to be able to spend some time with Pat and Traci Ragan while we are there. And many of the other AMG staff that will be there!

After we get home from that trip, we will be getting things ready for our trip to Guatemala in December. We are going on the Bundles of Love Mission Adventure. We are taking Megan with us. She has not yet been to Guatemala and we would like her to see where it is we will be living and not have it be a complete unknown to her. Phil took Abby and Betsy down with him a few years ago. I am so excited to see what will be happening while we are there. I know that we are going to be blessed beyond measure with the people that we will be ministering to. Humbled and amazed at how God works in lives of people all over the world, no matter what their situation, knowing that God is in control of ALL things.

Please pray for safety of everyone in our group that will be going down. The three of us will be flying from Boston and meeting the rest of the group in Atlanta then flying to Guatemala from there. We will be there from Saturday to Saturday, with a lot of work to be done.
Please pray for the health of all of us in the group going, it is not fun being sick in a different country with out the comforts of home. I know this first hand!
Please pray for unity of the group that we would all be focused on what the Lord would have us do. Be aware of what it is the Lord wants us to say, do, share.
Pray for our families that are at home. I know that we will be leaving 5 members of our family with various people, I am not sure about the rest of the people going down with us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and see what it is that God is doing in our lives! It is an awesome adventure!!

Want to buy a cup of coffee for Phil or Jen?

2009-10-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Imagine buying a cup of coffee a day? How many people do that? I know a lot of people who do. OK, I have to admit I do enjoy coffee, and I even do splurge and go to Dunkin' Donuts right down the road a few too many times a week. Have you ever added up how much change you have rattling around in your car and think "I can go get a cup of Joe today!" Well, here is our challenge to you! "Buy" us a cup of coffee a day. Put the change into a special mug. Or have a special way to save it and then send it into AMG for our monthly support. We are looking for 60 people to be in our 1% club. What is the 1% club you ask? $60 a month is 1% of our monthly cost that we are in the process of raising (or a cup of coffee a day) then that would be 1%! Imagine that? If we have 60 people at $60 a month that would put us just a little more than half way to our monthly support cost. Would you prayerfully consider being one of our 1% partners?

I am going to work on the blog so that you can see our progress as our support is coming in. You know, make it so that you all can actually see our progress.

Our hearts are to be serving the Lord in Guatemala. We know that while we are here there are things to be done in our local area. We are so excited to see what God is doing in our lives here in Raymond right now. So many good things that are happening. So many things to share with you and I will start posting more things soon. But for now, how about a cup of coffee?

travels!

2009-09-14T04:58:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one month! Are you all shocked? I hope to be back on track with updating this more often, keeping you better apprised as to what is happening in our lives.
So with that...
We are visiting and speaking at several different churches in our area over the next few months. We have our missions conference at our home church Sept. 25-27. I will be speaking at the Ladies Brunch. Please pray for clarity and what I say will be used for His glory. We have another missions conference the weekend of Oct 17 and 18 at Raymond Baptist Church. We are so excited to share with them what it is that God has called us to do!
In November we are going to New Holland, PA for AMG's annual conference! We are looking forward to that weekend, and what God has in store for us while we are there. I am sure that after we get home, I will update about our time there. So, keep checking!
In December...Phil and I have decided to take Megan on the Bundles of Love trip. She has not been to Guatemala yet and we feel that it would be really good for her to see where we will be living before we pack up our family and head there. Please be in prayer for this trip. We are so excited that we are able to go and be with some of the people God has called us to serve!

changes...

