Our year-end festivities began with an Irwin family Thanksgiving reunion. The siblings travelled from Atlanta (Sandy & Lowell), Texas (David & Vicki and us) and Los Angeles (Richard & Rebecca) to join David & Stacey and Art & Lenn in San Jose, California, to honor Steve’s parents, Glenn & Mary Irwin, for their 60th wedding anniversary. Sadly, Lee & Crystal didn’t make it from Michigan. We really enjoyed the few days that we had together since we don’t have the opportunity very often.
On that same trip, we got to spend a few very special days with Eida’s parents in San Gabriel, as well including a visit to San Gabriel Community Church, which has been part of our support team since the beginning of our missionary career. Then we got back home to El Paso just in time for dress rehearsals for our “Venite” Christmas program at Coronado Baptist Church which was well received again this year.
Art reached a big milestone in his education and professional development in early December when he graduated with his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State. Sadly, we were unable to attend his graduation because of our Christmas plans, but we are very proud of him! He and Lenn are celebrating by spending the holidays in Hawaii. His next goal will be to pass the exam to be licensed as a Professional Engineer.
The reason we couldn’t attend Art’s special day was that God allowed us to come to see Esther and Curtis and our grandchildren in Canada. Since we didn’t have enough credit card points to fly to Halifax, we flew to Montreal and drove for 13 hours to get here. The road was snowy for much of the trip, but God kindly provided us with an all-wheel-drive crossover rather than the little sedan we had reserved, since the car rental agency “coincidentally” needed it returned to Halifax. Thank you, Lord!
There was no need to wonder whether we were going to have a white Christmas! Snow came early in the season in Nova Scotia this year. Several varieties have fallen, from freezing rain to the pretty white fluffy stuff. The Bergmans’ back yard has been a winter wonderland with two kid-sized runs to learn to snowboard on. Who could ask for more?
We’ve had a wonderful time – being here for the grandkids’ Christmas morning, reading and playing with them and joining the Bergman clan for their traditional family dinner at Curtis’ parents’ house. As you might imagine, it will be hard to say good-bye!
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Since writing the letter above, circumstances have prompted the following UPDATE:
Have you been hearing about the hundreds of flight cancellations caused by the recent severe winter weather in the midwest? Well, it happened to us. Our suitcases were packed and we were within an hour of going to pick up the rental car to drive the 13 hours from here to Montreal to catch our flight to El Paso when we received a notice advising us that our flight had been cancelled.
To make a long story short (for a change), we ended up with four more days with Esther & Curtis and the grandkids! Curtis suggested that we ask United Airlines to put us on a plane from Halifax (one hour away) rather than from Montreal (13 hours away), and after a day and a half of trying to get through, I was able to talk to a live human agent, who kindly put us on the first available seats out of Halifax, on Friday, January 10th.
Besides the extra days with the kids, we saved the cost of the car rental and a hotel room in Montreal, and we won’t have to drive all day through Quebec in sketchy weather to catch our plane. Isn’t that great?
Praise God with us!
Steve & Eida Irwin
NTM Spanish Language Resources
steve_irwin@ntm.org
New Tribes Mission
Click here to see the non-blog version of the original letter with more photos.
May you have a blessed and fruitful 2014 in every way — materially, relationally and spiritually. We thank the Lord for each one of you who have encouraged, supported and prayed for us this year and throughout our years of service with NTM.
With all our love,
Steve & Eida Irwin
Spanish Language Resources
New Tribes Mission — NTM.org
steve_irwin@ntm.org
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