The last few months have been so eventful it has been hard to find time to communicate but finally things are settling a little so here are the highlights of our crazy summer. (which is actually rainy season for us.)
First off since our last post both our boys had Birthdays. In July Zachariah celebrated his tenth birthday. He was very excited to finally reach the double digits. Then just this last weekend Gabriel turned 12! We can not believe that he will be a teen in just a years time although he is definitely tall enough. He has grown sooo tall this last year. It has been such an incredible blessing to have these silly, playful, intelligent, gentle, and often crazy boys as part of our family.
The biggest change and most important piece of news it that right at the end of July we were able to move into our new house. We had written about it back in May as a possibility but within the next couple weeks after writing, our old house sold and things started to move quickly. For about two months I ran all over the place filing papers and calling banks. It seems like a big blur but we have now been in our new place for 8 weeks. It is a bit of a fixer upper and at times the amount of work to be done is overwhelming but it is an answer to much prayer. It is easy to get to and large enough to host many people. Plus it has extra room for the boys homeschooling and plenty of room for them to run and play. We are very, very blessed and cannot believe that we are actually settled in our own place again after so long.
Another big event from the last weeks is that we just returned from a huge YWAM conference in Kansas City. Some 3500 Ywamers from around the globe gathered together along with the International House of Prayer (IHOP) for a week of teaching, fellowship and worship. It was great hearing about what is going on around the globe, both the successes and the challenges. The focus of the teaching was on bible translation, reaching the least reached around the globe, and how the gospel changes societies as it enters different areas of influence such as business, education and healthcare, to name a few. It was a great time for networking as well and we were able to make some excellent new connections.
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| Family! |
Since we were headed to the US anyway we decided that Karen and the boys should take advantage of the trip and make a short two week stop over in Oregon. Karen's parents are moving from their home of 40 years and Karen was able to help with some sorting and packing and spend some special time with her family.
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| Friends! | |
Plus the boys were able to attend the last week of summer camp at Trout Creek Bible Camp with there two best stateside friends who happen to be the sons of Karen's life long best friend. What a Blessing!
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| Fresh Bibles ready to be broken in |
So what's next? Right now we are in the process of starting our next bible core course. This will be school number 8 since we started it here in Costa Rica 6 years ago. Since then 70+ students from 15+ different nations who are now serving the Lord on 5 different continents and many nations have complete this course. It has been a great privilege to be able to serve in this school and we love it every time. Looking beyond the school we have been working hard to put together a team of people that are focused specifically on Frontier Missions. We have several short term teams that will be heading out in the next year and even have a few long term people that are headed out as well. The Bible school will now become part of a year long training program to prepare people who want to work with Unreached Peoples long term. Many new doors are opening and we are excited for this new season.
A couple of prayer requests:
- The Bible school is always an intense and tiring time. Pray for extra strength and energy and for Karen in particular as she serves at the base and shoulders most of the homeschooling.
- Pray for our Frontier Missions team. That God would help us to gather the right people and build a healthy team.
- Pray for our finances as we enter into this new season. With the boys growing, the new house and new ministry opportunities our monthly expenses have grown. Pray for an increase in God's provision.
That's it for now! Blessings,
Douglas, Karen, and the boys.
First off since our last post both our boys had Birthdays. In July Zachariah celebrated his tenth birthday. He was very excited to finally reach the double digits. Then just this last weekend Gabriel turned 12! We can not believe that he will be a teen in just a years time although he is definitely tall enough. He has grown sooo tall this last year. It has been such an incredible blessing to have these silly, playful, intelligent, gentle, and often crazy boys as part of our family.
The biggest change and most important piece of news it that right at the end of July we were able to move into our new house. We had written about it back in May as a possibility but within the next couple weeks after writing, our old house sold and things started to move quickly. For about two months I ran all over the place filing papers and calling banks. It seems like a big blur but we have now been in our new place for 8 weeks. It is a bit of a fixer upper and at times the amount of work to be done is overwhelming but it is an answer to much prayer. It is easy to get to and large enough to host many people. Plus it has extra room for the boys homeschooling and plenty of room for them to run and play. We are very, very blessed and cannot believe that we are actually settled in our own place again after so long. 
Another big event from the last weeks is that we just returned from a huge YWAM conference in Kansas City. Some 3500 Ywamers from around the globe gathered together along with the International House of Prayer (IHOP) for a week of teaching, fellowship and worship. It was great hearing about what is going on around the globe, both the successes and the challenges. The focus of the teaching was on bible translation, reaching the least reached around the globe, and how the gospel changes societies as it enters different areas of influence such as business, education and healthcare, to name a few. It was a great time for networking as well and we were able to make some excellent new connections. 
