Christmas 2010

I haven't updated my blog for a while because there hasn't been much to report, but now that the holidays are mostly over and my trip to Chad is imminent, I thought it was time to let my readers know what's been going on in the last couple weeks.

Christmas was great! I spent it at my grandmother's home in Pennsylvania, along with my parents. We very rarely get to spend Christmas together, so it was a real blessing. We were even able to keep some of the family traditions that we practiced when I was a kid, although we were thousands of miles away from the area where I spent most of my childhood Christmases. As well as celebrating the birth of our Lord, we had some extra-special gifts this year. My dad received BibleWorks 8, a Bible software program that is especially good for doing research in the original languages. And I received a Kindle - a portable device for storing and reading electronic books. I love it already - it is great to be able to have reading material close at hand, without taking up lots of suitcase space.

A couple of days after Christmas, my parents and I drove down to my home base in southern Indiana (taking separate cars but meeting for meals and an overnight stay on the way). My departure from Pennsylvania was delayed for a few hours when I stopped to pump up my tires and found that one was flat. In the process of fixing it, the mechanic found that one of the brake pads badly needed to be replaced as well. Praise the Lord that these problems were discovered before they caused an accident! Finally I got going, and made it back to Indiana with no other major problems.

Preparations for Chad are going well. My suitcases are already mostly packed, primarily with items to store with the missionaries there until I move to Chad permanently. Please pray that I won't forget any important details! Pray also for me as I prepare mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for this trip, and that I will learn many important and useful things on this trip that will help me as I prepare to move to the mission field.

One final praise. After watching my support percentage dip from 63.9% to 63.3% (due to increases in insurance costs), an increase from a current supporter has brought my support back up to 64.1%. Praise the Lord! Many churches will be considering their missions budgets over the next few months, so please continue to pray. The Lord is providing!