Tefertiller Tribe

Happy

2009-02-20T04:21:00.000-08:00

After saying no for months, we were finally conned into letting Judah have a puppy. This is Happy and Judah and Caleb are his caretakers (sortof!). He is perfect, except totally untrustworthy when it comes to housetraining! I feel like I have five children now. Lydia LOVES him but she is untrustworthy as well, always trying to pick him up by choking him around the neck!
Aaron is officially finished with basketball season and we are so excited to have Daddy home again in the evenings. He is helping with track, but his duties are minimal. John and Pat have been around for several weeks and it has been such a treat to visit with them. They head back to Africa next Friday. We will miss them, but they will be home in less than a year! God is using them in Tanzania in so many ways, and that makes saying goodbye much easier.
Be sure and check out all the new pics I've uploaded to the Picasa link on the right of this page.

Elisha's Tonsils

2009-02-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

Elisha had his tonsils and adnoids removed recently and is back to feeling great. Judah, Caleb and Lydia benefited from his steady diet of popsicles for several days! I know you could do without this gross picture, but I wanted to share just how big those suckers were! No wonder Eli couldn't talk or breath very well. Praise God it is over. Hopefully he will be much less likely to have strep and other infections now. We had an awesome experience at Cooks and Eli even got to have his Aunt Carol for a nurse. Be sure to see all the new pictures I've added to the picasa link.

2009-01-09T19:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! Last year at this time we were in Nigeria, and now we are settled in Texas with our own home, Aaron in the thick of basketball season and the big boys thriving in school. They both claim to "hate it" but they are doing great and love their friends. We have been blessed with wonderful teachers which makes all the difference.

Elisha has an appointment at the end of the month to get his tonsils removed and we are looking at putting tubes in Lydia's ears. Judah is especially enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's visit from their post in Tanzania and Caleb started a two morning a week preschool last week. His best buddy, Grayson, is in his class.

The intensity of life with four children seems to continually increase! I posted a few Christmas pictures, but I didn't get many. I keep telling myself I will do better about taking pictures. We have albums of Elisha and I am way behind with Lydia. My Aunt Carol will be so disappointed in me! I will try to do better with my new camera mom gave me for Christmas.

I would love to blog more regularly, but I can never think of anything clever or entertaining to write. My friends are so creative and intreguing. I can't compete, but wanted to update those of you who just want to know about our little family. God has blessed us abundantly and we pray that 2009 brings us and you closer to Him.

2008-08-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Our Baby Girl is ONE! Lydia's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated at mom and dad's. Elisha kept saying, "this is the messiest birthday ever, isn't it?" My mom continually tells me that Caleb and Lydia have different parents than Elisha and Judah, and enjoyed reminding me that Elisha got a "bran muffin" for his first birthday. Oh, how things change. Elisha also said, as Lydia was covered with icing, "Oh no, Lydia has rabies!" Thankfully not. Go to the picture link on the right if you want to see more birthday pictures of our princess.

Current News and Random Thoughts

2008-08-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

Aaron has been playing basketball with kids at open gym three nights a week for a few weeks now. He loves it but his knees don't! He is making great connections. I love how he loves kids.

We "redecorated" the living area in John and Pat's house and Aaron got me a dishwasher. . .I am the "queen of his single-wide trailer" you know. We are trying to make this very small space work for our very big family until we get a better idea of where we need to put down roots. I love this little house and being so close to GG and Poppa.

We are putting the boys in public school after much prayer and discussion and searching. They have gone to VBS all this week and love getting out of the house. I think school will be a great solution to all of our stircrazyness. Yes, I made up that word. Those of you who are like I used to be, and think I am doing the absolute worst thing in the world for my children can use that burden to pray for them. . .please!

I owe a certain friend much thanks for helping me see that I don't have to please other people. I spent so much time trying to look right and do the perfect thing and be the perfect example that I alienated the people who need to see Jesus in the first place. My goal was pleasing the amazing godly "above rubies" women in my life. I have realized that as long as I am pleasing my husband and my God nothing else matters. How freeing is that!?! If I am going to woo people to Jesus, it doesn't' matter if I wear a dress and make my own bread and homeschool my children while using cloth diapers. What matters is my joy in the Lord and His love and grace flowing through me to this lost and hurting world.

I am excited about the one on one time with my little ones and hope to give them an opportunity to be little. (My beautiful Lydia Rose will be one on August 8th!) Up until now they have just been along for the ride. I heard recently that your children are the age of your oldest child. Just think about it, would you ever have allowed your oldest child to do or watch some of the things that your youngest child does by default?

I love my friends and our life group. We are so blessed to have real fellowship with believers.

I got off my antidepressant and was literally crazy for over a week. Praise God it is finally out of my system and I am getting back to normal. Whatever that means. The drug was helpful when our lives were so up in the air, but I felt like I was in a haze and the Lord seemed so far. Just since I got off the meds I have already seen a huge difference in my relationship with Jesus. I didn't realize how much I missed that intimacy.

I have the best (so don't argue with me) husband in the whole world and he handles me, my moods, my selfishness and my Shellyness so well.

Have you ever noticed how time consuming TV and internet is? I could stay completely caught up with everything if we lost those two luxuries. Not that I want to loose them!

I am on a quest to be content with today and stop looking and striving for what is next. I want joy in the now, no matter how crazy it looks.

One more thing: I am reading an amazing book that any parent would greatly benefit from. It is so practical and helpful. "Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids" by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller. EXCELLENT, I promise!

FINALLY!

2008-06-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

I am so thankful to announce that Aaron got a job! Next year he will be the Alvord High School boy's basketball coach. Our boys are so excited and we even went to visit the elementary school today. Aaron hopes to get his keys this week and our boys are chomping at the bit to check out the gym. We have felt so lost for so long and now God drops something in our laps that is better than we could "ask or imagine." I guess that is how He promises to work, huh? So, when you think there is no hope, just wait because our Father really does "have plans to prosper and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future." Sometimes we just have to wrestle with Him for a while, to stretch us and grow our faith. Thank you so much for all the prayer and encouragement you have given through this hard season. Now maybe we can start returning the favor!

2008-06-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Just an update that the job search is finally moving forward. Please keep praying with us, especially for wisdom to know what the best choice is for our whole family.

Lately the Lord has been really showing me a lot about love. Love. Read the love verse in Corinthians. If we really walked that out, think about the peace we would have in every relationship! Satan hates relationships and he stays busy trying to wreck them. Lord, help us love like you love so we can walk in peace and bring you glory!

2008-05-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

wow. life is such a pain sometimes. i am not where i want to be and this season of total confusion is so hard. all i have to do is praise and focus on all the good and i'm fine. why do i usually choose to wallow in the bad? i was sitting on the front porch of this tiny house where we currently live. the grass was super green, the cows were lazily grazing in the field next to our yard and the breeze and shade were perfect. It was, for lack of a better word, glorious! caleb came out and asked me what i was looking at and i said "just all the stuff Jesus made." he came out again later and i was reading a book and he said "are you looking at what Jesus made in the book?" I love his little brain. life is so simple for him. that is how God wants it to be for me. just trusting Him for everything. my food, my comfort, my life. instead of embracing that and being joyful always, i fret and stew. life will never be perfect. I am amazed at how truly blessed i am, when i take the time and energy to think about it. . .instead of feeling sorry for myself.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...

It's about learning to dance in the rain."

2008-05-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it home at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, after a grueling 20 hour drive from Savanna, Georgia, through Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. It felt so good to get back into Texas, but just going from the edge of Texas to our home took longer than going across any one of the other states! When we were in Africa people would often joke about how proud every Texan is. I think they are just jealous.

Aaron is still waiting for a job in this area to open up. We covet your prayers concerning this. It is so very hard to wait! Please petition the Lord for us, that He will provide something. . .the perfect something for our whole family. . .very soon. God is faithful!

2008-05-11T17:30:00.001-07:00

Well, we have been away from home for an entire week and I think we are all vacationed out! We will head home tomorrow. We are in Savannah, Georgia and it is beautiful. If Aaron and I were alone we could have a blast just strolling through the beautiful streets and shops. However, four children are not the best shopping partners. We visited a few places (see our pictures) and then headed back to the hotel pool.

Next time we go on vacation I think we should just go to a local hotel with a nice pool. That is all the kids appreciate anyway! We have had a great time swimming and have experienced some cool places. It is like having a little coffee with your cream.

I think the best times were at the state park in North Carolina we happened upon and the picnic place Jim and Linda took us to. At both places the boys just jumped in the water despite the fact they had no swimming clothes or towels. At the first place it was pretty remote so they swam in their underwear. The park we visited with Jim and Linda was pretty busy, so they swam in their clothes! Boys. Well, it seems we never get away from water and swimming doesn't it?

We are heading home tomorrow and have made many memories. We are especially grateful for the opportunity to visit Jim and Linda and meet their youngest son. He is just as precious as they are.

Hope all you mommies had a great Mother's Day today. I did!

A New Beginning

2008-05-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I’ve given it some time and feel like it is OK at this point to begin using this blog for us personally. It has always been totally focused on missions, so I stressed about going from that to just my random daily life. However, I guess that is mainly what it was before. . .just in another country! I finally updated our pictures and there are many of our children. It breaks my heart to know that there are no African friends in our pictures anymore. My heart is still grieving and some days are harder than others. I know that it will be better when Aaron gets a job and we can settle somewhere. Right now our lives are so up in the air, and my mind can’t help but going back to African and the whys and what ifs. I am in such a weird place spiritually right now and feel like the Israelites who praised God when He moved on their behalf, and the very next moment cursed Him when things were hard. I don’t want to be like that, but right now it is hard. I feel like I’ve lost my first love and I desperately want it back. I know this is just a season and it will only serve to grow my character in the long run. I am ready for the next season to come! That is funny in itself because one of the major things I am struggling with is patience, so the next season may not come until I get a grip on that!

We are currently on a long road trip and have been in Arkansas and Tennessee so far. Today we hiked up mountains in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and we have been swimming with the kids all over the place. Give them and pool and forget about the beauties of nature, they just want to swim. It is amazing here, and we are in awe of God’s creation. Tomorrow we will start our journey to South Carolina to visit some precious friends we met in Nigeria. We are so terrifically blessed and yet I fret and complain. Life really is good.

2008-04-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Again. It has been sometime since our last post. I miss being connected via internet, but enjoy being connected in person to several of you again. I miss Africa so much and am grateful that Aaron assures me we will go again someday. I am praying to be able to save and plan in order to be somewhat self funded someday. That would take a huge burdon off us and our supporters (-: Aaron is still looking for a coaching job that will fit our family needs and we appreciate your prayers for that. We have spoken about our trip to one church and one mission group and it was a great experience. We hope to share with as many as possible in order to raise up prayer support for Auntie. She has emailed us twice and we feel honored to hear from her because she is not usually near a computer. Aaron's parents just left for Tanzania again and it was hard to say goodbye. We spent several weeks with them and they especially connected with Caleb. Please continue to pray for Auntie and the Fulani. We would love to share about our trip with you in person or with your church or small group. We are not solociting anything except prayer. We have great stories and pictures to share.

2008-02-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

We are getting settled into our home in Texas. We can’t thank you, so many of you, for your prayers, encouragement and support. We have battled confusion and fear and shame and every emotion you can imagine, but the notes and words from so many have been very kind and healing. We are overwhelmed by all the things God is showing us about our trip and our time in Nigeria as well as His timing in bringing us home early. He truly works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

I continue to praise God for the sweet gift of getting to go to Africa. It is really a dream come true for me. I am so grateful for the opportunity and relationships and just everything! Although I think I have been on overdrive for a really long time, and my body decided it was time for a break, I loved our experience and I know that our time working with “Auntie” and the funds we hope to transfer to her ministry are significant for the furthering of the Kingdom. None of this is how we planned it, or what we expected, but when does God ever do what we expect? We have been greatly humbled and I pray that we will walk in humility more and more.

We are so grateful to be with all of our precious family and friends, but it is bittersweet because we miss all our new family and friends. What a comfort that we will all enjoy each other for eternity! There are many who we met and loved, however, that will not be in heaven with us unless God opens their eyes and softens their hearts. Auntie, from the first time we met, has expressed her desire for us to raise up prayer support for her ministry and the furthering of God’s Kingdom among the Fulani. She has an amazing relationship and friendship with countless Fulani and they are more than willing to listen the gospel message from her. However, the veil is thick and their religion is one of fear and manipulation. Only by prayer will progress be made. So that is our purpose and plea. We hope and plan to share with everyone who will listen about our journey and the global community of believers as well as the vast need for truth to penetrate those who don’t believe.

