We are stateside! We would love to see you if you are free. We have a couple goals . . . the most important is a successful install of David at Abilene Christian University. So far this goal is progressing well. The next is to get our passports renewed. This is not going so well. We tried to renew in Kenya, but embassy appointments were impossible to get without an emergency. We have to renew then before we can fly back to Kenya, but we cannot do a fast passport renewal without a life or death situation. We do not have that, and so we have expedited our renewal (read that as expensive!), but even with that, the renewal can take up to 12 weeks. That is better than the 20 weeks for a non-expedited passport, but still not very fast. I am hopeful it will take less than 12 . . . maybe more like six. Is that too hopeful? Please pray for us in regards to our passports.

We are doing some support raising visits. Please pray for that as well. I have very mixed feeling about support raising. I have made new, good friends through the process. God has given us strangers to support our work, and now those strangers are friends. I feel blessed to be taken care of by God and by other Christians. On the other hand, I do not like the humbling feeling of asking for help. One of the things that pulls me to leave the mission field is my desire to take care of my family financially. Knowing I can be in the US working and providing well for Allison and the kids, instead of living much more frugally in Kenya is a weird temptation. I love working in Kenya, yet the desire to be “self-sufficient” and a “provider” are very strong urges. There is tension there. Taking care of your family is a Godly trait, so it is weird to choose a path that hinders that responsibility (at least from a worldly perspective to which I am susceptible). My thoughts on support raising are complicated, and instead of going on, I will just ask again that you will pray that God will provide as he always has so far.