Mission Training International, Colorado

We knew right away that this was going to be an incredible learning experience. All of our instructors are former missionaries

During our first session Robin, one of our instructors, brought up things we had never even considered in regards to missions. Each day has been filled with learning great insights in regards to crossing culture and how to do it well. We’ve also been gaining so much self-knowledge in regards to how we deal with conflict. This part has been excruciatingly painful as we clearly see how we have hurt others in the conflict process.

Exit Washington

The weekend before we left we were commissioned during both services by our home church, Cascade Covenant of North Bend, WA. It was a super special time, especially when our pastor invited all those who had experienced youth ministry with us to come up and put their hands on us and pray. We truly feel sent by the Body of Christ!

During our last week we were able to have dinner individually with each one of our children and their families. Then on Saturday we all gathered to get family photos taken. As much as we tried to prepare to leave well, we were still up and clearing out our home when our dear friend,Kathy Ryan,  arrived at 3am to drive us to the airport. Crazy! Consequently, we arrived in Palmer Lake, Colorado at Mission Training International completely exhausted and then we immediately started our orientation that evening.

Good Bye with Cody

We really wanted to figure out a way to see our son, Cody in Hilo, Hawaii before leaving. He wasn't able to get time off to come to the mainland so we were able to figure out an inexpensive way to go visit him! We used vouchers that were a gift for our time serving at CCC! How cool is that? So, 3 weeks before leaving we hopped a plane and spent 6 fun days hanging out with Cody, Kellie and Rommy, their puppy!

An Invitation

Sunday, June 17 is a big day for us and we'd like to invite you to join us.  First, at both the 9:00a and 10:30a services, we will be commissioned by our home church, Cascade Covenant Church.  We are excited to be prayed over and sent by our church family and hope you can join us.  In addition, there will be an open house from 1:00-3:00p at our home.  Light snacks will be provided.  This will be a great time for our friends, as well as our prayer and support team, to stop in.  Contact us for directions.  We hope you can join us!

Almost there!

God's provision through His people has been amazing and humbling. We have raised our full start-up amount of $31,000 and need only $300 more in monthly commitments to be fully funded (which adds up to $10,800 for 3 years).  Our hope is to raise this final amount as soon as possible so we can leave on June 25th, only 5 weeks away.

Students International, the organization we will be serving with in the Dominican Republic, has just launched a great way to give online. If you are considering supporting us or have committed to supporting us monthly, this is an easy way to access the forms and give online.  Check it out! Here is the link:  https://www.stint.com/donate.php?id=s72356.

Want to stay updated?  Subscribe to our blog and you will receive an email each time we post.  This will be our main form of communication while we are in the Dominican Republic.

Oops! Big typo!

After many months of meeting with people, we've finally sent out our support letters! And yesterday at church, it was kindly pointed out to us that we had a big typo! For our start up amount we accidentally forgot a zero! Oh, no! Our letter says $31,00 when it should read $31,000. Please join us in praying that folks will overlook the mistake and assume the correct amount. We are a third of the way towards meeting our support needs! Praise God!

Thank you for checking out our blog!  We plan to use this blog to keep our support team in the loop throughout our preparation, training and ministry with Student's International in the Dominican Republic.  Now and in the coming months, we continue to build our prayer, encouragement and support team with a departure date set for June 2012.  After mission training in the US and language training in Guatemala, we plan to begin serving in the DR in the fall of 2012.  Thank you for your prayer and support as we begin this exciting journey!