There are so many reasons why learning the local language is helpful. Not only does it allow us to build friendships and just open up good will with shopkeepers and our neighbors, but it really does help lower our daily stress levels the more we can communicate! Case in point…
That’s probably a constant refrain in our minds these last few weeks. Mid-November, we jumped into a language immersion program, which means we’ve been living with a national family in a small flat in a city 2x the size of NYC. The goal? Get lots of conversations/listening all in our new language (read very, very little English.) Secondary goals were to learn more about daily life here and explore this city (which will be helpful for future travel for work!) And though we’re definitely not catching the entirety of every conversation, we’re listening. We’re slowly learning and trying out new words, sentences, grammar structures.
Continue reading “What did you say?”
We’re finally cold! We had to leave our city and travel by plane to a new city to get a taste of fall and the changing colors, but we’re now wearing scarves and coats and kinda loving it. Although we’re still glad there’s more sunshine here than in Indiana 🙂 Why traveling? Well…
Continue reading “Immersion & Adoption Updates”
We’ve got a month of big updates to share!
We are in full time language study right now with a private tutor since the language school in our city is currently closed due to COVID. Recently, we found out about an immersion program in another city where we will live with a national family for a couple months. This includes:
Just popping over here to say if you don’t get our monthly emails, you might have missed our latest video giving you a walking tour of our city.
Great question 🙂 This location was picked VERY SPECIFICALLY by those where dreaming about an international counseling center for workers in this part of the world. They were looking for a place that:
Continue reading “WHY HERE?”
We arrived August 30 in our new country and dove right in. Honestly, things have mostly gone much smoother than we anticipated! We have an apartment that is restful and will give us space to share with others living in this city and visitors who come. We are in the process of going to lots of little government offices, stocking an apartment with furniture and all the things you need to live and just started back (a little) to language.
Continue reading “GRATEFUL FIRST STEPS”
Sometimes it’s good to celebrate the milestones in a journey. My (Amber’s) Dad just finished his chemo and radiation treatment yesterday! This isn’t the end of his cancer journey, but we are seeing more and more the value of celebrating each step.
Continue reading “CHEER SOMEONE ON TODAY”
“I really wish you an ever deeper peace. I know that peace quite often lives underneath the turmoils and anxieties of our hearts and doesn’t always mean inner harmony or emotional tranquility. That peace that God gives us quite often is beyond our thoughts and feelings, and we have to really trust that peace is there for us to claim even in the midst of our moments of despair.”
Henri Nouwen
God’s timing isn’t always ours and we’re getting good lessons in that these days. In case you don’t get our emails, we just wanted to share an update here. We are delayed a little further due to COVID in our travels and were not able to travel on August 1 like we’d planned. We are hoping we can travel soon, but are keeping plenty busy here in the meantime.
Continue reading “COVID CHRONICLES CONTINUE”
Our tickets are re-purchased and we are eagerly anticipating our departure on August 1! We are excited, a bit overwhelmed, and trying to wrap our brains around finally going after 4 months of limbo.
Continue reading “NEW DATES & REFLECTIONS”
We are so grateful for this amazing sending team! In case you’re not familiar with what a “sending team” can look like, here’s a brief description of what this group does…
Continue reading “MEET THE SENDING TEAM”
Safe Haven 
You must be logged in to post a comment.