Merry Christmas!

December 21, 2011

Susan, Larry, cousin Susie, Aunt Donna, Kathy (Larry's sister)

Since our last entry we have had quite a schedule.  We spent the month of November traveling and seeing many friends and family.  It was a busy, but wonderful time.  We are so enjoying our beautiful car and are so thankful for a special car dealer friend who made us a deal we could not refuse. 



Larry, cousin Shannon, Aunt Clara, Uncle Vic, Jeff

Our travels first took us to eastern Washington where we spent time with Larry’s sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Dale.  Their exciting news shortly after we left was that they became grandparents for the first time.  They are looking forward to meeting their new granddaughter at Christmas.  During our time in eastern WA we visited with others from Larry’s family – two aunts, an uncle, and cousins, some we haven’t seen in years.  We took a short trip to Idaho to see Larry’s step-father.  During this time we spoke at a church that Larry’s family attended when he was young and spent time with special friends.



Larry and Walter (Larry's step-father)

On the way back to the coast, we were able to visit another cousin of Larry’s who has been going through treatment for cancer.  We had a good time of fellowship and were glad to see how God is healing her.  We enjoyed spending a couple of nights with friends before traveling up to visit my roommate from university days. 

Tina and Susan

People have always thought Tina and I were sisters and even after being apart for many years, we seem to continue to look like each other.  We had a good time catching up with Tina and husband Dan before traveling up to British Columbia to visit the Canadian side of the family. 

We spent a night with my brother Mark and his family in Richmond before heading to Chilliwack for a big family get together to celebrate an aunt’s birthday.  Everyone was there except for one of my cousins and her family.  It is amazing how much all the cousins’ kids have grown.  We worshiped at my home church and we will share about the work in Mozambique in April.

Reading to Drew and Isaiah (niece Kari's kids)

With Drew, Isaiah and Kate (niece Kari's kids)

We made a quick trip back to Sequim to do laundry and regroup for the next trip which was to Oregon.  This time we spent time with Larry’s brother Jim and his wife Diane.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with a niece and her family and a nephew along with Jim and Diane.  It was delicious food and wonderful company.  While we were in Oregon we took a trip to Florence a coastal town and met with a dear friend who has been in Mozambique twice working on the library at CAM.  We picked up several boxes of books for CAM.  We spent time meeting with friends in the area and ended our time speaking at a supporting church in Portland. 

With Nancy Hesch in Florence, OR

Enjoying the view on the Oregon Coast

We were so glad to get back to Sequim to a slower schedule with time to be “normal” for a bit.  We have spent the last couple of weeks getting our Christmas letter out to family and friends, baking, decorating the tree and having friends over for meals.  We have been a part of our home church worship team and enjoyed attending a lovely Christmas program as well as a church party. 

 

Susan sharing at the Ladies' Christmas Tea

Larry sharing at Rotary Club

I was invited to be the speaker at the ladies’ Christmas tea.  The topic was God’s Ultimate Gift.  Larry was the guest speaker at his old Rotary Club last week.  He enjoyed connecting with friends and meeting some new ones. 

Our Christmas Tree in Sequim

We are looking forward to spending time with family in British Columbia, Canada.  We will travel up on Christmas Eve and Susan’s father will fly from Ontario on the 26^th to spend time with the family. 

We thank the Lord for safe travels and relatively good health.  We look forward to the New Year and all the Lord is going to do.  We are amazed and blessed by all that God is doing in our lives.  Thank you for your prayers and friendship.  We serve a great God.

Merry Christmas!

Larry & Susan

Finaly arrived in Sequim, WA

November 5, 2011

Our first Sequim Sunrise

After spending two weeks in Ontario and two weeks in Indiana, we have finally reached Sequim, WA, our home for the next six months.  We will be at different churches during the weekends, but during the week we will be staying in our beautiful house in Sequim.  We so appreciate Bill and Nancy, friends and supporters of ours who are allowing us to stay here.  Our friends at Sequim Bible Church filled our pantry with all kinds of food and gave us gift certificates to the local grocery stores to buy other items we will need.  Thanks so much to all of you.  We are feeling spoiled.

Deer in our yard

front of our home in Sequim

Mike, Mayla, Sarah, Simon & Gabriel Thiessen

We need to back up and let you know what we have been up to since the last blog.  Of course, we had a restful time at the mansion in Ontario.  On our way back to Susan’s father’s place, we took a detour to visit Mike and Sarah Thiessen and to get caught up with what’s been happening in their lives.  They were the family that was in Mozambique for 9 months when their 2 ½ year old son Gabriel was diagnosed with cancer and they had to return to Canada.  We are glad to report that Gabriel (now five years old) has been cancer free and is doing well.  Mike is the pastor of a growing church and though they miss Mozambique, they are settling into life in Canada.  It was very special to see them.

