June 2016 Update

Hasta luego Ecuador! Bienvenido a Alabama! It was a bitter sweet month as we said farewell to our friends and family in Ecuador and were welcomed by our family when we arrived to our home in Alabama.  Lunch in Loja! We met Bryan and Gisella at the panaderia in Balsas and often had dinner with them before they moved to Loja city. We were so blessed to spend one more day with them in Loja before we left. Christopher and Sophie became immediate best friends and they loved playing together no matter where we were. We pray that God will put them in our path again one day.  Debriefing with our OMS Ecuador family

We spent our last few weeks traveling and debriefing with our One Mission Society family. They have done a great job in equipping and preparing us for our expedition. Please pray for them as they continue to build relationships and meet with all of our friends from Balsas while also continuing to glorify God through other ministries. CULTURE SHOCK! 1. We have a lot of stuff! Thats right, stuff. Not precious items or fancy furniture, but stuff. We lived out of a few bags for a year and came home to a storage room full of... We lived without this stuff for a year, I think we can live without it for a few more years. 2. Busy, Busy, Busy! We just arrived and are already overwhelmed by the fast pace lifestyle and too many things to do. When do people sleep or have their quiet time, or actually talk to their neighbors, or spend time with those people that we call family? 3. Church and Small groups! While we were in Ecuador, we had the opportunity to listen to our church and other Pastors through podcasts, but there is nothing like live Church in English. It was so awesome to come home and go to church and then to go to a small group and do life with others. Some culture shock is good. Debriefing with some of our mentors We had an opportunity to spend time with some of our leaders and mentors to share some of our experiences from Ecuador as well as give some insight to our future plans. Our mentor and leadership team holds us accountable and helps with all of our decision making in order to ensure that we are doing what is best to glorify God. They also comfort and affirm us through prayer and personal conversations (not social media; actual conversations).  Our experience with YUGO ministries in Mexico SOPHIE was not quite ready to talk to friends in English, so we decided to take a trip to Mexico and visit our friends from YUGO ministries.

We had a great opportunity to see how YUGO ministries is reaching out to people from the United States as well as Pastors and people from Mexico. We spent a lot of time with our good friends Adam and Melissa Williford and their two children for our first few days. They lead and coordinate all of the ministries at the Rosarito campus. Later in the week, we had the opportunity to catch up with our friends Nathan and Charity Alpert. Nathan is the president of YUGO, but this week he was also one of the leaders for a home building team. Our family had the privilege to visit his team and see the ceremony in which they hand the keys of a new home over to the new owners. It was a very special moment to see how God is working in people from the United States through short term trips and also at the same time working through people from Mexico. To find out more about YUGO ministries go to YUGO.org Final Thoughts We are so thankful for our experience in Ecuador. We are blessed to be able to call Balsas as well as Montgomery our home. We are also thankful for you all praying and encouraging us while we were in Ecuador and also for helping us get settled back in to the States.  What happens now? Lacey and I are planning to take the month of July to take care of our business things such as setting up a house, getting clothes, and organizing our finances. We are also spending time trying to readjust to this culture. We have a some great avenues to pursue for our future and want to spend time starting in August to pray and fast in order for us to hear clearly from God about which we should pursue.