Furlough Plans

I realized that I may have created some confusion with my last post, so let me clarify and explain things better.

We have been praying about moving to Rondônia, the state where we have been planning to start a ministry. We were here in São Paulo to learn the language and adapt to the culture. Our goal was to move there by early 2012. We contacted a missionary who lives in that area and could be a great help to us. He is currently on furlough, and will be returning to Rondônia in January of 2012. We decided to give them time to settle back in and then move in February.

Then as we began to ponder our situation, we realized that when we arrive in Rondônia, we will have been on the field for three years. We didn't want to move and settle in, and then try to arrange a furlough. It seemed logical to take a short furlough now, we we are "waiting." We counted back from February and decided that September would be a good time to go the States for about four months before our move. We began to pray about this.

I was hesitant about taking a furlough. Of course, I wanted to go, but I was concerned with the financial end of a trip right on top of a move. Especially considering that our rent had once again increased, and the dollar value here is continually falling. Then some acquaintances of ours asked if we would be interested in staying in their house for two months while they traveled out of the country. It "just so happened" to be the last two months before we were praying about leaving. They would leave everything in their house for us to use, so we could just move in. This opportunity allowed us to move out of our house two months early, and save two months of rent. I really felt that this was the Lord giving us peace and opening the doors for us to take this trip.

So we had about four weeks to pack up everything, store our things, and paint our house inside and out so we could end our contract and move out.  This has been a very overwhelming time for me, but the Lord helped us and we made it.

We are now staying in our friends' home which is really nice, and has a huge yard that the boys are loving. It is also a five minute walk from Jeremy's parents' house...an added blessing!

We are anxious and excited about getting a chance to see our family and friends in the US again soon. Now that we are moved, we are focusing on making plans for the trip and trying to schedule meetings in our supporting churches.

Please help us pray!

• Scheduling visits to our supporting churches
• Opportunities for meetings in new churches
• Travel arrangements
• Transportation while we are in the States
• A new prayer card and DVD presentation
• Re-adapting to American culture!