Laura & Steve Kuhn & Mikayla

One of the highlights of being back in the U.S. and Canada are all the people we get to see.  A special treat is seeing people that were missionaries in Mozambique.  Steve and Laura Kuhn were in Mozambique for a year and we were able to attend the dedication of their daughter Mikayla.

We were able to spend a week with Susan’s father and wife Anne, and enjoyed some great meals together which included Thanksgiving with Anne’s family.  It was delicious turkey and ham with all the traditional trimmings. 

We left Ontario and flew to Indiana and were there for debriefing interviews with staff at OMS headquarters and also had our medical check-ups.  I guess they need to make sure that we are mentally and physically able to continue on.  We passed!!

Glenn (Tom) & Kris Berryman

While we were in Indiana we had dinner with Glenn and Kris Berryman, former missionaries in Mozambique.  We even were able to drive to Kentucky and spend a wonderful weekend with three couples who were missionaries in Mozambique.  One of those couples was Don and Aleta Hulsey who are on their home assignment time for a year.  We heard Don and Aleta share at the church we attended that Sunday.  It was a wonderful weekend.  We also spent time with Becca (Pullin) who had served in Mozambique and her husband, Joey.  They are funding to be missionaries in Mexico.

Larry & Susan, Martin & Susan Brooks, Kevin & Mindy Beck, Aleta & Don Hulsey

During our time in Greenwood, Larry spent many, many hours working on our DVD of the ministries in Mozambique.  We shared in chapel at headquarters and then were featured at a mission’s conference in Terre Haute. 

Now we are car shopping and getting settled into life here.  We were busy last weekend at a mission’s conference at a supporting church in Port Angeles.  It was close enough to us that we could drive there from our home. 

We leave for three weeks this Thursday (Nov 10th) to Eastern Washington and Idaho where we'll visit Larry's Sister, Kathy and Dale Countryman, and his step-father in Coeur d'Alene, ID.  We'll be sharing in Lamont, WA on the 13th in Larry's childhood home church.  The next weekend we will be in Chilliwack, BC and we will be visiting family there and heading to Salem, OR for American Thanksgiving. 

Now we are scheduling meetings and getting involved in different church activities. We need your prayers as we continue to travel and present the ministries in Mozambique. Pray for our team back in Mozambique as they continue to minister in Mozambique.

At a Wayside Chapel in Canada

in Him,
Larry & Susan

Susan with her Dad, Nathan and Anne

Larry with a couple furry friends..getting our "cat fix"

Larry reading story to Mayla Thiessen

Larry and Sarah Thiessen horseback riding

Arrived in Canada

30 September 2011

It is a blustery, rainy day and we are in a “cottage” surrounded by a forest on the shore of Lake Huron in Canada.  Actually, the cottage is a mansion with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a huge A-frame living area.  Just beautiful.  The perfect place to rest and refresh ourselves.

at the "Cottage" on the Bruce Peninsula, ON, Canada

 It is already a month since our last blog update and we are miles away from Mozambique, resting and regaining energy as we prepare for our home assignment in Canada and the U.S.  We left Mozambique on the 25^th of September with two bags and four carry-on bags.  We had the best trip ever with all our flights on time and connections smooth.  Our luggage arrived safely and the customs agents didn’t blink an eye at our fully stamped passports.  Susan’s father was at the airport to pick us up and after one night at his place, we were on our way north to spend five days at the cottage for some R & R.

the completed bathroom block at CAM school

 Now backing up a bit, we had an incredibly busy September.  Every day we were able to see more and more completed at the new CAM and the students and teachers settling in.  The transportation to the school changed a bit and now we have two mini-busses and one large bus that pick up the students and teachers and bring them to school and take them home.

CAM Dedication: flag presentation by CAM students

 A highlight at CAM a week before we left was the 15^th year anniversary and dedication of CAM.  We were privileged to have Claude and Marilynn Meyers, the founders of CAM, join us as the special guests and speaker for the day.  What a blessing to hear the history of CAM and how God provided in miraculous ways right from the beginning when CAM was just a dream.  Now CAM has gone through another amazing event of moving to a new location.  God blessed us with Melvin Kelly who was our construction engineer and his wonderful crew of Mozambican workers who worked to finish the school in record time.  Teachers, students, and all the construction crew worked so hard to get everything ready for school to open.  We know God has great plans for CAM and for the families it is touching and will touch in the future. 