2009-09-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

We have had quite a summer here in NH. Lots going on family vacations, Vacations Bible School's, missions trips, and so much more. I am not sure how we fit so much into our summer but we did it all! Our summer came to an early end when the children all started school. We decided after much prayer that it was in their best interest to be back in school. We have moved and been so up in the air about things that originally thought home schooling was best for them, and after 2 years we thought it best to enroll them again. We are in a new town which also means a new school! They were used to being all together at school, where they were attending previously was at a small private school that was K-12 and they saw each other during the day, now they are in 3 different schools Anna and Cabot are in the elementary, Megan is in the middle school all by herself, Betsy and Abby are at the high school together. Abby is doing 3 classes at the HS and then home schooling for the rest. Megan is having a hard time adjusting to school. She would really like to be home schooled again, she is all by herself, in middle school. Please pray for her when you think of her. She is playing soccer for the school and very excited about that! Betsy is playing volley ball for her school. They have jumped right in and are trying to get involved with different things in school. Here are a few pictures of the first day of school! oh, and not to be left out. Claire will start kindergarten on Sept. 8 at Jiminy Cricket Kindergarten! she is the last one of our kids to be going there! I can't believe that our time in kindergarten is almost over.

VBS Son Rock Kids Camp

2009-07-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely wonderful time this past week doing VBS at River of Life Church. The kids were so thrilled to be learning and eager to here about what was being taught!

We did the missions room with them. We taught some songs to the younger kids,(kindergarten and pre-k) teaching them "Be a Missionary" and also simple spanish words, they came into the room saying hola and left saying adios! The older kids we went a little deeper with each class, we watched some missions videos and just had fun with them. Showing them that it really isn't that hard for anyone to be a missionary, you are one everywhere you go!!

The older kids are up in Portland with a group of teens from our home church this week. They are doing Back Yard Bible Clubs all this week! From what I have heard (and not from my own kids) is that they are having a great time. The Word is getting out and being shared. They have 6 different clubs that are meeting during the day. They have gone to a few "tourist" places and are going to a Root Cellar which is a food pantry and they will be helping pass out food. I am so looking forward to seeing how God uses this time in the lives of all the teens that are in ME, and also for the ones that are being taught. I know that they will all learn so much from one another.

Please continue to pray for us as we are seeking out the people that God has called to be our ministry partners. We are having a great time meeting new people and sharing with them what it is that God has called us to do. Each time we share what it is that we are doing, it makes our hearts long even more to be there!

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and to see where we are and what we are doing!

where to start?

2009-07-05T15:45:00.001-07:00

Yes, it has been quite some time since this blog was updated! There have been so many things that have been going on, I really don't know where to start! It's been one of those months where when you look back over it you know that the only way that you were able to get through it is with God's help.
We continue to wait on Him day to day for our needs, it is very encouraging to see how He is providing for us daily! I could write a book about that. We have been blessed with clothes for our children by so many people, even ones we don't know!!! As Anna so sweetly said it to one of her friends "Thank you for all the clothes, my drawers are overflowing!" and that they are! Clothes, food, and everything else, we are being cared for! Thank you to all of you who have blessed us so abundantly!
We have been to Maine for some time with Phil's whole family (well most of them) We were there during rainy season maybe not rainy season really but we have had some substantial rain this month. I think the record was 3 weeks with only one day that was not raining! We are very thankful for all the rain though. Our summer has started much like our winter with so much snow...
We are heading into our VBS at our home church this week. We are very excited to see what God will do in the lives of the children (and parents) that attend this week, the younger kids canvased the neighborhood today with invitations. They are very excited about this coming week.
We are involved in another VBS in 2 weeks up in Amherst NH at River of Life. We will be the missionaries for the week there. We worked with them last year also, and made some great friends through it!
The older girls are heading up to Maine again at the end of the month. They are going on a Missions trip with a group from our church. They are all geared up for that and can't wait for it!
Reading all of this I think that you get the VBS thing this month. Please pray for the children that will be attending these that they would be receptive to hear what is being taught to them. And for the workers that they would be able to clearly share with the children what we have all be working on to teach them.
Well, I hope that this little update shows you where we are in our lives these days!
Thank you for reading this and for praying with us as we seek to do God's will in our lives.

Out of His Infinite Riches....

