Join us this Sunday!

If you live in the Fraser Valley and want to hear more about our journey to Thailand, come on out to Central Community Church this Sunday evening, Feb. 13th @ 7:00pm. MBMS International is hosting a "Celebrate Mission Night" and will be focusing the evening on what God is doing in North Thailand. I'll be leading worship and Jon & I will be sharing a bit about our call to Thailand. Randy Friesen will also be speaking about the exciting stuff that's going on in Thailand, so it will be a great night of stories & celebration!

Come on out & join us if you can!

Sunday, Feb. 13th

@ 7:00pm

Central Community Church

46100 Chilliwack Central Rd.

Chilliwack, BC

Hard at work...

This picture is a good indication of life these days. With all this internship business, fundraising, parenting and trying to have some sort of social life, it just doesn't leave much time for posting. Even Callie has been hard at work lately... ;)

All good things must come to an end...

It was a strange feeling to sleep in this morning and not have to rush out the door to get to class on time. Its also strange to know that we won't be seeing our fellow MTE friends everyday anymore. Sad really. The last 4 months of training have flown by and the reality is finally sinking in that we aren't all going to the same mission field. You grow pretty close with people when you're together day-in and day-out. Its hard to accept the fact that we can't all go together as one big team.

Friday, Dec. 17th marked our last day of MTE training & our official "commissioning service." It was a wonderful time of sharing, praying & worshipping together. Many of our classmates will still be around for a while (some have team building activities to complete in January) but for others, Friday was 'good-bye' and it definitely wasn't easy. I managed to keep the tears to a minimum as the hugs were exchanged but as soon as we left and made our way to the car, the emotion got the best of me. I hate goodbyes. And I hate the fact that this was just the beginning of many more goodbyes to come.

I'm thankful for the last months we've had as an MTE class. It was an incredible time of growing, learning and building deep relationships together. I'll miss everyone so much!

Missionary Training & Equipping

Class of 2010

So to all of you-- Gary & Ellie, Lowell & Melissa, Bud, Reg & Faa, Sherry & Doug, Susan & Steve, Johann & Hedi, Pepe & Marisol-- Jon, Callie and I love you dearly and will continue to pray for God's leading & blessing on your lives as you continue to follow His plan and walk in risk-taking obedience. We miss you already!

Its official! We'll be serving in...

... THAILAND!

ประเทศไทย

We're thrilled to finally be able to share where we'll be serving overseas. At this point, we don't have many details other than the fact that we'll be spending our 1st year there, in language training (which could be in one of two places-- Lopburi or Chiang Mai). After that, MBMSI will discern with the "in-country leaders" as to who's team we'll join. So we're not exactly sure which region of Thailand we'll be in, and who we'll be serving with, but we're excited to at least have the answer of which country! I'll continue to update you as we know more.

A month of much...

I have been desperately wanting to post but have honestly had ZERO free time. MTE has been taking up most of our waking hours, between class time & homework, not to mention our very busy 15 month old. But life is good and we're intensely grateful for the way God has been moving in our hearts & lives. His provision has been abundant!

Thankfully, our class schedule is into more of a routine now and we mostly have half days (with the exception of full days on Wednesdays). September truly could've been referred to as "the month of much." Much class time, much learning, much transition, much homework, much mentoring, much exhaustion, much, much, MUCH! It was full and I'll admit, felt like more than I could handle at times, but we survived and it was truly, a great month of learning & growing.

Anyway... although I have been wanting to upload some new pictures, all I can offer today are a few videos of our "busy bee." Our iPhoto is full and I need to get some pictures off before I can add more. So for now, here is a glimpse of Callie-bear these days (although these videos were taken over a month ago). This is mostly for Uncle Craig & Auntie Jen :)

I'll write more later. Gotta go get the munchkin out of trouble ;)

One week in...

We survived our first week of missions training and although we came out of the week feeling utterly exhausted, it was a good kind of exhausted. We absolutely love the people that are in our class and really enjoyed getting to know our classmates a little more each day. Most of our sessions this week were on Spiritual Authority with Randy Friesen. It was a pretty intense subject to start with, but SO good. Very informative and challenging and necessary. Spiritual warfare is something that a lot of people try to avoid or even run from, but it was important to realize the authority we have in Christ and that we are to stand firm in our faith.