L/R: Melvin Kelly, Gary & Diane Gray, Larry, Marilynn and Claude Meyers

 We continued to work alongside of Gary and Diane Gray, preparing them for our departure.  We are so thankful to the Lord for their willingness to take our spots and be a part of the OMS team in Mozambique.  We were able to leave knowing that things would be in good hands. 

Packing and having to say goodbye to Felix

It was good to finally get things organized in our own house.  We moved the third week in July, but had boxes that still needed to be unpacked in September.  Slowly but surely we were able to get most everything unpacked or stored in one of the rooms in our house.  We even got some things hung on the walls too.  Just as we were getting settled in our house, we then had to get things packed to take to the States.  What to take, what to give away and what to leave behind was filling our minds as we packed to leave.  

OMS team farewell dinner for us

We look forward to our time in the U.S. and Canada.  We are getting our schedule organized and so far we will be in Canada until October 12^th when we head to OMS headquarters in Indiana.  We have meetings and physicals scheduled in the first week.  The weekend of October 21^st – 23^rd we will be a part of the mission’s conference at World Gospel Church.  We fly to Washington State on the 25^th and will spend the next week settling in our home in Sequim and finding a car. 

 We are working on our speaking schedule and when we have things firmed up we will post the dates on our blog.  Thanks for your prayers.  We hope to see as many of you as possible.  Our email will remain the same so you can contact us through that.

God bless,

Larry & Susan

CAM is moved and running

29 August 2011

I promised to update our blog after we moved and I never imagined that it would be such a busy time of moving and how long it would take to really get settled.

Moving into our new duplex apartment on the OMS Compound

More of moving in

Unpacking the 92 boxes of A Beka curriculum

We moved to our new home on the mission campus the third weekend of July.  We had lots of help and were able to get everything moved here in three days.  We did have one more load at the house that we got the next week, but we were living out here by the end of July.  Just as we started loading up our personal things, Larry received a call from the Port of Maputo letting us know our CAM textbooks had arrived and we needed to pick them up.  It was an answer to prayer to have the books before school started, however, the timing was not the best.  We were able to hire a truck which brought the books out to the new site, thus saving us the effort of moving them twice. 

1st of 3 large containers to move the school out

The new school wasn’t quite ready for us to move on Monday, August 1^st, but on Tuesday the 2^nd the big moving truck arrived at old CAM and the packing began.  What a job.  We were so thankful that we had hired a moving company to help.  If we had done it ourselves, we would still be moving things, one truck load at a time.  All the boxes and equipment came through the move in good shape.  The only bad thing that happened was that the truck backed into the new fence and totally knocked out a post.  The moving company took full responsibility and discounted the price to pay for the repair of the fence. 

 The move took two very long and busy days.  The teachers and school workers were on hand to help with the unloading.  We directed the moving men where to unload the things.  On Thursday and Friday we started to get the classrooms organized and things put in place.  What a job!!!  We were so fortunate to have Gary and Diane Gray here to help through the entire process.  They have been such a great blessing to us.  We thank the Lord that they are here to fill in for us while we are away for our home assignment.

Teacher Orientation August 8th

The next week was the teacher’s orientation.  It was a combination of training and continuing to get the rooms ready.  We had already delayed school for 7 days and we didn’t want to delay it again.  It was lovely to see the classrooms take shape and the teachers did a great job of decorating them.

The bathrooms are still in process of completion.  There are still things to finish off, but what is finished looks great.  For the first week of classes we were able to use some of the bathrooms.  I think everything will be finished by this week.

Golden with his third grade class

First day...rather rainy...kids gathering at the rondovel

The first day of classes for the secondary students was the coldest and wettest day I had ever experienced in Mozambique.  The busses arrived in time, but we had to hurry the students to their classrooms to keep them out of the rain.  The next day when the elementary joined in, it was a little better, but still windy and cold.  But in spite of the rain, the children were happy to see each other and the new school, but probably not as happy to have to get busy and study again.

Cynthia with her second grade class

We praise the Lord for sufficient staff for the year.  We are starting with 66 students and believe that it will grow in numbers once people realize that we are here.  We still have not advertised, because we wanted to make sure that we were able to make the move and that everything would be ready in time.

The busses are working out and it is so convenient for the students and teachers to have a ride to school now.  There are still some bugs to work out, but we praise the Lord for a positive beginning to our 16^th year of CAM. 

Last weekend was our annual Field Council meetings where the team gather and plan for the next year and beyond in all the ministries.  Although we were all very tired, the weekend was productive and we PTL for all He has done this past year and we look forward to what the next year will bring.

OMS Mozambique Team during Field Council meetings: August 2011

We Are Moving...

15 July 2011

Boxes, boxes everywhere!!