2009-05-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

What? Why is she taking a picture of food? Is that what you are wondering at this point? Is she trying to come up with something clever to write about? And, many other questions I am sure. The picture is to show you what was put in Phil's car yesterday when he was working on a friends tractor over at a church nearby. For some reason (?) the local food bank had given the food to this little church instead of the local Catholic church which normally gets the food. I had just been on the phone with Phil about grocery shopping, and wondering where the money was going to come for the food. 6 weeks not working and still no unemployment check. Let's just say things have been a little tight!! Well, the Pastor and someone else put all this food in Phil's little car, we are not really sure how it all fit in there. Well, God had the grocery's already bought and in the car! Imagine that!

We are always so amazed and humbled, that He does these things for us, wretched sinners who deserve NOTHING. Yet in His perfect will He provides so much for us! What a joyful day!

Just thought I would share this blessing with you and maybe it will be a blessing to someone else!

Finally our Newsletter!

2009-05-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

We just had our very first official newsletter sent out last week. If you did not receive one we would be happy to send one via e-mail. If you would like to sign up for that please let us know by sending us an e-mail at pwforester@juno.com in the subject line please put "newsletter updates".

A little news on the home front, we received the last of the passports today! Everyone has one now! We wanted to make sure we got the kids before it turned into a longer process of passports due to all the new laws about traveling.

We are still learning so much about God's provisions, and are so overwhelmed and left speechless so often. Phil has been unemployed for over a month now and his unemployment checks still have not started, BUT we have plenty of food!! I shared with a friend last week, it is like the loaves and the fish, our pantry and refrigerator just keep staying filled! and it is ALL God!

Thanks for checking the blog even though we are not that faithful in updating it as often as we would like to be!

Thank you for your prayer as we continue to seek to do God's will!

God's Provisions

2009-04-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

We are at the beginning of April, where is the time going? So many things have happened over the past month. The biggest change in the Wilson home is that Phil was laid-off on Wednesday (March 25). We are not worried, lots of other people are doing that for us. We were actually excited! Phil has taken deputation on as his full time job and God is taking care of our daily needs! What could be better? God knows what we need better than we know.
The amazingly beautiful and destructive ice storm that we had here in December has brought in some work for Phil. God has brought some wonderful people into our lives that are walking this Faith Walk with us, and praying along with us as we are living each day and working on getting to Guatemala.
Our support is coming in even with new partners this past week. What a blessing each and every one is! God knows exactly what we need when we need it, and is control of all things!
Funny how even the smallest things He is in control over, I received a letter from my friend who has moved to Asia. It arrived on a day that I was longing to talk to her about things. Funny...she mailed it a week earlier from the states. Abby's birthday card was sent the same day from the same place and she received it the normal 2 days later! God is even in control of the post office! :)

Please keep praying along with us that our support will come in, in God's time not our time!
Please pray that we are able to share effectively when we speak at church's what God has laid on our hearts to do.
Please pray for our neighborhood Bible Study, it is such a joy and a blessing to us watching these new creatures in Christ devour God's Word!
Please pray for our co-laborers in Guatemala, safety for their families since the violence has recently escalated.

our friends are moving!

2009-03-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Are you wondering who is moving? We made some wonderful friends while we were at CIT, as we have mentioned before. We were all at different levels of support. Some of us are in the low end of support and others were at the almost there 95%. Since then we have had friends leave for pretty much every area of the world. God is working in amazing ways around the globe.
We have shared in the joys of getting a call or e-mail that our friends have made it to 100% in their support. The way God has brought in the money for them is always amazing and in wonderful and different ways! God is SO GOOD! Everyone of our friends who are on the field have such amazing and different stories of how God has used people to get them there. The latest one to Asia is just another one of those "Only God" stories! She was getting much too close to the point of when she needed to leave to start language school. She had a meeting with a family on Thursday, who has an adopted from Asia, point blank they asked her what she needed to get on the field and she told them $450 more a month. Later that day they called her and said they were committing to support her for $450 a month for two years. GOD IS SO GOOD!! This was her final confirmation after almost 10 years of responding to Gods call to Asia!
Please lift up our friends with us as they are all embarking on their new lives, new lands, new homes, new ministries in the different countries that God has called them to. There are so many different ministries that they will all be working with,all for the same purpose. To share the gospel with others and Lord willing have an opportunity to see them come to Christ! I would love to share names with you so you could pray for them by name. Many are in unsecured countries so I am not able to share names with you on here so please contact me and I will share with you! God knows who they are when you lift them up!

