Mission Retreat

    We spent this last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Illinois at a retreat with ACMI (the Alliance of Christian Missions International). We had a wonderful time getting to know everyone there. We had filled out an interest form and emailed it to the director awhile ago, and this was a chance for us to meet most of the organization that is currently in the states. Adam and I met with the trustees and answered questions that they had for us. Adam did such a great job of speaking from the heart. That is definitely something that is out of his comfort zone with people he barely knows! I was so proud of him! It has been neat to see the many ways that God has been and is expanding our comfort zones. Anyway, we felt that the meeting went well and look forward to gathering together again in November. We have been familiar with ACMI for a long time. Our church supports several of their missionaries, and our friends, the Odles, that we are planning to team up with have been part of this organization for several years. We felt right at home while we were there. Everyone was so kind, welcoming and encouraging. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet several missionaries who are leaving for their fields very soon. We are excited to have had the chance to meet and talk with them, as it is so nice to put a face and a person to a name. We look forward to their updates!
       We also had the opportunity to Skype during some of our meetings with some of the missionaries that weren't able to make it to the retreat. We heard from and talked with families from: the Philippines, Kenya and Tanzania. That was a great experience, their voices were so clear, it is a blessing to know that technology like this is so easily available! It won't be the same as face to face, but it sure beats waiting weeks and weeks for letters to arrive, like so many missionaries did not so long ago!
    Ethan and Caeley had a wonderful time at the retreat! They were excited to hear that our meeting with the trustees went well and enjoyed meeting everyone. They had a great time with the Odle kids and made some new friends too, that we should get to Skype with at the meeting in November as they will leave for their field in about 3 weeks. The kids were able to enjoy: basketball, an obstacle course, mini golf, archery, ping pong, pool, a swimming pool, and the lake. The lake had a blob ( a long inflated pillow-like thing that one kid would scoot to the end of and then another would jump onto it and blast the 1st kid into the air and into the water), an iceberg (a huge inflated rock wall in the water), a waterslide, a zipline into the lake, paddle boats and canoes! They stayed busy, made us tired, and had so much fun!
    We have so much to do to prepare for all of this. Paperwork, interview, classes, sorting, purging, packing (although that is a bit down the road), the kids need passports, we need visas, shots..... Wow! I am so excited to have this adventure moving though, I just want to power through everything so we are READY! (Well except for the shots.) I am working hard at practicing patience though, and know that it will all get done in the right amount of time.
    Right now our focus is purging. We have a family room and 2 car garage filled with boxes! We are working to get everything unpacked and sorted. We are having a joint garage sale with the Odles on Labor Day weekend. We will set that money aside for whatever we need to get closer to Africa! I am actually enjoying sorting things and getting rid of lots, but some of it is not so easy... However, Matthew 6:19-20 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."