CAM Textbooks packed for moving

More Textbooks to move

New CAM Entrance.  Doors still to come.

We are moving!!  Yes, you already knew that the school was moving and we are in the final stages of the construction of the new school.  It is wonderful to see the classrooms and offices developing, and now the bathroom block is up.  The final things are being added to the classrooms.  The ceiling tiles are next to be installed and the windows and doors are being fitted.  There is still one more wall to paint in some of the classrooms, because we were waiting for the windows and doors to be installed so we wouldn’t have to paint it twice.  Melvin Kelly, our construction engineer, has been an amazing help and has kept all the workers encouraged and moving towards the goal of completion.

hanging the false ceiling and lights in the office

As soon as the rooms are secure, we can start moving the old school to the new school, and that is where the boxes come in.  The teachers at CAM have been busy packing up all the textbooks, teaching supplies and the entire library into boxes.  They have been very good to label them so I can find books when I need to.  The old school is full of boxes.  The chalk boards, white boards and bulletin boards have been removed from the walls and this week they are working on the computer lab.  What a lot of cords and things to pack up.  We are getting down to the wire.

The offices need floor tile and the ceiling tile installed and we are waiting on the doors and windows to be installed so the rooms will be secure enough to move the things in. 

Bathroom Block under construction

About two weeks ago we made the decision to delay school for an addition 10 days to allow the bathroom block to be completed.  We can’t run a school without bathrooms.  That has been a good decision and it has given us more time to get things ready.

Larry repairing the door at our new home

When I am at school, all I see are boxes and bare walls.  Guess what?  We are also moving from our house to a duplex on the new property.  Our new home is a bit smaller, but we have been able to choose colors to paint the walls and watch the place take shape.  The floor tiles have been installed.   We are waiting on the ceiling tiles and the bathroom to be completed and then we can start moving.  Our house now is a disaster with boxes in every room and the hallway.  It is a good time for us to sort through things to give away, throw away or keep.  You can imagine that it is stressful for us to say the least, but we are thankful for God’s faithfulness to us throughout this amazing journey.  Thank you for your prayers.

Gary & Diane Gray...our replacements during furlough. YEA!

We thank the Lord that Gary and Diane Gray arrived on July 5^th.  They are settling into their home on the compound and are spending time with us learning the ropes.  We are so thankful that they will be here to take over our responsibilities when we are on home assignment starting this September.  Pray for a smooth transition for them.  Pray, also, that we will have sufficient teachers and students to support the school for this year.

The next blog will be an update after the move. 

CAM events: CAM Picnic, Musical and Graduation 2011

18 June, 2011

It has been so busy these last few weeks we haven’t gotten our blog updated. I wrote some news right after the CAM picnic, but we just didn’t have enough time to get the photos attached and up. So we will add to the update that we already have.




CAM Graduates 2011

 May 30th was the graduation ceremony for our seven grads. It was lovely to celebrate with the seniors and hear them share about their time at CAM and what they were hoping for the future. Each grad had a special part in the program and some of the parents and teachers had a part. It is hard to believe that we won’t see them at school next year.

 

CAM Graduation Dinner



The graduation dinner was held on Wednesday, June 1st, Larry’s birthday. We celebrated with the grads and their families. It was a time to reminisce and rejoice.



Bathroom block under construction

A big praise is that we got our building permit! Construction is well on the way now for the bathroom block. It looks great. The play field has been leveled and now we are waiting for the electrical to be put in before the drop ceilings can be installed. The biggest concern is to find affordable and safe busses to transport the students from town to the new school site.

At CAM we have chapel every Friday. It is a time to sing, pray and hear how the Lord is working in the lives of different people. Sometimes the different classes take charge of the chapel programs. This past Friday the 4th – 6th grade choir presented a musical called “Camp Wallaballa.” It is about a group of kids on their way to a camp and their bus breaks down and they have to wait for someone to come and fix the bus. In the meantime, they sing all these great songs about not being afraid because God is with them and they share all these great promises from the Bible and sing about standing on God’s promises. It was beautiful. I invited the parents to come and see their performance and there were tears in their eyes as well as in mine. The kids did such a great job.

 

BBQs smelled so good



CAM Picnic...lots of food



The annual CAM picnic was May 21st. We have always had it at the Boa Nova property. This year is was at the same place, but now it is more significant because it is our new school site. We set up six BBQs and several tables for the extra food to share. We ended up with almost 140 people – a record crowd. After lunch the kids played games for prizes and we gave tours to the parents of the new site. It is so great to see all the new families. We sense their support and encouragement as we are in the middle of this incredible project.



CAM Kids playing games at the picnic