Aaron has been even more broken for our community and the great need for Jesus’ truth and love to penetrate hearts here. We just have to join together in prayer for our nation and for the world. Please pray for the Fulani and for their ears to be opened and their hearts to be made soft. Aaron developed a friendship in **** with a Fulani man who came to Jesus through visions and dreams and that is happening in many parts of the world. Keep praying and hopefully I will have a cool prayer reminder for you to put on your fridge pretty soon.

God bless you all and thank you for your love and grace. Please contact us if you want to hear more about our adventure. We would love to sit down and visit with you and share the need for prayer and intercession for Auntie, her ministry and the 29 million Fulani.

2008-02-09T00:44:00.000-08:00

From ***** to Texas in less than two weeks. . .

Well, we made our move. The week before we left, Judah had a high fever for several days and the night before we left I had chills and fever. We just felt like we might as well get on with it anyway. We packed up everything and moved in to our little “bush house.” It is really nice for what it is. Everyone there was so excited about us being there. Our house was flooded with activity and because there was no electricity and our generator wasn’t working yet, we had to open all the windows and doors for light. Therefore, little and big faces were constantly peering in at us as we were getting settled.

I continued to get sicker with a horrible head cold and lost my voice. I couldn’t talk, taste or breathe. The kids were having a blast with all the local children and that was a huge blessing. Everyone was so helpful and kind, in a smothering sort of way. Auntie is absolutely amazing and her calming presence is outstanding. She was so helpful. Soon after our arrival, Elisha got Judah’s fever. I wasn’t sleeping well with my horrible cold and the third night we were there Lydia had a fever and screamed on and off all night. Then the fourth night Elisha’s fever got up to 105! We are about two hours from Jos and we didn’t have enough gas in our van to make it in anyway. Aaron went to Auntie’s house and she came over and we gave Elisha a sponge bath (while he screamed and hated life!) for at least two hours. He also had Tylenol and Ibuprophen in his system and it still took that long just to get his fever down to 101.

The next day I began feeling depressed and having panic attacks. I was doing everything I learned over the years to take my thoughts captive and overcome but the physical attacks of panic were not letting up. The next two nights I didn’t sleep at all from that. So we were absolutely exhausted and beaten up. We retreated to Jos and the SIM community has been beyond amazing. This is by far the most supportive and loving group we could have been received by. From the beginning of our time in Africa, Aaron has had much time to really seek the Lord about our lives and direction and everything he has been thinking and feeling has been a greater passion for the states and his ministry as a coach. I have always yearned to come to Africa and our time here has been an amazing adventure. We have touched God’s family and his beloved across the world. You have touched this world through us.
Auntie has said from the start that her desire for our time here is that we could take her ministry back home and rally prayer support for the enormous unreached people group she is reaching out to. She has wonderful relationships with these people. They even listen to the gospel message from her. However, the veil is thick and they don’t really hear. Everyone who comes to work with this group gets beaten up badly and the spiritual battle is raging. Auntie needs prayer, serious prayer support to break in to these people’s hearts. In our exploring, we have seen much work being done to reach these people but the need for intercession to open their eyes is great. From our arrival, I have loved the people here and so has Aaron, but we haven’t felt called to this people group and actually feel like God has been revealing how gifted and passionate Aaron is for sports and all the ministries involved in that. Our pride has told us that to really be sold out for Jesus we needed to give up our comforts of home and suffer for the Lord. Aaron has been realizing for several weeks now that we were not on track with that.

I am, even as I write, having panic attacks and really struggling. I feel like a complete failure and that I have let all of you down. Like Aaron has said, I have been well for 10 years and we never ever thought this emotional instability was a possibility but we were wrong. We have been on a quest for humility for several years and this is another way God is really humbling us. We are fighting guilt for asking for your support to come to Africa and then not accomplishing what we told you we were coming to do. However, we don’t at all feel like this trip has been a failure. We have learned so much and we are very excited about being able to dump a huge chunk of the remainder of our funds into Aunties ministry where it can be used to further the amazing work she is doing among the ******. We feel like we are able to come back home having touched world missions for you and make the global kingdom a little bit more tangible to our neck of the woods. We can’t thank you enough for making this experience possible for us and for our children. We do feel guilt and fear at facing you all when we come home and feeling like we have let you down. The main thing I have learned, aside from the confirmation that I love Africa and the precious people, is that I have to trust my husband to lead me. I get ideas and run so hard and fast and his wisdom is always greater. At this point I am really fighting to stay stable and not lose it.

Aaron feels like it is time to come home and get healthy. Again, we hope and pray you will not see our time here as a failure and SIM does not see it as such. Please continue to pray for us as we do everything necessary to transition home. Saying goodbye has been gut wrenching and we are overwhelmed by the love of our Nigerian friends and their grief in our leaving. Thank you all again and again for all your love and support. God bless you. Love, Shelly

* By the time most of you read this we will be traveling in the air or possibly be home. Please pray for our safety traveling to the airport and our flight with Shelly and four little ones. Thank you so much for praying and for your involvement with our ministry. We love you. --Aaron

2008-01-27T12:13:00.000-08:00

We are moving! January 28 is the big day and our house is in boxes as I type. I am experiencing so many emotions. My heart is breaking over saying goodbye to all our friends here. We have such precious relationships already. On top of that, the ability to communicate via email on a regular basis is such a comfort. I will miss it dearly and can’t imagine how missionaries left everything years ago with only letters transported by boat to connect them with friends and family back home. Wow, that is true strength and devotion.

Today has been full of farewell wishers coming and going and we even had supper at Ruth’s house (the family who named Aaron, Wado). We have all been struggling with various sicknesses and all kinds of attacks and discouragements. Please pray for us as we take this step of faith. We anticipate being back to the city and internet access in about two weeks.

The adjustment we are facing is big and just daily life with no indoor plumbing or electricity is daunting. Pray for us to “be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.” Please pray we can shine the love of Jesus to everyone around us. We will miss your emails of love and encouragement these next several days!

2008-01-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who prayed about our computer! A wonderful missionary in the city near us was able to spend the weekend with our computer and he fixed it! Thank you, Ivan! We are preparing for our move and I am really feeling overwhelmed. I praise God for my wonderful husband who is so good at handling everything. We are saying goodbye to many people and it is hard. Tonight we had some new missionaries over for supper and two extra guests came as well. Aaron asked me if I had my “flexi-cookie.” I didn’t but it all worked out fine (-: They have started “taking light” (no power) on Mondays in addition to Wednesdays and it doesn’t come back until 9 p.m., so I was cooking in the dark. I am so grateful to have a gas stove unlike many of my friends.

These few days without our computer were a wake-up call to reality in **** with no internet access. It will be an adjustment, but I pray it will help us run to Jesus more than ever. Right now it is so easy to just go to the computer when we feel lonely or discouraged. Please continue to pray for our health and safety and especially that we can bring glory to the Lord and further His kingdom in some way while in ****. Rejoice with us over improvements in Lydia and Caleb’s congestion issues and also for the healing of the birthmark on Lydia’s chest.

We continue to be blessed by the support we feel from your prayers and notes and also the support system we are enjoying in the missionary community here. We recently spent the night in the city and the missionary guest house was full. Some friends let us sleep at their house, they fed us breakfast and the wife trimmed my hair! Everyone is so helpful. **** will be a whole new deal with total cultural immersion. Auntie will be the only other white person, and we will hear very little English. This is why we came and what we need to experience, but after being in this comfortable Western area, it is going to be a stretch. We are excited and praying that we can shine the love of Jesus despite the language barrier. People are so blessed that we would come and bring our children and that creates a great bridge. The Muslim influence is huge and we pray that somehow we can point people to the Truth and the hope of Jesus.

I am trying to upload all the pics I’ve taken this month to Picasa. It is a slow process, but look for them to come. There are a few of our new kitty who is the most laid back cat I’ve ever seen. She (or he) is so much fun and doesn’t mind the boys one bit.

2008-01-17T05:04:00.002-08:00

We left for **** on Saturday and began working on the “house” as soon as we arrived. Sunday we couldn’t work but Aaron took all the children living at the mission station on a hike and we experienced the local church’s children’s church. It was awesome. The boys love it in **** and we praise God for that. The next two days Aaron worked non-stop and then we ended up staying an extra day to finish painting.

I hit a deep place of depressive feelings like I haven’t felt or experienced in years. It scared me. . .and Aaron. But God is faithful! We prayed and shared with Auntie and I fought and worked hard to take my thoughts captive and overcome. I am still fighting moment by moment. My biggest fear is of loosing Aaron, so please pray for his safety, especially when he is away from us. It is NOT going to be easy to live there with no internet, no running water, no electricity and an outdoor toilet! However, we will be traveling into Jos for about 5 days every two weeks for all those things. That will also be a time to experience some of the ministries going on in that area.

As soon as we got to **** our computer basically crashed on us. Therefore, no videos for the boys, and no exercise videos for me. Now that we are near internet, it appears our computer is really messed up. I am borrowing someone’s computer to write this. So, the war is on! The enemy is fighting hard and we need your prayers more than ever. Aaron’s hair clippers even broke last night in the middle of his hair cut!

The ministry on with Auntie is awesome and exciting and the battle is real. We praise God for His faithfulness and goodness and how each trial is making us draw closer to Him and to each other. Please keep up with us, and the blog, and forgive us if we can’t respond to every personal email. Thank you for your love, emails and prayers. I can’t post more pictures until we get our computer fixed so please pray that can happen! (Please go below to the post from Wendy about getting a notice each time I blog so we can stay in touch!)

Now, on a lighter note, I have to share a funny story. Many people from the specific people group we have come to work with, pass through Auntie’s place constantly. She provides water and a safe resting place for them in hopes of building relationships that will lead to an opportunity to share the gospel. One man came by and visited with us the afternoon we got to ****. Everyone is very intrigued with out children and especially Lydia because she is so friendly. The men always ask if they can take Lydia as a bride some day. Rather than being offensive and just saying no way, we just say she is worth one million cows and an airplane. That gets them laughing every time! Anyway, Aaron got a golden gift of Nacho Cheese Doritos in the mail on our way out to Aunties place. He was eating the crumbs as we talked with this man. He wanted to taste and had been watching Aaron put crumbs in the boys mouths so he just opened his mouth like a little bird too! Aaron gave him some and the pained and disgusted look that came when he tasted our “delicacy” was priceless! He choked and gagged and drank a ton of water to wash it down! Auntie told him that this is how we feel about his beloved cola nuts!

Subscribing to the Blog

2008-01-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone-this isn't Aaron or Shelly, its Wendy :)

Shelly & Aaron thought it'd be a good idea to put a little option on the blog for you to receive each blog post via email. With them moving to a more remote location, they won't be posting as often but they don't want us to get out of the habit of checking the blog for updates. The best solution is for all of us to enter our email addresses into that little widget over to the right, follow the simple step on the email, and viola, we'll all get the lastest post right in our email inbox! Just remember to check back here for pictures!

I've already done it and it doesn't hurt a bit-so what are you waiting for?

Many Blessings,
Wendy

2008-01-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

Wow. Today is stressful. I am obsessing about so many things concerning our move. All of them so temporal! I am not even thinking about life and the adjustment once we actually get settled in at ****. My stress centers around the moving process.

We are taking a three day trip leaving in the morning to go and work on the house and get it ready for us to move in. There is no electricity or water so we have to rig up everything for a water system (of sorts!) and some power. There are many details.

On top of that, this three day trip requires so much packing. Very similar to camping but without the vacation aspect! It will all be fine in the end. The process is just overwhelming.

Please pray for us to have favor in all the preparations and getting everything set up. Something that should take five minutes sometimes takes hours or days so just pray we can get everything settled quickly and get moved so we can have time in ***** to really experience ministry there. Also, please pray for this short trip and our safety against any weapon that could be formed against us including travel, sickness and malaria.

I truly am excited about getting settled in **** and I hope my stress in moving isn’t overshadowing that! I just want you to feel a part of what we are experiencing and today this is it. By God’s grace we will be back to internet by the middle of next week so stay tuned.

2008-01-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

We have some really exciting news to tell you. . .a testimony of God’s POWER! . . . . . . . .

SIM just informed us that our short term support is fully funded and SIM will no longer accept any donations into our ministry fund. Isn’t God amazing? Please rejoice with us in God’s provision for our family!

I can’t begin to thank you for your faithfulness in supporting our ministry and making a way for us to come here and serve the Lord in Africa. What a gift. When we began the process of raising support it was so daunting and we weren’t sure if God would make it happen. Wow, did He prove us wrong and Himself faithful!

