Candidate Orientation - Day 1

Today was the first day of Candidate Orientation. It's soooo good to finally be at this point in our move to the field! For the next two weeks, we will be meeting with CAM staff and missionaries as we get closer to going to the mission field!

Our morning started with a great time meeting with Larry and Jaime Hower talking about many facets of ministry and life on the field. They are a great couple who has served in Honduras, Mexico, and, most recently, Canada. Our time with them is so precious, and they are such an encouragement to us as a couple! Throughout the day, we also had a chance to spend some good time with the other candidates -- Joel and Vivian Lara, Jon and Libby White, Kendra Cervantes, Rebecca Zurbrick, Tom and Ann Withers, and Joe and Jenna Blakey. We ended the evening with a game of Rummy Cube.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Goodbyes are hard to do...

Unfortunately, graduation time is a bittersweet time. On one hand, it's exciting to see how the Lord has brought us through our time of seminary and prepared us to the point of graduation from DTS! He has unique and special things in store for our ministry.

On the otherhand, all our friends who graduated have their own ministries and plans ahead of them. While we are excited for each of them, we don't like to say goodbye and have them move!

Within the past week, we have had to say goodbye to a couple of our closest friends at seminary -- the Turners and the Gautiers -- who are moving out of Dallas.











The Turners headed out to Alabama last week to being a ministry position as an Associate Pastor. We are thrilled for this opportunity for them, as it's a great fit and the Lord will use them both mightily to reach out to this growing community; however, they will be missed dearly.













The Gautiers head out tomorrow for Colorado where they will be teaching high school students at a new and developing Christian school. As our "across the hall neighbors" (literally!) we have had the opportunity to see them every day, stop by just to chat, borrow eggs and milk, share life, and play with their adorable boys! We are going to miss them so much and are sad that they have to leave.














The Turners and the Gautiers were some of the first couples we got to meet at seminary through our spiritual formation group. For two years, five couples met together on Sunday afternoon each week and poured into each others lives. Here's our group about 4 years ago...my how we have all changed (and we have added 6 little ones to the picture and Amber's expecting #2!) Amber and Curtis move in a few weeks too! Then we'll be the only ones from our group still in Dallas (for the time being...)













Unfortunately goodbyes are a part of life. They are never fun and they are never easy, but there will always be more goodbyes. We are thankful for our good friends and the impact they have had on our lives. We love you guys!!!!

Creativity with Results

Check out some creative genius. These folks really are willing to think outside the box to accomplish great things. Who says ministry can't be fun?

A Few Israel Pictures

We are still in Israel and returning to the US on June 3rd. Since we have a little bit of internet time, we wanted to post a couple pictures.

The picture below is of a man sitting at the wailing wall on the western side of the temple mount in Jerusalem. Jews pray here as it is one of the closest spots to where the temple was located before.


Today we find the Dome of the Rock located on top of this location. You'll see a picture of Lindsey and I in front of the dome of the rock below.




The next picture is of the church that is located adjacent to the garden where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified. Kind of makes you think alot when you are standing in the garden that must have been where Jesus experienced the most difficult night of his life.