As the first half of the year comes to an end (we have no idea how it could possibly be July already) we are looking back at some things that have ended and forward to others that are about to begin. As of course, there are also some things that are ongoing and feel like they will never end.
 |
| Hiding behind the base boards. SUPER GROSS! |
Those things that feel as if they will never end are mostly to do with being homeowners, which as most of you know, can be a great blessing and some times a whole lot of work, especially living in a tropical climate. Since we moved in we have been doing many projects and one of the ongoing ones is getting rid of all the baseboards in the house.
Usually baseboards are considered a good thing but when they hide ant colonies and black mold it is time for them to go! Douglas has also been working super hard on remodeling our bathroom and we are getting close to the end. Some of you may have even seen this picture of our tub sitting in the middle of our living room, it's temporary home of course! We have now moved to the bathroom where it sits waiting to be installed. Someday...
Looking back on this last month, some of you might know that during May/June Muslims celebrated their holy month of Ramadan and at the same time, all over the world, Christians gathered to pray for our Muslim brothers and sister that they would find the truth. We here at YWAM San Jose took a couple days and together we join in the 30 days in prayer and at the end of Ramadan we gathered for a time of celebration and, of course, feasting. Douglas and I spent all day cooking. Actually, Douglas started a day early making homemade pita bread! Yum! We also ate Dolma which is a dish from Iraq, Lebanese lentils and rice, Egyptian seasoned chicken, and of course hummus, tzatziki, falafel and couscous! It was a great time of fun and fellowship as we prayed for Muslim peoples around the globe.
- If you want some more information on the 30 Days of Prayer movement just click on the link below to visit their website. https://www.pray30days.org/
Another major even was that last week we had the return of our DTS (discipleship training
school). As we mentioned in our last post we had
two short term teams out doing ministry, one in Near East and the other in
South East Asia. They had some amazing stories of God's faithfulness as they shared the good news with all kinds of people. As well some of the students caught a vision for long term ministry among unreached people and we hope to help some of them get there in the near future.
Looking forward, tomorrow, as most of you celebrate Independence Day in
the States we will be celebrating Zachariah's 11th birthday! Can I believe that my youngest is turning 11, NO I can not! We will be celebrating at a Trampoline Jump Center with several of his friends from the community. It should be a blast!
A little less
then a week after that we will be starting with the Islamic Studies Seminar. We are super excited to be leading this seminar again for the first time since 2015. A week
ago we thought it might not happen as we were not sure we were going to
have any students but in the last week we confirmed that we should have
at least 4 students we are hoping for 6. The seminar will run for 5
weeks this year instead of 6 to give a couple of our students an opportunity to arrive. We are confirming teachers, printing schedules, and will start preparing the classroom in a couple days!
And last but not least, at the end of this month my parents will be coming for a visit which we are all super excited about (yes even Douglas)! The crazy part of their visit is that the boys will be heading back to the States with them to attend summer camp and Douglas and I will follow but not for a whole month. It will be interesting to see how we all survive such a long separation. But the boys are super excited to be able to go to camp two years in a row and we all believe that it is worth it. As I said Douglas and I will follow in September and be in the States for about two months maybe a little longer. We are super excited to be coming for a visit this fall and hope to hang out with most of you!
Thanks for joining us in the adventure!
Karen and Douglas