We are so grateful to everyone who played a part in financing our trip, and we hope that you will continue to support us in prayer. That is by far our greatest need. Especially as we move to ****, the dangers and warfare will only increase, so please keep us covered. We have had time to visit with Auntie these past few days and we are very excited about the opportunities awaiting us in ******.

We are praying, and waiting on the Lord, for clear direction AFTER this 8 ½ month trip. We feel like the Lord will open the door for us to serve Him overseas full time. The amount of time we will have to spend between this trip, and returning to Africa, will depend on how quickly we can raise long term support. At this point, if you feel led to continue to sow into our ministry, maybe you can just hold on to it. How helpful it could be when we come home and begin support raising again! If God has another place for you to sow into, please do that with our blessings. We are just grateful for all you have done.

As before, because we are currently short term, our vehicle rental fee is coming out of our personal funds. That account, into which donations are not tax deductable, will remain open with SIM. If you want to put money into that fund it would still be helpful.

OK, enough financial stuff. Please forgive all the suggestions and ideas. Aaron says: “On behalf of my family, we thank you again for how you have blessed us. May the Lord bless you abundantly and beyond measure so you can continue to advance His Kingdom. We could not be here without you. It is very humbling to rely on other people’s gifts for our livelihood and we are grateful for your generosity.”

The SIM conference has been really good and very interesting. SIM has missionaries in Nigerian from all over the world. We have met and heard from Asians and Europeans and people from all parts of the US. Our keynote speaker is from the UK. So many cultures mixing together is an awesome picture of the global family of God.

The strange part is that 99% of the people around us these past few days are white, and we are seeing very little of our Nigerian friends. I went out to jog yesterday morning, and the track is on the edge of the compound. I could see Nigerians walking along the road with loads on their heads and all their beautiful colorful clothes and I thought, Oh yeah, I’m still in Africa!

But this time has been really good in showing us the support system we have within SIM. These missionaries are a family and they take that responsibility seriously. We are grateful for that. The boys have been going to their own programs led by a church team from Washington State. They love it!

The highlight of conference for me is that all our meals were included so I haven’t cooked since Tuesday. What a vacation! Yesterday we got the last vaccines we needed so we can really start working out all the details involved with our move. Please keep the whole process covered in prayer.

Remember that our internet access will be limited to once every two or three weeks when we move this month, so the blog updates will be less frequent. Please check in when you can, and keep us covered in prayer, even when we can’t communicate as often. We truly feel the prayers of the saints. We are really missing home and friends and family. We have made some precious relationships here, and in ***** it will be even more special I’m sure. However, we are homesick for all of you and we love hearing from you. We can’t wait to hang out with each of you when we come back in July!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

We pray that this year will draw each of you to a deeper relationship with Jesus. Please pray that for us too!

We have been so super busy and it won’t let up for another week. Our house is right in the center of the compound so we are like grand central station. We have been blessed to have many people into our home. We have made some really special friends here and that is the only sad part about moving to ****. It will be hard to say goodbye.

Everyone here, the missionaries and the Nigerians, have made us feel so at home. Christmas night, after I posted about our day, we had dinner with the boarding school staff and there was an assortment of Nigerian food. Mexico has nothing on spicy compared to here! We went through a gallon of water with our meal I bet. The boys do really well but they drink between each bite.

The very best and most precious time of the day was late in the evening. Someone knocked on our door and in came a newly married couple who we have just met in passing. She works at the boarding school and he is in ministry. They came by to greet us. That is what Nigerians do. There is a long greeting that you say to everyone. You ask in Hausa: Good Evening. How are you? How is your tiredness? How is your home? How are your children? See you later. The answer to all the questions is basically “fine.” It is really interesting. Anyway, this couple gave us a 10 yard piece of material to make matching clothes for us all. That is really popular here. I literally cried when I opened it. Nigeria is known for corruption and we have been warned time and again to be on guard because even the nicest people are out to get something. To be given such a generous gift by some people we barely know was unbelievably precious. On top of that, they wanted to pray for us and the husband prayed the most powerful prayer we have heard here. It was so encouraging. Then, the wife shared her secret with me that she is carrying a baby! It was all so special. I just wish we had gotten to know them better before now. Their faith is deep and refreshing.

The boys have been going and blowing and playing non-stop with all the kids who are here on vacation. At night when they take a bath the water is dark brown by the time they get out. They love it here. **** will be action packed with plenty of kids to play with too. The cool part about ***** is that they are all Nigerian, and they don’t speak much English, so our boys will pick up Hausa I’m sure. I have been working with a sweet lady here on Hausa learning, and boy is it hard for grown ups to learn new languages!

For the past few weeks I had a Bible study in our home on Mondays for a few of my new Nigerian friends and Zsuzsa, another missionary here. Zsuzsa wanted to have a girls’ dinner and movie night. We decided to surprise Ruth, my house help and friend, by honoring her for her birthday at our little party. It was a few days early, but she was so very blessed. I gave her a pedicure and you can see a picture on the picasa link. It was a blast.

I am excited about the big conference this Wednesday through Sunday and hope it will be challenging. Please pray for our children to feel comfortable in the programs designed for them. There is a team from the states that has come to work with the kids.

Today was the big New Year’s Day celebration in our town. New Year is much bigger than Christmas here and there was so much to see. We visited Aaron’s good friend, Emmanuel, and his wife fed us lunch (see Picasa link). Emmanuel went with us to town where they were having traditional dance presentations. There were people EVERYWHERE! We snuck in the side entrance to the arena type area and found seats, but some of the ushers quickly found us and took us to the “Honored Guests” section. Just having white skin ensured you a seat there. Now we know how John and Pat feel all the time! The sights and sounds were amazing and my only regret is that my camera battery died right at the beginning, so I don’t have many pictures. It was a wonderful experience.

We are trying to be patient and not think or stress about the enormity of moving soon. We are very excited to get there, but just wish we could bypass the actual move! There is much to be done, but nothing we can do right now. We will spend time with Auntie at conference and make a game plan for the moving process. Please pave the way for us in prayer that we can be powerful and effective for the kingdom. Please pray that our move will be ordered out and that God will open and close doors making it very clear how we are to serve and minister in *****. There are endless options and we need wisdom and direction. Thank you for your encouragement and support!

Oh yes, for those of you who asked, Wado means Warrior in Irigwe.

Camerooned: Dry Season Browns

2007-12-27T21:20:00.000-08:00

Below is a blog post I read while researching the dry season. We are all struggling with dry cough, dry skin, dry everything. The post below is a perfect description of the weather here and I thought I would just share it rather than writing it again in my own words. Please pray for our bodies to adjust to the dryness and especially for Caleb and Lydia to be able to breath easily at night.

Camerooned: Dry Season Browns

2007-12-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We have had a wonderful holiday season for not being at home. We miss our family and friends so much, but everyone here is away from family too, so everyone just joins together as a new family. It is so cool.

We spent breakfast with Jim and Linda (see new pictures) and opened presents with them. The boys had a blast of course. Linda made a wonderful breakfast and we just love being with them.

Lunch was at the Porter’s house, (where we had Thanksgiving dinner) so it was yummy and very much like home. This evening we will have Nigerian Christmas dinner with the boarding school staff next door.

There are many missionaries here at our compound for the holidays and there are all kinds of activities going on. It won’t slow down until after the big SIM conference coming up next week. At that point we will begin the ordeal of moving to *****.

We are anxious and excited to get there, but overwhelmed by the hugeness of moving so much stuff! You know how it is to move. So that is our life in a nutshell.

Hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Christmas season. God bless you and may Jesus be the center of your celebrations.

2007-12-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

We were priveledged to participate in an awesome ministry today.

The Porter Family, who lives in our compound, has been in Nigeria for about 20 years. They had young children when they came to Nigeria (he is a Dentist) and they received countless care packages for their children that first Christmas. They were overwhelmed by their many blessings compared to the poverty around them. They began a yearly tradition of contacting local churches and getting names of needy widows. They create a goodie box for each one and visit them in their homes.

We were able to go to six houses today and the Porters visited 30! Just our six was a long day, so I know the Porters are exhausted! Please visit the new album on our Picasa link for pictures from our adventure. It was so special to trek into different villages and find these elderly people and shower them with gifts. They were overwhelmed with thanfulness. It was so much fun! We walked at least half a mile into the bush for the last stop. I pray the boys really understood what we were doing.

We took each person a box of food and a wrapper, which is a large piece of material. One lady just kept putting her head in her hands and saying she was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. We are so very honored to be able to share a little of our blessings with these precious children of God.

We will treasure the memories from today and we can't thank all of you enough for making this possible.

2007-12-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

I forgot one thing in the post below. On my birthday, Aaron and I were asked to play Mary and Joseph in the Christmas Presentation for parents at the school next door. Lydia was "Baby Jesus." I am working on uploading the pictures but it is not moving very fast. If they get there you can see two very blurry pictures of our performance!

2007-12-18T13:01:00.001-08:00

It’s almost Christmas! I had a delightful African Birthday and was totally spoiled by all our new friends. We had dinner with one family on my birthday, then the next morning we went on a picnic up on a big rocky area with our adopted parents. On top of all that, that night they kept the boys while another family made a candlelight dinner for Aaron and me. It was wonderful!

Last week we were privileged to have a family over who is Nigerian and living in our town. They are amazing and are doing some awesome things in ministry, equipping the people to making a living by raising meat rabbits, growing soybeans and other things. This man is so wise and interesting and we learned many things from him. Then Monday we had another great time of learning with a Christian man who is from the people group we have come to explore. He gave us some really good information and we shared a meal with him and then he stayed and we picked his brain for a few hours. It was most enlightening.

Today we took Ruth and her parents to Jos. Ruth’s elder sister, Auntie Susie, has been very sick and in and out of the SIM hospital. This family is very strong in their faith and we have gotten to witness them rise up in the power of the Lord despite hard times. Ruth came over early this morning to tell us they just got word that Auntie Susie died. We all cried together. We had visited her in the hospital and prayed for her. They brought her home and we had been keeping up with her recovery, but then she took a turn for the worse and was back in the hospital for two days before her death.

After much sickness, they finally discovered she had HIV which is so common here. She was actually an HIV nurse and somehow got the disease from years of contact with patients. Ruth’s family is so blessed by our taking part in this time with them. They keep thanking us and thanking us and we keep telling them that they are our friends and this is how we do things in our part of the world! I think the fact that we are white and still loving them through this is the strange part to them. It has been a privilege to share this time with them and Baba (Ruth’s father, David Weze) keeps telling us to write home and greet our family and church for him and his family and to remember how we have touched their lives. It is you back home who are making it possible! What a gift.

Ruth’s father gave Aaron a name from his tribe. Aaron is now Wado and I am Mrs. Wado. They introduce him to all their family and friends as their son and Mr. Wado, and they say that we are Ruth’s parents! It is delightful. Concerning how they are handling the loss of Auntie Susie, life here is so different and death is so common. I wish I could describe how people view life and death and trials in this culture. They almost embrace it and expect hardship. They are especially grateful when things go well, because they are always ready for the worst.

When I go into town I always think of you back home and how I wish you could see what I see: everyone walking with great loads on their heads; beautiful people in beautiful bright colors; millions of flip-flop shod, dusty feet; men holding live chickens on the side of the road trying to sell them to you; barely functioning cars filled with people; millions of motorcycles and no traffic rules; all the children with wide smiles waving at us; countless babies tied on their momma’s backs. . .beauty all around. This is Africa.

Answered Prayer

2007-12-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

We are so grateful to announce that both the vaccines we need have been found and are ready to be given to us. We will get the Hep A (which was brought by a traveler from the US) this coming week and the meningitis at the big conference the first week in January. It has been an ordeal to say the least, but God is so good and he answered our prayers. Thank you for praying with us.

2007-12-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

First of all, we have regular internet service again and are enjoying it until we move in January! So if you want to write us please do! The picture of the man with the generator on his head is so typical here. Everyone carries everything on their heads and I even saw a little girl who couldn’t be much over a year old with a rock on her head just trying to be like everyone else! There is a lady who comes to my door selling watermelons and she usually has about five of them with a pineapple or two up on a tray on her head! Ouch!

