Josh and Zach
(his brother) left Kentucky early on Monday Morning June 24th. It was
really weird watching them pull out of the driveway knowing that our
entire house (except for a few things in the shed) was headed to
Phoenix, Arizona. They had a 24 hr drive in front of them, and with 2 dogs, let me be the first to say, I was not upset that I was going to be flying instead.
They arrived to our new house around 8:00 and luckily we had already made some friends that were willing to help unload the truck.
In a matter of 30 minutes, everything was out of the truck and into the house....too bad it took WAY longer than that to put everything up. Unfortunately we are still working on things here and there. That night I was laying at Granny's thinking about this big move, what all it entailed, what we were going to be facing and where our lives were headed. With all the emotions I've felt up to this point, I was quite surprised that all I was feeling at that moment was peace and excitement. I of course was sad to be leaving my family and friends but this opportunity is amazing and I couldn't say "no" to God anymore.
The time had come for me and the babies to make our way to Phoenix. With a few tearful goodbyes and a drive to Nashville, we hopped on a plane for a short 3 1/2 hr flight and before we knew it, we were in the state of Arizona.
As soon as we landed we headed to our new home, where we had a warm welcome from everyone at First Indian Baptist Church. They had prepared a fellowship meal for us and we got to meet some of the member of the church. As soon as we got home from church (a short walk as you can see in the pics above) we headed to bed (still on KY time). Mom and Zach stayed with us until Sunday and we soaked up all the time with them we could. We were on the Rez one day and up at the Grand Canyon the next. The Sunday morning when they left, reality set in. We were here, now what?!?!
We have spent a few days with our good friends Eric & Brittany Gibbs and their kids. These have been very important to us because it furthermore shows us that we are here for a reason. That God has lead us here and that there is alot of work to be done here. We have gone down to the TO with them a couple times, one day while they had a mission team in and they were doing a VBS, another day we went for their weekly Tuesday night Church. We fell in love all over again. We will be back there in a couple weeks to help out while the Gibbs are out of town and probably when they get back, what can we say...we love it there! We are truly blessed to have this family living here.
We spent one day driving around on the Gila River Reservation (District 7-Maricopa Village) praying for guidance. This is the district with the church that we told you about from our previous trip in February, that is empty. There hasn't been church in this building in quite some time. After talking with a couple from FIBC that are doing work on District 6, this church has great potential. We think there is a great possibility to plant a church here but it will take time, prayer, the right people, and did I mention lots of prayer.
We are working on the Gila River Reservation next week at Casa Blanca Baptist Church doing a VBS. We will be handing out flyers this weekend. Please pray for a great turnout and great things to be done this week.
Other than that, we aren't sure where we will be next. We are trying to keep our slate clean so to say so that we can be available every chance we get. We know that the Lord has called us here. Each and every day he reassures us of this and shows us another possibility of places to go and share the Good News. We haven't mentioned this before but after arriving we have found another group of people that we feel drawn to, and we are praying that God will open the right doors for us to get in and share life with them as well. We will let you know more about that when the time comes, but for now please pray for this as well.
I know this is a long post and I'm sorry, but I just get so excited talking about our journey that I can't help but ramble on and on. We want to thank everyone that has supported us along the way. Without you we would not be where we are today and we are truly appreciative of each and every one of you. If you have any questions at all please call, text, facebook, email, etc. We love getting your responses!
