One month away!!!

We can’t believe we have been at the MLC for over a month now! The time has just flown by since we’ve been here. And in one month from today we will be on a plane heading towards Mozambique! It’s craziness! We’ve been praying, thinking, and talking about this for so long and it’s amazing to think we are only one month away from leaving!

The MLC has been going good. We are still busy as ever and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon. Last week we had security training which was kind of stressful but really good to learn. We’ll have to tell you all (or y’all as some would say) about it sometime. We were also taught how to teach Bible stories chronologically. This was really cool because it requires us to memorize large chunks of Scripture. The reason we have been taught this technique is because some of the people we will be working with are illiterate. So this way they will be able to hear the stories of the Word and hopefully put them to memory. We’re really excited about this! Another thing we learned about this past week was the persecuted church. They told some incredible stories of how God is working around the world! They have encouraged us by showing us from the Bible how normal persecution is. In America, we are not accustomed to persecution to the extent of giving our lives for the gospel or living in fear of the government coming to put us in jail for our faith. It just seems like American Christianity is so different from what the rest of the world faces.



Hopefully, everyone had a good Easter! We had a good time on Easter even though we did miss our families. However, thanks to Jenni’s mom we were still able to do a little Easter egg hunt of our own in our tiny apartment. We also have enjoyed the abundance of yummy Easter candy! We were very much taken care of by friends and family! Thanks! Also we were able to attend a sunrise service here which was really cool. The director of orientation led us in the Word and it was a beautiful morning! We loved it, despite having to get up so early!
Jenni made sugar cookies for everyone here…she really missed her Kitchen Aid, but thank goodness her mom sent a small mixer in the mail. This helped to save some time and muscle. I guess this is one adjustment we are learning early to make since we can’t take our Kitchen Aid to Africa!! Our Easter dinner was not the traditional ham, but we did partake in a wonderful Mexican dinner consisting of tacos, rice, and beans!

Well, we only have 2 ½ weeks left and then we’ll be back in the SLC. Please continue to pray for us as we finish up. Pray for our Visa…we still do not have one. It is a very complicated process to get into the country. Pray that God would work out the details and that we would rest in Him and His perfect timing. Pray that we would walk closely with God and that we would be renewed continuously in our walk with Him. Pray that we would not neglect the disciplines of the Christian faith. Thanks for praying for us! We love you all!

Shot Day at MLC

A picture of my sweet wife after she's been given a shot.
Our arms hurt so bad. This was our 2nd day of shots with
one more to go. Our arms are bruised and they hurt! Jenni
only had to get 4 today and Corey had 5. Out of our whole
group, Corey has to get the most shots each shot day!

Jenni stickin it to me (aka giving me my shots)
Jenni is a nurse on the medical team here at the MLC
and helps give everyone their shots.

Corey and Jenni at the home of Thomas Jefferson.
(our 3rd president, just in case you didn't know)

The view outside our window. It is beautiful here!

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!