We have enjoyed having several people into our home recently. I have been making Mexican food and that is totally foreign to everyone here! Unlike going to Mexico, African food isn’t a treat for the most part. I taught Ruth how to help me make flour tortillas and we have had homemade salsa with huevos y papas (eggs and potatoes). It is a hit! It is fun letting people try something new, especially when they enjoy it. Thankfully this is a yummy food to everyone we’ve introduced it to so far. Tonight Ruth and her family will join us for dinner and that will be fun. There are still several people we want to have over before we move, so we are working hard at fitting everyone in. I love it!

On Friday we had Zsuzsa and her family over to celebrate her birthday and I fixed Mexican food for our family and Ruth made pounded yam and agusi soup for Zsuzsa because it is her favorite. We don’t care for it, but it is a big deal here. Many pictures and art in this area show women pounding yam. Be sure and see our pictures for this week with Ruth and Aaron and Caleb pounding the yam. Their “yam” is a huge tuber that is white inside and kind of slimy when cooked. We haven’t developed a taste for it yet. When it is pounded it is then put in little baggies. You are supposed to take a baggie of it and pull off pieces with your hands and then dip it in the soup stuff. There are even little bowls of water placed on the tables to wash your hands after you eat.

Friday is my 29th birthday and Zsuzsa is having us over that night. Then on Saturday night the Porters have offered to fix Aaron and me a candle lit dinner out on their patio, while the Crouches keep our children! Wow! I am so excited to have a real date with Aaron. This is the last week of school for the boarding school next door and tomorrow night the girls group that I have spent a little time with is coming over to our house for a “Birthday Party for Jesus.” The boys are excited about making the cake.

There is a butchery here on our compound and recently the boys got to watch a cow be slaughtered. They loved it and were not scared or anything. Today I went by the outdoor area where they do the slaughtering and noticed that they had just killed three huge hogs. I told Aaron and the boys and they spent an hour watching the show. Disgusting. What an education.

2007-12-05T04:45:00.000-08:00

“Through faith and patience we inherit the promises!” Heb. 6:12

Wow. Where do I begin? We have been on a ride this past week. The spiritual battle was raging and we were getting defeated, but the Lord has overcome again, and we are praising Him for VICTORY in our home and in our lives! Aaron sent our church prayer team (a group of five people from our church that meets to pray for us once a month) a list of things that we needed serious prayer about. It included our oldest son and his outright rebellion and the fact that he actually ran away last week and was literally out of control.

He also talked vulnerably about his frustration here and his heart sickness for home and all things familiar. We are still in a place of waiting (like for our Hep A vaccines so we can start moving to ****) and this period of being still and preparing spiritually for our move has been very challenging to Aaron. I am excited and anxious to get going, but for Aaron it is a whole mindset shift. He is used to his coaching job with a daily checklist of things to do and accomplish and a constant flow of activity. Our life here is about time and relationships and takes a whole new attitude about what productivity really is! Last week, as we were being attacked in our children’s behavior, Aaron was really struggling with many adjustment issues and on top of all that he was sick. Being sick makes everything much more overwhelming.

Aaron asked our group to pray for him to stop focusing on himself and to focus outward on all the ministry opportunities right here while we wait for our move at the first of the year; to focus on his family and specifically his marriage and how to be proactive in loving me. Wow, that blessed me for sure! I think it would be easier to just chill out and enjoy this holiday month and the preparations we need to make, especially in prayer, for our move, if Aaron didn’t feel like he had been unproductive for so long already. We have been in a waiting game since school ended last spring. This summer was super busy and Aaron did work, but not at a job that felt significant. Moreover, since we made it to Africa, we have just been trying to figure out the people and the culture and get established here and also make our way to ****. None of that feels very productive! However, we know that we are getting to touch so many lives right here while we wait and we also know that our time in the Word and in prayer is paving our way to our next location. We are very excited about this unreached group we look forward to getting to know, and I believe the enemy is doing everything he can to discourage us from running hard after pursuing that people group.

After our prayer team met, we immediately felt a release. Praise the Lord!! This new week I can attest to the fact that Aaron’s spirits are much higher and his attitude is so much better. It is a daily battle to “take every thought captive” but the Lord is really growing us both. The Lord has been so gentle with us in that when one of us is having a hard time the other one is strong. This week Aaron struggled and I was strong but it has definitely been the opposite more times than not!

The rest of our time here in this compound will be super busy because many missionaries will be coming to stay here for Christmas and then the first week of the New Year is the huge annual SIM conference. After that, we will hopefully have all our vaccines and we can get busy moving! Our new “home” in **** is going to be a major adjustment all over again, but we are ready and excited. I hope all these details about our struggles are not too much to be putting on a public site, but I just want to be real with you all. I have read so many web pages as we prepared to enter the mission field and I never found much to give me a real life picture of what they were doing or experiencing. I want you to experience this with us and know how to cover us in prayer. The battle is real and raging and we will be eaten alive without the prayers of the saints. Thank you for your support in prayer. It is invaluable.

As I said, we have had a much better week and as of yesterday, our son has had an attitude change. Praise the Lord! Our most exciting PRAISE is that our youngest son has been diaper free for three days with little or no accidents! When you have two children in cloth diapers, successful potty training is a huge reason to celebrate! My Bible study with a few local women is really encouraging me and them, and Aaron is making relationships with some of the local young men by just playing basketball with them. He was able to take them to a soccer game in Jos on Sunday and they were so blessed by that. I also praise God for our health and for our successful home school recently.

Our internet is down and we have come to Jos (a city about 45 minutes away) to post this and we don’t know when we will be online again. This is good practice for how it will be when we move to ****! Thank you for your patience with all my rambling. God bless you and Merry Christmas!

2007-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Aaron was honored to be able to preach the Thanksgiving service at the boarding school on the other side of our compound. The chapel is so old and beautiful. You may have seen pictures of it in our web album. There is a new web album titled 26Nov2007 with pictures inside the chapel and pictures of us in our traditional Nigerian clothing. Look out! Aaron did a great job and everyone said they understood his Texan drawl! We were invited to eat with the children after church and that was special. Our new friends, Philip and Ann were there, and we got some pictures of them. They will be hard to say goodbye to in a month. There are also a couple of pictures of Lydia sucking her thumb. Although I dread breaking the habit if it continues, right now it is so cute and convenient!

Until we move to our new location in January, we are trying to fill our days with productive things. We are painfully learning some Hausa in the afternoons from our house help friend, Ruth. We have finally gotten serious about a daily schedule and home school. I have come to realize (I remember and forget this quite regularly!) that in order to keep a peaceful and productive home, I have to stay home 95% of the time! We have done just that this week, and even though we have had company and visitors, it has been much more organized and we have had successful home school.

We are trying to have all our new friends over and spend this month just learning the people, their hearts, and the culture here. This area is predominately Christian and I am glad for this opportunity to see what the missionaries who have come before us have accomplished by God’s grace. It is encouraging and faith building, giving us hope for the possibilities, through God’s power and your prayers, for the millions of unreached still left in the world. It is specifically building our faith and excitement for the unreached in the area where we are moving to soon. We are especially excited about the newly classified people group that has zero Christian presence. They are located about thirty minutes from Auntie’s place (probably not very far if the roads were more than a path through the bush). Please pray for the Lord to open the door and prepare the hearts of the leadership in that village for us, or whomever the Lord sends to them, with His Good News!

Our current “plan” for our time in **** is to help disciple the new believers at Auntie’s mission station, for Aaron to do some discipleship in a ***** village (the enormous unreached people group we came here to investigate) and to spend a significant amount of time, if God wills, forming relationships in this new unreached people group in hopes of being able to present the gospel to them in a relevant way. Although the children and I will be at our new home the majority of the time, we hope to accompany Aaron to the bush one or two mornings per week. Our presence is such a blessing to the people. They are so interested to see white skin and especially in their own village!

In addition to spending time learning about Nigeria until we move to *****, we have been able to volunteer some with the school next door and join a few of their devotional group meetings. These children are really being taught God’s Word and it is exciting. May they grow up to win this country for the Lord! Most significantly we are using these next few weeks to pave our way to **** in prayer, and we thank you for your partnership in that. The only way we can do anything is by God’s grace and the only way anyone will listen to our message is if the Lord opens their ears and hearts. Satan has control and will not easily give that up. Please also keep praying for the Hep A vaccine to be located because we cannot proceed with our move until we receive it. We thank and praise God for our safety and health thus far. Please keep covering those areas in prayer. Specifically pray for Lydia and Caleb’s chest congestion to be healed in Jesus Name. Also, please pray for patience and purpose for Aaron during this waiting period. My life is very busy and very similar to my life in Texas, but Aaron’s life is TOTALLY different. He is used to being super busy with his coaching job. Being here as a missionary and not working a clearly defined job with things to check off and accomplish each day is a HUGE adjustment.

We can’t thank you enough for your continual prayers and encouraging notes. I need to warn you that we are not receive every email that is sent to us so if you email and we don’t respond, try try again! One last thing, please pray for my mom as she and Daddy are going to a conference/vacation for a week leaving Sunday and her knee is causing her serious pain. Please pray she will feel good on their trip. Thank you!

I can’t believe it is Christmas season. Enjoy!

2007-11-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

I just had to put a post with this basketball picture. Aaron asked a new friend if anyone around our compound played basketball. Soccer (football they call it) is the popular sport and not many people really play basketball. Well, a group of guys got together this afternoon to play with Aaron and they were a sight to see. One guy was barefoot and one guy had one flip flop and one bare foot! Aaron said their way of playing ball was interesting to say the least. He had a great time, however, and they are playing again tomorrow! These are just local guys from the town we live in.

I got the praise and prayer report for our area and we were mentioned: "AARON & SHELLY TEFERTILLER (Nigeria) and their 4 kids will be moving to a remote location in January. This will be a huge adjustment. They are excited about the move, but they do need our diligent prayers." Once we get our necessary vaccines, we will be pushing hard to move by the first part of January. There is a huge SIM conference here at our compound the first week in January so we plan to leave as soon as that ends. The details in preparing the house in ***** to make it habitable for our family and transporting all our things to this location are just as overwhelming as moving to Africa in the first place. Please pray for everything to fall into place and for us to know how to get it all organized. We are excited and ready to go but we need you to cover us in prayer all along the way.

One more thing, our dog Nash, that Aaron and I got right after we were married, died yesterday. My parents have been taking care of him and it was a huge loss for them and for us. Elisha has cried many tears. Please pray for my parents in this loss and for us. I know it doesn't seem like a big thing, but something like this is hard when you are already missing your family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

Wow! We have so much to be thankful for, don't we? We had a wonderful Texas-Style Thanksgiving feast with the other missionary families here on our compound. Someone told me that this compound was a very soft place to land in Nigeria. She was right. We feel so at home and so loved here and we were totally spoiled tonight with chicken and dressing and even pumpkin pie! It was delightful and I am stuffed. The boys had a blast. I have posted new pictures from our evening and they include the other missionaries here as well as a team of three electricians who have come from the US for three weeks to work on the generators. We missed our family very much today, but what a blessing to be surrounded by new loved ones. May we all take time to be truly thankful today and every day.

2007-11-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Last week was really hard. We found out we needed certain vaccines that we should have taken care of stateside. Without these shots, we cannot move forward with our work or our plans to relocate to the station with “Auntie.” We finally heard from the Lord about our mission here and the enemy put up a road block. I guess we should expect that and even be grateful, for it means we are on the right track! We wrongly assumed we could get three vaccines here and one specifically is not available in Africa. We dropped the ball on this one and in our frantic preparations for leaving in October this slipped through the cracks. On top of that, due to some miscommunication, SIM was under the impression that we had intentionally disobeyed orders. It was all very hard and painful, but God is in control and works everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We are still praying that the Hepatitis A vaccine can be located for Aaron and me. Like I said, we are at a standstill until we get it. So, that was our bad week.

Now, I have to share how the Lord has strengthened and encouraged us! Sunday night a missionary family brought us a surprise. The wife of the dentist here had been in the states for two weeks surrounding her mother’s funeral. Despite all she had on her mind, she arranged for my mom to send a care package to her so she could carry it back to us. When she brought by this box on Sunday night and I opened it to find coffee and goodies and a new DVD for the boys,. . . wow, it was so special!!! We were greatly surprised and blessed.

Then, yesterday we went into the city to have a meeting with the SIM people about the vaccine mess. The meeting went very well and afterwards, we went out to lunch at an American Style café. We REALLY enjoyed our food and as we were finishing up, a lady (obviously a missionary) stopped at our table to praise our children’s behavior. That in itself was a huge blessing, especially since we were stressed the whole time about how they were acting! Then when that lady and her husband left, the waiter came over to tell us that they had paid for our meal! We were shocked. It was so precious to see how God used them to strengthen and bless us. On top of that, we went to a nearby guesthouse to meet with someone and when we pulled up that couple was there! They live at a mission station several hours away and were in town for a vacation. We never expected to see them again. We messed up their desire to give in secret, but the cool part is that they are working with an unreached people group in Northern Nigeria and want to share about their ministry with us. It could be a very important connection.

