Settling In

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We have been living in Mérida now for three weeks. Our first few weeks have been fun, exciting and a little crazy–especially when we are driving!! We have loved seeing the boys adjust to life in a different country. Everything gets compared to America (for now). They’ve found that some things are very different while others are pretty much the same. We’ve had some learning moments where all we could do was laugh at ourselves and learn from our misunderstandings…like ordering enough chicken for 50 people instead of 5. We ate chicken for a full week! We have a great support group here that has helped us every step of the way.

We were very fortunate to find a home and were moved in within a week of moving here! After spending a few days in a hotel room with ALL of our luggage we were very happy to find a home! God definitely provided! Our focus now has been getting adjusted to our new home (and city) and starting language classes.

Although we missed our families at home, we loved spending Christmas here and seeing all the amazing decorations through out the city. Lights and decoration everywhere! We spent a few nights just driving around checking out the city and looking at the lights. We’ve been keeping up with the freezing cold weather the U.S. has been experiencing these last few weeks. We’ve been having a little winter here with highs this week in the mid 70’s. Its amazing how quickly your body adjusts and how COLD that it feels! We’ve even had to go to Wal-Mart to buy blankets–which aren’t that easy to find!!

Our days have been very busy, but we did have a free day last week that we were able to spend a couple of hours at a nearby beach. Our family has always enjoyed the beach and you can’t beat free entertainment!! We have been busy working with ESBA (local basketball club) doing bible studies at practices and playing on their teams. Brady especially has enjoyed playing on a team again.

We had the opportunity to participate in giving out gifts for Operation Christmas Child in Mérida, Ochil & Hunucma during Christmas. It was so wonderful to see the reaction of the kids receiving the gifts. What a special time it was for them. Our church presented puppet shows for the kids and then the gospel was presented to them before they received their gifts. Mandy and Porter were able to participate in the puppet shows. Mandy’s years of doing puppets at Corticelli definitely paid off! 🙂

The next few weeks will be busy as we are getting more settled into our house, starting school with the boys and starting language school. There are some mission teams coming from Louisiana and Arkansas in the next couple of months that we will be working with some so we are excited about that.

We are so appreciative of everyone who has been supporting us! We appreciate your financial support but more importantly, we appreciate your prayers.