Alli and I have experienced so much change in our marriage. We just finished moving for our 8th time in our 7 years of marriage. We have finally made it to Living Waters Children's Ranch. The one thing that is different about this move than all the other is that we believe God is calling us to finally send out roots. In many ways each one of our moves has been one step closer to getting us here. I still remember getting this random facebook message from Spencer 5 years ago....
A completely random message but God in His wonderful provision began working in our hearts 5 years ago to make this move happen. I could go on and on with stories how God has provided financially, spiritually, emotionally and mentally for this. The truth is he has began the work within our hearts way before we were married. We are more that excited to serve God here. We are so blessed.
A little update:
We have officially submitted all our paperwork for residency. This has been a very long process but God has used it to teach us many things. While our paper work is under review we do not have to leave the country for border runs. This review process could take up to a year. Please join in prayer with us that we would receive residency.
We moved April 10th from Escazu, San Jose to Horquetas, Saripaqui. Everything went very smooth. We were able to hire a moving truck to get us from our house to the bridge before the ranch. Since the bridge is a old suspension bridge it can not have a lot of weight on it so we had to hire a smaller truck to transfer our items. The Wutkas (the other missionary family) were working tirelessly on preparing our new home. Alli's reaction to our new home was tears. They did a wonderful Job.
Saying Goodbye was very difficult. Over the past 19 months I have developed friendships with a lot of locals. About 3 months ago Alli and I made some new friends with a young family in one of the neighborhoods we work in. We were just getting our friendship underway when we had to move. But we know that they will come visit us and we can visit them, we are only 1.5 hours away.
I went to our weekly feeding center in verbena this past Saturday. This is where I almost lost it. I have spent the good part of the last year building trust with a 4 year old boy who was abused by a family member. Every time I tried to show him attention he would run away. Slowly but surely I began to gain his trust. I came a little late to our feeding center this week and our pastor was already in mid lesson but when I arrived the little boy blurted out AMIGO, and came over with the biggest grin and bear hug. I held him for a little while praying for him and holding him tight. It was sad to say goodbye. Before I left I bent down and told him that I was moving but I would be praying for him, he nodded his head with a big smile. As hard as the move has been we are very excited to know that there are so many more relationships to built here.
Prayer request:
1. Residency acceptance
2. Transition out here
3. Relationships out here
4. Financing for the Living Waters Ranch
5. Our busy summer months coming up.
6. The future children of the ranch.
God has blessed our first week with so much wildlife. We have seen monkeys, toucans, great green macaws, large and small parrots, hummingbirds, Iguanas, basilisk lizards and countless other bird species.
Thank you for all the prayer and support.
For more info on LWCR click here for the most recent update.
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| Swinging near the river |
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| Constructing the temporary chicken coop |
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The early morning riser enjoying the early morning view.
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