July 2014

Greetings again from Kona, Hawaii!

We are coming to an end of our first 3 months here. It’s been a wonderful time of diving into new activities, studies and connecting with new people. As a family it’s been great to slow down a little bit and catch our breath. We have so many things to be thankful for and these are just a few of them…

Highlights of our time here:
1. Spending time as a family in a family-friendly environment. Elias was able to attend a “pre-school” three of the mornings each week, which really helped him learn to interact better with kids his age (that speak one of his languages). We were able to do fun things like go to the beach and go for bike rides as a family regularly.
2. Elias learned to swim on his own. He was using a lifejacket to swim for the first month and a half, but one day he just decided that he didn’t want to use it anymore. Little did we know he could actually swim on his own. He’s now a little fish, using his googles to watch the local fish and dive down and grab toys on the sandy seabed. This is a great blessing for all of us who love to swim.
3. We got to spend time with amazing people including, David & Christine Hamilton, Nathaniel Baldock, Darlene Cunningham (co-founder of YWAM), and many more staff and students at the YWAM University of the Nations campus in Kona, Hawaii.
4. Helping the Bible projects by studying have been fun for us. We have enjoyed going through Scriptures discovering new things.

5. God orchestrated the events to bring the SourceView Format of the Bible into the Thai language. This was our surprise project for Thailand. We’re converting the newest translation (from original Hebrew/Greek into the local street language of the people) into a dialog format which will facilitate reading out loud for the oral culture of Thailand. This is a one page sample of how the SourceView Bible in Thai will look like. As this project progresses (we’ll work on it in Thailand as well), we’ll send more information (right now we’ve completed the first draft of the New Testament). If you’d like to get an English version of this Bible format or would like to know more of what it is, visit: www.sourceviewbible.com

6. We received a couple special visits from family and friends. Rob’s parents made the trip out for a couple of weeks, getting to spend precious time with their children and grandson (they usually only see us about once a year). We rented a vehicle and toured the island for a week, which was wonderful. We were also visited by our dear friends Chad & Theresa. It was refreshing to see familiar faces from Canada.
7. LAND! As a base we made the final payment that allows us to purchase the land beside us. We started that journey one year ago and God miraculously provided $35,000 to purchase that land. PRAISE HIM FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS.

We have had a great time here and we know that we have received the blessings that God had designed for us. Thank you for all of your prayers and gifts of generosity that allowed us to have this privilege.

We return to Chiang Rai, Thailand July 13th to work out our visas, catch up with everything that has happened on base, teach in different schools and settings, and be at home again.

May the Lord continue to have His way with us, blessing us so that we can be a blessing to others.