LESS than 8 weeks!

In less than 8 weeks, we will board a plane with one way tickets to Costa Rica!

Time is already going so quickly ... it is unreal.  It's hard to believe that in less than 2 months we will be waking up to our new norm in Costa Rica.  We are so excited!

We have been busy getting things in order, making lists (and more lists!), & beginning the packing process.  We are flying in the holiday travel window so we are only able to check 2 bags each.  It is definitely forcing us to go through everything we have kept for another round of purging!

We are SO thankful that one of our family friends is traveling with us!  Chesney will fly out with us & spend a week helping us with Josie as we get adjusted & settled in.  We could not be more thankful to have an extra set of hands (and 2 extra suitcases!) as we set off on this journey. Chesney has traveled with us to Honduras the last two summers so she is super excited to see Costa Rica & help us navigate San Jose for our first few exciting days!

So ... the countdown in ON!  December 14th will be here before we know it & we are holding on for the ride!

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We have been trying to make the most out of each day we have left here in SC.  We were able to have lunch the other day at a Honduran restaurant about an hour & 1/2 from our  house.  We drove to Bluffton to have lunch & it was SO worth it!  The food was amazing & the atmosphere was great.  They even had FRESCA!  Ahhhhh ... words can't express the excitement I (Laura) had over that!

We plan to visit Laura's parents in VA at the end of this week & then travel to Spartanburg next weekend to speak at Eastside Baptist Church.  We are so thankful to have the opportunity to speak about all of the great things we have already seen God do in Honduras & the vision He has given our family.  We look forward to seeing some friends there in Spartanburg & connecting with others that have a passion for missions!

God has really been stirring our hearts in the last few weeks as we have started making serious plans & preparations for this journey to begin.  It is so encouraging to see the same message from Him show up in so many different places.  He is confirming His calling on our lives & reminding us that He ALONE is enough.  Even this morning's sermon at our home church continued to remind our hearts that we are not seeking approval from men but from God alone (Galatians 1).  It has been humbling & bittersweet but we are seeing that God is isolating our hearts so that we are only seeking after encouragement & approval from Him.  We are so thankful that we will soon be surrounded by other families that have felt this same calling on their hearts!

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So ... how can you pray?

- For Josie:  Please pray for her heart as we prepare to make this move.  She is going to really miss living with her Nana & Papaw.  I know that this will be the hardest part of the entire process for our family.  Please pray for her to adjust quickly & have peace in her little heart!

- For us:  Please pray for us individually & as a couple as we prepare for this step!  We know that we will be facing a lot of uncertainty, change & the unknown which can be tough.  Pray for us to be strengthened & united!

- For Costa Rica & ILE (our school):  Please pray that The Lord will go before us in every detail (housing, families for us to connect with, etc.)  Pray for our minds to be prepared for learning the language!

How else can you impact the ministry?

We are still looking for families, individuals, and churches to join our ministry team as monthly partners.  We are officially over 50% funded!  If you are able to give a monthly donation of ANY amount to help us reach 100%, please visit our giving site:

https://yfc.givingfuel.com/32216

If you know anyone that has a passion for missions & may want to hear more about God's ministry & the vision He has given us, please share their information with us!

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We shared a video a week or so ago about the school we will be attending.  Finding this video only made us more excited to start this adventure at ILE.  This video shares so much about the culture there at the school, their vision, & the passion behind this ministry to missionary families!

Check it out ...We are so excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this awesome community!

Thank you to everyone that has prayed for us, joined our ministry team financially, or encouraged us along the way! It has been a LONG road to finally reach this point after sensing The Lord stir our hearts 5 years ago.  A road full of heartache, ups, downs, darkness, storms, trials, and even silence from The Lord at times.  But we are finally approaching our harvest season after all of this time & we are SO ready!

It's OFFICIAL!

We have been given the GREEN LIGHT to leave in December for language school in Costa Rica!

We could not be more excited to have a departure date.  It feels SO real now!

We have not yet reached 100% of our monthly need but we have received enough in one time gifts, monthly pledges, & love offerings to have enough for our year at language school.

We will continue building our ministry team & raising support here in the States between now & when we leave in December.  We will then be raising support from Costa Rica while we attend language school for a year.  If we have not met 100% of our monthly goal by the end of language school, we will return home to continue building our ministry team.

We have currently met 46% of our monthly need for the ministry in Honduras!

The Lord added FOUR people to our ministry team this weekend!  Four more people that have made a monthly investment into our family ... trusting God to do mighty things in & through us.  We are SO blessed & thankful!

It is so encouraging to our family to now have a ministry team of over 25 people & 3 church families that we can count on as we step out in faith.  It is such a blessing to know that we have a team of prayer warriors in our corner to encourage us along the way!

Many people have said that they can "only" do a small monthly amount & seem to think that it won't make a difference.  We truly mean it when we say that ANY amount of a monthly donation will help us to be one step closer to full time service on the mission field!

If you have not yet partnered with us, we ask that you would pray & see how The Lord would lead you to get involved in God's ministry in Honduras.  

It may seem like a small thing in your eyes but we assure you that each gift we receive is HUGE for us.  We know that each response of obedience is an even BIGGER deal to God!

So what is our next step?

Now that we have a date, we are officially starting the process of packing & preparing!  We have to work out the specifics on shipping our belongings, housing, paperwork for YFC & school, and SO much more!

Please pray for us as we soak up the next few months that we have left in the States with our family!  We are so excited to see our journey finally beginning but our hearts are also torn to have to say so many "see ya laters".  Also, pray for our sweet girl to enjoy these last few weeks living with Nana & Papaw & for the Lord to prepare her little heart for this big change.

THANK YOU for ALL of your prayers & encouragement!  Can't wait to see God come through in HUGE ways between now & when we leave ... more to come soon! :)