Thanks so much for praying about the rain! We heard from a
few of you that you were taking this call to prayer very seriously. About the
time that we wrote our last blog those heavy rains started diminishing. And the rest of the
monsoon season has been much more moderate.
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| Our family (without Anna in this pic) after Commencement |
Thanks for walking with the Rohingya in this way! The weather is, currently, the least of their problems. But that was not self-evident when we wrote that last post.
Since most of you know our family we want to update you on
everyone. We have had two wonderful times together with our whole family this
year. (Ironically, when we took a trip in 2004 we wondered if it would be our
last big trip with all of us together)!
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| The 2019 Nursing class at pinning ceremony |
At the end of April we were able to return to the States to
celebrate Annika’s graduation from Goshen College’s nursing program. We found
an AirBNB in the Goshen area so we could be together as family during the
weekend we were in Goshen. We are so thankful to the Lord for how Annika
thrived in her studies, socially and spiritually at Goshen College!
After commencement weekend we left Annika at Goshen (to
prepare for the nursing exam) and had more time in Minnesota with extended
family as well.
Annika passed her nursing exam in June and started working at
Mayo Clinic in Rochester the end of August. She has a great roommate, and has
started working 12 hours shifts as a nurse on a medical-surgical ward. Please
pray for her in this adjustment.
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| Back to Minneapolis on mom Lindell's birthday to celebrate |
In July (when we came to the end of our 1 year contract with
Medair) we met all the kids in Vienna in order to bike along the Danube river.
We have dreamed of this trip for some time! We spent basically a week on the
bikes. We generally biked 5-6 hours per day and found campgrounds to stay in
for the night. We biked from Vienna to Budapest (probably around 400 kms in
total) and then spent a few days exploring Budapest (an incredibly alluring
city!). Then we took the train back to Vienna with our bikes and dispersed to
our various corners of
the world.
Nathan and Anna are in Minnesota now. Anna is working with a study abroad program (with which she herself went to Ecuador a few years ago).
Nathan will start working with a new immigration law firm the first of October. So they
anticipate being in Minnesota for the time being.
Lydia and Annika had planned to graduate from college at the
same time. But because Lydia struggled with Lyme disease during most of her
college career she took a semester off last year and therefore was not ready to
graduate at the same time as Annika. (One of the ironies of our life is that
people would occasionally ask us how we could take our kids to Africa and
expose them to terrible diseases – and then Lydia contracted Lyme disease when
we were back on furlough in the US, was diagnosed immediately from the telltale
bullseye rash and treated with antibiotics – yet she has continued to struggle
with it). So she is finishing up her last semester doing independent study
classes while volunteering on a Native American reservation in northeast Montana.
She is on her way out there as we speak.
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| On the train from Budapest back to Vienna |
As all of our kids move on from their undergraduate college
careers, we are incredibly grateful to the Lord for how God has worked in their
lives and sent professors and faculty into their lives who have been
instrumental in their formation. We are also grateful for how each of them grew
in their relationship with Jesus, the body of Christ and the larger community
around them. Their experiences in college have varied greatly! And it is
probably safe to say that each of our children has taken decisions that we
would not have taken in their place and had adventures of their own which we
could not have imagined possible. But that is normal. And we are so thankful
that each of them continues in their desire to follow the One who has been the
motivation for what Christine and I have done with our lives, as a couple.
Christine & I are back in Bangladesh and continuing to
enjoy the work that we are doing with the Rohingya. Our extended contract goes through
the middle of January at this point. Thanks for your love for our family over
the years! This has helped to shape who we are.
