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 20^th of July.

Evan's Route

I (Liz) will be follow with the kids by plane on August 1^st.

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 15^th-17^th 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)

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Plans for the fall:

·         *We will be visiting Shores Community Church in Ocean Shores, WA on the 16^th 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.

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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.

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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!

May/June Update

When you have to live by faith, it is a great encouragement when you get some confirmation every once and a while that you are doing the right thing. Lately we have been struggling to keep making decisions that will hopefully get us closer to PNG. We want to do what God wants us to do, but we hesitate when we have to step out into what seems like empty space. Not knowing whether the money will be there, where we will live after our house goes back to the bank, whether we will even be able to leave as planned in January to name just a few of our questions, has been hard on our family.

However, in the last few weeks we have experienced God’s provision in unexpected ways. We are once again buoyed with hope and faith.

We have benefited from:

·          A wonderful story of following God’s lead in a friend’s up-coming trip to Kenya. This story of how God was opening doors for her, showing the right way to go, made me realize God has been doing the same thing when we need it most.

·         New Financial and prayer partners

·         Unexpected very generous one-time financial gifts

·         A trailer found by chance on craigslist to transport our things we are shipping to North Carolina. We were also blessed that we spent $1,000 less on it than expected, so those funds can toward other needed items.

·         God has brought to mind some people who we are contacting and praying will be a positive connection point for more partners

·         Through an inquiry about an ice cream maker on craigslist we are meeting with a man in Washington this week to tell him more about our mission and he’s giving the ice cream maker to us for free!

In the meantime we have been filling the rest of our days with packing up our house (one way or another we will be out by August), helping our sons grow and learn, and enjoying the remaining time we have here in the states. A couple of weekends ago, we were able to go spend time with my (Liz’s) parents and Aunt in Ocean Shores. From there we drove to Seattle to see Evan’s brother Richard and also his brother Jon (whom we haven’t seen in several years) and his partner Laura (whom I was meeting for the first time) who were visiting from Chicago.

We have a few events planned, hoping to add more…

·         June 26^th we will be at McMinnville Covenant

·         Sometime in July we will be giving an update presentation to our home church, Sunset Covenant

·         Also in July (hopefully) we want to host a BBQ for partners and anyone else who would like to come and visit with us, here more about our mission and just have a good time (details to come if we manage it before we have to leave for JAARS)

·         October 16^th we will be speaking at Shores Community Church in Ocean Shores, WA

Prayer updates:

First praises:

·         We had a delightful birthday party for Liam in May, with lots of laughter and fun. Even though the iffy weather forced us to make last minute changes to location, it all worked out as it should have, because the changes allowed Liam’s  granddad (who was on call and could not leave McMinnville) to be there and we had a wonderful time afterwards at the Children’s Museum in Salem (which normally did not take such a large group on short notice (less than 24 hrs) but they did not have as many parties scheduled as they usually did and so we were allowed to come).

·         We said our goodbyes to our niece Charlotte during a beautiful ceremony where her mom and dad spread some of her ashes, planted a rose in her honor and several people shared some thoughts and memories. The weather was as lovely as we had prayed for.

·         We had a great time traveling up and visiting with my former roommate Amanda and sharing with her church in Port Townsend, WA.

·         We have part of our travel plans resolved with the gift of the funds we needed to cover all our costs, and we have the dates we need to be there as well as a trailer to haul everything…now we need continued prayer for our fundraising as we need 50% pledged monthly support to be cleared by our supervisor to attend the training. We have approximately a month to raise that support.

So on to the prayers:

·         Continued positive connections with partners and advocates

·         Wisdom to continue to make the right decisions regarding our next steps

·         Health for the whole family as we continue to have erratic and busy schedules

·         Positive outcome from our upcoming speaking engagement at McMinnville Covenant

Blessings to you all as the summer heats up and we all can get out and enjoy God’s world!

-The Larson family

March/April Update

I feel like a broken record, apologizing for very late posts. Again I must beg you dear readers’ indulgence. March has past us by, but I would like to share the most wonderful news from that month.

We welcomed our second son, Julien Mitchell, on March 25th at 12:44 AM. He was 6 lbs. and 19 inches long. We are grateful to God for a very quick, relatively easy delivery and a healthy boy. I am also indebted to my midwife and the two nurses who were there to help. I don’t know if I could have done it without them.

                                          Trying to sleep in the bright new world

                                              Hello mom and dad

                                          Beautiful dark hair and eyes

                                         Liam meets baby brother for the first time
So far my recovery has been good and Julien is a jewel of a child, just like his brother. He is contented, growing like gangbusters. He also sleeps for 3-4 hours at a time. Which may not seem like much, but it is…Liam is being a great big brother. We are already having to make adjustments and know there will be more when Julien becomes more active, but for now we are doing pretty well going from 3 to 4.

As far was our Wycliffe work is concerned, we have been blessed with more support coming in from some unexpected places, slowly but surely we are making our way toward 100%. At this point we are hovering at around 17%. We are working on our “advocate” base.

Advocates are swiftly becoming the best way for us to get in touch with individuals who may be interested in supporting us. We are finding the old method of churches being the bulk of a missionaries support is not true anymore. Where we are having the most success is one-on-one encounters and smaller groups where we are “vouched for” by those who know us. Folks like you! If you have friends or a small group (even a church if you feel that is a good way of introducing us) you would like us to meet and speak with, PLEASE contact us and we will work out the details, send any literature you would like your way and drive anywhere!