God is GOOD all the time; All the time God is GOOD!

Where are we...

2009-02-18T10:45:00.001-08:00

So, I have been asked that questions many times in the past few weeks. Where are we? In terms of our Sundays we have been visiting a lot of churches. We have not had the opportunity to speak at any churches lately but we have been speaking at small groups or with individuals. Setting up speaking arrangements and making contacts...that is key!

Where are we in terms of our support? We are at 25% on paper at this point. We have had many people commit to supporting us but they are wondering when to start. Well, the time is now! Between our one time costs for moving and getting our monthly support level where it needs to be we need people to join the ministry with us! Asking for support is not always the easiest thing to do, but that is the only way that we will be able to get to the field and minister there. We can't do it without you. If you feel that God has placed it on your heart to help with this ministry whether it is a one time gift or a monthly commitment. We know the Lord has already provided our supporters, we need to do our part to be faithful to contact them. So here we are.

To make it easy all you need to do is click here if you would like to donate online, if not please feel free to contact us and ask us what you need to mail it in. Please make sure that you put Phil and Jen Wilson in the comment box so that the money goes into our account.

Abby Briggs

2009-02-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

Please pray for this beautiful little girl and read her story. She is on the cover of a magazine this month. The link is located right above our praise and prayer requests!
Abby is from Guatemala and was adopted by a wonderful family. She is 4 years old and has leukemia. Her family has blogs, facebooks and myspace pages for her. If you get a chance to read her story please do! But more than anything pray for this little girl that God would give a miracle to this little girl and heal her.

God's Time

2009-01-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

As I sit here on yet another snowy day in New Hampshire I am dreaming of warmer weather in Guatemala. Oh how we long to be there serving the Lord in every capacity we have. It seems so cold and chilly and the warm weather is so appealing to me! But I need to stop and think of how selfish that is. We are here right now, not there. God's timing has us in a little community that we were never going to live in. What opportunities we have while we are here.

We are starting up a Bible Study tomorrow night for the neighborhood. What an exciting time that is. This is our pre-term for Guatemala I guess. God knows when we will be in Guatemala, right now He has us here. So, we will faithfully be making our contacts, praying about what He has for us, and throw another log on the fire.

One thing I have learned over the past several years is that God has us right where He wants us and it isn't good to try to hurry up and get to the next thing before He is ready for us to be there.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

As I sit here, thinking of the clever things I could be posting here today to give you a "quick" update on things that were wonderfully glorious, as well as the saddest moments that took place, all I can really think of is how wonderful and faithful our Lord is to take care of us in ways that we could never imagine!
The ways that He provided for us this past year still bring me to tears as I think of the past year we had. How many changes that He brought us through, and we are smiling at the end of it all. Praising God at the end of the day and able to thank Him for what He and He alone is doing for us!
We can look back over the past year and see all the diffcult things that happened, but see how God's hand was in everything we did. Guiding and directing us every step of the way.
the words for the old hymn "He Leadeth Me" come to mind right now as I am writing this.
What a wonderfully blessed year we had and look forward to another year of what He has prepared for us!

Here are the words to the hymn I hope they touch you as they do me!

He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be,
still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Refrain
He leadeth me, he leadeth me,
by his own hand he leadeth me;
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.

2
Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,
by waters still, o'er troubled sea,
still 'tis his hand that leadeth me.

3
Lord, I would place my hand in thine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since 'tis my God that leadeth me.

