Feeling some showers of blessing!

Since we have decided to stay in Boise for several months longer, it means that we will be adding one more to our family while we are away from "home". We found that it would cost a huge amount for our parents to ship out all of our needed summer clothes and baby clothes and so we found ourselves in an interesting bind.
But AS ALWAYS God had this all thought out!
A friend of Laura's heard of our need and graciously went thru all of her children's old clothes and sent over three garbage bags full of clothing for our kids, new baby included! What an amazing thing to see God working in this way. We have been literally showered with blessing from our all-knowing and caring Lord!

These are pictures of Laura and the kids sorting through the clothing and taking out what we could use.

Small groups in Boise

Westside Baptist small group

Calvary Chapel Bible Study

Loving what God can do!

We have continuously been experiencing God's blessings through you all. We feel wrapped in prayer and encouragement and are humbled to be your teammate in this amazing work God has called us to! As each day passes, we are brought closer to our departure date for Vanuatu! Although that date is yet to be nailed down, we see God pulling things together to bring that date closer and it becomes more of a reality in our lives.
Jim Elliot stated so wisely, "Wherever you are, be all there." Houghton likes to add, "Whenever you are, be ever there" (meaning: being completely invested where you are knowing that the time allotted to us is precious, fleeting, and unpredictable).
God has given this time in Boise to us to be tools used by Him in ways beyond ourselves. We are grateful for every opportunity we have to share about the work in Vanuatu and for every opportunity we have to serve the Body of Christ here in Idaho. Whether it is MT, ID, or Vanuatu, we are to be all there in service and heart and this has been a challenge and a blessing to us! Pray with us as we seek out more worshipers who God is desiring to use in Vanuatu on our team of supporters!

Small groups

Westside Bible Church small group

Ustick Baptist Sunday small group

Calvary Chapel Boise Missions prayer group

Home groups in Boise

Small group from Columbia Heights Baptist Church

Small group from Kuna Nazarene Church

Some pictures

Claudia (a former co-worker of Laura) came over to help me learn how to sew from a pattern

Week two in Idaho

We have been enjoying our time here in Boise these past two weeks. We have been able to present at one church and meet with pastors and individuals throughout various churches in this area.
God has been supplying for our family in great ways. We are staying in a missionary home for the time we are here and the kids have enjoyed the new surrounding.
Our support has continued to rise and we are now at 76% of our needed monthly income. This has been a huge encouragement to us as we look to head out to Vanuatu by August.
Please continue to pray with us; as Gretchen's due date comes closer; as we continue to grow our team through supports and prayer warriors.

We value you and are thrilled that you are joining with us as we seek to serve in Vanuatu.

Looking from our kitchen into the dining room/living room

Houghton cooking up a storm

Gwenny's sweet smile

Getting to our new home in Boise, ID

We left for Boise on Friday and spent that night in Bozeman, MT with Lindsey Wilkerson to break our trip up a bit. God gave us safe roads and relatively clear mountain passes. We were a bit nervous about the weather but we made it to Boise in only 9 hours from Bozeman. The kids did fairly good. Despite the one episode of puke just after we left Bozeman Saturday morning provided by Gwenny. The poor thing. Thank you for your prayers for our saftey! We will post pics of our new home when we post here next time!!!

Gwenny peaking from under her blanket. We use this blanket to make her ride darker for nap time.

Gwenny getting spoiled by Daddy in the backseat

Enjoying her brief backseat drive

Our last small group visit for Miles City...for now!

Small group led by Herb and Pat Mackey

Livin and Lovin It

A couple days have past since Laura and I (Gretchen) got back from some pre-training in what our job as Bible translators will look like. We were able to spend one whole week under some amazing Wycliffe teachers/missionaries who where able to impart some knowledge on the translating subject.
I walked away a lot more aware of my stupidity. :) Isn't that amazing how some subjects can do that!? But as a result, I am a lot more aware of what translating takes and I am pumped about schooling that we are going to be able to receive next year.
We are finalizing some schooling options that will take us to Australia in January 2009 for a year and then back to Vanuatu. Our schooling would be through SIL and be in literacy and linguistics. It seems that the training is quite intense and pumps you out a "translator" a year later. Although the work really belongs to the Lord, the tools that this school will be teaching us is INVALUABLE. We are thrilled that SIL is willing to train us although we are not officially Wycliffe missionaries.
Here are some pics from Laura and I's trip :

Laura and I in front of an awesome full-room mural in the Wycliffe conference room

The group that attended Total It Up
For a class we spent time each day with a language teacher who was a native speaker in a different language. I was in a group with Max who is Indonesian.
Laura and I accidentally took THIS road...we only lost control of our car once :) It took us 5 hours to drive about 200 miles...the view was fabulous though!

Christmas pics

Off to get some learn'in

I (Gretchen) and my sister Laura are off tomorrow to Portland, OR to take some language acquisition tests through SIL (a branch of Wycliffe Bible Translators). I am looking forward to the week for a number of reasons. * I will get a good idea of what Bible translation will look like
* I will see what skills I can bring to the table and what areas I could use more study in
* I will be getting somewhat of a break from my normal schedule of taking care of my home and family

I have never been a great fan of "school-ish" things so I ask for prayer that God would use this time to grow my mind for His glorious Name's sake! Please pray that I will have a learning spirit and that I will be able to think like a grown up for a whole week! I feel like I have been thinking like a baby/toddler for the last couple years and so my mind needs some tuning up! ;)

Please also pray for Houghton and the kids back in Montana. That they would get healthy (they are all battling being sick) and that God would also use this time to grow each of those relationships!

We are grateful to you!

Our small group visits

Small group meeting at Shawn and Candice Kelly's home

Grace Bible mens Bible Study

Small group meeting at Pat and Lori Linger's home

Small group meeting at Clyde and Kathy Leischner's home

Grace Bible Church ladies Bible Study

What we have been up to lately...

This past month has been a time of refreshment as we have been in Miles City a majority of the time!  We have taken these two-ish months to connect with the great believers of our sending church, Grace Bible Church.  It has been awesome to finally sit down with these people and share in a small group context in order to better answer questions and explain our ministry in full.  We have been blessed by the interest and encouragement coming our way and are amazed to see God working through this community to impact a small group of islands across the world!  Praise God.  How humbling to be a part of this work!

Grace Bible Church home Bible study lead by Kenny Stabler

Grace Bible Church Women's Bible study led by Carol Rainey

Grace Bible Church home Bible study lead by Jeff Johnstone