Our feet are back on US soil.  After leaving San Pedro Sula (The murder capital of the world) we arrived in good ol’ Houston, Texas (which is apparently the ‘air-conditioning capital of the world,’ a welcome accommodation in light of where we were coming from).

We don’t know anyone in Houston.  We expected to just get off the plane, find our rent-a-car, and skee-dattle on up to Grand Saline, Texas, where we were to do some missionary training for a couple days.  Imagine our immense surprise and delight when one of our oldest and dearest friends met us in the Houston Airport Terminal.  We hadn’t seen her in almost exactly 8 months.

Immediately as we came down off the escalator, both Heidi and I saw her.  Her wavy hair and impish smile were a site for sore eyes.  Both of our hearts swelled with joy and deep love, seeing our friend.  She is someone whom we have spent years and years getting to know, giving us comfort, courage, support, and even superhuman physical powers.  I mean, I wouldn’t go so far as to say we have a codependent relationship with her, we’ve been just fine without her for 8 months.  We don’t really NEED her, but Lord how we have missed her.  Sure, she’s soaked up gobs of our money over the years (that sneaky lil’ vixen), but the return on our relational investment has been good as gold.  So, while saying that, yes, I am physically addicted to her, may sound somewhat unhealthy, trust me when I say that everything is cool, we’re fine, it’s not weird or anything.  We’re good.  Really.

Anyway, when we saw our friend, we both were super excited, and urgent, and I think we abandoned the kids with some nice transient airport-type man while we ran to embrace her.

Right away, we took our saucy friend’s photo (see below.  No, way below, keep going).

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

Yes, our sassy friend Starbucks has never let us down…

In other news, we finished our training with Greg and Candi Seager at the Christian Health Service Corps headquarters near Grand Saline, Texas.  We enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of our friends and left for home in Washington State feeling rejuvenated.

Since then, we have been blessed to speak at a couple churches already, and we are very grateful to Grace of Christ Presbyterian Church for letting us share our ministry last Sunday, as well as Moses Lake Worship Center on Wednesday.  We felt very welcomed and humbled to be highlighted at their services.

One thing I’ve noticed is that people thank us a lot for what we are doing.  This is very kind, and I understand the loving nature of the sentiment.  But I always feel a little bit like, what are you thanking me for?  It’s like thanking Russell Wilson for playing a football game (not that we are the Russell Wilson’s of the missionary field, we are more like the Nolan Frese’s—never heard of him?  Yeah, he’s a rookie long snapper for the Seahawks, and the only time you’ll ever hear his name is if he launches one over the head of the punter, resulting in a safety for Carolina.  Then, you’ll be cursing his name…)  Anyway, Russell gets to play a GAME that he loves!  It’s the same for us, we feel privileged to be serving in this manner, and we love doing it.  We are where God wants us, which is so fulfilling.  So, you can certainly thank us, or you can say, “keep it up,”  or “stay strong,” or “nice play,” or “man your butt looks good in football pants.”  Any of those comments would be perfectly appropriate, and very much appreciated.  Again, thanks…

On to some pics:

So, they have this thing down in Texas, not sure if you’ve heard of it:  Barbecue.  Its where they sumptuously slather rich brown sauces infused with a savory smoke onto the fattiest, most tender portions of various farm animals, including pork, beef and chicken.  Then, they put it on a grill and cook it.  When it comes out and you eat it, your mouth is undone and you can never go back to eating low-cal chicken feta wraps, or steel cut whole grain oatmeal.  Your mouth has forever been changed, and there’s no going back.  They do this pretty well down there…

 

 

Thank you all for your support, we really appreciate all of your words of encouragement and your prayers as we seek to serve the Honduran people, and fulfill Jesus’ calling.