4
And when my task on earth is done,
when by thy grace the victory's won,
e'en death's cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

It is the most wonderful time of the year. I love Christmas, the decorating, the baking, the hustle and bustle of things. But that is not what I love about Christmas. I love celebrating birthdays. And what a special birthday it is! We are celebrating Jesus birth! We are celebrating His life. His coming to earth to save us! I am humbled at the thought of a great mighty all powerful God humbling Himself into the form of a baby, helpless and totally dependent on a human. Sent here to show us how to love, to show us the true meaning of love. Giving His life for us. A perfect sinless life for wretched sinner like me! And rising again to show us the way! What a perfect love!

Join with us this Christmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas. That Jesus was born!

Merry Christmas!

Updates...

2008-12-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

We received a call from our friend Tyler Sunday night informing us that New England Bible Church voted on us Sunday evening and they are now supporting The Wilson Family! We are so excited to be their new missionaries! The church has made us feel so welcome and right at home when we are there.

It is such a blessing to see them excited about the ministry. Seeing them talk about what part they will have in it as well, coming down on short term trips and just being an extension of the local church! What a blessing they have been to us.

My Mom went to the surgeon yesterday. She will be having her surgery on Jan. 8, she sounded great when I was talking to her. A weight has been lifted I think. It is a pretty invasive surgery but that is all they will need to do, no chemo or radiation. They will be removing part of the pancreas and also her spleen. Amazing how God created our bodies with so many parts that we can live without! Please continue to pray for her comfort while she is waiting for surgery and also for my Dad. It has been a long road with so many health issues in the family the past few years!

Thank you all so much for taking time to read our updates, our stories, our concerns and also be in prayer with us for these things!

God is SO good!

Thankful...

2008-11-26T05:19:00.000-08:00

I would like to write a brief list of things that We the Wilson Family are thankful for this year. I have asked the kids to tell me things that they are thankful for as well so if they seem a little childish it is because they are. We can learn so much from them can't we?
(these are not on here in any special order just on here as they are being said!)

1. Grammy and Grampy
2. Gas prices have gone down.
3. Grandma being with Jesus.
4. A home to provide shelter and warmth.
5. Nana and Papa
6. New friends that we have made.
7. Family that is close by.
8. Elephants (Claire)
9. A great church to attend.
10. Supporters
11. Salvation
12. Employment
13. Health
14. A vehicle that is dependable.
15. God's faithful provisions.
16. Mom and Dad
17. Doctors wisdom for my mothers care.
18. A patient husband.
19. A loving wife
20. Warm coats
21. Gods creation all around us.

And this is just the beginning!!
Take time to stop and think about what you are thankful for this year. Make a phone call to someone you love and let them know. Take time to spend with your family and let them know how special they are to you.
and remember like we teach our children to be thankful and rejoice in everything.
Even when you don't feel like being thankful remember that God is faithful!

I Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Settling in...

2008-11-14T04:31:00.000-08:00

I realized earlier this week that we hadn't even been home from CIT for a month yet and it seems like we have been home so much longer. Saturday will be a month and we have been go, go, go since we unpacked the car! We are trying to find the routine of life you know the "normal" side of things...We are still working on that! We were so scheduled at CIT right down to when we ate our meals and they were all the same time everyday! There were no other distractions while we were there. No appointments no sports practice no piano lessons or children's choir. Funny how when you look at the list it doesn't seem like much but add all the kids and all the different places they need to be all at once it can be a little unnerving.

However, we are starting to get into a routine, still working out the bumps. Learning that when we have a speaking engagement that is during the school day we need to do school in the afternoon or "double up" the next day. Phil is back to working full time, having him with us all day and night was a treat for all of us. This is taking a little to get used to as well. Not having Dad right there all the time. Amazing how quickly we got used to having him around all day!

We are speaking at 2 different small groups this coming week week that are from New England Bible Church. We are both going to speak at the couples group Monday night and I (Jen) am speaking to the young mothers group on Tuesday night. We are really looking forward to these meetings. We have already met some wonderful people from this church and can't wait to meet more!

Thank you for your continued prayer for us as we settle back into our lives here in NH, and as we are on this journey.

