Arrival

Well, we've made it at last! After another 2 1/2 day trip we arrived back in Ft. Myers, Florida and the offices of New Mission Systems International!

Coming down, Joe and I felt as if we were going through a time warp. We started our trip Monday morning (18th) in January. By the time we got to Nashville that night we were in April. Then when we hit Gainsville, Florida Tuesday evening we were in June. We have consistently been in the 80's and even had a small thunderstorm this morning. The rain did cool things down a bit and today's high was only 73 and it's suppose to get down into the 40's tonight. While we've enjoyed not having to deal with the loads of snow up north, it certainly has been messing with our brains and getting us very confused.

We are very thankful to God for protecting us and giving us a rather uneventful trip down. This is the third time we've driven the trip between Ft. Myers and our home base and are hoping we don't have to do it again for a very long time. Next time we travel, we'll fly! Having been here before, finding our way into Ft. Myers and to the campus was much easier than the first time.

We arrived just before noon on Wednesday the 20th. We got the keys to our home (the same triplex as last summer but a different section) and began getting all our stuff moved in. We got everything we had stored at friends homes back into our possession and we began unpacking things that had been in boxes since May. By Friday evening we had everything unpacked and in their rightful places and we had had meetings with our respective uplines (bosses) to find out what our first tasks at work would be. We took it pretty easy on Saturday, sleeping in and generally resting from our long travels and exhausting unpacking. As most of you probably know, this last Sunday was both the AFC and NFC championship games. We, along with several friends, spent the entire afternoon and evening at the single guys' housing watching the games take place. The guy's barbecued chicken, steak and ribs for all in attendance and I was very happy to see both teams I was cheering for win! In two weeks though I'll be cheering GO SAINTS! But that's just me, I have a feeling I'll be out cheered as we have several staff here from the Indianapolis area.

Today we started our first day on the job. Joe's upline is out of town and Joe is starting off by getting a basic review of the different tasks performed in the finance department. I learned that, while I will primarily still be working in the Department of Children and Family Development, I will also be spending some time helping with tasks in People and Organizational Development (POD) which is the department Children and Family is under. I am very excited to learn that I will be helping in two different capacities. This second role is fitting me very well and I'm already liking it quite a bit.

We are here on a one year apprenticeship but by the time the apprenticeship is over, we would like to be fully funded to be able to stay on as full time employees. Please prayerfully consider if and how you can help. When you support us in the office, you're not just supporting us individually; you're supporting over 200 missionaries around the globe!

We are very happy to be here! We also want to thank all of you who support us and help us be here! We appreciate you and love you! THANK YOU!

God bless,