August News...

Our three-month long training just ended this past Friday. It ended just as well as it began and although we were super excited that it was completed it was really sad to see the boys leave.  

We took them out of the jungle on Thursday night – then early Friday morning they had their tests!!! First was the physical test, then the written and story tests.  They all did amazing!! Every single guy nearly tripled their progress in the physical aspect and accomplished way more than the goals they set.  The story test went just as well and we were so proud of their progress!!  They were so nervous about the stories because they were drawing a story out of a hat -- whichever one they drew, they had to tell it and they had memorized 30 stories - word for word!! But their nervousness was unnecessary as they all did amazing.

For lunch we took the guys to a restaurant with a pool and let them eat and swim to their hearts content – then in the evening they invited their families to Jeremy’s house for their ‘graduation’. We had so much fun!!! They are all now back at home and hopefully enjoying time with their families.

We are really glad we are coming home for a bit or else I think that we would be a little depressed!! After spending literally all day every day with them for three months - now that they are gone, we don't really know what to do with ourselves! 

We are really hoping that at least two of the guys will decide to join our team, but right now none of them have committed.  We were a little discouraged by this but Jeremy said that it is actually normal.  I guess they get so overwhelmed about going home etc. that its hard for them to commit to being gone for 2 years (especially since this was the first time any of them had left home!) So we will wait patiently and pray and when we return from the states we will go visit them and see what they think.

In other news - we are coming to the states TOMORROW!!!! I can hardly believe it is time! We have all our errands run and now we just need to pack. We are so excited to get to see Adam’s family and meet all the new additions – and we will be able to see my sisters as well so we are really thankful for the vacation and the opportunity to spend time with family.  It is a perfect end to our summer.

Sophia turned 6 months this week!!! We can hardly believe it - she is growing so fast already!!! Here are a few pictures of her from this past month...

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support during these past three months.  We couldn’t have accomplished what we did without you guys.  You are such a blessing to our lives and to our ministry and we look forward to what the future will bring for our team and being able to share it with you all!!

Experimenting with the rice cereal :)

I don't know if she is thinking 'why is she so slow ... or what is this i am eating?!'

they survived the physical test!!!

Party time - yummy lunch!!

Sophia is resting after a hard day at the pool :)

Graduation!!!

All cleaned up and smellin nice :)

We had each one come up to the front and Adam and Jeremy talked about how they grew and funny stories of their time in the training - then we gave them a team t-shirt and a machete sheath with their names on them :)

sophia and memphis enjoying the ceremony

sophia smiling at her daddy - she is so proud :)

they are done!!