| Sanford News, August 2017 We have finally arrived in Canada! We’re thankful for all the prayers that carried us through 2 months of packing, traveling and enjoying sweet times with loved ones. |
| Our Summer… |
| Our summer began in mid-June with a trip to California and a reunion with Allegra’s family. It was a really special time with all 9 of her immediate family present, which—if you know the Smiths—is quite the feat to accomplish! A couple weeks back in Wisconsin found us finishing our jobs, packing up our apartment, and saying some hard goodbyes to great friends. God provided (through Tyler’s brother) a vehicle with which to tow a small trailer to Canada so we could drop off our belongings in storage and see Emanate’s campus for the first time. We then drove straight to Michigan to attend a family wedding and celebrate Tyler’s Grandparents’ 50th Anniversary! After a few short days in Pennsylvania, we headed up to Maine to spend some time with Allegra’s Dad’s side of the family and our church there. During our 10 day stay we had the opportunity to meet with a local pastor, speak at our church, and help Grandpa through the process and recovery of eye surgery. We then returned to Pennsylvania for the wedding of some very special friends from High School which Tyler was privileged to officiate. It was truly a sweet time and a great opportunity to share the Gospel with everyone there—definitely a lifelong memory. To finish our summer we were able to spend 3 weeks back in Tyler’s hometown with family, friends, and church. The best part was being around for our niece’s birth and treasuring that time all together! |
| Enjoying our nieces and nephew! |
| And now… |
| That brings us to a week ago when we departed for Canada. It was only about a 6 hour drive but it did take some time to cross into Canada, exchange currency, and switch Tyler’s phone plan and number in order to have a functioning phone! When we arrived we began unpacking, devoting the next few days to setting up our little apartment and making it as much like home as possible. Thankfully we had a week before orientation classes began and were able to accomplish that in good time. Our first grocery shopping trip was quite interesting as we tried to figure out the metric system and different currency. Mentally converting grams and kilograms into pounds and Canadian dollars into American dollars is exhausting! We found that most things are more expensive here, especially the basics like meat, milk, and eggs. We then began our classes yesterday with orientation sessions and an introduction time for students and some of the staff. It’s a surreal feeling to actually be getting started with this step in life that has been so long in the making. Please pray for us that we would not get overwhelmed as classes, homework, work program, church and community ministry, and family time begins to pile up, but that we would genuinely enjoy it, do our best in it, and trust the Lord in it all. |
| Our new home at Emanate! |
| Praises: God’s great provision for us to be here. The blessing and privilege of a place like this to learn and grow before going into full time ministry. Prayer: Open and humble hearts and minds to learn what God wants to teach us through classes and life here. That we would be able to fully settle in here to where it feels like home for us. That we would be able to find a good church for us to be able to serve at and be encouraged by. |