Good morning fellow bondslaves of Christ. I hope all of you are having a great time wherever you are reading this blog from! Time for a little update from down here in Iquitos, Peru…
The training ended the 27th of August, and all of the students did incredibly well on their final exams! Thank you so much for your prayers for them during these extremely hard three months of training. After their tests, we had a party for them, congratulating them for a job well done. The picture is of the students at the party showing off their Xtreme Team jerseys; every person who has ever passed the training has gotten one of these. Left to right is: Juan, Felix, Pedro, Nestor, and Eliseo. We visited with the students shortly after they left Iquitos, and all of them are really enjoying the home cooking they missed for the three months. I think all the mothers are trying to ‘fatten up’ their children by shoving as much food as they can down their throats… even though each student actually gained weight!! Haha They were all pretty skinny to start with, so they added a lot of muscle throughout the training, compliments of the exercise they had to do almost every morning. Please be praying for the five students as they readjust to being back home, trying to incorporate the teachings they learned in training into their everyday lives, and for direction for their lives. Adam Huser, the Iquitos Team Leader for our team, is returning from vacation on the 23rd of this month, and after a couple days of readjusting, he’s going to ask the students if the Lord is telling them to join the team at that time. Adam needs at least two team members so they can start the work necessary in this area. Please be lifting up the students, and ask for obedience to the Lord whatever He may call them to do.
J and I have pretty much wrapped up the Xtreme Team training manual… in English. Haha. J is going over the final copy now before we ‘officially’ complete it, but after that the English version is done! Thank all of you so much for praying for us for the last who knows how long since we started putting this manual together. Now, I am focusing my efforts on the Spanish version… haha The majority of it has been translated already (maybe 80%) but I need to translate the classes and changes we added the past few months to the English version to the Spanish. This is my last and greatest task that I have left before I return to the States next month, on the 21st. Wowsers… I can’t believe I can say, “next month,” that’s crazy!! Please continue to pray for focus and strength for me this last months and handful of days.
The biggest question I’ve been asked the last couple of weeks is, “so Jeff, now that you’re so close to being done, what are your plans for the States?” That’s a good question; if anyone has a good answer for me, please let me know! Haha :) Honestly, I have no firm idea of what I’m going to be doing once I get home beyond resting for a couple of weeks at my parents’ house in Wichita Falls. I’ve considered staying in WF, getting a job there that’ll support me while I work on the Emergency Management masters program, or moving to the Dallas/Fort Worth area… even Stillwater has crossed my mind. Holla Mike!! :) But truthfully, my future is in the Lord’s hands, and I’m just trying to wait on Him to tell me what I should do. My biggest prayer is that I can obey Him; that’s why I’m not planning anything for sure, because God has a way of turning our plans inside out, and upside down.
The training ended the 27th of August, and all of the students did incredibly well on their final exams! Thank you so much for your prayers for them during these extremely hard three months of training. After their tests, we had a party for them, congratulating them for a job well done. The picture is of the students at the party showing off their Xtreme Team jerseys; every person who has ever passed the training has gotten one of these. Left to right is: Juan, Felix, Pedro, Nestor, and Eliseo. We visited with the students shortly after they left Iquitos, and all of them are really enjoying the home cooking they missed for the three months. I think all the mothers are trying to ‘fatten up’ their children by shoving as much food as they can down their throats… even though each student actually gained weight!! Haha They were all pretty skinny to start with, so they added a lot of muscle throughout the training, compliments of the exercise they had to do almost every morning. Please be praying for the five students as they readjust to being back home, trying to incorporate the teachings they learned in training into their everyday lives, and for direction for their lives. Adam Huser, the Iquitos Team Leader for our team, is returning from vacation on the 23rd of this month, and after a couple days of readjusting, he’s going to ask the students if the Lord is telling them to join the team at that time. Adam needs at least two team members so they can start the work necessary in this area. Please be lifting up the students, and ask for obedience to the Lord whatever He may call them to do.
J and I have pretty much wrapped up the Xtreme Team training manual… in English. Haha. J is going over the final copy now before we ‘officially’ complete it, but after that the English version is done! Thank all of you so much for praying for us for the last who knows how long since we started putting this manual together. Now, I am focusing my efforts on the Spanish version… haha The majority of it has been translated already (maybe 80%) but I need to translate the classes and changes we added the past few months to the English version to the Spanish. This is my last and greatest task that I have left before I return to the States next month, on the 21st. Wowsers… I can’t believe I can say, “next month,” that’s crazy!! Please continue to pray for focus and strength for me this last months and handful of days.
The biggest question I’ve been asked the last couple of weeks is, “so Jeff, now that you’re so close to being done, what are your plans for the States?” That’s a good question; if anyone has a good answer for me, please let me know! Haha :) Honestly, I have no firm idea of what I’m going to be doing once I get home beyond resting for a couple of weeks at my parents’ house in Wichita Falls. I’ve considered staying in WF, getting a job there that’ll support me while I work on the Emergency Management masters program, or moving to the Dallas/Fort Worth area… even Stillwater has crossed my mind. Holla Mike!! :) But truthfully, my future is in the Lord’s hands, and I’m just trying to wait on Him to tell me what I should do. My biggest prayer is that I can obey Him; that’s why I’m not planning anything for sure, because God has a way of turning our plans inside out, and upside down.