We are just in awe of the Lord and how he has blessed us and moved in our lives this week. Our last exciting news is that on Thursday, the missionary families here will gather for an American Style Thanksgiving Feast and we are so excited. The Lord has provided so beautifully for all our needs and our wants. May He be praised!

As I stated above, the spiritual battle to keep us from moving out to ***** is real and strong. We desperately need your prayer coverage. The lady over us at the SIM office said that all the people who work with this specific people group come under much attack. She said it is imperative that we have serious prayer coverage. We assured her that we have an amazing team at home! Please keep praying. Have a wonderful THANKSGIVING!

Texas Pride

2007-11-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

Hey People! It is cooling off in your world but still warm here. There have been a few mornings when a chill is in the air and most people on the street have on winter coats! It is a scream. The weather is changing though, and it is windy and DRY with dust from the Sahara Desert blowing in. It causes everyone to get sick and that is part of the reason people bundle up. It is mostly to keep the wind and dust off. Like a long term missionary told us, the Harmaton (dust blowing in) doesn’t hold a candle to a west Texas sand storm!

I must say that so far, Texas weather has totally prepared us for Africa. When people ask us where we are from and we say Texas they all grin and have an understanding of where that is. Texas is famous you know! We met a 23 year old missionary serving with YWAM (youth with a mission) two days ago when we visited a YWAM school. He said, are you from Texas? He is from Pennsylvania or something. I said, is it that obvious and he said YES! Recently, I was leaving a building and there was a Yankee and a Nigerian I had been talking to. I said “Bye Y’All” before I realized how I sounded! They were amused. We have been in contact with people from all over the world and it is so cool to hear everyone’s accent. I wonder what they think of us?!

Aaron has been asked to preach at the boarding school next door for their “Thanksgiving” Service. I am wondering if the kids will even be able to understand the tall white Texan. He is going to wear his new African outfit so it should all be a sight to see!

Well, I just wanted to write so the blog would have some activity. We are still working toward getting to *****. We are missing two vaccines that we have to receive before we can go to the bush again, so please pray the SIM nurse here can locate two Hep A shots and Meningitis for our whole family. This is urgent because everything is on hold until we get them. Thank you so much for your prayers and notes. We love you all!

Two Nights and Three Days on the Field

2007-11-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

We got home today from two nights in ***** with “Auntie’s” ministry to unreached peoples. Her mission station there is amazing and God is really at work. We are so excited to have the opportunity to be part of what is going on. She has no water or power to her home, but is set up with a water tank system and solar panels so she has some electricity and “running” water. I gave the boys a “bath” with tubs of water. They LOVE it there. Elisha just thrives in the culture here where kids hang in groups and play all day. Judah is more reserved, of course, but is enjoying the action too. Caleb has been sick and we are just praying for his chronic congestion issues to go away.

Auntie drove us up through the bush to a remote village that has just recently been targeted as an unreached people group. She is unsure of the population, but there is not one known believer among them. We got out and greeted the people (they are not the specific people group we have come to investigate) and they were so excited to have us. They all wanted their picture taken and were very impressed with Lydia. There is a wide open door for us to go spend time with them and work on our language learning. All people in this country speak Hausa in addition to their tribal language. Hopefully we will begin serious language studies very soon. Even if we only spend our eight months and then go to a totally different area, we need to learn this language to connect with the people now. We have studied and found that language learning is a huge part of bonding with the people and culture.

***** is very rustic and hard compared to the plush living conditions were are enjoying at the moment, but from our short stay this weekend, it is clear that ***** is where we need to be to really experience the language, people, and culture. In our present location it is rare to even meet a non-Christian. However, at Auntie’s station they are in and out every day. She is a safe haven for the group we have come to minister to. They are not interested in her religion, but know they can stop at her place and wash up or get water or say their prayers on their treks to market or as they work. She has a relationship with many of them. By God’s grace these relationships often lead to an open door to share the gospel. This people group has a thick veil concerning spiritual matters and much of the time Auntie says they don’t even understand what she shares. They are in deep bondage, but the Holy Sprit can take away that veil and give them a hunger for truth.

There are endless opportunities for service in this location and there is a “house” that has been offered to us. After so many years on the field, Auntie has much knowledge and supplies to get us comfortably set up and we would have house help for fetching water and hand washing clothes, etc. Tonight our washer is broken here again, and so I hand washed about forty cloth diapers out of necessity since Ruth won’t come to work until Monday. I have a much greater appreciation for her now! Aaron’s “job” in ***** is endless and there are so many young men who are hungry for the Word and to just visit with him.

Every morning the fifty something people who live there have prayer time and at night they have devotionals as a group. Afterward, there is much visiting and Aaron has been a part of that the last two nights. It is not culturally relevant for him to be helping me as much as we are both used to, but God’s grace has been amazing. I do hope we will find a godly young lady to help me with the children if we spend more time there. But please don’t worry about us neglecting each other or our family time. It is our priority to make time for us to be together so our ministry doesn’t destroy our family or our children. ***** is a great place for our boys and although there is the possibility of outside dangers, the people who live at Auntie’s place are precious and it is such a safe place for our children. There are many children living there whose non-Christian parents have left for them to be educated so they just live communally as young as nine years old. Such a different world!

There is so much more to share, but I’ll save you from reading more! Please pray for us to hear clearly what we need to do and where we need to spend these eight months. We have felt so out of sorts and un-needed here in this compound because this is not what we came to do. These three days in ***** are what we were called to do and experience! However, we need courage and confirmation if we are to plunge in and leave this bubble we are in for real missions. I think we already know the answer! And God will give us all we need to do this thing He has called us to. The main negative aspect to spending our time in ***** is that we will not have internet access, and the precious contact we enjoy with all of you will be limited to every two or three weeks. Please continue to pray for our vision and direction. We feel your prayers thus far and I believe our experience these last three days and the things God has shown us are fruit from the prayers of the saints; that’s you!

2007-11-04T02:50:00.000-08:00

So much happens every day and I have to decide what is worth writing about and sharing. I want to give you all insight into our lives but not bore you with unnecessary details.

We took an overnight trip on Friday to a nearby town where many SIM missionaries live. They have a monthly pot luck dinner and we were excited about going and getting to know some people. We booked the night at the SIM guesthouse so we could stay after dark and not travel in the dark. Thankfully, Judah and Elisha were over their fever episodes, but Caleb had started one. I assured Aaron that he would be fine since the other boys just had fever for 24 hours and then it passed. Well, I was wrong. Caleb threw up all over Aaron right after we got to the pot luck dinner! We fixed a to-go plate and left. Oh well, TIA.

We got back to the guest house and the evening and night was full of vomit and diarrhea. Aaron was the one who stayed up with Caleb. He is a wonderful daddy, I must say. By Saturday night Caleb was a bit better, but still has thrown up more because his chronic congestion and cough gets out of control and then he vomits. He seems better today. So to wrap all that up, please just pray for Caleb’s congestion and breathing issues and for complete and final healing in that, as well as continued prayer for all of our bodies to adjust to all the new germs here.

Next event: We love our house helper, Ruth. She is not normal for this culture and actually wears pants most of the time and is very outgoing. She loves to tease and laugh and she and Aaron crack each other up. However, she is from a wonderful Christian home and her father has been all over the world and worked with many ministries. Very rare here. We are enjoying Ruth and she has been cooking Nigerian food for us. Our washing machine broke and Ruth has taken over hand washing our mountain of clothes and even cloth diapers. She is only 22 years old, but is such a wealth of knowledge and a very hard worker. We are grateful for her. She and I stay busy with the washing, cooking and cleaning. I am still trying to figure out how to effectively fit home school in!

Ruth brought us some fried sweet potatoes and I loved them. We asked if we could buy a batch from her. She just brought us some and said her mother wanted to give them to us. I said I would make them some cinnamon rolls. So last night we took a batch to their house. Her parents are in their seventies and have ten children. They are precious and speak wonderful English. We had a delightful time visiting with them. They have an eight year old grandson living there too so the boys had fun as well!

They have a very nice house for this area, but still no running water. They do have their own well. I found out from Ruth that they live on less than $50 per month which is a pension her mother gets from working for the government when she was younger. $20 of that goes to the electric bill, so they live on less than $30 per month and that takes care of Ruth, her sister and her sister’s son, as well as Ruth’s youngest brother. Ruth said they live on very little, but people always think they are rich because they eat well. She said they can live on very little because they pray and pay their tithes and live wisely for the Lord. Isn’t that awesome?

Ruth really wants to be a nurse, and they have decided that we should save her wages for her until we leave so it can go towards schooling. The rate per hour for house help here is less than 35 cents! We are in shock about that, but can’t pay her much more because that would mean she made more than a skilled laborer, and that isn’t fair to the economy. Hopefully we will be able to add to her wages when we leave and enable her to go to nursing school.

After we visited outside for a little while, they asked us to come inside the house right before we left so Baba (the name for older men in Nigeria) could pray over our family. Mama (the name for older women) came out of the bedroom with a toboggan on her head! I almost laughed out loud because they are always laughing and joking. Thankfully I remembered that in this culture, women always wear head coverings for church and prayer. Ruth took a doily off the couch for her head and so I grabbed one too. Aaron said we were a sight! Baba blessed us in prayer and we went home. They were so grateful for our visit and asked us to please come again when we could stay longer. And they were very excited about the sweet rolls (-:

The community here is predominantly Christian and the missionary influence over the years is evident. There is a growing Muslim population and that is an area for prayer. However, the people group we came to work with is totally Muslim and completely unreached. They are all over Nigeria and there are few believers. The Christians around us are of other tribes and people groups and they don’t really like this unreached group. Therefore, there is no outreach from the Africans. We pray we can be a light to them. We plan to visit Auntie in the town three hours away this Thursday. We will stay for a night or two and get to know some of this people group and investigate ways they can be reached with the gospel. We are hoping to spend some time in prayer and intercession for these people with Auntie. I feel that is the most powerful thing we can do. So please pray for our trip and for us to all be healthy and stay healthy throughout our time away from our comfortable little home here. Thank you for all the emails you send encouraging us and sharing your prayer requests. They are precious!

We are still adjusting to sporadic electricity and water, but thankfully we have gas for our stove so that is always available! Our internet is currently down and anytime we travel we won’t have access either. I am using a nearby office to post this. However, we will check emails when we can and we are grateful when you write!

Elisha, Judah and Caleb Speak

2007-10-31T23:14:00.001-07:00

Many of you have asked about the boys and how they like it here. If you ask them they say it’s boring, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth! There is constant activity here for them. There are always children around to play with and when we go out into the community there are Nigerian children everywhere who are very interested in the Bature (white person). As soon as the boys act interested and friendly, playtime begins, even if the children don’t speak English. It is so cool. The most popular sport here is soccer and Elisha is getting the hang of it!

They love all the critters and finally caught a lizard recently. They have seen many but were never quick enough to claim one before. What a celebration they had over that little guy. Poor lizard! Thankfully they eventually let it go after inflicting much unintended trauma. Boys.

The food here is pretty basic with lots of rice and veggies involved. The boys have done pretty well. Judah is the picky one, but is learning to try new things because there may not be any other option for several hours. They have eaten a lot of Nigerian groundnut butter and Nigerian honey! The ground nut butter is just like natural peanut butter at home but the honey is more like molasses. We are blessed to be able to buy beautiful loaves of homemade bread for less than 50 cents a loaf and it is just like at home. Yummy! The boys have made that their staple food. I made my cinnamon rolls for some friends recently and the boys were very excited to have one of their favorite familiar foods.

Lydia, of course, has had no change in her diet. She loves her milk and is still growing super fast. At not even three months old, she is in 3-6 month clothes already. We went to the nearby Nigerian primary boarding school’s chapel last Sunday and the boys loved the praise. It was pretty much American hymns but the children sang so loud and joyfully.

This place is a dream for the boys with so much outdoor play and so many friends. They will surely miss the action when we get back to the states! We can’t thank you enough for your prayers for them and their adjustment and health. Oh, and in answer to Olivia, there is a zoo about an hour from here as well as a game park a few hours away. Hopefully we will get to experience both as the boys would love that! So far the most exotic thing we have seen is a baby viper snake that the boys got to witness being captured here on our compound!

