Saturday, July 9, 2011

July Update

Praise God we are on our way over the next mountain in our journey!  We have been cleared to attend our final set of training at the JAARS Center! After its completion we will have done everything we can to prepare ourselves for our assignment.

What our training consists of:
·        * Children’s Safety course – A requirement for all members to keep our kids safe in a foreign country.

·         *ICC (Inter-Cultural Communications) training –This course is designed to aid us in living and working among other Christians from many different countries who may not hold the same views as us.

·         *Management training – Evan will be taking this course to prepare him for the job at the auto shop in Ukarumpa. While he is not currently assigned the specific job of manager, he will find the skills useful in his trainer’s position, as well as equipping him should he be asked to fill the job of shop manager at some point (as often happens when folks need to go on furlough and positions must be shifted around to make sure all jobs are covered).

·       * Machine Shop Training – This course will aid Evan in honing his many skills in this department as well as acquiring new ones.

Evan will be driving cross-country with our belongings we are shipping to PNG. He will be connecting with friends in Minnesota. If you, or someone you know, are along the route and would be interested in a visit from Evan, do let us know. He will be leaving on the 20th of July.


Evan's Route
I (Liz) will be follow with the kids by plane on August 1st.

We are hoping to be able to take advantage of this rare trip to the East Coast and, after our training, to do some sight-seeing and visit relatives and friends.

Once we have completed our training we will continue our fundraising efforts.  We still have the goal of going to our assignment in Papua New Guinea in January 2012. However, in order to accomplish this goal we must have 100% of our regular monthly support acquired; this is the last piece of the puzzle, which we will need help of all our supporters to complete. We are currently over 1/3 of the way there. Thanks to everyone who has supported us in prayer and through financial gifts.

In the meantime between now and when Evan leaves we will be a whirlwind of activities:
*Mailing out/e-mailing our next newsletter
* Packing up our the rest of our house (once we leave for North Carolina we will be shutting off utilities in the anticipation of handing the keys back to the bank) and moving what we are not shipping into storage.
* Having a garage sale (hopefully) the weekend of the 15th-17th to liquidate the remainder of our household goods (We have some great furniture at rock-bottom prices come on by and check it out, or just come say hi!)
* Liam has evaluations at the Artz Center for Children’s Development for a speech delay (the folks there have been so kind in working with our schedule and squeezing us in so we can get a handle on things before we leave).
* Establishing a new mailing address (don’t worry our phone numbers will stay the same)
-------------------------------------------------
Plans for the fall:
·         *We will be visiting Shores Community Church in Ocean Shores, WA on the 16th of October. If you are in the area come on over on Sunday morning to hear Evan preach! We will also be making a presentation in the evening.
·         *We will be making another visit to our friends in Mt Vernon, WA at Bethany Covenant.
·         *We would love to continue setting up more individual meetings and speaking engagements for when we return. Please do let us know if you would like to schedule a time with us.
---------------------------------------------------
Praises:
·         *We had a wonderful time at McMinnville Covenant, gained some new partners and enjoyed reconnecting with friends.

·         *We were cleared for training, thanks to our supervisors for joining us in faith that the funds will continue to come through and by taking this next step we will continue to excite others and they will be encouraged to join us in our mission to help bring the Word to the people of Papua New Guinea.

·         *We continue to have relatively good health, despite having lots of late nights and traveling a great deal.
--   --------------------------------------------------
Prayer Requests:
·         *A productive time between now and when we arrive at JAARS

·         *Safe and easy travel as we go to training

·         *Successful and enjoyable time at JAARS

·         *Good visits with friends and family

·         *A solid housing solution for when we return

·         *Continued positive connections to new partners so we cans stay on schedule to leave for PNG in January

·         *Continued health (especially for our little ones) as we will still have a pretty jumbled existence for several more months

Thank you again to all our friends and family who have such a blessing and support to us during this season in our lives.
-The Larson Family

PS Keep watching this blog as we will try and keep you all up to date while we are Waxhaw!