Life and Making Plans

Well, here I am...ready for Blog entry number 2!

Up-Date...
A couple of you have written and asked how Beth HAuse is doing with her medical treatments in the states so I thought I would give you a brief up-date concerning that. Last week she went in for an MRI to see if they could find the source of the problem. Unfortunately the MRI came back normal. The specialist at John's Hopkins then basically told her that there was nothing more he could do for her, she should take the antibiotic that at least provided some relief before and return to Bolivia. The most frustrating part about this news is that it doesn't fix the problem that she is currently having with her loss of vision in one eye, which was said before to be caused by the infection. Due to this, she has decided to stay a little longer and go to see a neuro-opthamalogist. That appointment will be next week. Please continue to pray for her and her family.

Campamento 2007...
Many of you will remember that each year in February I have gone to camp for a few days with my church to escape the "festivities" of Carnaval. This year my church decided to go to a camp taking place in Concepcion which is about a 5 to 6 hour bus ride from here. My friend Dana who lives with me also went with us, not to mention another SAM missionary went with his church from the town of San Javier. It was kind of fun to not be the only "gringo" ( North American). The whole experience was great, we had a lot of fun together and it was more relaxing than some of the other camps I have been to. One of the things that stood out to me the most was that when we were leaving Santa Cruz, my church was under the impression that we were basically going only to participate. However, once arriving there, we quickly found out that several organizational things had been left undone. In the end, my church basically ended up running the camp. I was very impressed at how quickly and willingly everyone jumped in and did what needed to be done. My worship team led worship, one of the pastors preached a couple of times, others took over the teams and organized the schedule, etc. God has definitely blessed me with a wonderful church!



Coming home...
Now for the information that all have been waiting for! As I write I am working on looking for a plane ticket home. School will end around May 25 and my desire is to have a little time after that to say my goodbyes and pack up. I am looking for a flight sometime around June 6th to the 8th. The mission has given me permission to go straight home so that I can drive with my family (including my nephew who will be 2-3 mo. old at that time) to Texas for Janet's wedding on June 16. The rest of my schedule is still a little up in the air. I am packing up my things here, with the understanding that I will be returning in May of 2008. I would like to see the students at the Learning Center graduate that year. If God is leading me elsewhere, than I will permanently share or sell my belongings and move on at that time. If not, I will begin a 4 year term that May. Throughout the course of the year, while I am home, I plan to visit and spend time with as many people as possible. Some of those trips I have begun to plan, others will wait until I am home. I will also spend some time at SAM's new home office in Fort Mill, SC as well as possibly take more bible classes at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte, NC campus). I have a meeting next week with some of the leaders of our mission to talk about my possible future with SAM. Some of my plans when I am home will be based on that meeting, others will change and develop as I am in the states. One thing I am sure of...I plan to spend as much time as I can getting to know the new additions to my family!

Thank you for your continued prayers, interest, and support! I think of you all often and am counting the days until we will be able to share jokes, laughter, life, prayer, etc. face to face...at least for a little while!

My First BLOG Experience!

Recently I have heard a lot of people mention their blog sites where people can be kept informed on a more regular basis. It's easy to up-date and sometimes many of you are looking for information more often than I have time to right and send a formal letter. In light of that I have decided to try out a blog of my own. Feel free to give me some feedback letting me know what you think.

While I'm testing it out, I might as well fill you in on a couple of recent happenings in my life. For the last couple of weeks I have been helping with a Conference for Princesses that the SAM children's ministry has been coordinating. This was a day-long conference held for girls, ages 8-12. The main purpose in the conference was to teach them how they can become daughters of the King as well as to teach them how a daughter of the King should act. We made crowns out of flowers for them to wear and they were escorted in by a "gentleman" who came to help. There were games, a craft, teachings, and a drama. We only allowed 40 girls each day. After two days which were completely full and a waiting list of about 30 more girls, we decided to hold the conference one more day. It was a great blessing to me...praise God! I was able to see many girls come to know the Lord, not to mention He gave me the strength to teach my first lesson to that many girls and adults in Spanish! I was quite nervous, but God saw me through...and spoke through me in many ways.

Other than the Princess Conference, I have continued to stay very busy with church activities, playing on the worship team, helping with Sunday school, tutoring, etc. The new trimester in CIET, my last one, started about two weeks ago. So, now I am back to teaching English on Monday nights. One of the things God has been teaching me recently, although I am a very slow learner, is that I don't necessarily need to be doing anything major...sometimes it's just important to take time to hang out and talk with people. I am trying to rotate my schedule so that I make time to visit more with people throughout the week. Praise the Lord that He constantly is teaching us new lessons and that He doesn't give up on hardheads like me!

There are two things left that I would like to share with you, than I'll sign off and see how this all turns out. Today is a beautiful sunny day, which is one of the first that we've had for a while. It has been a very rainy summer for us and now we're definitely beginning to struggle with flooding and mold issues. Although my house isn't flooded, the school playground is! My room is battling the mold issue. Last night, once again, I laid my head down on my damp...starting to smell musty...pillow and wondered when things would ever dry out. However, my problems are minimal! There are many people who are being displaced because of flooding or who are in need of food and other materials, please pray for them. Finally, most of you have heard me mention the HAuse family many times. Beth HAuse, the mother, has been sick for quite some time with a staph infection in the bone of her sinuses, causing severe headaches, fever, etc. You may remember that several months ago she spent about a month in the states looking for a treatment that would work. Once returning to Bolivia with an antibiotic she had to wait to see if it would help. The treatment did not work and she has gone to the states again to seek further treatment. Her husband and children are remaining here, until they know more about how long she will need to be there. If it is too long, the rest of the family may be joining her in the states. Please pray for their family, the separation between them now as well as for a quick return on Beth's part so that the children don't have to leave school before the end of the year.

Thank you so much for your constant faithfulness and prayers! I appreciate them so much! Look for weekly blog postings on Mondays and an e-prayer letter coming soon concerning my return to the states in June.