The boys have had their hard days or moments with all the changes and newness. The hardest part is when our children are sick. I must admit that even in the states, I really struggled with fear when I had a sick child. . .especially a very young baby. I have many memories of being up in the night with Caleb sick and hearing a voice saying, “you think this is hard, imagine being in a foreign country with a sick baby. You can’t be a missionary.” Obviously this is an area where I tend to be attacked. Elisha is sick with a fever as I write this. Please keep our family and our health in your prayers. We are so grateful for you all. Aaron was up much of the night checking on Elisha and praying. He will be exhausted today, but I know those prayers are a sweet fragrance to the Lord.

Please pray that our faith will increase and we will not fear. Moreover, that our days will be spent in effective service to the King and we will somehow be used to further the Kingdom in this land.

Beautiful People

2007-10-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

What a great time whenever we get to be around children. Elisha is always ready to play and Judah usually follows right in. Here is a group of boys our guys met and played with during a conference recently.

Comfort Food

2007-10-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

I just have to blog about my wonderful day. Caleb went with Aaron to Jos and Lydia, the boys and I stayed home and got many things done. It was my first slow day and it was great! I have been craving familiar foods and trying to figure out how use what I have to make something we recognize! Tonight I finally made a good meal. I just have to brag about it! It was great to have something we are used to. Another missionary gave me some dry pinto beans (can you believe they don’t have them here?) and I made some of Pat’s famous salsa. I used Jennifer’s tortilla recipe and we had a feast! Then for desert I made one of the four precious brownie mixes I brought from home. We were actually celebrating Elisha’s adoption anniversary. It was delightful! Besides the fact that cheese was missing from our Mexican food night (cheese is unbelievably expensive here and we only get powdered milk) it was very much like a normal meal in Texas. I am learning to really appreciate the simple things (-:

Thank you so much for keeping up with our web page. Please send us any prayer requests you have. We appreciate your prayers so much and want to return the favor. I have given up praying for everyone on my list continually because it has gotten pretty big and I’m not organized enough to compile it from all the places I have people! Then I feel guilty if I leave someone out. However, when I think of you, I pray for you, and if you send us a request we really do pray. Thank you for doing the same for us.

One more thing, many of you have asked about the weather. It is very warm but as long as we have a fan going (there is no A/C) it is pretty comfortable so far. I have gotten a tan line on my feet from my flip flops!

My Two Naira; For What It’s Worth (by Aaron)

2007-10-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

People are the same wherever you go. They may dress a little differently, eat things that look a little strange, and have slightly different skin tones, but just barely below the surface we are all the same. We all desire a better life for our family, better education, better clothing, and better outcomes. These things drive us daily to outperform the previous day; to gain a leg-up. The only real thing that divides us is the haves and the have-nots; those that have Christ and those that have-not. This is the only real travesty in the world.

The things that we think make us so special and unique really don’t mean a thing. In fact those things are what cause us, most of the time, to think we are in the haves group when in reality we are not. Situations and position have nothing to do with Christ in us, even though your typical Sunday morning sermon in the states may say otherwise. No, we battle not against flesh and blood but against the rulers and the principalities of this dark world. You see, there really is a battle ragging and the outcome is not determined by status, stock options, retirement, or bumper-stickers that say “my child is a pee-wee super-star.” It is determined by how bad we really want Christ to be victorious in this war.

We were about to head back home after several hours at a youth conference for our target people group when several asked if they could get a ride down the road with us. They all climbed in our “Man Van II” along with our whole family (sardines; smell and all). There were two women in the back with Shelly and she began to talk with them. She asked if they were Muslim and they said yes. Shelly asked if they had ever heard about Jesus before. They didn’t really reply because just like most people we come in contact with, they don’t speak much English (frustrating). Elisha just flat out said “what does that mean?” Shelly told him that they don’t believe that Jesus is God and that he died for our sins. Hello battle-field!

The war wages daily and the front lines are not just in Africa, they’re in the states too. In fact, in the states we’ve been told that if we were in that situation we should just all resolve our differences and get along. We love people, but let’s not forget that there are two sides in the battle. Let’s not forget that this is a REAL battle.

Please continue to pray for us, especially me. We can see God working in everything, but I am still struggling with exactly how I fit in. . .what is my “job” you might say. You men will know what I am talking about. God is good though, and He is Big! Pray that His power is shown.

I must share one more story that will make you laugh. Elisha is a phenomenon here. They think he is Nigerian. When I tell them he is my son, this blank glaze comes over their face for about 5 seconds. It is great to watch people wrestle with that in their minds. Then they try to verbalize it. Well, I was talking with this 13 year old boy, and I was trying to form a connection. I pointed to Elisha and said he was my son. He looked over at him and then he said to me, “Is he white?”

May your day be blessed and remember: serve your King.

Strangers in a Strange Land

2007-10-23T23:44:00.000-07:00

"He who forms the mountains, creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, He who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth—the Lord Almighty is His Name(!)." Amos 4:13

To say we are strangers in this world has taken on a whole new meaning! I feel like a child who is just learning everything about the world around him. From treating veggies and fruits to make sure they are safe to hauling pure drinking water; from learning how to respectfully greet people to teaching my house helper, Ruth, how to actually "help; " there are so many new things! On top of that, we never know if we will have electricity, and I am having to stock my kitchen from scratch and figure out what and how to cook with what is available. It is a challenge just to make it through the day and keep up with cloth diapers on two babies, much less get in some time with the Lord and home school.

I think the biggest learning curve right now is meeting and greeting people! Respect is very important here. When I walk out my front door and see a worker or a guest or anyone on the compound, I am expected to stop and say hello or "Sannu." Then I must ask how they are doing and possibly about their home and family. Greetings are drawn out and very important in this culture. For me, a fast paced western girl, it is so hard to remember to take time to greet and not just jump right in to a conversation or if I don't know someone not to just divert my eyes and keep walking.

We are exploring various ministry opportunities right now including working in the remote area with the specific people group we have come to investigate. We have no idea what our role should be and are seeking the Lord for clear vision and direction. The needs here are endless and there are so many directions we could take from training national pastors to reach the bush people to going to them ourselves or even some type of sports ministry. The options are endless and our desire is to hear God's will for us.

I love this compound and the safety and comfort here. There is even a "store" of sorts (see pictures in daily life folder on picasa link) right here on the compound where I can buy all my staple goods. But going to work more directly with the specific group of people we are investigating could mean living in much harsher conditions. I am praying for a selfless attitude in case God calls us to that lifestyle. On the other hand, there are many ways to work with the people and still live in this location. We want to find God's heart and a good balance for our family. Obviously, just caring for our children takes most of my time.

The hard part for me right now is that I LOVE this home and compound and I want to settle in and "nest" here. However, not knowing how long we will be here it would be foolish to spend money and energy getting things we need and getting settle in if we are going to spend several days at a time somewhere else! I am such a "planner" by nature and for now I have to just free fall and be totally flexible and patient--not a natural thing for me! I want to be of use for the kingdom but feel like just surviving and being a good hostess to various visitors is all consuming. I am praying for vision and wisdom for Aaron and opportunities for him to serve out with the people effectively when I can't. May the Lord lead us in a straight path.

I praise Him for the peace we all feel here and the love we have been shown. I love this life despite the confusion and huge learning curve! I am also extremely grateful for the boys easy adjustment and love for all their new playmates, English-speaking or otherwise. Their best friends are actually German boys who are just learning English!

Although the people around our compound can speak English for the most part, it is their second language and our ears are not trained to understand them easily. To be effective we need to learn "Hausa" and possibly the tribal language, especially if we go to the other location, for no one speaks English there. I am grateful that the people in the compound and even my house helper, Ruth, speak English to me, but it is actually a crutch and makes it even harder to get an ear for the local language. We are supposed to start language classes, and I am trying to figure out where that will fit in my schedule as mom and homemaker. I pray that Aaron will be able to serve powerfully and learn the language, and I will bring glory to the Lord by just supporting him and his ministry.

Do you sense in my ramblings that I feel guilty like I'm not doing enough outside ministry? I know I have to give that to the Lord! My original vision of our life and ministry here was for us to work together as a family with Aaron taking us wherever he went so we could spend time with the women and children while he visited with the men. From our adventure on Saturday this plan will be very effective for touching lives and opening doors. Children are such a powerful bridge. The reality, however, is that it is much easier for Aaron to go out each day while we stay home and cook, clean and do school. There must be a feasible balance. Aaron has already been gone several times to work without us and I have much peace and little fear for him and for us while we are apart--unlike what I expected to feel!

So here is a detailed view into my thoughts and my life from Nigeria! I love you all and the ones of you who actually read this whole long boring entry I really love!

Just in case this essay gave you a negative impression, I must say that I absolutely LOVE Africa! I count being here as a privilege and answer to many years of prayer. I just need time to settle in and look forward to having a clearer vision so I can form some kind of "schedule!" (-: I am also so grateful for God's provision concerning every detail and especially our health. We have felt so good this whole time and that makes everything easier.

I must make this scripture my own: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always, having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” 2 Cor 9:8

The Honeymoon is Over!

2007-10-20T13:47:00.001-07:00

To say that today was a BIG ADVENTURE would be the understatement of the century! All six of us left the house this morning in our rental van (praise the Lord we finally have a vehicle) to follow Auntie to a camp about three hours away. Aaron got a quick education in driving in Africa. The roads are horrible and you have to watch everywhere because there are no traffic rules! It is crazy. He did a wonderful job I must say (-: The day has been relatively cool, and so that was a huge blessing with no a/c in the van. We arrived at Auntie's place and were richly welcomed. The people were so excited about Lydia and everyone wanted to hold her. One lady even put her on her back! Elisha and Judah went off immediately to play with the many many children. They didn't skip a beat. And no one there speaks English except the Pastor. He is learning. We had a wonderful time and got a glimpse of what staying there overnight would be like. We are discussing whether it would be feasible with our family because there is no electric or water and just an empty building to sleep in. Oh, my! We are even more grateful for the house we are in and how nice it is compared to anywhere else we have seen. We had a wonderful lunch and the boys even ate well. It was basically American food. We had a great time and Elisha didn't want to leave. We thought, "wow, this has been a breeze!" Little did we know the day had just begun. We went to the bush on nonexistent roads for miles and miles and miles until we finally came to some land Antie owns. She showed us her farm and then took us deeper in to a camp of the people we have come to serve. Wow. Can you say primitive? There is no water or electric and the houses are grass huts kind of like an upside down weaved basket. I (along with another lady who came along for the day) were greatly honored by being asked to go into one of the women's huts. The door is so low that even Caleb had to duck! It was wild. We were offered a bowl of what looked like balls of fat on a piece of bone. The lady left us there with it and we pretended to eat some. Sorry Terrie, I'm not as brave as you! We finally left and drove and drove back home. We ended up driving in the dark for two hours which was a big no no and not planned. TIA! We prayed the whole way and everything went smoothly. By the time we made it home Aaron had a tension headache! God is so faithful. We cried with joy when we made it home and I can assure you that from now on Aaron will never let that happen again. The lady over our time here told me that sharing specifics like the locations and the people group and her name could put everyone in danger from certain religious groups. Therefore, from now on I will attempt to be very discrete in my writings. Thank you so much for your prayers. We needed them today! Imagine all the pictures you have seen of primitive Africa and we lived them today. Children drawing water from wells. Everyone carrying buckets on their heads, many naked children, you name it. The boys are so young and they just took it all (for the most part) in stride. It was awesome. The women are so beautiful and even the little girls have a baby on their backs. Like six year old girls! It is wild. I can't wait to post some pictures from today. Check the picture link and hopefully they will be there soon. Please pray for direction for us. There are many opportunities to work with this specific people group and many angles to take. Pray we will have wisdom and a heart for God's plan for us. Farewell for now.

Another Long Read!

2007-10-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Orientation was great and Aaron got a chance to experience the enormous market area after we finished. We actually had an evening at home. "Auntie," the woman over the area of ministry we are in, came over and visited for a while. She began describing to us what our time here will look like and explaining more about the culture. It was very informative. We will spend the next three days with her and are excited about what we are learning. We are on information overload!

This compound is so nice and comfortable. It is actually a rest place for missionaries to come for a break and we get to live here! God is so good. The boys are in love and delighting in everything. I am a bit concerned about how much Aaron may be gone from us traveling to other camps and such. Judy wants him to go on a three day trip with her and several others. We are praying about that. I am writing this knowing the internet is not working tonight. We were without electricity for several hours this afternoon and early evening. Aaron keeps saying “TIA” which is his code for “THIS IS AFRICA!” when something goes wrong (-: We are adjusting and praising God for how well the children are doing. I am rejoicing in the fact that I got my first hot shower today! We miss and love you all.

