A couple of the many fun things I did before leaving Ohio was to go to Cheesecake Factory with the ladies from my Emmaus team, and enjoy special time with Marianne and Macy!

In Florida my time with mom and Suzy was really great. My brother Bill drove down to visit too. I love seeing my family!  Thankfully I got to see great improvements in mom while there. She is now able to cruise her walker down to the river! Speaking of the river, I saw a dolphin jump all the way out of the water ~ twice! It was really cool. I wish I hadn’t been driving. I would have watched more!

Photo of Suzy enjoying Paul’s salsa and a photo of me and my mom!

It was a long ride from Florida to Texas… but we had a lot of fun, as you can see with my Duck Dynasty photo! Jim drove the entire length… what a trooper! VERY thankful for the gas cards that you guys provided! Thank you!

During my first week here, I was asked if I would consider going on a spontaneous road trip with Lindy. She is a missionary who is home on furlough. She goes back to PNG in November. She was scheduled to speak at a couple of churches in New Mexico. I’m really glad that I went with her. We were able to have some really deep conversations and get acquainted.  A definite perk to this trip was that I got to listen to her speak about living in a village in Papua New Guinea. I loved it!

New Mexico and Texas make me feel like I am experiencing a time warp…Phillips 66… Conoco… Albertson’s… feed lots… cowboys… Souper Salad and Furr’s Cafeteria; these are some of the things that I cherish from living in Colorado for 31 years. All that’s missing is King Soopers! It’s fun to imagine that I’ve gone back in time. Something that NM has that’s cool is wind turbines lots and lots of wind turbines! We saw several on our way West. Then on our way back it was dark. Their red lights made me think of Christmas.

~ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME ~
September 21ST marked the one year anniversary since Nathan called to tell me that I was Pioneer Bible Translators newest Recruit! It’s such a blessing to finally be here. Thank you so much for supporting me financially! I have been going to the office and learning their Finance system while learning as much as I can about what my life might be like in Papua New Guinea.  We also have “Community Time” requirements. Pioneer Bible has helped us get in touch with a Bhutanese Pastor and his family. There is a very large group of people from Bhutan and Nepal who were moved here from a refugee camp 5 years ago. Sometimes we go to the Nepalese garden on Saturday’s. Eight of us go to the Bhutanese church every Sunday. We attend their worship time. It’s a really good way to feel like I am in a foreign country. Their music sounds nothing like what I am used to. Most of the time I only understand one word; hallelujah ~ it reminds me of when we went to church in Cambodia and they were singing “Our God Reigns” in Khmer. It was amazing! My opportunity to live in place where I’ll go to church every week and not understand a lot of the words or music… is right around the corner… I’m practicing. After worship we take the children (preschool to 5th grade) to another building for children’s church. Below is a photo of the worship time. It can be challenging to get the little ones from one building to the other; the rope with handles helps guide them.

Now… I know that I asked a few of you to write to me on certain days … on a weekly basis. One person is faithfully doing that. Thank you Jan! What happened to the rest of you… for the rest of the week? Will you please consider putting my name on your calendar one day a week and shooting me an email to tell me what’s new in life? Tell me about you, your kids, your parents, your dog, your cat, your job… anything. I would love to hear from you on a regular basis. This way you can get in great practice for when I am gone from the country and really want/need to hear from you… hint… hint…

I need your help with 2 things please …

First… For those of you who are supporting me directly through Vista Community Church, we need to make a change. All donations need to be sent directly to Ali Hooper or be sent directly to/through Pioneer Bible Translators. Click here for more info.

Second… I need more people partnering with me on a monthly basis. I am short $425 on my monthly budget. I need 8 people to commit to supporting what God is doing in my life by sending $50/month and 1 person to commit to $25/month… or whatever amount you decide on. I need to make sure that I am at my required amount so that I can depart for Papua New Guinea as planned in January; to join the finance team and relieve the man and wife who graciously filled this temporary role (due to the passing of the previous bookkeeper). Once I arrive, that couple will get to return to where they have lived and worked translating the Bible; which they have done for over 30 years! They will be free to continue their hard work and see it to completion!  

Thanks for taking time to pray for me and consider supporting me in this journey!  It is my goal to have all donations going directly to Ali or online with PBT by the end of December 2013.

Click here for some “Fun reading” about Papua New Guinea

Prayer requests ~ please pray with me…

• We have an urgent concern for Pacific Orientation Course (POC)! They do not have sufficient staff for our jungle training. If they don’t get it… there will be no POC in January… I don’t know what that would mean for me… considering that I am looking at flights to leave here in just over 100 days please pray that they get a Director and proper staff in place soon
• Supporting me on a monthly basis
• I begin my last required class “Foundations of Ministering Cross Culturally” next month… please begin praying that I will finish my classes well
• This journey to be a blessing that draws all of us together ~ closer to each other ~ but more importantly ~ closer to God

Praises!!

• My mom is doing really well!
• Things are going really well in our community house

Thank you SO MUCH… God bless you!

Until next month …  Make it your desire to use all of the fruits of the Spirit daily; love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control  (Galatians 5:22-23)