We Made It!

After 4 days of driving, we finally made it to Spokane! It was a LONG trip with lots of miles, a billion gallons of gas and way too much fast food.

Jason's parents were able to help us drive which was a huge help. They took the kids in our CRV while Jason and I drove the UHaul towing a car ( actually I just scanned for radio stations and passed snacks). The trip was mostly uneventful except for a blowout just outside of Butte.


We have slowly been unpacking our boxes. Jason was able to return to the Philippines in January to ship some boxes of our things home. Most of our stuff made it home in one piece, however most everything has evidence of the Philippines in it or on it - and boy does it stink. The process of opening and emptying out boxes is stinky enough to almost make me gag! All of our things were wrapped in clothes, towels, sheets, etc. and has taken at least 2 cycles through the wash to start to get the smell out of the fabric. So it has gone a little on the slow side.

Another thing we have been busy doing is fixing up our fixer upper. One of the first things we did was pull up the carpet. The house smelled like dogs and smoke so getting rid of the nasty carpet was a huge help.



We were re-reminded of the previous presence of dogs when we moved the stove and found this lovely surprise! Now that really made me want to GAG!



On a much nicer note!! We are enjoying spring here. We pulled into town right when all of the tulips were in bloom. We even had a few out in front of our house. We love having a nice big grassy yard and a beautiful Hawthorn tree which is in full bloom right now. The tree looks like it has a million tiny rosebuds on it. Beautiful!

I'm still waiting to put away our cold weather clothes. It is a cold and rainy day today and was only 43 degrees when I checked the temp this morning. I can't believe that it is almost June and it is still this cold. Welcome to the Northwest!!

So much for a family photo!

Working with tools is without a doubt one of Kellan's favorite activities and he loves to work along side of his dad. Kellan has a set of play tools, but after discovering real tools, the plastic ones are not anywhere near good enough. He recently had lots of tool time while Jason replaced the engine mounts in one of our cars. Unfortunately this was the result:




Three stitches to the middle of the forehead due to a fall while holding a wrench.







While Jason was taking Kellan to the doctor to get stitched up, out walks Mirielle looking like this:

She decided that she was too hot to have bangs so she cut them off and threw them away in the garbage. Thankfully she didn't decide that she was too hot to have the ponytails that she was wearing that day. What do you do with a girl like that??

I guess this means that I will postpone my goal of sending out a new picture prayer card in our upcoming newsletter!

Easter

What it's all about

Saviour He can move the mountains

My God is mighty to save

He is mighty to save

Forever author of salvation

He rose and conquered the grave

Jesus conquered the grave…

("Mighty to Save", Mighty to Save, Hillsong)

Below is a letter from our coworkers in the Philippines. After years of time in the tribe, Ray and Chris have begun teaching the Word of God for the first time this month!

We wanted to share their story with you because this is what it is all about. The Word is going out to those who have never had the chance to hear! Thank you to all of you that pray for us and support us and know that you are part of the team taking the Gospel to dark places!

As we celebrated Easter, I couldn’t get out of my mind the faces in these pictures. I was so overwhelmed with the fact that I so easily take the sacrifice of the cross for granted and even I forget that there are thousands who have never even had the chance to hear about our amazing Savior.

Please continue to pray for Ray and Chris and their coworkers Danny and Philippa as they send forth the good news.

Hi to all our co-workers.

Firstly, we just want to say a big thanks for all your prayers for us over the last days. We have really sensed that there were many prayers being offered up for us. It was amazing to have such a peaceful day, even though it was pretty full on. The week before our teaching was a pretty difficult one, and at times was almost overwhelming. But as we moved into this last week, there was a real calm and peace. We know that there were many praying all over the world, so we are so thankful to God and give Him all the glory.

As many of you know, we are teaching three groups, each twice a week. We have bought a bunch of chairs, and are using three of the peoples houses in the area, that are a bit better and larger than most of the others. We had a good attendance yesterday with most coming that said they would. We taught in three different places and in all, we estimate just over 100 people came. It is a difficult time of the year as many are fishing all night for squid, and come back pretty tired. We are very excited to see how the Lord will work everything out, and trust Him to continue to bring the people back for the following lessons.

The first lesson was about who God is, his attributes and creation. The next couple of lessons will be about the fall of man, and the angels, and we will also deal with the spirit world e.g., where do the spirits come from?

We are really thrilled at the way it all went yesterday, so once again, thanks for the big part you all played in this in holding us up in prayer.

Things to pray for.

1/ That the people would keep coming, especially the men.

2/ That the people would have a clear understanding of the truth.

3/ We will be sending through some photos of some key people that we would ask you to pray for. These people hold more influence in the area than most, so we would ask you to pray that they would remain interested, and ultimately come to know Christ.

Let us all praise God for what He is doing.