Mt. Herman

Across from the MTI training center is Mt. Herman. Saturday morning we were free from class, so Bill and the other guys in our class climbed all 9000 feet of Mt. Herman. You can see Pikes Peak in the background of Bill's summit picture. By the way, Mt. Kilimanjaro, which Bill wants to climb in Tanzania, is over twice this high!

Mission Training International

So here we are at MTI receiving our final training before we depart for Africa. MTI is located just north of Colorado Springs in a beautiful setting. The course we are taking is three weeks long and is called SPLICE. Basically we are learning how to navigate the challenges of transitioning into a new culture, learning about what makes missionaries burnout, how to handle the high levels of stress on the mission field, and many issues concerning our four little missionary kids (called MK's). The kids are in their own classes and are talking about their expectations, fears, etc. There are twenty kids here in all who will also be leaving shortly. They are going to Equador, New Zealand, India, Poland, Slovenia, etc. It is such a great opportunity for them to be with other children who are going through the same transition as they are. Wyatt is in a class for 4-6 year olds. Heidi and Oleg are together for 7-11 year olds. Morgan is sometimes with them and sometimes with another 12 year old girl. Although this is an exciting time for them, it can also be a confusing and frightening time for them. We are so thankful for this opportunity and for our supporters who made it possible. Thank you!

Goodbye Aunt Betty

Today is my Great Aunt Betty's 85th birthday. Today is also the day she will be buried.

Aunt Betty was a gentle and tender woman with a sweet smile that always made you smile back. And she loved the Lord.

With the loss of Aunt Betty, we are confronted with the fact that when we leave for Africa, life here will go on. There will be deaths. There will be births. There will be graduations, birthdays and weddings which we will not be present. These events will add to the distance we will feel from home and family.

Some Fun for the Kids

Because we insisted upon the kiddos having excellent behavior during all of our presentations and dinners with ministers, we wanted to make sure we gave them some time for fun. So in the afternoons in Kansas, between our church visits, we found lots of fun and mostly free things to do:

• visiting the largest ball of twine in the world


• exploring a fort erected by Coronado in 1541


• visiting a cute Swedish town Lindborg, Kansas, where you search for painted little wooden horses called Dalas


• bowling (this was hysterical - Wyatt beat everyone but Daddy)


• playing in parks


• driving to the middle of nowhere to see the geographical center of the United States - yes we counted it as homeschooling :)
  

It was great to see the kids looking for things to do, be flexible, and begin to understand the word "budget!" We are really starting to anticipate a good transition for the children into our new way of life.

Kansas School of Missions

We were invited to participate in the Kansas School of Missions this past week. It basically is a group of churches joining together for a week of missions presentations. Each missionary goes on a circuit of 7 churches. Each evening the host church provides dinner, followed by the mission presentation, provides housing, and breakfast the next morning. Then the missionary has the afternoon free to travel to the next church location. Most often it was only one to two hours between towns. Some of these churches and towns were quite small, but large in their passion for missions. We met some wonderful people, were fed very well, and received offerings for our outgoing expenses. Some of the towns were Junction Ciy, McPherson, Salina, Cawker City, Downs, Mankato, and Concordia Kansas.

More Transition...and One Major Roadtrip!

October 1st was an important day for our family. It was Bill's last day of his "traditional" employment and the day we left on a 5 week roadtrip. First, we are so excited that Bill will be with us now everyday and that he will now have the time he needs to devote to our final preparations for the field. However, it is a major step in this journey of faith we are on! We are more aware that we are fully relying on God in this process. We are so very appreciative for our faithful supporters in both finances and prayers.

Secondly, the roadtrip consists of visiting churches in Kansas, Colorado, and three weeks of training in Colorado Springs. Then we return November 6th...for our commissioning at CMF on November 7th! Although this process has seemed long during the past year and a half, we are now seeing our departure for Africa coming closer and becoming a reality. A time of anticipation and some sadness as our goodbyes approach.

Stay tuned for blogs of our roadtrip!

Mt. Kilimanjaro

"He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man,

he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth,

the LORD God Almighty is his name." Amos 4:13

Update - Packing Again!

It seems like we do a lot of packing these days. We are now packing up the basement in preparation for a road trip beginning October 1st. Make that a 5 WEEK ROADTRIP! Yes, WITH the children. We leave Friday, Oct. 1, for Kansas. We have been invited to participate in the Northeast Kansas Board of Missions Week from Oct 2 - 9. We will be presenting to a different church each night in the Salina and Junction City, Kansas, areas. We are really excited to develop relationships with these churches and thankful for additional support raising opportunities. We then continue west on I-70 to Boulder, Colorado, where we spend a week at a timeshare (thank you Arthur family!). We only have a few things scheduled with some Colorado supporters that week, so we will mostly be enjoying some much needed family down time. Then, on October 18th, we begin our three week training course at Mission Training International in Colorado Springs. Quite a lot of transitioning, but we are learning as a family how to be more flexible and live life with less :)

Back to the Books

Another homeschooling year begins... Morgan (6th grade), Oleg (5th) and Wyatt (K) are homeschooling again. We have set up a homeschool area in the basement and are off to a great start to the new school year. Wyatt is especially excited to be an official homeschooler. We actually have started our school year earlier than usual, because we will be taking off three weeks in October when we attend our final missionary training course in Colorado.

Heidi, on the other hand...well life in the basement is a little restraining on such an active, free little child like our Heidi. So we decided to let her attend our local 1st grade until we go to Colorado. Her teacher happens to be a neighbor and Heidi couldn't be happier.

We all look forward to homeschooling in Africa!

Bucket Lists

Bucket lists have become popular because of the recent movie. Usually it is a list of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket" but my kids have made "Africa Bucket Lists" - things they want to do before we leave for Africa. We told them we would try to do some of the things on their lists, but we probably wouldn't get them all done due to time and financial restraints. I thought it would be fun to share with all of you...

Swim with dolphins at Sea World - Heidi
Go horseback riding - Heidi
Visit the American Girl store - Heidi & Morgan
Go to a Lego store - Oleg
Eat at Chili's, Olive Garden - all
Go the the beach - all
Chuck-e-Cheese - all kids (anybody want to take them? :)
Disney World - Wyatt
Sleepover at Wilson's house - all
Unlimited time at Barnes & Noble (without the little kids) - Morgan
Spend as much time with grandparents as possible - all

So if you knew you only had a few months left in the United States and you wouldn't be back for 2 1/2 years....what would be on your bucket list???