Hi family and friends! We did it!!! We graduated from Roca Blanca Spanish School on October 20. What a crazy ride that was…filled with ups and downs, good and bad, trials and triumphs. But what an experience for us to learn to lean more on the Lord through all of those times. Even more so, what a PRIVILEGE to be called by the Lord to serve Him. Machaela finished strong in Level 1, and Jon and I really got into a great routine as we finished Level 4.

In October, Jon was able to go to the Pastors and Leaders Conference at Calvary Chapel Tijuana. He had a time of being refreshed and spending time with two of our pastors, along with old and new friends who serve all over Mexico. While he was away, the Spanish school went on a one day mission trip to San Martin. Machaela, Jonny, Noah, and I were able to go and it was such a blessing to be a small part of that day, while the clinic offered free medical consultations and medicine for those in need in that town.

During our final weeks in Cacalote, we were able to spend time with the friends we had made while living there. The Lord really blessed us with some amazing friendships that really grew. I love looking back to when we first arrived to when we left, and seeing the Lord’s hand on our relationships. I could go on and on about all of them so I’ll stop before I get going. 🙂

Now we are in California. We drove up here the day after school got out. It took us quite a while to drive up, but it was a great trip. Our first stop was Oaxaca City where we met up with Toby and Lydia, two girls who did Level 1 and Level 2 with us who now serve in Oaxaca City. So awesome that they came and went sight seeing with us at Monte Albán. The following night we ended in Mazatlán. Another friend, Nancy, (who we met on our trip last December to check out Roca Blanca) lives and serves at Calvary Chapel Maranatha Mazatlán, and she arranged for us to stay with Pastor Tony and his wife Angela for two nights. What a huge blessing that was because it gave us a day of rest after the LONG drive to get there. A couple of days later we finally made it to southern California, our final destination for this trip.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• We will be working on getting our temporary residency visas while we’re here, so please pray that that all goes well
• That we would practice listening and speaking Spanish
• Financial provision to be able to go back
• God would continue to prepare our hearts for full time ministry in Mexico

PRAISE REPORTS:

• one of our biggest struggles while in school was that our kids were having such a hard time. The Lord COMPLETELY turned things around and the last two months were filled with laughter and joy and a house filled with those sounds from Jonny and Noah and their friends. Praise the Lord for that!!!
• Jon and I also were able to build some amazing relationships with people and it was really tough to say “see you later”. We thank the Lord that He gave us those friendships that I know will last a lifetime.

 

Thank you for praying for us and following our journey as we took this first step of our great adventure for JESUS! We are so excited to follow His leading into the next step.

Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”