November Newsletter

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“Sold, to 4897” the auctioneer said as we claimed our small snowblower for $2.  During October, we have been participating in the Intercultural Communication Course (ICC) at the Wycliffe-JAARS Center (jaars.org) near Charlotte, North Carolina.  One of the required training activities was to attend an auction where we learned how to interact on the fly by observing other participants.

The focus of the training is preparation for transitioning to a new culture and serving well in any environment.  The skills we are practicing and the topics we are studying are essential for successful cross-cultural communication during our language study in France and for our ministry in Cameroon.

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Woot Visa!

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Our long-stay French visitor visas were approved and arrived in the mail yesterday! We are very excited to have this important part of the puzzle in place.

This good news makes me want to dance. You can dance too, if you want to.

It’s Been a Busy Few Days

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We arrived at the JAARS center near Waxhaw, NC late Tuesday evening.  This completed our 1200 mile trip:  Livonia, MI -> Chicago, IL -> Livonia, MI -> Columbus, OH -> Waxhaw, NC.  We successfully completed our application for French long-stay visas at the Consulate, and then arrived on time for our month-long training at the JAARS center.

Here’s a few photos from the trip.

Visiting Millennium Park before our visa appointment:

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Thaddeus waiting for our turn, not paying attention to the no devices sign:

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The backup on I-75.  We ended up waiting on the freeway about 2 hours from 10pm-12am.  Still not sure what happened.

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We’re Getting Close

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We can hardly express the huge mix of emotions we are experiencing.  Such joy and wonder at how God has provided for our Wycliffe partnership team! We are getting really close. We are over 95% of the way in monthly financial commitments. In addition, we have a sense of urgency and excitement as we prepare for our appointment (in just a few days!) at the French Consulate in Chicago to apply for our visas for language study.

As happy as we are, we are also beginning to grieve a bit as we are cleaning and putting the house up for sale this weekend. The kids will move in with their grandparents while we go to our cross-cultural training in North Carolina for the next five weeks. The kids have been packing and cleaning with us and saying good-bye to the only home that they have ever known.  It has been a hard but good week for us all.

Brian also had his last day of work today at HelloWorld, where he has been for over 11 years! It is hard to move forward into the future and unknown, especially when the past and well-known is so very good and comfortable.

Fall Training

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Thank you to those that prayed for our request that we would be able to attend the cross-cultural communications course this October. We found out recently that we had been accepted. It is an answer to prayer.

August Newsletter

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“Wow; I had no idea!” whispered one woman as she watched our kids pull the list of languages down the church aisle.  We were sharing about the need for Bible translation around the world at our home church last month.  The statistics and stories of people waiting for God’s Word are staggering.  God is using us to get the news out about this need and advocate for those without the Scriptures.  At the same time, God is also preparing us to go and be part of meeting the need, ending the wait for so many with no Bible in a language that speaks to their heart.

“When Are You Leaving?”

This is a question that we get often, and it is a difficult question to answer precisely.  However, every day the future seems to be a bit more in focus.  In order to leave, we must be at 100% of our monthly ministry budget and we are currently at 80%.  We are so thankful to God for the people that are partnering with us.  When we began building our partnership team in February, we had a faith goal that God would provide 100% of our ministry budget by mid-October.  It looks like that just might be what happens – but this is our plan.  We are trusting God to accomplish His plan. Continue reading →