Well it's been a little while since we last gave everyone an update, and it goes without saying that a lot has gone on. All of our paperwork is now in and we should be hearing something from the board this week about our official aapoval. So hopefully the next post we can say that we are officilly MSC missionaries. Deidra and I are getting really anxious, but we are trying to be as patient as possible and neither one of us are naturally very patient, so we are learning a little here. With that being said this whole process thus far seems to be moving really fast, which honestly is what we wanted.
Just this past weekend I began figuring out how things were going to work out with my National Guard contract. Let's just say that I couldn't have planned it better than that. God has really answered a prayer with that portion of this puzzle to say the least.
The absolute coolest thing that has changed since we last got on here is, we recently visited Phoenix. The trip was kind of short notice but we felt like we needed to get out there as soon as possible and man was it an awesome trip. We have seen God orchestrate a plan through individuals in opposites sides of the country that could have never possibly come together without the hand of God placing each piece where it needed to be. Seeing God work like he has so up close and personal on something that I feel is huge, is something I have never been a part of before and it has already been an amazing experience for Deidra and I.
So we flew in on a Friday evening and our friends Eric and Brittany came to pick us up at the airport. Oh I forgot to mention that the Sunday before First Indian Baptist Church in Phoenix voted unanimously to provide our family with housing at no cost to us and even more so to partner with us in our mission and asked that we likewise partner with them. So this was huge but we wouldn't find out just how huge until Sunday. So when we got off the plane, the first thing we did was go check out our new house. Now I feel I need to say at this point I think Eric may have been seeing how serious we were about this whole thing, haha. Well a long story short, Eric showed us the wrong house initially and as excited as we were, it was a relief to see the actual house that we will be staying in. With that being said I think we would stay in anything at this point.
The next morning we woke up and drove to the middle of nowhere onto the Tohono O'odham reservation. It was very remote, gorgeous scenery, but remote, until finally we pulled up to the village of Hickiwan. There we met some other MSC missionaries and some of the men of First Indian, and we had a good lunch. Now when I say remote, it's not an exaggeration, many of homes are mud huts, with outshouses nearby, and not all of them even have electricity, that REMOTE, Third world country REMOTE. Needless to say there very little gospel presence on this reservation that encompasses 3 million square miles (that number could be wrong-sorry) but it is huge with villages scattered sporadically throughout the dessert.
We finished up the afternoon driving through different parts of the Gila River Reservation and seeing the areas that will be closest to where we will be living. Eric and Brittany and their wonderful children drove us all over on Saturday and we got to see a lot. It also gave us the opportunity to speak with them about needs and where we might begin when we get out there. Throughout the course of the weekend we really began to develop a vision and plan for we will do when we finally get boots on the ground (sorry that was too much army).
This is an abandoned church on the Gila River Reservation. We would like this to be one of our first projects. You can see to the right classrooms attached, and to the far right (not pictured) is an old gymnasium.
Sunday morning we got to speak at First Indian for a few minutes and we received a great welcome. The congregation was so nice and made us feel like we were already a part of the family. Afterwards we had lunch and toured our new home. It was crazy to think as we walked around that we would be living there pretty soon. We were so excited, we just couldn't stop smiling. Sunday afternoon was a little more relaxed, we just hang out with Eric and Brittany and took a short drive around some other districts of the Gila River.
Shawn, Josh, Deidra, Emmalynn, Brayden, Brittney, Santos, Eric, Ella
Since we have been home we have finished some work on our house, showed it a time or two, and started scheduling speaking engagements at different churches. Once we are approved we will have more information to let everyone know about so we are praying to hear something this week. If you or your church would be interested in having us come share with you what we are doing, then feel free to contact us so we can set something up.
Please continue to keep our family and this whole journey in your prayers. And thank you for the prayers already, we can definitely feel them and God's presence in all of this. Also, please pray for 1st Indian Baptist Church, they have been so generous to us already and they are ready to partner with us and work on the reservation as well. They actually went to the TO this past weekend and started building relationships. I know they would truly appreciate the prayers.
Deidra, Shawn, Josh