A prayer requests that we have right now is:

My mother has just found out that her cancer has returned. She has had it twice already. It is renal cancer, the first time was in 1985, they removed her kidney. The second was renal cancer that appeared on her lung, that was in 1997 they removed lower part of one lung. Now it is renal cancer on her pancreas. They are planning on going in and removing it surgically again only taking the part of the pancreas that is affected. Please pray for comfort with medical decisions that need to be made, rest before surgery and comfort while we are waiting to find out anything more that we may find out after surgery. Our prayer is that it will be totally gone as it has been the past two times. She has never needed chemo or radiation because of the type of cancer that she has, we are praying that it will be the same this time. I will keep you posted as we progress through this as well.

Mighty to Save

2008-11-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

Mighty to Save was the theme for the missions conference at our home church. Fellowship Bible Church. We had the privilege to attend this year. We are always on the other side of the conference at our home church. I know all the months of hard work and planning that go into them! We were blessed by what was shared and who we were able to visit with.

Of course our camera isn't working properly! so, we were not able to get pictures. Below is the picture of all the missionaries and children that were at the conference along with the speaker that was here from Florida.

In this picture are: Steve and Becky Diem (minus their boys) Costa Rica language school. Bob, Robin, Adam, Melody and Bethany Hastings AMG Guatemala. Jack and Jennifer Mitchell Grace Dental Mission. Bob and Linda Schindler Mission One. Bob Whitney key note speaker and our family.

You can read about the Diem's and Hastings, their links are on our sidebar.

We are gearing up for a busy November. Please keep us in prayer so that we will be rested and able to present the ministry clearly to people when we are sharing with them.

more new friends

2008-11-01T13:31:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful time at Calvary Bible Church this week during the missions conference. We were challenged to be praying for our missionaries and our countries. What a great time we had while we were there reconnecting with old friends and making new ones! That is always a blessing in itself...

Here is the picture that was taken when we were all said and done Wednesday night.

"PRAY"

2008-10-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

That is the theme of the conference we are attending right now. Yesterday the message that was given was on Daniel 9, and the affects of prayer in your life. How to pray for countries and laying your worries at the Lords feet. What an encouraging word we heard.

We shared with the 5&6 grade SS class, Megan was in class with us and was able to share with the kids some of the information that she knows. I think she had a great time being with her friends that were in the class that she hasn't seen for awhile.

We had a great lunch with great friends! They spoiled us with a delicious dinner and a fantastic dessert! The fellowship was the best though I think!

We headed back to church in the evening for dinner and more fellowship and encouragement from the Word. What a blessing that was! Phil 4 was the scriptures we studied last night.

This morning we all got up nice and early to head out of the house at 7:15! You would think that after CIT we would be used to that but we didn't have to leave that early then! :) We got to school placed all the kids in their classes for the morning and then shared with the 2 and 3 grade Bible class. Cabot was our resident helper there...I guess really anywhere we go one of the kids will be with us in a class wouldn't they?

We had a great brunch this morning/afternoon with the pastoral staff, some of the mission commission team and all of the missionaries that are attending the conference. What a great time of more fellowship and time of sharing. We spent time praying for one another and just learning a more about each other! We were blessed by the people that we met and shared with.

We are currently having a break at my parents house since they live close to CBC and the kids were already here. We head back to the church at 5:00 for dinner with a small group and more fellowship. Then we will be having more meetings tonight. We have been so encouraged by what has been shared and the people who we have met. We are looking forward to what the rest of the conference holds for us!

what can you be praying for this week?
our truck is a little "sick" and we only have one vehicle, please pray that we can baby it until we are able to get it fixed.
stamina for the conference, we would love to make the most of our time.
Pray that we would be able to share the ministry needs clearly.
lives that will be touched during the missions conference.

missions...

