The Other Island: Trip 2

January 16, 2018

After the first trip, Payton and I both felt like our perspective was lopsided. At that time, we only had two potential future ministry options on the table (we now have a few more back in the mix). We had seen one, but knew little of the other. It felt odd to try to decide […]

The Land of the Dinosaurs: Trip 1

January 16, 2018

When we first heard about this potential ministry location, I remember someone telling me that flying in there was like flying into Jurassic Park. When we first started planning a trip in there, just to check things out, I really didn’t have much information to go on. Payton had been there before, but we were […]

A Family Week

April 25, 2016

My family braved the double digit flights hours, transits in strange lands, and airplane food to come and see us for a week. To me this was an unbelievable feat since my dad is always balancing preaching and running the safe and lock shops, which makes for very little down time. But they made it, and […]

A New Kind of Strange

January 12, 2016

Living in a new culture and climate is all about adjustment, flexing and bending with the current. There’s the life-changing adjustments that happen every once in a long while, but mostly life is made up of subtle, minuscule changes over time. It’s fun to look back and see what has become normal after 9 months. For […]

Whatsa dasawisma? Part I

September 9, 2015

It took me the better part of 4 months to actually hear the word(s) “dasa wisma.” The fact that it is also shortened to “da’wis,” didn’t help. But seeing as how the word had definitley floated around in countless neighbourhood conversations, I can’t believe it never even registered at all (more on this later)! This got […]

Exploring a New World

April 26, 2015

I know we’re just pilgrims here on this earth, but it’s been wild to enjoy a whole other part of the world. We can’t help but take it all in in hearty gulps! Payton got the chance to dive right in when a whole group of language students decided to climb a nearby mountain/old volcano! It […]

Growing to like gremlins

April 10, 2015

So when you get to a new place, they say you usually end up in a honeymoon phase where everything about your new surroundings is exciting and full of adventure. I don’t really know when the tint on our rose-colored glasses will end, but we’re trying to enjoy this whole bit as much as we can. Honestly, it’s […]

California, land of rest and sweat

October 15, 2014

Rest. This is the first time since we started training a few years ago that my brain has been able to rest. There’s extra space or something. Maybe it’s the 45 minute drive to get to a good grocery store. Maybe it’s the quiet mornings without the frantic hustle and bustle to make breakfast and […]

Travlin’ across ‘Merica

October 9, 2014

Our drive from MI to CA was daunting to say the least. I myself have never made the complete journey. I remember my dad driving our moving truck out there with a friend back in 1990 and probably in 1995 when we returned to MI after seminary was over. But, golly gee, it’s not very […]

Fresh Air

July 31, 2014

All of Colorado air smells fresh, but the higher you go and the further you remove yourself from cars, the closer you get to vanilla pines, which means everything smells amazing. I’d bottle the scent and pack a few for Asia if I had the space. So, I was very thankful that we were invited […]