And here we are....10 months later and it's official....we are done with our 1st year of missionary training and we are now officially "2nd year students" meaning we only have one more year left before we will move into a foreign country to serve! We look back over this last year and stand in awe of what God has done in our lives. The way He so faithfully provided, the ways He sustained us, cared for us, comforted us and His amazing love. We've been blessed by the work that we are able to be a part of in Mexico and the way we have watched God go before us and move in hearts there.
In the past year, the people here on campus (who are from all over the US & Canada) quickly became dear friends and "family" to us and we have formed lifelong friendships with them. We have laughed together, cried together, prayed together, studied together, served in Mexico together and even played a few pranks on each other throughout this past year.
Our kids were blessed as well because they made many new friends this past year too and they never lacked for a playmate! The picture above shows all the "MK's" (missionary kids) who were here on campus this year. The kids were really fun this year and very entertaining. We had a lot of fun spending time with them and having them in our home for play dates and spend the nights throughout the year too.
May 30th, To Every Tribe held their official graduation ceremony. This year there were 4 graduates this year and they will be moving into 3 different countries to spearhead the gospel in these regions. The Cooney family is going to Indonesia, the Giordano family is going to Mexico and Matt Taylor and the Sanders Family are going to Papau New Guinea. While we will miss them all very much, we are excited as they begin this new journey in their lives. Please join us in praying for them and their ministries in these countries too.
Since the year is officially over that means we spent about 10 days saying lots of good-byes. Goodbyes are never easy but we have quickly learned that as missionaries goodbyes are going to be something we do often. We prefer to call them "see-you-later's" rather than goodbyes because even if we never see them again this side of heaven, as Christians we do have the hope of seeing them again in heaven!
SO WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS SUMMER?!
We are currently still in Los Fresnos. We stayed around to help with our church's Vacation Bible School (which started Monday, June 10). David & I are leading the "Imagination Station" center which is where we do science experiments each night with the kids but they teach a Biblical concept. We will be doing VBS every night this week. We are blessed to have a great church family here in Texas that has been a huge blessing to our family and our mission work throughout this past year too. We are thankful for opportunities to serve alongside them in children's and youth ministry activities.
We are headed back home to Alabama next week though and we will be in Alabama from June 18 - July 19th. We cannot wait to get back and spend time with our family and friends! We look forward to sharing with everyone about what the Lord has done in our lives this past year and about our future plans too.
After our month in Alabama, we plan to come back to Texas and prepare for classes to start again in August. Lord willing, we will be able to take the kids and go down to "Village M" for a visit as well before training starts again in August.
We must a huge "THANK YOU" as well for each one of you that are monthly supporters of our family and our mission work and for those of you who are faithful prayer warriors on our behalf and keep us lifted up to the Father. We could not be here today doing what we are doing if it were not for each of you. We still have a long way to go in raising the 100% support we need so if you would like to partner with us as a monthly supporter, simply click here and choose our name (Johns, David & Gretta) for the gift designation. If you would like to support us monthly, choose "repeating donation".
