We had dotted all our "i"s, crossed all our "t"s, practiced our message, when all of a sudden it hit us: we had no idea what we were going to say the next day in front of Lifegate Christian School for their first chapel of the year.
The things we had prepared were nice, but not really the taste we wanted to leave in the students' mouths for the rest of the year. We wanted them to dream big, and to catch a vision for missions, and it was only by the Lord's hand that we were able to accomplish just that the next morning. He gave us the words to say, and by the end of chapel, kids were coming up to us asking more about our plans and telling stories of their own adventures in other countries.
This was a great chance to share with kids what we will be up to, because most of our meetings have been with aduts. We're more accustomed to working with youth anyway as evidenced by this picture of Lifegate students over at our house for a pizza/game night, with Jake in the middle, stuffing his face full of chocolate while wearing ski mittens in a frantic game called Menonite Madness.
Our meetings with adults have been going very well also. Last week we presented our vision in front of about 25 Lifegate parents, and the Lord brought in over $3000 in that one night alone. As of this morning, we have raised $20,015 toward our goal of $68,000. Thank you Lord!
Well, we've done it, we've moved in with my parents. This is that time in life when you look back on all of the independence that you have gained and wonder where it has gone... Actually, this has been a huge blessing. Both of our parents helped us move out of our apartment in Eugene to Central Oregon, where we will be continuing our fundraising while preparing to leave for the Dominican Republic in January. We will be visiting friends and family all over Oregon as well as attending a Cross Cultural Orientation training in Colorado and three weeks of training/conferences in Florida. Lord willing, we will fly from Florida to the DR at the end of January. In the mean time, we will be raising the rest of our funds and believing for many more miracles. Thank you for all of you who are praying for us now. We really appreciate your encouragement and support in this time. This is the point of no return and really a time of dependence on the Lord. Although we are being stretched, we are thankful for what God is doing in our lives. 
