Ministry Update

The disclaimer on my blog is that it is "a missionary WIFE's journal," and as such the focus is often on my own thoughts and the ins and outs of our daily home life. But believe it or not, there IS more to our lives than running after three rambunctious children and waiting for a fourth ... so I decided to take some time and offer you a brief "ministry update" regarding the "Garcias2Chile!" 

Pedro is working diligently towards the completion of his language school training, with graduation scheduled for May 10. This semester is even more rigorous than last, with one particular class requiring seven papers and oral presentations! We have stayed up late many nights as he writes the papers, I type them and correct any errors in his Spanish (yes, this is allowed!) and then he studies them some more. If we happen to get the assignment done early, he asks his language tutor to review it and catch any errors that I missed!

Once language school is completed, we will not immediately leave Texas because Pedro has been asked to participate in a "music camp" in Houston the first week of June. This is an outreach that usually takes place in Mexico, with the concept of training young people in the basics of several different instruments as well as teaching them to lead music and/or sing in their local churches. Pedro is interested in participating and observing this ministry because it sounds like an outreach we could potentially reproduce in Chile one day.

So, our departure date from Texas is scheduled for June 16. There are still MANY details to be ironed out, but basically we will need to return to Michigan for several weeks in order to unpack our storage unit ... and then re-pack all of our earthly belongings in an organized, itemized way and put them on a truck to North Carolina. In North Carolina, a ministry organization will pack them into a container for shipping to Chile. While in Michigan, we also plan to visit our home church and another supporting church which has changed leadership during our time away, visit friends and say goodbye.

In mid-July, we anticipate making our way to Delaware to visit Stephanie's family and another supporting church. It is likely that her parents' address will become our permanent address, in which case we will need to set up a new bank account, get new driver's licenses ... oh, and did I mention we need to apply to the Chilean embassy for our visas at that time as well? Once we have organized the paperwork, obtained our visas, purchased plane tickets, and said our goodbyes, we plan to leave for Chile in mid- to late-August.

Do you feel as overwhelmed by reading all of that as I do thinking about it? If so, you have a taste of what we are facing and can better pray for us over the next several months. We know that many, many missionaries have gone before us and done this and that God will show Himself faithful to us through it all - but we certainly do appreciate your prayers!

Love, Stephanie