Visas

Rejoice with us brothers and sisters!  Our visas are finally in motion! J  Miles’ visa should have cleared yesterday the 19^th of August, and Dions’ should be 2 weeks behind.  We are grateful for the gift of time that is including this rest before we plunge into our new Indonesian life.   God is so good and knows just what we need!

What, you might ask, have we been doing with all of our time over here? NOTHING! J

Well, not exactly nothing.  We swim in the pool several times a day, read and nap by the pool, spend time on the beach and in the water.  The water is so lovely.  The part of the beach we don't  like is the wind.  It is pretty windy in the afternoons here.  It clouds up every day but doesn’t rain and it is still very warm.  The more clouds the muggier it is.  The sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous with all the lovely clouds! 

We are having quiet time together each morning.  This feels absolutely luxurious as we

 have always gotten up @5AM and Miles has rushed off by 5:30.  Our relationship with

each other is deepening and our time with the Lord has taken on a new feel as we share

His insights with each other first thing in the AMJ. 

We visited the church where Miles’ folks attend last Sunday and then their “Ohana group

 (Family, home Bible study) on Wednesday evening.  We volunteered 2 mornings at the church, and are feeling like this is our home away from home.  Gods’ family is AWESOME! J

Speaking of family, Dion has a long lost cousin who has lived here for 40 years.  She hasn’t seen her since she was 8 years old but we met up with her and her husband for dinner last night.  We had a wonderful time catching up on family news and they are going to take us to their favorite picnic spot later in the week. 

Well, check back next week to see if I am following through to post each week.  Remember that we are 3 hours behind the West coast so by the time we have breakfast and quiet time it is already noon there.  Blessings to you all!

Miles and Dion J

Doctors and Lawyers and Moles, OH MY!

We had a fruitful time at the home office in Nampa Idaho. We were stretched beyond what we could do humanly. God is stretching us and giving us the grace, though painful for us, to grow through it. While there, we found that we still had some Ts to cross and Is to dot. We spent just over a week seeing our lawyer to organize our family trust, saw doctors, had our last shots, and we both had a mole removed. Miles says he is not sure he will recognize me with out the mole under my nose. It had swelled and become painful while in Nampa so it had to go. His mole was on his chest in the farmers tan area. We are still healing.

The hardest thing for me to do was sort out the last of my "Things".  Mostly it was toiletries. Fluids weigh a lot so we couldn't take it all. I gave some away and left whole bottles at home. It is hard to believe that we are down to 6 suitcases. We have our furniture and some tubs in our shed behind our house but the rest was given away or sold. It has been a difficult but freeing process. God was gracious in having our home leased for the year that we are gone. We feel untied to this world except for our families and friends. Who knows what God will do with us over the next few years? We are excited!

We still have no word on our Visas. Due to a gift from a neighbor who works for Alaska Airlines (Thanks Nelson), and some mileage that we had built up, we were able to come to Maui HI. For under $200. Miles parents have a condo here. After the last few months living at a break neck pace, we could use a break.  We aren't planning on doing many of the touristy things. We are mostly planning on resting and reconnecting. We are living on the cheap and off of our savings until we leave and MAF funding kicks in. We would live this way on the mainland as well, so what better place to get reconnected with each other as well as strengthen our relationship with God than in paradise? We have extra time in His word and more time for prayer. We are sad to say that this time gets shortened when under stress. This is the opposite of what we need to do. God is still working on us. Our only regret in being here is not seeing your faces for a longer period of time. Pray with us that our Visas will go through quickly.

On the other hand, I am sitting here on the Lanai (deck, patio) in the early morning and the cacophony of bird sounds is fantastic. The Bougainvillea, Mimosa,and Hibiscus, just to name a few that I know the names of, are in full bloom making for a wondrous tapestry to view everywhere we go. We have been walking on the beach, walking to town, swimming in the pools, and watching some pretty amazing sunrises and sunsets. We feel pretty good physically and God is drawing us closer and closer to Him. Why leave? We are waiting on Him. When we are ready we are confident that God will release our Visas and we will be on our way.

I will have more time to post as I had always intended , once a week, while here. Hopefully it will become a habit that I will continue during our stay in Sentani. Watch for it.

Until next time! :)

Visas and Orientation

Miles and I want to thank you all for all of your support.  Your Physical, financial, and spiritual support means so much to us.  We would not be fully funded without each of you.  We are humbled that God has chosen to send us and use you to help in  the accomplishment of the Great Commission.
Prior to leaving for orientation we were told that MAF worldwide is being challenged by the evil one to change the way they do business.  This issue has our visas in limbo. We were privileged to be able to meet our regional director and take him to lunch last week.  He is going back to Sentani on Tuesday and will personally attend to the consulate not just on our behalf but on behalf of MAF et all in Indonesia.  We know that we will not arrive in Sentani one day later than what God has planned for us.  We are ready and are waiting on the Lord. 

Our breakneck pace has slowed and we are spending much needed time with each other.  Since it seems that mid Aug is now the earliest we will leave we are planning a vacation where we will be able to re-bond with each other and move forward as a team.  After 7 weeks apart and 2 weeks of being in a pressure cooker while we got moved out of our house, cleaning, painting, packing, and sorting, we are looking forward to spending some quality time together with the pressure off.  We will be back under pressure once we arrive in Sentani as we begin to settle in and prepare to find our niches where we will be.

Our orientation group includes four "candidate" couples who are just in the beginning of the process as we were in November.  It is exciting to meet these young families who are committing to serve Christ with MAF once they are accepted.  Each region has presented themselves to the group.  Each region would love to have the entire group come to their programs. The group has gelled nicely and they would love nothing better than to serve together.  We of course are the oldest couple in our group and have no children coming to the field with us. 

