11 January 2015
I continue to work at Covenant Community Care. I have finished my third year there.
This year, I was given permission to take a three-month leave to do missions work. We spent most of this time in Guatemala with Adonai International Ministries. I helped with the medical clinics while Areli and Rebekah enjoyed the farm and fellowship with the missionary families and their kids. We also had a chance to visit Esther's gave after three years. We also visited many of our missionary and Guatemalan friends. We are thankful for all that God did in and through us during these months.
We also spend two weeks in Mexico City traveling to and from Guatemala. While we were there, we celebrated Areli's sister Abigail's 19th birthday. She had a bone marrow transplant this year and continues to be in remission from leukemia. The doctors were very happy with the recent test results and they are hopeful that she will be able to start her medical school classes this year. We are joyful and we praise God for his goodness and faithfulness.
Before leaving for Guatemala, we contracted to have a house built for us. This is expected to be completed in May. We are excited to have our own piece of land after 7 years of marriage. We thank the Lord for this blessing.
On January 27th, my dad went to be with the Lord after a more than year-long battle with cancer. We continue to hear from people how he had influenced their lives through his testimony and his sharing of the gospel through conversations, his website, and facebook.
Finally, Rebekah has grown a lot this year. Here is her mother's report.
Our daughter Rebekah continues to amazed us on how quickly she is learning different things: pretending to clean, organizing, cooking, feeding and taking care of babies, folding laundry, learning colors and letters. She enjoys looking for an "M" everywhere she sees letters (She learned her second letter from looking at University of Michigan alumni magazines). She plays with matching cards and puzzles. She repeats words in both Spanish and English and sometimes translates herself. She loves books and likes to find and name the things she sees in them--animals, clothes, things, food, etc. She likes to sing, dance, and play the piano and she runs to find her drum to play it every time my family sings a song to her on Skype. She loves to give hugs and kisses. And she also says "hi" and "bye" to almost everyone she sees outside of home. She likes to bounce a ball, kick it, scribble with crayons, climb, and build towers. And she enjoys imitating daddy, reading her bible before bed, and saying "amen" every time we pray.
There are so many things she loves, likes, enjoys, and dislikes. And so many that she has learned and will continue to learn. And to be able to see them is a tremendous blessing and we are thankful beyond words to see her growing up and learning about God's creation and to know Jesus.
