"So how are you preparing for Guatemala?" This is a common question we have been asked. About a month ago, Jon and I put together a 10-week plan with all our key dates and action items and we've slowly been working through it. It's been a month of tactical preparations for the move to Guatemala, foundational work for AMI International school, sad goodbyes, and exciting church speaking opportunities on top of our normal family routines. It's been hectic, to say the least, and we're certainly being stretched, but overall it's really exciting to get started. We're not sure if it's "enough" or "if we're ready," but we certainly feel good about all our preparations and are trusting that He has already made preparations for us! For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
Here's an update on what we've been up to lately (in no particular order)
1. Jon preached his first Sunday sermon at Radiance Christian Church about our decision to become missionaries! Find the recording here (Search for "How Good is the Good News To You.) He will be preaching at Radiance Christian Church again on May 26th and Renewal Christian Church (Sunnyvale) on May 19th. We'll also be sharing at Tapestry Church in Los Angeles on May 12th.
2. Jon will be heading to Guatemala from April 28-May 3 to begin setting up our home for our arrival in June!
3. Jon and Queena (a member of our stateside support team who is a school administrator), had a two day vision, mission, core value and curriculum planning session where they hammered out key aspects of the AMI International School.
4. We've shared with Elijah about the upcoming move but we're not sure if he's excited to move to "Gualemala" or if he's just excited he gets to ride an airplane!
5. We've met our two amazing interns that will be joining our team AMI's one-year internship program. They will be joining us in July!
6. We set up our donation portal! check it out here or you can click the "give" tab in the menu above
7. Steph started private virtual Spanish lessons 2-3X per week via preply.com (Hi Maykin!)
8. Jon and I each gave a talks at the Radiance Christian Church "Encounter" retreat. It was the first time I've given a talk/testimony at a retreat and I was super nervous in the weeks leading up to it, but thankfully the nerves went away for the main event!
9. Getting our last doctor and dental visits in before we are off our fancy health insurance plan. At the travel clinic we got 9 injections between the 4 of us.
10. Met with the missions committee at Chinese Church in Christ San Jose, which is another church that will be supporting us in prayer and financially. I will be speaking at this church on 4/28 and Jon will be speaking at their youth group on 5/29.
11. Joel learned to crawl and is celebrating his new found freedom by getting into all of Elijah's toys!
12. We've had to clean our floors every day because of update #11
13. Jon has been meeting biweekly with the missionaries and interns currently at the AMI ministry center in Guatemala.
14. We celebrated our last Easter with Radiance Church this past week! Elijah's favorite part was the Easter egg hunt and getting to decorate his own cookie at the Easter carnival.
15. We've started to say goodbye to our wonderful friends. We've had numerous amazing brunches, lunches and dinners with them as we're trying to spend as much time as possible with folks before we depart. One highlight was that our community group threw us an awesome The Office TV show themed Goodbye Party and it deserved a Dundie Award.
Wow, that was a lot, but we're still smiling :D Happy Easter weekend all!