Back "Home" Again

At this point in life, it's sort of difficult to say where "home" is for us, whether it's Bourbonnais, Danville, Kokomo, Kansas City, or Johannesburg. In a few short months, it will unquestionably be the latter of those, as we want to make South Africa our home, not just a place that we work. Right now though, that question is a little more difficult to answer.

Weekend Update

We got the chance to go to one of our "homes" this weekend, as we traveled to Danville, IL, where Jeremy spent the first 13 years of his life. It was a wonderful time of getting reacquainted with family and friends, and was so amazing to see how everyone has changed! Jeremy had not been back to Danville First Church in 15 years, so it was quite an experience. We were so happy that the Lord allowed us to have a couple of wonderful services there and that we were also able to stay with Jeremy's grandparents for the weekend. A long drive, but Jake did very well and it was a great time!

Daily Life

We are in our second week of seminary classes now, and so far, so good. There is so much to learn and so little time! We are enjoying the classes and think that it is a great opportunity that they are being taught by missionary veterans (Bill Selvidge and David Wesley).

We also are continuing our preparations to leave for the field. We were working this afternoon on scheduling appointments to get all of our shots (ouch!) and are still in the process of getting acquainted with all of the new websites we need to access (insurance, retirement, deputation, etc.). It's a whirlwind!

Praises and Prayer Requests

God has been so faithful in helping us to get our deputation schedule filled up. we went from having about 3 services scheduled when we first signed on to now only having three open services from now until December. Does he answer prayer or what?! We know that if we end up staying here until March that he will be just as faithful after Christmas as well. Thank you all for your prayers!

Right now, here are some of our prayer needs:

-Endurance for seminary classes (about 400 pages of reading per week!)
-Good time management skills
-Safe travels for deputation
-Steven (Jeremy's brother) and Mehgan, as they get married this week
-Jake's continued adjustment to a hectic lifestyle

Closing Thoughts

Although there are many challenges associated with preparing to be sent as missionaries, we are so thankful that God has called us to go. It is so exciting after all of these years of preparation to finally be so close. We thank God for each of you, as we find such security in knowing that we have so many praying for us and that we serve a God who answers prayer!

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Seminary Classes Begin

Weekend Update

We had a great deputation service in Pittsfield, IL this past Sunday night. Tricia has relatives in Pittsfield, so it was wonderful to get to hang out with them as well as speak in their church. We felt such a blessing of the Lord on that service and met a lot very nice people. It was a great trip and not too long for us either (about 4 hours driving time). Jake loved all of the toys at his Great-Aunt Patty's house (she runs a daycare), but didn't care for the car ride so much. Little does he know, that was a short one compared to next weekend!

Seminary Classes Begin

Jeremy began seminary classes today, Tricia starts tomorrow. The classes are all missions-focused (wonder why?) and are going to be very helpful for us on the field. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to take free classes at seminary this semester, and we hope that our brains can absorb as much as possible over the next three months.

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise God for the way he has been taking care of us and providing for our needs, great and small. We also thank him for answering prayer regarding our deputation services. Our schedule has really been filling up lately, thank you all for your prayers!

Some of our current prayer needs are:

- Safe travels to deputation services
- Time and organization for all of the "logistical" things (shots, passports, wills, visas, etc.)
- That we remember to protect time for God and family in our busy schedules

As always, we thank you all for your continued prayer support. You are all so important to our ministry.

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Deputation Schedule

Here is our deputation schedule for this fall (subject to change):

September 18th - Danville (IL) First (AM & PM)
September 25th - New Castle (IN) First; Kokomo (IN) First
October 2nd - Tyler (TX) First; Dallas (TX) Central
October 9th - Lebanon (IN) (AM only)
October 16th - Waukegan (IL); Kankakee (IL) First
October 19th - Manteno (IL)
October 23rd - Council Bluffs (IA) Emmanuel; Omaha (NE) Southwest
October 30th - Oakland (Topeka, KS); Victory Hills (KC, KS)
November 6th - Ames (IA); Atlantic (IA)
November 13th - Southwest Community (Minneapolis, MN); Osseo (MN)
November 20th - Greater Life Community (West Des Moines, IA) (AM only)
November 26th - St. Paul's (KC, MO) (special Sat. evening service)
November 27th - Blue Springs (MO) (PM only)
December 4th - open
December 11th - Tonganoxie (KS) Heartland; Bonner Springs (KS)

Happy Labor Day!

We hope everybody's having a relaxing and enjoyable Labor Day weekend! We spent the weekend trimming down our possessions once again, we've come to realize that we just have way too much "stuff" to take with us to South Africa. So, another round of "we can sell this" and "let's just throw this junk away" has been our main task this weekend.

Yesterday evening we went to a cookout at Tricia's friend's house and had a good time there. Now today we are going to be having a few of the missionary interns and their families over to our house for a cookout. Should be a good time!

This coming week is our last week of full time training, we start seminary classes the following week and then just have training one afternoon per week. It will be a change, not necessarily better or worse, just different than what we are doing now. We're excited to keep learning and hoping that God keeps making us into what he wants us to be along the way.

Well, hope everyone has a nice and safe weekend! Until next time...

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Pressing On...

Wow, we are really moving at warp speed now! The weeks have been flying by. Everything we are learning is very good, I just hope that some of it is sticking in our heads! We are trying to learn all of the "pre-field" things that they are trying to teach us while also trying to do some research on South Africa. We have gotten creative with this however, and have been trying to find movies that give us a good picture of South African history. This last weekend, we rented "The Power of One", which was an excellent movie. I highly recommend it. It really shows how difficult the past was in South Africa, and the effects of that time are still somewhat present today.

Anyway, we are doing well, getting ready to start seminary classes in a couple of weeks. While we won't be in class as much, we will probably be busier than we are now, if that's possible. We start traveling on Sept. 11th and pretty much every weekend from then until December 11th we will be doing services. But even though we are very tired, God is really keeping our spirits up and giving us just enough strength to get things done and keep going. We are having so much fun and are really enjoying our new lifestyle!

Thank you for your continued prayer support, it is so important to us. If you would like to pray for specific needs that we have right now, we have the following needs:

- Strength to keep up with the schedule and preparations we are making
- Safe travels during our deputation trips
- That our deputation schedule continues to fill up
- That God would continue to prepare our hearts and minds for deployment

We praise God for what he's doing in our lives and each one of yours as well. We also thank him for such a great group of family and friends that mean so much to us. God bless you all!