Life from the SLC to the MLC

We know most of you thought this day would never come….but here it is! We have finally updated our blog!! We know it’s been way too long but we’re going to try to keep it up to date from now on.

So as you can imagine, a lot has happened since we went snowshoeing. Well… here’s a brief description of what has gone on in the last couple of months. We quit our jobs, tried to throw out a bunch of random crap that we had not even seen in a couple of years, packed our house and moved it to San Jorge (what I really mean is Victoria packed our house and we just helped her…Victoria you are a saint!), bought everything for Africa and packed it all away, spent time with our precious family and friends, sold a car( we will always love BIG BLUE), still trying to sell another, visited mi amore, Erin, and Brandy in Dallas where it rained/poured for 3 days straight, and now we’re here at the MLC. It has been a crazy couple of months!

We can’t believe we are actually here at the MLC. It seemed like a distant thought just a few months ago, but now we are here and have been here for about 2 weeks now and so far it has been an extremely busy 2 weeks. So you’re probably wondering what we are actually doing here and what we will be doing for the final 5 weeks of our stay. Well, first let us tell you about our setting. The MLC is located in a remote place in Virginia and it is beautiful!!! It’s a small campus amongst many trees with a small lake beside it. The picture we posted is of the view we have just outside our window in our room.

Now to what we have been doing since we’ve been here. Every morning begins at about 6:30am when we get up to dive into God’s Word and then off to class. Our classes start with a discussion of our assigned readings, which has been the book of Acts. It has been really refreshing to read through Acts because we haven’t read it a long time. We just finished chapter 6 where Stephen is preparing to be stoned(unbeknownst to Stephen). What amazes us in Acts is the boldness of the apostles. They are a great example of what it means to obey God instead of man and to seek His approval instead of man’s.

We have also been learning about discipling new believers and to use God’s Word to do it, not western culture. That is something that they have really emphasized because what we view as church here in the states is not what it is globally. It should be a place where believers gather to glorify God and edify each other, and a lot of the time that has nothing to do with big buildings, choirs, etc.

We have been in classes all day every day. And although it has been busy, it has been a really cool experience so far. One thing we have really enjoyed is hearing how everyone has traveled the same road as us. How they have quit jobs, sold houses, cars, etc. to serve God overseas. We have loved hearing of how God has called each person here. Also, every speaker/teacher has been on the mission field, so the presentations have been so wonderful. We love hearing the perspectives of everyone that has already gone before us!

Our favorite session so far has been on “Spiritual Warfare.” It was a 3 day intense session given by the president of the IMB. It really raised our awareness of the enemy and how he works to deceive us and give us such a self-centered attitude. We were challenged to deny ourselves in every way and to always put others first. We are so glad that this session was at the beginning of our training. We have already been under intense trials through all of our preparations in the last year, but God has been Sovereign and brought us through and will continue to do so. We feel prepared for the battles that lie ahead, as God refines us by fire!

Well that is just a tid-bit of what life is like @ MLC. It’s time to go to bed now…we have to get up early!! Thanks for reading our update and thanks for all of your prayers. We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives!