Dear friends and family;
It hasn’t been too long since our last update, but we have some new developments and would love your prayers for us during the next couple of weeks.
On the ministry front: One of the families on our team is headed back into the tribe today along with one of the young men who came out for our regional missions conference and some small engine repair training. Please pray for their traveling mercies. They will be on boats and in transit for the next week. They are leaving their 12 year old son here in town to go to school, but are blessed to have his aunt and uncle living with him keeping an eye out for him. This is a real answer to prayer for them.
I (Pam) am gearing up for school to start, I will have two extra kids this year so we have been spending alot of time planning and rearranging and figuring out how we are going to fit 6 desks and chairs in the little space (half of our family room) that we use for school. It will be tight, and eventually we hope to add on a classroom, but for now we will make it work. Please pray for the kids and I as we start school the 2nd week in August. I will have 6 students in 5 different grades, so I am going to be very busy along with being a wife and mom 🙂
Caleb had his second birthday last week! He is a healthy 32 pounds. He is talking up a storm too, starting to put phrases together, in three languages. I feel so blessed. I know I should “get over it” but every little milestone he crosses I just praise God for what He has brought him through. That image of him lying in the hospital with Doctors working to get his heart started and get him breathing again are forever burned into my mind, and it somehow makes him sweeter and cuter than he already is :-). I included a few pictures below of Caleb and Katie on the boat Greg made for Caleb for his birthday, and of Caleb and his birthday cake. Please don’t laugh at the cake. Remember it is very hot and “melty” here, and there is no such thing as ready-made frosting or icing!
We finished painting the inside of our house, along with staining all the windows, doors and ceilings! It was a huge job but it looks so bright and fresh in here. The kids are enjoying their new “themed” rooms. Things seem to snowball when you are working on finishing a house, and Greg has been more than patient when he hears the words, “We might as well do . . . . while we are at it” But I think we are all ready for a break now!
Now for the main reason I am writing this little update! It is time again for our visa renewals. Greg will be getting a 5 year renewal this time, and the rest of us will be getting a one year renewal. This means we will all have to take a trip to the center of the island we are on in order to process our paperwork. This is a LONG, grueling 3 day trip by car. We are trying to think of it as a road trip, mini-vacation, since we haven’t done much in the way of vacation lately, but the truth is I am scared to death of the thought of 5 whiny, tired, car sick kids stuck in the car for 3 days of narrow, windy, less that ideal roads (with no rest areas, playgrounds, and McDonalds to break up the trip). So pray for us if the Lord brings us to mind. (Especially that mommy can keep a positive out look on things, and we can face this as an adventure rather than a trial 🙂 But also that the kids won’t get carsick. Nate, especially, gets car sick just driving into town. We should be gone about two weeks (a week of travel and a week there doing paperwork.) Please also pray for the finances for this trip, along with the expenses of renewing 7 visas. Greg’s will be like paying for 5 years of visa’s all at once!
Thanks you so much for taking the time to read this update, and for continuing to hold us up in prayer. We appreciate each of you so much, your friendship, support, and especially your prayers!
In Him;
Greg and Pam Berglund