PILAT Starts

  Late last night we finally made it to Colorado to begin our missions training at MTI (Missions Training International). We arrived about 10:30PM and were very grateful to see our rooms.

   We got a call this morning from a dear friend asking about our car trouble. He informed us that he knew of someone that wanted to help out. The entire bill for the car repairs has been taken care of. God has once again provided in such a big and tangible way. We are very humbled by the gifting and are very thankful for God's people being obedient to His call to help out a brother and sister in need. We can't adequately convey how touched we are, and how this entire story has increased our faith and shown us the power of prayer.

   Here are some pictures of the facility located by Palmer Lake just south of Colorado Springs.

     The first day was very intense as I am sure the rest of the days will be.  It's great to spend time with other missionaries and hear their stories. We have 67 people attending this session of PILAT. They are from all over the country and with God's provision will be spread all over the world. PILAT stands for Program In Language Acquisition Techniques. We will be learning skills needed to learn a new language. These skills can be used to learn any language so the training is not language specific. We look forward to the challenges in the days ahead. Talia and Carson are also doing very well. They have moved Talia into the adult program with Dana and I. Carson is with the teen boys, and they seem to be getting along great.

The Power of Prayer

    We had an amazing day today that I promised God I would share yet tonight.  We were on our way to North Platte, Nebraska, this morning after leaving the worship service at Taintor Community Church.  It was an amazing morning of worship and fellowship at Taintor.  We re-connected with friends and were blessed abundantly.  We are so grateful for our family of Christ at that church!
    We left the hotel and headed down the highway.  About 6 hours into the trip we stopped for gas. The engine when we slowed down began to shimmy and shake.  We had no idea what was wrong.  I pulled out of the gas station to an adjoining parking lot and looked under the hood.  The only thing I noticed was that the water pump seemed a little sloppy, but everything else looked good.  We decided to let the engine cool down and see if it might be a vacuum problem.  We started sending out prayer requests for the car to get us to North Platte.  We decided to eat supper and let the car rest. After eating and sending out the requests, we got in the car and started out.  The shimmy in it was terrible at low speed but got better as we increased speed.  We had over 100 miles to go to get to North Platte. 
     I remembered a story I had been told about the need for being very specific with your prayers. Our prayer request was that we would be able to make it to North Platte.  I began to pray specifically for Jesus to wrap His hands around the engine and protect it so that we could get to the parking lot of the hotel in North Platte, under its own power.  We had several people praying for us and there were some very tense moments over the next hour and a half.  Abount 50  miles from the hotel the engine started shaking and knocking very loud.  We intensified our prayer, believing fully that Jesus could and would see us through!  The engine quieted down and after one and a half hours of praying and driving we came off Interstate 80 and the hotel was in site.  The water pump finally gave way, the serpentine belt came off and we coasted into the parking space of the hotel.
   PRAISE GOD!!  What an awesome God we serve.  We were so grateful and appreciative of getting to the hotel.  It was not luck or skill that got us there, it was the awesome power of prayer!!!
   We are now praying for the repairs to be able to be completed so we can still get to our training on time. We know that God is in control, and we will get to the training at the exact time we are supposed to.
  I hope this story encourages you, I will be telling it all the rest of my days.

  Blessings and much Praise this evening,

  D & D

Heading to Colorado

     We left this morning for our training, SPLICE/PILAT at Mission Training International in Palmer Lake, Colorado.  We will be there for the next five weeks.  Thank you to all who have supported us and prayed for us to get here.  We have been very busy the last few weeks getting ready and are excited to get started. As I said we left from home this morning and are spending the night in Grinnel Iowa.  This is a town very close to our friends Pastor Dave and Jan Pinkerton.  We spent a wonderful evening with them at their home with their son Joel and his girl friend Megan.  We first met two months ago when I spoke at Taintor Community Church.  We are going to that same church tomorrow for Sunday worship. I am excited to be back and re-connect.
    Tomorrow we will go as far as North Platte, Nebraska, and then on to Palmer Lake on Monday morning.  Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  We are praying for open eyes, open hearts and open minds so we will be able to see all that God is wanting us to learn on this trip.  We are so very blessed to be at this stage in our ministry and continue to be in awe of God's provision for us.

Blessings,

D & D

Preparing For Training

     We have been busy getting ready to head to Colorado for our training which begins on June 11th.  We will be there for 5 weeks taking SPLICE/PILAT training.  These courses are designed to help us with language acquisition and also to prepare us for living in a different culture.  We look forward to this training as it gets us one step closer to getting to the field. 
     We are looking forward to getting to the Baby Centre, and our target date is still in August.  We have fallen a little behind in our monthly support and are planning on having an event on July 15th at Nappanee Missionary Church to raise awareness of our need for other partners in our ministry.  We are currently at 59% of our total monthly need.  We need to be at 90% by the end of July in order to meet our goal of being in Kenya in August.  God has blessed us so much over this last year in so many ways.  We know that when He calls, He provides and we are confident in His timing that the funds necessary to get us to the field will come in.
     Dan and I are finishing up our Perspectives class and should be done in the next two weeks.  Perspectives is very appropriately named as it has given us so many different facets of ministry that have helped shape and prepare our hearts for the task that lies ahead of us. 
     There have been many transitions in our lives over the last few weeks. Many ask how we are doing with all of the changes.  It is difficult to describe, but there is a definite peace that can only come from God. Knowing that He is in control and that we are fully committed to our mission.  We look forward to serving our Lord and Savior, the people of Kenya, the babies at the Baby Centre and all of our ministry partners.
     Let us know how we can partner with you and bring you along with us to bring the Gospel to the people of Kenya.

