Announcement....

In honor of our sweet Wisconsin family and friends I officially declare today a SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!

We are thinking of you and love you all so much! We are praying for your safety in this weather.

P.S. My Minnesota friends....this SO includes you!

Culture Shock

This week at the Center for Pioneer Church Planting(CPCP) we've had two guest speakers from the missions department at Southern Seminary, Dr. David Sills and Dr. Herschel York. Today in class Dr. Sills focused on culture in missions and specifically what it's like for a missionary to try to survive culture shock. The only culture shock I've had to deal with so far was on our honeymoon to Spain. We stayed right on the Mediterranean in the tourist town of Roses. What we didn't know is that it was a tourist destination for people from Europe. No one spoke English there. I can remember our waiter getting so frustrated with our lack of Spanish that he had someone else come out and finish our order! When I came back from Spain I understood what it was like to want to kiss the ground.

I am so thankful that the God who has called us to get the gospel to the nations is the same One who transcends culture. He created people groups at the tower of Babel. He can give us the grace and love to adapt to another culture so that we can share the gospel. Will you pray for us specifically in regard to the challenge of adapting to a new culture? Does anybody else have a culture shock story?

Update from Southern Tex.

Well, my desire to update the blog every week is not off to a good start....but here I go anyways.

Paul is entering his third week of training and he is LOVING the teaching he is receiving (which makes me a little jealous that I have only been able to hear it from his mouth so far...I hope to sit in on a couple of classes in the very near future). This next week two men from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary are coming to teach, so in a way, I feel like a piece of my brother is coming down with them (Hi Jason--I will ask them to give you a hug and kiss from me, okay?). I am hoping that soon Paul will post on the specifics of class and what the Lord has been teaching him (hint, hint).

We are now beginning to get into a routine around home. The kids are getting to know the kids of the other students (which is a huge answer to prayer). We are back in full swing of homeschooling, which Twiggy has been able to tolerate knowing that her new friends are in their apartments doing the same thing. I am starting to realize that I am not on vacation and I'm getting back into the mode of preparing menus and grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc...etc..... I am enjoying getting to know the other students' wives and I'm seeing different things that I could learn from each one of them. They are a fun group of women.

As for the near future; Paul will be headed to New Guinea in about a month where he'll do hands-on training with To Every Tribe. When he gets back, we will have a week of spring break and then, Lord willing, both Paul and I will be taking a course in dentistry where we will be learning how to clean teeth and fill cavities without the use of electricity--very intense! We've been told that when you get out into these remote areas of the world often times the people there will request a dentist even before they will request a doctor or a nurse because the dental needs are so bad. We are looking forward to using these skills, along with my nursing skills, to show the love of Christ to these people with the hopes of one day sharing with them the eternal healing that comes through faith in the Son of God!

More posts to come.....hopefully sooner than later. Thanks for faithfully checking!