Bummer Times

So this past week I happened to get two speeding tickets. Wow. What a wake up call. I do not recall ever learning in my drivers education classes how much freedom cops have to hand out ridiculously large bills. In Arizona if you are caught going 1 MPH over the speed limit you can get fined over $100.

Not only can cops fine you that much money for such a small error but cops sometimes don't have to even sit in the cars they use to fine you with. I will explain how this works. The cop can park a special SUV and go for a pizza buffet followed by some flash games on his state issued laptop (the previous statement may be less than fully factual). While the cop is indulging himself a special camera technology on top of these police SUV's remains. It rises like a black Asherah pole to a dark god as you can see in the photo provided.

From the top of this pole pictures are taken of every vehicle which zooms by at an inappropriate speed. Two weeks later you receive a letter in the mail with a picture of your smiling face, your license plate number, and a sucker punch to your wallet.

At this point in the story my parade has already been rained on. I have been fined around $400 dollars. A five day trip to Sea World costs that much money. The next day we have our good friends over in GAP, Charles and Michelle. These really are our only good friends in GAP because we work our butts off everyday and have no time to make friends. While visiting, Charles smiles in his disarming manner putting us completely at ease and says, “My wife has something to tell you guys.” They proceed to tell us they are leaving GAP due to issues with the ministry administration and so they can have more family time for their new baby. My jaw drops with such force that my teeth get whiplash. I then cried a river of tears that filled the wash runoff outside my apartment to overflowing. Even after this display of sorrow our friends still decided to leave. They are wonderful and we love them.

Praises: For God's work in the Charles and Michelle life and the love of Christ they have shown us.

Prayers: God would give us peace and patience with our job and while we build friends. Pray that God also would continue to provide!

Faithful God

Bethany and I got to go back to the New England area this past week for a wedding and my brothers graduation. It was also a good time to see both our families. It was great to see familiar faces, a happy groom, a brother with a diploma, family, and green grass!

Our friend ended up doing the same kissing game for his wedding that we did for ours. In the words of Charles Caleb Colton, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". This quote also happened to be the theme of the kissing game because every time the guests rang their glasses a couples name was drawn and read aloud. The couple was then expected to give a public kiss performance and the bride and groom had to imitate the kiss. Bethany and I were the first ones called! My wife cried out, "NOoO!" at the prospect of kissing me in such a public and showy manner but she then delivered a great kiss to me in the eyes of all. One of the things I really appreciated about my friends wedding was the amount of family and prayer that were intimately involved in his life and wedding. What a blessing to see my friend being welcomed into manhood and "trained up in the way he should go" in every stage of life!

After the wedding we had to rush to take a train from Philadelphia to Boston at midnight. It ended up to be quite the interesting (and tiring!) ride. A very generous man offered to give us a ride to the train station and give up 4 hours of his time. However, he really did not seem to be the most well practiced navigator or driver, which are shortcomings I normally like to think I am gracious about - but we had a train to catch! So after a few wrong turns, a couple instances of slamming on brakes, and prayers given aloud by myself we arrived in time. We thanked and gave the man a tip for his time and were on our way.

Thankfully, the train was on time and we arrived in Boston at 8 a.m. so we could be at graduation at 10. It was a long night of not much rest and our bodies had a rough time catching up on sleep. It was fun to see Ben graduate from college and we celebrated with him after the ceremony when we finally picked his face out from among the crowd of black robes and caps.

During the two days at home in NH we went out to a local mountain and lighthouse with our families which was fun. Got to see local friends at our NH church and then returned home to 104 degree Arizona and a rainstorm. I still love the sun!

Praises: I would like to report that our 16 day respite went beautifully. So praise God and thank you all for interceding for us in our Father's heavenly throne room. It certainly made a difference! God had also continued to find avenues for my gifts in computers. God has also continued to show us His love through the fellowship and loving hospitality of our local church! What a blessing the body of Christ can be!

Prayers: Pray for the respite we are about to start. Pray for my wife to see the fruit God is bearing through her. Pray for us to continue to find our place here as long as God would see fit to use us in this ministry. We want to serve with joy, peace, love, and expectation where God has us now without being anxious about the future. (Matthew 6:25-34)

16 Day Respite

Yikes! Tomorrow we begin a 16 day respite. That is twice as long as any respite we have ever done before. Needless to say we are a little worried but at least when this respite is done we will get about the same amount of time to rest. Bethany and I are still striving to make friends. We have realized Christian friends are so important to us. We had a good time at a church picnic shown above but we feel like we have so little time to really spend time with other Christians, let alone find people we can pray and live life with.

Praises: We did a regular respite at one of the toughest houses in GAP and actually received affirmation and encouragement for how well we did there. Bethany especially felt like God gave her a special dose of grace while we were there because she didn't give up in frustration with the kids (which often happens at this house) and was able to help Eric the whole time instead of leaving him to deal with everything. I [Eric] was very grateful for all the help I got from my wonderful wife the whole week long!

Prayers: We ask that you will please be in prayer for us as we strive to continue to make some good friendships here in AZ. Please also pray for our 16 day respite because it will hopefully be a chance for some good teaching opportunities and for some relationships to be strengthened with the kids. Pray for our endurance and patience during the next two weeks. We are feeling intimidated.