Blessings,

D & D

Sunset-sunrise

     As the sun sets on this season in our lives, God walks with us into our new morning. This last Friday was my last day at DJ Construction. I have left a job I loved, a career that has been a blessing, and a financially stable situation for me and my family. But, I believe that God has called us to do greater things in His name. We walk forward in faith, knowing that when God calls, God provides. We have been so blessed and have seen God's hand in so many ways over the past couple of weeks.
    On Monday of last week we got a call that we had a person that was ready to move into our home, God once again provided the right person at the right time. We have now been lifted officially from the burden of our home and can focus some of those energies elsewhere now. The entire story of our home sale is a wonderful story of God bringing the right people together at the right time. Our broker had a lot of faith to sign the agreement with us before he actually had a person to move in. Jeff our broker, is now working with us on speaking engagements with churches he is involved with. Our broker has become our ministry partner as well. And, the people that have moved into our home are foster parents and adoptive parents! How great is that!
   On Saturday the 19th of May we had the privilege of being a part of the Men With Vision dinner at the Essenhaus in Middlebury, IN. We were a part of the evening with Gary Archer from MWV and Hubert Harriman the President of World Gospel Mission, who was the keynote speaker. It was a wonderful evening with Hubert speaking on passion for missions. We were able to tell the group what we will be doing once we arrive in Kenya in August. We feel blessed every time we get a chance to speak about the Baby Centre.
    We also this last week on Wednesday were blessed with an open house for myself at DJ. It was for the clients and subcontractors that I had worked with over the past 20 years. We had a wonderful turn out and had over 100 people in attendance. We were also at this event able to set up our Kenya display and were able to show our PowerPoint presentation and speak to many of the people in attendance about our mission. We are looking forward to see what fruit is produced from those seeds that have been planted. Thank you to DJ for planning and having the open house and a big thanks to all those who took time out of their busy schedules to attend. We were truly blessed with this opportunity.
   We are now just three weeks away from our training in Colorado. This is exciting for us to get started on this phase of our journey to Kenya.
   Please keep in your prayers our good friends and ministry partners Bev and Bernie Lambright. Their son Tim was involved in an ATV accident and has a serious spinal chord injury. We are specifically praying for strength and wisdom for each of them as they walk through this deep valley. We know as well as they do that they do not make this journey alone.
   Blessings
   D &D

Big Changes...

     Hi all!!  We are all moved in to our temporary new home here in Goshen.  It's taken a while to get all settled in but we are all managing well.  We are still in the process of packing items for storage, items to take to Kenya, and still have a few items to sell.  What a huge process this is and a most challenging one at that.

     Our home that is being built in Kenya on the Baby Centre compound is really moving along very, very quickly.  Most of the roof is now on!!  We are very appreciative of all the workers there that are doing such a wonderful job building it.

     We have been able to get started back on our Perspectives class.  We continue to be amazed at the teaching and all that we are learning.  It's a phenominal class.  We also are progressing on the other classes we are taking with IWU.

     Dan will say goodbye to his DJ family next week as he leaves DJ after over twenty years. Please pray for this transition in our lives. There is a sadness and a bit of fear in leaving the familiar to step into the unknown. We are trusting totally in God to lead us through this major transition. On the other hand there is great excitement and anticipation in the freedom to allow God to lead your path. Thank you for all of your prayers and words of encouragement.

     We are thankful for the opportunity to speak at the Men With Vision IN/MI Rally on May 19th at the Essenhaus in Middlebury, IN.  We will be a part of the evening that will feature Bill Bucher from MWV @ WGM and Hubert Harriman, President of WGM also presenting.

     So thankful for each and every one of you that take the time to read our blog and to pray for us.

Blessings,

D&D

Moving Day

    Last night we spent our first night in our new home. The Lord has provided abundantly for us again. We had a wonderful couple from our church family offer us a home on the south side of Goshen. Arnold and Marsha have been a huge blessing to us and we thank God for them. We have a signed lease purchase agreement on our home, and it takes affect on May the 1st. So as of tonight we are about 99% moved out. We do thank everyone for their prayers!! God has been so good to us.

   We continue to catch up on our schooling. We can now concentrate on that aspect. We are confirmed for our training in Colorado and are looking forward to completing that phase of our preparation for service.

   We have a speaking engagement in Middlebury IN on the 19th of March. We will be part of the Men With Vision Dinner at the Essenhaus Conference Center. We are looking forward to being a part of this event with Bill Bucher, and the WGM President Hubert Harriman who will also be speaking that evening.

   Please pray for us in our adjustments to our new home and as I prepare to leave my job on the 18th of May. We are very excited to follow God's lead as we continue down our path to serving in Kenya.

Blessings,
D & D