If we were to ask you how your summer has been, chances are pretty good you’d respond much like everyone else: “Busy!” In the same way, we’ve been keeping busy jumping between pre-field ministry and time off with family and friends, often blurring the line between the two. We are so blessed and excited that our “work” now involves connecting so frequently with people we love and care about!
At the end of June, Asa officially stepped down from his roles at Hobby Lobby and Heritage Baptist Church, and we are finally able to dedicate ourselves to fundraising and partnership full-time.
In July our schedule was PACKED: First, we enjoyed a delightful week of vacation with college friends—reconnecting, eating delicious collaborative home cooked meals, laughing, crying, and praying together. What a gift! From there Suz and the boys stayed with her parents and grandma in Pennsylvania while Asa traveled across Ohio and Michigan. His eleven meetings included a bonfire event to reconnect and share our ministry vision with several friends in Cleveland, Ohio, sharing in three church services, and many meetings with pastors. Over the next two weeks, we attended ABWE’s annual Missionary Enrichment Conference, and completed two courses required as a part of our pre-field preparation: Personal Security Training, and Essential Missions Components. We learned basic observation and safety skills, CPR, how to apply a tourniquet, and the nuts and bolts of church multiplication ministry all in just over a week! We saw missionaries Suz has known quite literally her whole life, some of our Peru teammates, and friends we attended New Missionary Orientation with a year ago.
Recently, we enjoyed a visit from Suz’s brother Andrew, along with his wife Anna and son Micah, coming all the way from Larnaca, Cyprus. A rare treat!
Now, it is time to sell as much as we can, pack what’s left, and move into our new temporary home. God has provided a house for us at Missionary Retreat Fellowship, which provides low-cost, furnished housing for missionaries. Suz’s family has been blessed by this ministry for many years, and we are grateful that we too can have reliable, sustainable housing during this time of transition. We will be only half an hour away from our home church, Heritage Baptist in Clarks Summit, and are so thankful we can continue in fellowship with brothers and sisters there while also being good stewards of our resources.
We hope to see many of you over the next several months as we follow up on previous meetings and make new connections. Thank you for your continued prayer and investment in our lives!
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