As for Callie, she'll be spending Tuesdays with Grammy Glen, and then Mondays & Wed-Fri. will be with her new babysitter, Julie. Julie and her husband live in Abby and have graciously offered to watch Callie in their home, along with their 3 beautiful children. Callie is extremely social (I think its pretty obvious who she gets that from) so I wasn't too worried that she would have a hard time adjusting to full time childcare, but she did even better than I had imagined. Julie said she napped well, ate well & played well with the kids. And the real confirmation came when we arrived to pick her up after her first day. She looked up when we walked in, gave us a huge grin and a bit of a squeal and then went right back to playing. She didn't even want to leave. I take that as a very good sign and it was great for my ease of heart & mind.

So.... after a long weekend and LOTS of reading for upcoming projects, we're gearing up for another week. Excited to see what God has in store for us this week. Really trusting that He has amazing things in store for us this fall. Last week was true evidence of that.

That's it for now. Just thought I'd give you a brief update on how things are going. If you're wondering about prayer items, we could really use your prayers in the area of 'renters.' Still looking for the right people to rent out our townhouse and we NEED them for no later than October 1st, so please pray! Also prayer that we would have sponge-like hearts & minds as we take in classes each day & that we'd learn as much as possible over these next months of training. And last but definitely not least, prayer for rest & sanity in amongst the chaos! :)

Celebration...

Tonight, we are celebrating!

Even Callie is excited! ;)

We ordered in take-out from our favorite Thai restaurant in town, and thanked the Lord for his goodness & faithfulness to us!We got the news today, that we've officially been accepted to missions training with MBMSI this fall! We were originally told that we wouldn't have an answer 'til the end of June, but it turns out, their Lead team was able to discuss it at their latest meeting and would like us to continue the journey with them. So... only 3 more months of work and then classes start Sept. 7! We're so thankful for the way God has been leading and are praying that he'll continue to make his plans clear for us. This is an exciting journey we're on and we're thrilled to finally be taking the next step!

Thank-you to everyone who's been praying for us! We've seen the power of these prayers at work and ask that you would continue to pray as we move forward. Part of our preparation for training this fall is to come up with "prayer support." So, if you're willing to commit to praying for us, please leave a comment and let me know. We'd be honored & humbled to add you to the list of our "prayer warriors!" :)

Big day tomorrow...

I really wasn't all that worried about it. Certainly not what I'd call 'nervous.' But then Jon and I got talking the other night, about what kind of questions would be asked at our final interview with MBMSI tomorrow afternoon, and now I'm kinda freaking out. What if we blow it on this one, last interview!? After all of this, what if the road ends here!?

And then these words pop into my head.

Be still and know that I am God.

I'm sure it will be fine. And if not, then I'll have to trust that it just "wasn't meant to be."

But we feel confident that it IS supposed to be. Hence the freaking out again.

Be still and know that I am God.

Right. Got it.

Some prayers for the interview are gladly welcomed though. ;)

Transformation...

I anticipated our week at MBMSI's Spring Adventure to be a good one, even stretching most likely. But I had no idea that it would be as incredible as it was! I have so many highlights of our week, I hardly know where to begin. So here are just a few...

- meeting some of the most amazing people, and developing meaningful relationships with them (both fellow Spring Adventurer's, as well as MBMSI staff & lead team & member care couples). Truly AMAZING.

- beautiful times of worship & singing

- hearing everyone's stories and learning about how God has brought them to this point

- a day of "team-building" exercises up in the mountains.... everything from hiking blind-folded, to rock-climbing & rappelling off a 70 ft. cliff. Absolutely exhilarating!

- intimate times of prayer with everyone, & truly experiencing the voice of the Holy Spirit

- watching God work in my life, and the lives of everyone who was there

- delicious meals

- challenging sessions by the MBMSI staff & lead team

- realization of the "rock" (hindrance) in my life that I need to continue to bring forgiveness & restoration to

- great conversations over coffee breaks

- and truly, so much more!

(Credit for these 2 pictures go to Gary & Eva Cool. Hope you guys don't mind that I stole them!

We didn't have our camera there that day... but this is proof that we were there and I did rappel that 70 ft. cliff) :)

Honestly... the transformation both Jon and I felt, was amazing. We feel richly blessed to have been a part of it and are eagerly anticipating the next steps in this "mission" journey. We have 2 more interviews to get through, but we were told at Spring Adventure that we've got the "green light" for September. So we'll be making some big decisions over the next few months (ie: whether to rent out our house, move to Abbotsford or stay in Chilliwack, childcare for Callie during our schooling, etc.) Please pray with us as we continue in these next steps of decision-making and discernment. Our hope & prayer is to follow obediently and capture all that God has planned for us. Exciting stuff!!

I also want to give you the heads up that my blog postings may slow down a bit over the next few weeks. I really feel like God is calling me to spend less time on the computer and more time in his Word, so although I still want to keep you up to date on us, it may not be quite as frequent. But we will try to keep you posted!