New York!

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to New York city with my dear friends Andy, Karen, and Rob.

We went to the Empire State building!

The Blue Man group was unlike any show I've ever seen...absolutely amazing!

The Christmas tree at Rockefellar Center.

Watching the Today Show!

Being anchorwomen at NBC studios.

Attending the Late Show!

Missionary Graduation!

"Missionary school" is over. Thanks to all those who came to the commissioning service on Thursday, Dec. 15. I counted and there were 21 guests just for me! I think that may have beat every other trainee. The time at training passed so quickly, and now in a few short weeks I'll be reunited with my teammate Kelly and we'll be leaving the country! Continue to be in prayer for me as I begin to say goodbyes to family and friends. Also begin to pray for this transition time to the field.

Some prayer requests!

Pray for:

- Tim Cearley, Diane Shreder, and Mme Motsamai as they are in Palapye looking for housing for Kelly and I.

- The Batswana Baptists as they think about also moving another Journeyman, Crystal, to work in Palapye with us.

- Our language learning. We are going to spend our first few weeks in Gaborone, Botswana studying Setswana which will be more necessary to live in Palapye. Also, we will need to be brushing up on Spanish, as the Brazilian missionaries speak Portuguese and Spanish! (Some people speak English, but not everybody...so communication is a definite prayer request...)

- Ask God for clear understanding with all people involved in our move: local pastors who live 30 mins to an hour away. The older Brazilian leader, Otilia, as she coordinates the church work. Fabiano and Patricia, as they work in discipleship with the youth (leaving in March for Seminary training.) Elcear and his family as they come from Colombia/Brazil to live in Palapye in January and pastor the church.

Regional Week and more...

This past week was our regional week--the week where just the CESA (Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa) people get to hang out and be cool together while learning more about our region. One way we did this was to help cook an African meal with our Richmond Associates, Bob and Linda Allen. These are some pictures of us making food from scratch.

In this picture I am burning Spencer with grease...that is why he is making this weird face. Spencer is going to Uganda to do student ministry.

The meal turned out to be really delicious. We had several foods of which I don't remember the names and we got to eat with our hands (even messy things like rice, beans, and meat!) If African food is anything like Linda's cooking, I'm going to enjoy African food a lot. However, I'm thinking Kelly and I are going to need to hire someone to make us food, as neither of us can cook.

In other news, my computer has been messing up some and I talked to Dell and they came out and did this! I had never seen a laptop completely torn apart. They put in a new motherboard and the speakers still won't work right! (They are coming again to put in new speakers soon...hopefully that will work!)