As this new year begins, we are inclined to reflect on the last year and count our many blessings. One of the biggest ones for us is that Corynn and Ethan were able to come home for the holidays! This was the first time that we were apart for a full year – from last Christmas to this Christmas. It was a long year, but God gives more grace. We are grateful beyond words to one of our dearest friends and supporting church that raised funds for our kid’s tickets. What a special way to serve your missionaries – making sure that we can spend Christmas together when it is the most expensive time of year to travel – even our national tickets go way up!
Vann worked hard on his free evenings and Saturdays in December to fix up the kid’s bikes, the pottery shed, and finished the two-year-long-project of the boat repair (it was someone else’s totaled 35-year-old Boston Whaler) so that we could spend some of our time all together having fun. We enjoyed our Perú – good food, sweet friends, and our beautiful jungle lake, tributaries, rivers, and waterfalls while making precious memories!
Corynn turned 21 years old last month! She is a beauty inside and out - which emanates from her love and devotion to Jesus. She is following His leading in her life, and we just could not be more proud. Classes have begun now for the last semester of her undergraduate studies, and it is her most full and rigorous semester yet. She could certainly use your prayers! We are, Lord willing, planning to attend her graduation in May, so when she and Ethan left after Christmas, the goodbye was only for half a year this time!
Construction is going well on the next two mission houses! The Round Robin is being plumbed while the little house now has a roof, and the floor joists are being built. It will act as a shed for building materials while the Round Robin is being finished. We’ve had several meetings this month with a couple of tribal working missionary families and their leadership teams to discuss particulars for living in these houses, using the storage units that Vann built, and our support services. We cannot finish these houses fast enough – there is an urgent need for the type of housing and support that this mission base offers. God is so good – where He leads, He supplies!
A few prayer requests:
· Teammates – we desperately need help maintaining this base. The more we build, the more upkeep is needed, and Vann can only do so much.
· Vann’s health – he is getting some testing to make sure that his cardiovascular system is functioning as it should. Considering his genetics, it’s a necessary precaution.
· My health – I am feeling stronger, and my heart feels better with my new steroid treatment. I am learning how to manage my dosage schedule so that I can make it through the days – I still tire easily, but with rest I can recover!
· Our carpenter friend, Abraham’s wife died after a long battle with cancer. We are thankful that she was a believer but her family still needs prayer for comfort in their grief.
· Continued healing for a couple of young boys in our community that have suffered broken legs from soccer injuries – one is an MK with a recent break, and Milka’s son’s leg is still not quite right after many months.
· Our refrigerator broke after a prolonged brownout while we were not home over two weeks ago. The process of repairing it is complicated since it was so kindly donated from the States several years ago, and the parts and firmware are completely different down here. We are very thankful for the temporary use of our neighbor’s fridge while we sort this out. New appliances are crazy expensive here – probably due to the insanely difficult and costly import process in our beloved Perú.
· Our dear friends are moving to the States after receiving their visas. We are happy for them and proud of them for doing it legally, but they will be missed - especially since they owned the best clinic and dentist practice in town - their help and care has been a great blessing over the years! It feels a bit like a safety net has been taken away, but we trust that God will provide and care for them in a new land and that He will continue to provide for us even without them here.
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support for us and this growing mission base! We feel so honored and grateful to get to do this work and to have you all on our team – we certainly couldn’t do this without you and our amazing, great God. We ask Him to bless and keep you all in His loving care.
“The nearer you are brought to Him, the more lively sense you will have of your continual need of Him, and thereby your admiration of His power, love, and compassion, will increase likewise from year to year.” – John Newton