Ok… I’ve been putting
off writing this for a little while longer than I intended! I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to
communicate with everyone but there have been a lot of things happening here. J And there’ve been a
‘few’ ‘overwhelmed moments’ so, please forgive the length of time it’s taken me
to get this out. We’ve been in Florida 2
1/2 weeks already!
ALONG THE WAY
We packed the truck up on Saturday, October 20th,
with help from friends. The next
morning, we left our (very special) Nierman family and Indiana and began the journey
to Florida. We spent a total of 3 ½ months living in their home and we miss
them. (Duane, we haven’t seen Duck Dynasty for weeks now!)
We arrived in Merritt
Island, Florida, after 2 long days of driving, multiple bathroom and rest
stops, hours and hours of changing scenery, and (getting within about 60
minutes) we hit a bear…actually, we hit it 2 times! Shonn hit it with the moving van/car and we
hit it in the van/cargo trailer behind him. And we weren’t the first to hit him! Everyone was shocked to hear there are even
bears in Florida…we found one. But, we
arrived safe and sound with only the need to change a tire on the trailer and a
missing fender. (Inserting a shout out
to a special friend, Kate Method, who drove with us to make the trip easier and
stayed a few days and rebuilt a shed in our backyard! What a blessing she is! J Also thanks to Susie
Adams, a friend who put us up for a night in Chattanooga and blessed us greatly
with her gift of hospitality!)
AT OUR DESTINATION
We got in pretty late but noticed that someone
had been in
the trailer and cleaned it for us. There were essentials in the way of food and
drink, too. The staff and students had
blessed us! J We were able to get a few mattresses and some
bedding in and we all crashed pretty quickly.
When we woke up the next morning, we were blessed again when 5 staff
guys showed up to help us unload the truck!
We’re settling in…it’s still an ongoing process. Boxes are still piled
up in corners and awaiting unpacking!
We started work on
Monday, October 28th. Shonn is in the Motorcycle Sunday School Missions
department. He loves what he is doing. Right now he is working on a project for
a group that will be heading out next September for a 9 month tour to raise
support for the Motorcycle Sunday Schools being established all over Africa and
Malaysia. I’ll be cooking for the
students on Tuesdays and have cooked several times already. (One week a month I
will be cooking Tuesday, Thursday and a weekend with no days in the
office. I’m part time since I’m a home
schooling mom). I also started in the
Aids Orphans Street Children department this week and will be doing projects
for the director.
Erinn’s adjusting pretty well! The first Friday we were here we heard a
racket on our porch and it was the neighbor kids (many of them staff kids)
asking if she wanted to come play ‘man hunt’.
The kids have been great to include her and she’s enjoying that. She also spent a few evenings at the ‘Fright
Night’ a local church was hosting for the community. We’re getting caught up with school and she’s
actually picking 2 weekend days a month to do school so she can be done when
the local kids are done. We took our
first week here off due to the transition! When I work, she has
the option to stay at
the house or come along. TMI is very kid
friendly for moms who homeschool.
It’s nice to be able to see Jesse on a daily basis! He’s
doing well at the Bible, Missionary, and Work Training Center at TMI. There are 23 students here right now training
for full time missions. They’re really a
great group of young people. Jesse has
classes in the mornings and then works in the videography department in the
afternoon. He’s been creating a video
for the preteens who did ministry this summer.
It’ll be going out pretty soon.
See Part 2