"Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." (Psalms 84:5-7)
We recently met with someone from our home church in Washington who shared how these verses in Psalm 84 resonate with him still as he reflects over how God led him through several trials in his life. It's always a joy to stand at the top of a mountain, or great triumph in life, and consider carefully each step that got us there. As our friend pointed out, the word "to" in the phrase "strength to strength" is no small word. God takes us down into the valleys and stretches us there before we rise to our next strength. The valley can bring us to a breaking point and lead us to our knees, where we fully realize our need for God to see us through the journey. Erin and I found this to be a good focus for us as we continue following the Lord's direction into a foreign mission field. We know that the Lord is our ever-present help, and will keep us growing in strength through each phase of our pre-field journey as well as our day-to-day lives overseas. Our prayer is to keep this focus, and remember that God is in the business of totally changing lives. We know He will strengthen us to rest in His unwavering faithfulness, but we also pray for Him to use our lives to awaken others into following Him.
We rejoice in our current triumph as we reflect on how the Lord has led us over the past year in developing a team of prayer and financial ministry partners for His work in Haiti through MAF. Thank you so much for responding to the Lord's call to join us in our ministry! We look forward to sharing each step with all of you and would not be in any place of strength without you. We are excited to share this journey together and hope we can pray for and encourage one another as we find our strength growing together in the Lord.
Our recent time in the NW has been filled with activity and blessing. We have visited with a lot of close friends and continue to find God leading new people into sharing in our ministry. It has been a lot of fun to get back into the saddle of flying my Dad's small airplane around familiar places where I grew up. We took a short family trip up to a small grass strip up in the mountains together. The kids loved the flight, and we all enjoyed playing with the thousands upon thousands of frogs in the lake nearby!
The kids also had a fun opportunity to share a week at "Club W" at our home church here (similar to vacation bible school). We were blessed to be the missionaries of focus for all the kids, and were amazed by how much the kids and their parents gifted us for our vehicle fund. It was especially fun for us to see how well Sammy did throughout the week. In the past, he has been very cautious to participate in children's church or Sunday school. Sammy loved Club W, and it was very encouraging for us to see him establish some confidence and excitement for all the fun activities and see it in a new light! Elsie also graduated Kindergarten and has begun first grade already! Erin and I are very proud of her, and have seen a lot of development in her learning over the past year. We chose to continue her schooling with a short break because we will have a bigger break as we begin language training in Haiti. Sammy is beginning pre-school and is doing well so far. Please pray for Erin and I as we lead them through this transition and continue their learning in our home. It is a real joy to watch them learn and understand more of the world around them!
Our 4th of July was a bit of a cultural experience in downtown Portland to watch the fireworks from their newest bridge over the Willamette river. The kids enjoyed riding the MAX lightrail to get downtown, and loved the fireworks (once they started). Elsie has recently been learning our national anthem and got a lot of compliments after singing it to herself (loudly) on the way to the fireworks on the MAX. We are so proud of both our big kids!
Isaiah is continuing to expand his vocabulary, and is getting bigger all the time. His latest accomplishment has been sleeping a little more regularly through the night, which we pray will continue! He is at a very fun and active age, and we are enjoying watching all the kids interact and grow in their relationships together as we make memories as a family.
The rest of our July is pretty full of meeting with churches and friends to share our ministry. August 15th will mark the beginning of our maintenance and flight training over at MAF headquarters near Boise, ID. That training will take us to the end of October, then we will be heading back to North Dakota to finish packing up our belongings and making final preparations for traveling to Haiti in December.
Erin and I hope you and your families are finding great opportunities to make memories of your own, and thank you again for sharing this exciting journey together!