The above I wrote yesterday and now it is Thursday afternoon. I am home alone with the children for the first time since our arrival. Aaron went to Jos to hopefully pick up our vehicle. Elisha, Lydia and I went to the local market this morning with my friend, Zsuzsa, who is a missionary here from Hungry. She has given me so much help and information! The market was intense to say the least. It is much smaller than Jos but very crowded and close. The smell was overwhelming in some places. I got vegetables and bananas and a piece of cloth for the boys to have Nigerian shirts made.

Aaron and I have been advised to have some Nigerian clothing made. Aaron needs one outfit for special ceremonies like weddings. However, I need a few because I am encouraged to stay away from Western clothing while visiting the people group we are to work with. I also have to wear a hair tie that is usually from the same material as the dress. It is very inexpensive to have clothing made and apparently the quality is outstanding.

We have had very little power the last two days. Right now it is 2:00 in the afternoon and I am using the battery power on the laptop to write. I sure wish I had a fan blowing on me (-:

Auntie came again this morning and visited with Aaron the whole time I was shopping. We walked about a mile to market and then stayed about an hour and walked home with all our baggage. Before I left the house for Market, a Nigerian man came over for a few minutes while Auntie was here. There is constant action and visitors, but not usually after dark. Aaron said that we just need to do school and family time after dark and then we won’t be worried about interruptions.

I can’t explain all the emotions and stresses we are feeling, but the grace of the Lord is so sweet and I have fallen into depression or anxiety. If I feel it coming on, I have been able to take my thoughts captive and I praise God for that! Aaron needs much more down time than I do so I can just imagine how he is feeling. He is really being strong though and not complaining. Hopefully we will have some downtime together soon to visit and process all this information! My biggest hardship right now is not being able to use the internet and communicate with all of you whenever I want to. I am especially concerned about my parents because I can’t email often and I know they worry. The service here is sporadic at best. I shouldn’t complain because at least we do have contact occasionally. I guess it is all to be expected. This place is very nice compared to other places in Africa but very backwards compared to home.

The children are still doing great despite the lack of one on one time with us. Hopefully it will slow down in a couple of weeks. Today Judah said that he likes his new friends here better than his friends at home. Parent’s of our children’s friends, please don’t take that badly, just rejoice that he is so happy! However, one of his “friends” hit him with a rope after that comment and he didn’t like them anymore. HA!

Auntie has a mission station in a town about three hours away. There are two different people groups living there who are seeking or walking in Christianity. There is no running water there and the only electricity is in Auntie's house (and is from solar panels). We are going for a day trip to see it on Saturday with all the children and will get an idea of what an extended visit would look like. The “plan” is for us to take frequent “camping trips” to this location. I say all this to explain that my frustration with all these power outages is nothing compared to what it might be!

I know that what I share is painting a very small part of the whole picture but I have no way of explaining everything. I just hope my ramblings give you a small glimpse into this new world of ours and can help you feel a part of our journey because you are! It is very intense right now, but the people are wonderful and beautiful. They love to talk to us and they LOVE Lydia. At market today they asked about Elisha and can’t believe he is our son from Texas! (Everyone has heard of Texas!) They say he looks Nigerian. I am anxious to go to Auntie's place and meet the people whom we have come to serve because they are completely different from the people here where we live.

If you have any questions or suggestions about what I can share to bless and inform you better I would love to hear them. You can respond at the bottom of each post. Just click on the comment section. My house help is supposed to come tomorrow and I can’t wait. I am so overwhelmed with doing everything by hand and taking care of four children and going and going nonstop outside the home. I am very thankful for the help and grateful that it is what we are encouraged to do and not just an excessive luxury! I am still waiting for my oven to work so I have not cooked anything yet. That is “therapy” for me so I am ready to make some cinnamon rolls! Wish I could bring you some too! Thank you for reading my mind’s explosion!

The Desires of My Heart!

2007-10-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

We are finally here! Nigeria! It is beautiful and the people are beautiful! Our new home is wonderful and I am so blessed! God has been extremely faithful and shown great favor. I want to write more but it is one in the morning and we have been going non stop with more crazy days ahead. I can't wait to post some pictures! I woke up this morning and thought of the scripture in Psalms that talks about God granting us the desires of our heart and I praised Him for doing so in me! I have wished and hoped for Africa for so many many years and now I am here. I am totally in the honeymoon period I know and reality is bound to set in but for now I am loving every minute! The boys are doing great and having a ball. Aaron is the slow methodical one and there is a bit too much action for him! I know that when he gets a job description and a purpose he will feel much better. We are in good spirits and all is well. Hopefully Aaron can post from his perspective soon. I am a bit delirious now so I hope this all makes sense! I welcome your questions as I don't even know where to begin as I write. I sent a huge email and if you want to get those updates, please send me your email address to tefertiller_tribe@yahoo.com I cannot thank you all enough for your love and prayer coverage. WE FEEL IT! May the Lord move in power through us and may we be humble and willing to learn. May we serve Him joyfully in the trials and heat and relationships and details and may we stay healthy and strong with enough energy to handle each day. To God be all Glory. Oh how I pray there will be eternal success in this mission. That will come only by the prayers of the saints and the Power of the Lord!

HERE IS THE MASS EMAIL I SENT:
Dear Everyone!!! I don’t even know where to start. Now I know why John’s emails are so long. This one is just as long and I ask your forgiveness in advance! We have been on an adventure for sure. We got to DFW and it seemed like “every tribe and tongue” was there. I was in culture shock before we even got on a plane! Our trip to Germany was perfect and uneventful. They put up a bassinet for Lydia and she slept most of the time. We flew through the night and the boys slept but Caleb had a hard time. We got to the Germany airport and spent a couple of hours there. It was fine but different. I bought two bottles of water and a cup of black coffee for $15 American money! I was shocked! We got on the plane again and this time Aaron and one child seat was several rows behind two child seats, Lydia’s bed and me. That was not too fun. The trip was again uneventful and we made it smoothly to Abuja but were so so tired! I sat next to a Nigerian woman and her 10 month old boy who was not so happy to share a seat with her! Every time the boys coughed she said "sorry" and I hear that all the time now. If anything happens the Nigerians say "sorry" "sorry." (I met one missionary family who has been in Nigeria for all their lives except college and I said you seem so American! Then Caleb ran into a wall and she said "sorry" "sorry" and I said now you sound like a Nigerian!) We were the last ones off the plane since we had so many children and things to gather up! We walked into the airport and boy was it hot! We were at the back of a very long line for several minutes when a uniformed man came up and said you with the children come this way. He took us to another entrance and after they looked at our passports and our “group” of children they let us though. No questions! Then we got our luggage and they just talked about our big family and laughed with us and sent us through. No one tried to get anything from us or give us a hard time. Your prayers were powerful and God showed us great favor! The SIM driver, Danjuma (spelling?) met us and took us to the Baptist Guest House in Abuja. We were beyond tired and the city was huge and I was very overwhelmed. Judah wasn’t feeling too good either. Aaron went with our driver to pick up supper and I stayed with the boys. I was so scared that Aaron wouldn’t come back. I must get over that! They did make it back and we ate and got to bed early. The electricity went off soon after we fell asleep and the boys woke up and didn’t feel tired anymore since it was day time in their internal clock. The fans stopped because of no power and It was hot and the city was loud and we were so so tired and worn out. The boys wanted to play. I was beginning to ask the Lord if this was really necessary and thinking maybe we could be just as effective at home with air-conditioning! I cried and stressed and then I remembered my ipod! Mom gave us three tiny ones and I got them all out. I gave Eli his and then he stayed relatively still and quiet and I took Aaron his as he was lying with the boys. (Judah was the only one who really slept and he slept hard!) We put them on and listened to worship music and took our thoughts captive and made it through the night! We got up early and left for Miango . We were never stopped or bothered and the trip was again uneventful. Thank you for your prayers! Our driver was wonderful and we asked him many questions along the way! Judah got car sick and covered Aaron with water and beef jerky! After that we had a bag ready! Poor baby. We made it to our home town and even as we got closer the land became so beautiful and the people all along the road so fun to watch. Nigerian people are BEAUTIFUL! We got to the plateau and then to the compound. It is huge and full of life. It is like a great village with people everywhere. There is a conference center there so Nigerian people come and stay and are always around. There is a Nigerian school run by SIM in the compound too so that generates activity. The first afternoon we were here two MKs (missionary kids) and three Nigerian children whose parents teach at the school were in our boys room playing up a storm! My boys think they just moved to the coolest place on earth! They are so excited and happy and there is even a play ground outside our house. There are three missionary families living here and they all came to greet and welcome us. They are all wonderful and have made us feel so loved. They have showered us with food and we have had dinner with two families already and the last one tomorrow night. Yesterday we unpacked and today Aaron worked on all kinds of paperwork while I went with ZsuZsa to Jos shopping in the markets. It was totally overwhelming with more sights and sounds than I could take in. I loved every minute of it! Lydia got lots of attention! Tomorrow we go for orientation in Jos. Jos is about 45 minutes drive. We are going and blowing and getting worn out but God’s grace is sufficient. I cried a lot the first 48 hours but am doing much better. It is all so BIG and different. The world inside the compound is so beautiful and safe and that is such a blessing. I can’t wait to send pictures but must go to bed tonight as it is getting very late and we have more busy busy days ahead. I’ll get more info to you soon. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND NOTES OF LOVE AND SUPPORT! If you have any questions, please ask because I have so much info and don’t know where to begin. We are so anxious to get started with the ministry part of our mission and are meeting with "Auntie" on Thursday. She is over the outreach to the people group we have come to investigate. She lives about 3 hours away I think and is taking us to her place on Saturday. I understand it is very rustic there. They had a major armed robbery recently. There have been a couple even in our compound but no one has been hurt. Things are getting more and more hostile in Nigeria with Muslim/Christian conflict. Please just pray for our safety and our effectiveness for the Kingdom. We hope to find a purpose and be of much use! We can’t wait to meet and spend time with the people. Again, we feel your prayers and are so grateful to the Lord for His favor thus far. God bless you all!

Time's Up!

2007-10-13T06:03:00.001-07:00

This is departure day. We are at my parent's house for breakfast and goodbyes. It is so hard! I am feeling many emotions and praise God that Aaron is in control and taking care of all the details. Before we left, Aaron wanted me to share an entry from my prayer journal. I wrote this night before last: "It is about 3:45 in the morning! I woke up to feed Lydia and my mind started racing. Sometimes I get really scared about leaving my loved ones-so many precious people-and everything comfortable and known. But the overcoming feeling is one of excitement to jump out in reckless abandon with You, Lord! I was feeling anxious and overwhelmed and the thought came to me (from You, Holy Spirit) that I will have my sweet Lydia, my precious boys and my amazing husband and best friend right beside me every step of the way-the most familiar people of all! Moreover, You are my God; my Refuge; my hiding place and You will never leave nor forsake me! The outward circumstances will be the only thing to change and that is so temporary. Even if it is hard and painful, it is a fleeting vapor as is my life. My focus must remain on you and eternity. This world is NOT my home! Please help these truths overcome when the fear tries to take root. Please give supernatural peace and courage, excitement and comfort to our boys. Please order our steps and surround us with a hedge of protection. You have called us and You are able to meet all our needs. Thank You for providing for us to embark on this adventure with You! I remember Amy T. sharing a vision she had of herself and me jumping off a cliff into the unknown with You! That is what I feel like I'm doing and I want to fly with You! May our family soar on Your wings with power, but in humility, throughout this short life. May our fervor only intensify as we run with vigor, knowing time is short and the end is near and there are so many souls to be won from the darkness. Oh Lord! That Your Name may be glorified!"

Answered Prayer!

2007-10-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

PRAISE THE LORD we just got word that our visas have been granted and are being overnighted to us. Continue to pray that they will be in our hands tomorrow as expected. Thank you all for your concern and prayers during this season. We are crazy busy getting ready to go and my mind feels like it might explode! But it is exciting too. The children are getting geared up and ready. Caleb asked me about a pile of books. He said "mine" and wanted to take them away from the area where we were packing. I told him they were his but he needed to leave them there because we were taking them to Africa. He looked at me and said "airplane" in his language. I said yes and he said "tae" for OK and set them down and walked away. Cute. Please keep praying for us and know that we mean it when we say we are praying for you. I have a huge contact list and I pray for a group each day. If you have a request I write it out to the side so I won't forget. I just wanted you to know that I'm not just saying "I'll pray." Thank you so much for everything. We have our last life group tonight in Bowie and I know I will cry. Then Thursday we will be getting everything ready to go. Friday is our last day with my parents and Friday night we have a big family get together including my 94 year old Granny who has come from Midland to see us off. She wants to squeeze Lydia once more I'm sure! Saturday we leave! I'll post again from Nigeria. God bless you all!

