The Countdown

Every day as I look at my calendar, my heart skips a little beat.  Some of it is from excitement for where God is taking us and what he wants to do in us, and some of it is total panic! 

God willing,  9 days from now, we will be boarding a plane to start the actual travel part of this journey!  We will be flying first to Houston, staying the night with a 21 hour layover (chosen on purpose for the kiddo's sake), and then we will head to Quito, Ecuador. 

God has provided in some amazing ways to help us get to this point!  Thank you to each of you for your prayers, encouraging words, and financial support.  I can not even express how much God has used you to encourage us! 

It was a year ago this month that we were in Kenya learning about what it means to be a missionary and learning about this intriguing opportunity in South America with Extreme Nazarene.   Before we left for Africa, I NEVER would have imagined we would be here today.

This past year has definitely been a journey as we have made a practice of parting with our things that we once thought so important.  The surprising part is that it hasn't been as hard as I expected.  The things I felt so attached to at the time are now just things.  (That isn't true with everything, and the special things we have kept.  Don't worry Grandmas out there, we still have lots of stuff for Malachi to look back on and enjoy someday) ;)

Our time has been a bit of a roller coaster.  Some days have been overfilled with things we need to accomplish.  We created a wall calendar and I love pulling each sticky note "to-do" off as we get things done.  There are other days we have intentionally stopped to take time to rest and spend time with family and friends.  We are so very thankful for these moments!

As you probably would assume, our emotions have been the biggest roller coaster.  There are moments we feel total confidence that this is where God has us and other times when we wonder what we are getting ourselves in to!  There are days when we are so excited to get out there and share the gospel with people, and days where we wonder why we're going to Ecuador to do it!   We realize we are not adequate for the job the Lord has given us, so we are trusting Him to use us in our weaknesses, in spite of ourselves, so that God gets all the glory!

We would really appreciate your prayers as we face this next week and 1/2. We are experiencing some nervousness as we anticipate all that is to come before we leave and the transition to a new culture.  We will miss our family and friends dearly and we are trusting God for his grace in each moment!