Thank God this is not a picture of our car. God blessed on our first deputation trip and we made it safely to Arizona. We have 4 meetings in the Valley area before we return to Springfield and then head on to Massachusetts. The kids have been doing great and their attitude has been a great encouragement to us. They have even started making friends in the churches we have visited. Praise God, He is so merciful!

Candidate school is over! It was so nice to build friendships with fellow missionaries and be encouraged from pastors and veteran missionaries. We have now moved out of our house so renters can move in! We have downsized into a 425 sq ft house behind Sarah's brother's house in north Springfield. We will base out of this house for the duration of deputation. Our goal is to be traveling for the majority of the time and be there as little as possible! We do thank the Lord for a free place to stay however small it may be. In two weeks we head out for Arizona for a few weeks and experience some real heat! It is exciting to finally be "starting" our way to Costa Rica!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us and have showed us so much support. God has been blessing us on a daily basis as so many of the things that needed to happen before we hit the road have come to completion. Next week we start a week long deputation preparation session offered by the BBFI Mission Office in Springfield, MO. This will be an intense time of learning, but also a great time to get to know some of the other new missionaries that will be on the journey of deputation along with us. We cherish your continued prayer and support and hope this finds all enjoying this unseasonably mellow summer.