2008-10-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Now that we are home and getting back into our routine we are starting to get ready for missions conferences at Calvary Bible Church in Derry, that conference will start on Sunday October 26 and end on Thursday the 30. This is the church that our children attended school at up until last year. Phil attended school there from K-8th grade. We will participate in the Worship service and also visit classes during the week and do a chapel service. We are very excited about being there to share what we have been called to do.

On October 31 our missions conference will start at our church. We will be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Both of these conferences are local so we don't have to worry about packing everyone up again anytime in the near future. We will be able to sleep in our own beds at night. However we will share dinner with different families at different times. We are looking forward to being able to share more about what we have just learned at CIT, and put to use some of the things that we have just been learning about! What an exciting time for us to share.

we arrived!

2008-10-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

This will not be long! I promise...

We finally we pulled into our driveway around 10:00 tonight! It was a long trip home, great visits with family. Time to spend relaxing and catching up with family, that is always good!

We took a tour of Bible Baptist College with Abby while we were there today. It is a beautiful campus. We also walked around Liberty University last week, no official tour there though!

Thank you for all the prayers for our trip home, it was uneventful! I do believe that I will be able to jump into the truck in the morning and it will start right up!

We had a great time and can't wait to share our pictures and all that we have learned!

moving on...

2008-10-12T17:44:00.001-07:00

Our time at CIT is done, but the memories and friendships that we made will last a lifetime! We headed out of Union Mills yesterday morning at 5 AM. There were lots of people there for a teary good-bye! I still can't believe that we are not there anymore. What a great time we had while we were there and great friendships that were made!

We drove for a few hours on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was so beautiful and would you believe that my camera was DEAD! so...we stopped and bought a disposable one! Just so we could have pictures of the trip!

Then we stopped at Liberty University to visit a good friend who is attending there this year. She is a freshman and seems to be loving it. Abby fell in love with the campus. I guess it is that time that we really need to start looking at schools too!
We left there and headed up to Warrenton VA and spent the night with Phil's cousins. While we were driving we decided that it would be best to stay here for an extra day because of how tired we were from the drive that should have taken 7 hours that ended up being 14 hours. Not really sure how it happened but it did! :-) I guess stopping for an hour in Lynchburg was part of it! but it was so worth it!

We are heading to PA in the morning and spending the night there. Phil has family there as well, his family is placed nicely along our trip home. Great to catch up with them as we are traveling. We are anticipating being home sometime on Tuesday but we are holding that loosely. It will depend on the drive up there!
Thanks for praying for us during our time at CIT. We truly enjoyed our time there and also learned so much that will be indispensable when we are on the field and also in our everyday lives where ever we are in the states or overseas.
I don't have any pictures to post today I will get some of the drive home when we get there!

more fun...our farewell...and tears

2008-10-07T19:13:00.001-07:00

Chris and Hannah
Paige and Hannah
Nathan
Phil Jen and Claire

Are you wondering why we already had our farewell dinner? This is Lindsay and Eva our mayors

they decided that we would have a cookout for our get together this week. After doing that we had a time of sharing for the families that will be leaving the end of this week (and a single) Chris, Paige and Hannah. What a testimony those two have! God is so powerful and so evident in their lives. We have all learned so much from them! They are heading to Thailand in November! How excited we are for them. Nathan, the youngest in the group is heading to Uganda for medical work! He is so excited to be going and bringing health care to them there! And of course our family well, part of us!
Why the cook out? well, It was the only time we could really get something in due to the paper that we need to have completed by Thursday!! so...here are the pictures from the games to the cookout and sharing/singing after! We are the only ones that are leaving at this point in our training. Everyone else that is here will be here through November. There are 2 more classes that will be going after we leave. So, a small part of the group is leaving and the majority of the people are staying.
What a great time we had fellowship is always great and encouraging isn't it? As Phil and I were reflecting later that night I told him I knew we would make friends, I didn't expect to make such great friendships that will take us all over the world! Imagine what our passports could look like? It is going to be hard to leave, 4 weeks doesn't seem like a realistic time to make those friendships but we did. We are just a great big family here!I thank God everyday for the new friendships that He has given to us! We love you all!!