We are spending time in classes designed to prepare us for ministry overseas.  We have very full days learning about cultures, conflict resolution, spiritual warfare, different regions, the Indonesian language,  as well as chapel every Wednesday morning.    Our group is in charge of Chapel this week as we introduce ourselves to the home office staff.  Our classes coming up this week include cooking from scratch, travel, safety, more language and Hr stuff like benefits including medical. 

We have been invited home for dinner this week by a family from the church we visited today.  It is so good to be part of the family of God.  We are all parts in His body.  Praise Him!

We are still available by phone, email, and face book.  We will try to keep in touch with each of you but please keep in touch with us.

Blessings,

Sooo Close!

Well, right off the bat I have a correction to make.  the $18,000 was what we cleared that night at our Auction fundraiser.  I had forgotten about the $320 we had deposited into our account in advance sales prior to the event.  Once I got back from CA visitiing grandchildren I reconciled the accounts and notonly found many more supporters from the MAF web site, we had cleared $2,020!  What a praise!  God impressed on me that He had taken care of us from the beginning, it just hadn't been revealed yet! 

We are at 96% of our goal.  This leaves $1,575 yet to raise.  I know that God will bring that in as well as all He has been doing in advance of our our efforts.

We thank you all for having soft hearts listening to God direct your lives in giving to His cause in Indonesia.  Without you, we would not be going.

I had a great time visiting family in California.  I visited a niece with 4 children and her mother.  Her youngest are a set of twins that are as adorable as they are busy!  That's why God gave "Children" to the young, and when we graduated, we get grandkids.  Speaking of which, the grandchildren are growing like weeds and it is difficult to realize that I am the grandmother of a boy going into high school in the fall.  Jenny's next oldest is going into middle school (7th in CA) the next is going into 4th grade and her next is going into KG.

We will visit our youngest grandchild on the 4th of July.  She will be 5 months old on the 1st of July.  Her daddy Josh and her mommy Allyl are doing great and we cant' wait to visit them.

Trent and his wife moved to Oregon 2 weeks ago.  Despite many trials getting their stuff up here they are settling into an apartment until they find a house to buy.

Well check in next week when I tell how God is taking care of our house while we are away!

Almost There

		100%
90%
		80%
70%
		63%
50%
		40%
30%
		20%
10%

What a blessing you have all been to us!  Our Banquet / Fundraiser was a success!  We are not all the way to our needs for leaving but our Visas have been ordered!  Praise God!  We cleared $1,800 plus the online gifts we found when we got back Saturday night puts us up to 84%!  We only need to raise $7,850 more dollars.  For those of you that have given so sacrificially we thank you and pray God's Blessings on you.  For those that have been waiting til we are closer to leaving, This is it!  We are on schedule for leaving Aug 1. Our house is leased for an entire year and I am almost packed.  We will be out before the first of July.


Miles is still in Nampa getting the training on the Kodiak.  This is the newest airplane that MAF is putting on the field.  We are excited to be a part of this new era in working with God to overcome barriers and transform the lives of the isolated Indonesian people.


I am visiting with grandchildren one last time before we leave!  We are going to miss them terribly!  Most of July will be spent in Nampa doing orientation and Safety Training. 


God is good!  All the time!


Blessings to you all!

Standardization

		100%
90%
		80%
70%
		63%
50%
		40%
30%
		20%
10%

Miles has moved out!  He took all of his clothes, and personal belongings and has moved to Nampa Idaho until June 24th.  We sat on the bed looking at his empty closet and drawers and we both stated that we feel lonely already.


Standardization is the training he needs to fill in the blanks between his schooling where he learned how to do his job, and his experience actually doing it.  MAF wants all maintenance specialists to be doing the same things.  He will of course be back for our Banquet  Auction fundraiser on June 11th, and to be here for the last day of work @ Boeing on June 20th.  He is on vacation from Boeing right now.  Miles states that, "I am not retired, I just switched employers!".  


We are getting closer and closer to the goal of 100% funded. We are currently at 63%. We only have 37% left to go. That's just under $20 thousand. With Miles busy in Nampa we will not be able to meet with individuals or churches until he comes back at the end of June. We have to be REALLY close, if not fully funded by the Auction date of June 11 for Visas and airline tickets to be ordered. We know that we will not arrive one day early or one day late. If that means a later leave date we are OK with that but we are moving forward in anticipation of God doing a mighty work to complete the support goal and to get us there before the start of the 2011 /2012 school year. Hillcrest International School is in great need of teachers for this year!  Anyone else want to join us in Gods work teaching in an intercultural environment?


We thank those of you who have already given so sacrificially both in finances and prayer. We need both! God Bless you!

Busy Busy

Miles sister's memorial service is this Friday April 29th @ 3PM @ Good Shepherd Church in Boring Oregon.  We covet your prayers for all the grieving family members that will be there, especially those that have turned from their first love!

We are looking for "entertainment" for our Banquet / Auction on June 11th.  We are also in need of donations for anything of value that could be auctioned off.  The meal will be catered, and the tickets will be $20.  If you want to help plan, set up, take down, or in any other way be a part of this exciting evening let us know.  Contact us @ 360 314-6889.
We are currently @ 58% of our "total need" for going.  This is very exciting for us as we watch God work in our lives and the lives of our family and friends. By the time we are done with the auction, June 11 we need to be fully funded or really close. Visas have to be ordered before we can enter the country and are only good for 90 days. We are praying that God will do a miracle and fund His mission by then. We cannot do it, but God can! :)
To Him be the glory and praise!