2007-09-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Family Time

2007-09-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

It is getting really close to our leave date and the idea of saying goodbye is heartbreaking. We are going to miss everyone so much but saying goodbye to Shelly's parents is by far the hardest thing we are facing. Shelly is the only child and therefore our children are the only grandchildren. Glenda and Eddie are being awesome and supportive, but we covet your prayers for them. We got to spend the day with them recently going to the zoo. It was a precious time and it is amazing how much we cherish time with them and all our loved ones now. Above are some pictures from our zoo trip. Please keep praying for our visas and passports to get back to us in time for our flight on the 13th.

2007-09-19T19:52:00.001-07:00

One Month Left!

2007-09-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

One month from today we will board a plane for Africa. It is all becoming very real and we are flooded with emotions. We are very excited but also overwhelmed and sad about leaving all of you whom we love so much. However, 8 1/2 months is really not that long, and July 1 will be here in no time. Our financial provision has been nothing short of miraculous and we have met our goal of being fully funded by September 13. That includes monthly pledges and the support our wonderful church has promised. At this point, our only need seems to be in our personal funds account. Donations to this fund are not tax deductable, but we can use them for non-ministry needs like personal supplies, etc. The only reason we need help in this area is because we must use this fund to rent a car in Nigeria. Our ministry fund will reimburse us for our mileage, but the $350 per month rental fee will come out of our personal account. So there you have it; all the details of our finances. We praise God for His amazing provision! Everything else is falling into place and we are going and blowing, getting all the loose ends tied up. We continue to ask (beg would be more accurate!) for your prayer coverage. It is vital! We already feel your prayers at work and we thank you for everything. We are treasuring every moment with loved ones and would be honored to get together with you before we leave. Call us! One more thing, our Little Lydia is not so little anymore. She has gained 3 pounds and 3 ounces in her first month of life! Although Shelly really likes tiny babies, we are thankful she is putting some meat on her bones before we head out.

A Busy Day. . .

2007-08-30T19:38:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends! We are praising God for His grace and provision. All six of us traveled to Houston today and by the favor of the Lord we were able to get Lydia’s passport this day! We will send off our visa applications tomorrow and pray that they will get to and from the embassy without incident. We booked our flights yesterday and will leave DFW for Nigeria on October 13. Our return date is July 1, 2008. We have spoken at several churches and have one more engagement before we leave. The love, encouragement and support we have been shown is overwhelming. We continue to ask for your prayer coverage concerning all the details of our trip. Please see the Prayer Request Sidebar. To find it, look at the right side of this page and scroll down. We will keep it updated with current prayer needs. On a more personal note, the boys are getting excited about our trip and our little Lydia is growing already. She LOVES to eat! We are enjoying her so much and her brothers are very sweet with her. Shelly is having fun dressing her up. The clothing part is way more fun with a little girl. Please remember that we love and cherish each of you and want to stay in touch. Email us any prayer requests you have and we will cover you in prayer as well. We keep our list of each of you close by and use it as a prayer guide. We look forward to hearing from you.

Hurry!

2007-08-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

We are so busy getting things in order for our trip. Although we don't have our plane tickets yet, we hope to leave October 13 or 14. Before then, we have to drive to Houston and get Lydia's passport, apply for and get all our visas and get many shots. Yuck. It is all falling into place and we are trying to savor each day with Lydia and the boys. Please pray for us during this crazy time. Please pray all the details will work out, our funds will be complete, our bodies will do fine with the shots, and we won't forget anything important! We want to stay connected with each of you and would be honored to pray for any needs you may have. Please email us!

2007-08-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's A Girl!

2007-08-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings Everyone! We are so blessed and excited to announce the arrival of our daughter, Lydia Rose Tefertiller! She surprised us by coming two and one-half weeks early on Wednesday, August 8th at 9:00 p.m., but she is perfect and weighed 6 pounds and 13 ounces. Shelly was able to deliver naturally at the Birth Center in Denton, and everything went beautifully. However, we did have a scare later on. About two hours after Lydia was born, she turned a little blue and her oxygen level was low. They sucked a bunch of mucus out of her nose, and from that point on she was fine. However, because she was early and we were not in a hospital, the Midwife wisely chose to send her to Denton Presbyterian Hospital for observation. She had to spend the rest of that night there and the next night and we came home on Friday morning. It was a rough couple of days because Shelly was not a patient at the hospital, so we were kind of shuffled around. The Lord poured out mercy and grace and we made it through. Lydia and Shelly are currently recovering at Glenda and Eddie’s house (her parents). Glenda was such a blessing to take care of all three boys during our stay in Denton. Lydia’s brothers are so sweet to her and very excited. Aaron told them they are her protectors until she gets married!

2007-07-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! We just returned from a camping vacation with the boys at Turner Falls. It was wonderful. Shelly is in the last month of pregnancy, but the weather was so nice and it was an easy and refreshing trip. We have been blessed to be able to share at two churches the last two Sundays and plan to share in a few more over the next few weeks. We have also been welcomed at several of our churches life groups to share our vision and ask for prayer and financial support. We still have a long way to go and covet your prayers for God's supernatural provision. Because Aaron does not have a job for the upcoming school year, we hope and pray we will be ready and fully funded to leave by mid October, and not have to push that date. God is in control and He has called us, so may His will be done! Thank you for keeping up with us and our adventure!

2007-06-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hello and thank you for visiting our blog! We have been busy with all the details involved in preparing to leave the country in four months. It is a bit overwhelming! We were honored to have a story written up about us in the Bowie News Sports Section this week. Check it out if you can.
We now have a job description from our mission agency. You can read it below this entry. They have specifically formed a position for us that will help our family investigate future long term ministry, while at the same time giving us an opportunity to serve and hopefully bring God much glory in the process. We are very excited about the possibilities! Reaching a closed group like the Fulani takes TIME and we hope to be able to really connect with them and be part of their lives.
We have gotten our financial cost estimate and are expected to raise $24,500 before September 11 (one month before we are to leave). We must have an additional $6,500 pledged by that date. Moreover, there is now talk of us needing a vehicle, and they are recommending we purchase one for ministry use while there. We are in negotiations about this, but that plan could add another $8000 to $10,000 to our financial needs! We know God can handle all of this, but we ask for your prayers.
There are so many needs and places to invest in God’s work, so we want to take a minute to get you up to date on missions today:
· Three out of every four Protestant missionaries are working in groups in which Christianity is already the dominant religion. (Source: Patrick Johnstone)
· It is a common observation of field practitioners that even among the 26% that are working in peoples dominated by non-Christian religions (Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc), most are working to expand the Church within groups where a breakthrough has already occurred and are not doing pioneer work within unreached peoples. (Source: Winter and Koch)
· The Fulani are unreached; they number over 26 million; they have not experienced breakthrough where there is a group of Fulani believers capable of evangelizing other Fulani people; They are Muslim
The fundraising side of this adventure is not my favorite. We don’t want you to feel like we are begging! We just want to make our need clearly known and let God move the people He chooses to have partner with us. We just ask that you pray for us and give IF God leads. Our greatest desire is to have your encouragement and support through prayer.

Ministry Vision

2007-06-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

FULANI MINISTRY VISION TRIP

The purpose of the vision trip is to give The Tefertiller Family the opportunity to:

--gain insight into the types of Fulani ministry currently being done in Nigeria
--participate in activities related to understanding the Fulani culture
--understand the culturally-attuned role of discipleship of Fulani Christians
--learn from missionary mentors who are already involved with Fulani
--hear testimonies of Fulani converts and formulate questions for further study
--participate in conversations with Fulani believers in their home contexts
--formulate a picture of the Nigerian resources available to reach the Fulani

The purpose will be achieved in the following ways:

--interviews with and observations of SIM and other missionaries
--interaction and conversation with Fulani believers and Nigerian co-workers
--visits to Fulani villages
--visits to Fulani ministry sites
--dialogue concerning methods of evangelism and discipleship
--regular debriefing with mentors about impressions and observations
--participation in a one-month, foundational Hausa course
--initial study of Fulfulde (greetings)
--journaling observations and ideas
--monthly meetings with assigned missionary mentor
--reading and discussing pertinent books and materials

Africa Details

2007-06-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

SIM (our mission agency) has finally figured out where we are going! We will be working with the Fulani (largest nomadic people group in the world) in Nigeria. We will live in Miango, which is outside of Jos (a pretty big city). There are various ministries around that area that target the Fulani, and we are fortunate to be able to experience them all. We will be able to get a broad view of the opportunities available. This 9 month trip will be an exploratory expedition of sorts. We hope to be of use and make relationships, while seeking the Lord about a long term vision and ministry. We are ready to begin our fundraising and will have an account with SIM where you may send donations and receive a tax deductable receipt. The estimated amount we have been encouraged to shoot for in our fundraising is $40,000! This will include airfare for our large family, health and evacuation insurance, housing and living expenses, and who knows what else. This is such an enormous amount to our earthly minds, but God is so much bigger than money and finances. I’ve always heard that since God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, he can sell off some for our needs! We do ask you to pray about joining our financial team. We will need a significant amount to get set up (plane tickets, etc.) as well as monthly donors to pay for ongoing expenses.

Our greatest need, however, continues to be PRAYER COVERAGE. Our trip can be mighty and powerful for the Kingdom of God, or it can be disastrous. The outcome depends on the Lord and the prayers of the saints. Please pray for us and for God’s Kingdom to come in and through our lives! While you're at it, please pray for continued health and blessings on Shelly's pregnancy and another easy delivery. Thank you so much for your love and support.

Change

2007-06-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Our lives have changed quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. John and Pat left for Africa on May 28, and after taking them to the airport, we finished moving out of our house in Bellevue. The next day was Caleb’s second birthday and we celebrated by unpacking at John and Pat’s house, where we will be living until we leave for Nigeria. I sobbed and unpacked and sobbed some more while Aaron was gone to the airport. John and Pat have been a huge part of our lives for so long, and I still can’t come to grips with the fact that we won’t see them for several months or more. The boys, on the other hand, have not missed a beat. They LOVE living out here and catching frogs and climbing trees. Caleb keeps right up with the big boys. They definitely need a bath each evening! Aaron has begun working for Bill Sandford taking care of his land out on 730. He is getting a lot of alone time with the Lord on the tractor.☺

One Week Left

2007-05-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow begins the last week of school at Bellevue. Aaron is to speak at the junior high graduation on Thursday evening and then high school graduation will be Friday night. He has a work day on Saturday and then he is completly finished. We plan to take his parents to the airport for their nine month stay in Africa on Monday morning. I know that will be a hard day. I don't know how we will let them go!
Our next big project starting Monday evening is to move all we have left (we've given away much of our furniture!) to our new home. SIM, our mission agency (www.sim.org) has informed us that the house we hoped to live in in Gure is not suitable for our family, and so they are leaning towards basing us in Miango where we will work with the various communities in the area. We are really leaving all of this to the Lord, for we have no idea what to expect. We feel like this might be a better situation in that we can see a more diverse selection of mission outreaches, and gain a greater vision for where we will best fit in the future. Please pray with us for God's clear direction and provision.

Mission Update

2007-05-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, if you are reading our blog page, you already know we are working towards leaving for Africa as missionaries! We are very excited, but still in the "hurry up and wait" stage. Aaron took the first leap of faith and gave his resignation at Bellevue where he has coached for two years. As of May 25, 2007 we will move out of the school owned house we live in and be jobless! Wow. Aaron's parents, John and Pat, are leaving for Tanzania, Africa on May 28th and we will be moving into their house. Aaron is pursuing several job options for the summer. We hope to raise our support and be ready to leave by October of this year. I am expecting our fourth child in August, so we will be taking four children on a plan across the world! We still don't know specifics about our destination. Currently we are looking at working with the Fulani (largest nomadic unreached people group in the world) in Gure, Nigeria. Everything is still up in the air as of now. God is amazing and has opened every door and gently led us each step of the way. We are very excited to see how He works out all the details. Our desire is to see "every tribe and tongue" worshipping Him! Our mission is not about us, or a specific people. Our goal is to bring greater glory to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We appreciate your prayers throughout our journey.