Dear Friends,
Greetings from sunny southern Texas! We have finally arrived in E., Texas! God has been so good and faithful to us over these past weeks and months of preparation, packing, travel, and settling in to our campus apartment here in the Valley. We have much to share since our last update and hope you will praise the Lord with us for the things He has done!
Answers to Prayer
In our last prayer letter, we shared a number of prayer requests. God answered over and above in so many ways! He provided not one, but two different places to stay during our final days of packing. He brought special friends along to help us with packing, cleaning, and watching our children. He allowed us to purchase a covered utility trailer to pull behind our van and gave us safety on the long road to Texas. He provided a support increase which brings us up to 98.5%! What a powerful evidence of the prayers of so many of you on our behalf!
Growing Pains
The month of July brought a big surprise to our family. For the first time in our nine years of marriage, we discovered that we were expecting a baby - the biological way! However, just one week after learning of the pregnancy, we lost the baby to miscarriage. Although we were disappointed, we were also grateful that we did not have more time to get used to the idea. Stephanie journaled many of her thoughts during this time on her blog (which has also become a place to share family updates and happenings.) You are welcome to visit there at http://garcias2chile.blogspot.com. Again, thank you for praying for us even when you are not fully aware of what God is doing in our lives – always, your prayers help carry us through the dark times. We continue to trust God’s will and plan for our lives and as we mentioned in our previous letter, we do believe that includes the adoption of another child. God has confirmed that again to us as just this week we were awarded a third adoption grant towards bringing our next child home! Please continue to pray with us as we anticipate his arrival in the days, weeks, or months ahead. All of our paperwork is in order, so now the hard part begins – waiting!
Commissioning Service
Our July 16th commissioning service at our home church, First Baptist of Lapeer, was such an encouragement and blessing to us. We were especially thrilled that Stephanie’s dad, Pastor Jim C., was able to bring the challenge to us and to the church family. He challenged the church to “hold the rope” for us as we head to Chile, remembering that we are an extension of their ministry around the world. We appreciated the beautiful message in song by our friends, CJ and Nedra K., who came to be with us that day – and also the presence of friends and family who came to participate with us! After the evening service, our church provided a farewell reception and we were overwhelmed by their expressions of love and friendship. Thank you so much to each and every one of you who played a part in this very special day!
Life in Texas
Pedro is enjoying his language school classes at RGBI. Classes are from 8:15 – 12:15 daily, with individual tutoring in the afternoon or evening. For our daughters, school begins August 24. We can hardly believe our oldest is entering kindergarten this year! Please pray for the adjustment for all of us as Eva begins school all day, five days a week and Isabel attends two days a week. As more seasoned parents can probably attest, it is hard to let go! Outside of school, we have enrolled Isabel in karate again to provide physical therapy and she recently enjoyed her first class with other 4-year olds. If you read our blog, you will find that Owen is growing and keeping us all laughing while he’s at it! On the church front, we are enjoying our participation at Iglesia Bautista del Valle, where Pedro’s dad pastors. There are many areas where we can be used in the church’s ministry. Please pray that we will be a help and encouragement while we are here!
Because of Christ, Pedro & Stephanie Garcia
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