In a related development, we have received word that Evan will not be taking the CAM (Construction and Maintainence) course at JAARS as we thought, but we will still be required to be there for the Intercultural Communication training in August. Only about 3 months away! Our current plan is to purchase an enclosed trailer, which we will load with everything we are going to ship to PNG. Evan will drive the trailer cross-country to JAARS and I will fly there with the kids. Ideally someone would drive with Evan (most likely his brother) and someone would fly with me. However, we cannot pay airfare for anyone other than ourselves, so this is a bit of an issue. This also means we will be finishing packing up the house in the next couple of months. Not always an easy task with a toddler who loves to “help”.

I will close with what is coming up in the month of May for us and a few things to keep in prayer…

We will celebrating Liam’s second birthday. Also, we will be having a day of rememberance for our niece Charlotte.

On the 15th we will be traveling up to Port Townsend, WA to speak at a dear friend’s church. If you are in that area and would like to get together, or know somewhere we should speak, please let us know.

Finally, we will be taking a break mid-month and going to Cascades camp with our church family.

Prayer requests:

For continued opportunities to meet with potential partners

For resolution for our travel plans to JAARS

For clear weather and a good time for Liam’s party and Charlotte’s day

For traveling mercies to Port Townsend and back, also that the speaking engagement goes well

For traveling mercies for our church up to Cascades and back, also for a time of relaxation and fellowship while we are there

Our latest Newsletter



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October/November Update

Well, I have done it again…I have been very neglectful of you faithful blog followers. Mia Culpa.
Thanksgiving is nearing and boy do the Larson’s have much to be thankful for! As was mentioned in our previous entry, we had an auction right before we left for onsite training in Orlando. It was amazingly successful. We raised the remainder of what we need to cover our training costs with $10 to spare!

Then we rushed off to Orlando. It was Liam’s first time on a plane, and there was some concern on our part about his painful ear popping and endless sitting our poor toddler would have to endure. ;) However, as he is apt to do, Liam handled the situation with great aplomb. Quickly learning how to open and close the window shade, turn the little tv on and off, and charm everyone around him. His ears didn’t even seem to bother him.

We had a few days of downtime, enjoyed the bliss of having others clean and cook for us (Well, it was bliss for me. Haha!) and had fun at the theme park Adventure Island.

Then we began the true adventure of training at Wycliffe headquarters. We were in class from about 7:30 AM to 4 PM with breaks for meals. Liam quite enjoyed his play time with the other kids and we were blessed and inspired by the classes and our new friends who were learning with us. Though, at times it felt like we were drinking from a fire hose.

On a side-note we got to spend a weekend with Evan’s Uncle Richard and Aunt Cindy. It was fun and we got to eat gator tail, yum! While we were there we learned about a group that is connected to their church called Love Haiti Missions Project. Check them out on facebook! One of the cool things they are trying to do is set up water filtration systems.

Since our return, we have been going non-stop. We went to four Wycliffe Associates banquets, and have started the process of setting up speaking engagements in several places. By the way, we will be in McMinnville, OR speaking at Calvary Chapel’s 7PM service on November 21st. If you are in the area come by and say hi! More engagements to come in the future! We have also been blessed by financial support coming from unexpected places. Thank to those who have chosen to give financially and those who are supporting us in prayer. Both have been an enormous boost to us during this time of starting out.

Evan was laid-off from work the first week of November. While we will be financially tight for a while, it has been a real blessing having him home and able to work full-time on building our partnership team. He has also been a big help with Liam as I have begun to slow down and be more tired by little things as baby continues to grow. We are very excited to be able to go in for our ultrasound the day before Thanksgiving and find out the gender.

We just sent in the draft for our next newsletter which hopefully will be printed soon and then sent out to you all. If you would like a copy (digital or physical) please send us the appropriate address and we will add you to the list. We are also now on Skype. Send us a message if you want to link up with us that way. I feel a bit nervous about putting it out for the whole world to access.
During our training in Orlando the theme of grace kept returning. We must, as people, whether missionaries or not, practice in extending grace to one another. This is a trait that Jesus exhibited most frequently alongside that of love. They do go hand in hand if you really think about it. Since we have returned home I began to understand why it was emphasized so heavily. Grace is what allows us to understand why some people who we think will be the most accepting and supportive are not. Grace is what allows others to accept when we say no to them. Grace is what allows for imperfection in life.

As we continue to make our way through this new path in our life journey we hope that grace will be extended to us as we may make mistakes, have to say no to dinner invites, are late in blogging…We ask that you come alongside us in prayer support. We love you all and hope this holiday season is a safe and joyous one!-The Larsons

August/September Update

I can’t believe we are already almost through September and I have not posted an August update. My apologies for such a late post. I hope this will suffice for an August and September.

Evan’s 30th birthday came and went with lots of joking about being old, and not being able to trust himself anymore.

We had a great time camping, lots of great memories…even though Liam decided to have a head-on meeting with a large rock. He quite enjoyed wandering around the campground collecting sticks and playing in the dirt. He also like feeding the chipmunks and climbing in and out of the tent.

The biggest news is that we are expecting our second child due on March 29th! So far the pregnancy has been MUCH better than when I was pregnant with Liam. I am grateful I am not very sick because we have had lots to do these last two months.

We have started and are nearing completion of the online portion of our online training course (Equip). It has been quite difficult to keep up, but the information is good and we are learning a lot. Evan is still working full-time and I am working part-time sitting for friends’ children. Also, we have been working hard at some other things, as you will read about below. We will be leaving to go to Orlando for the onsite portion on October 6th. We are flying in early and having a bit of a (much needed) family vacation. We will be there until October 22nd.

We are also part of a team leading a class at church called ALPHA. It is class for those who are enquiring into Christianity, those who are Christians who wish to ask questions or deepen their faith. It consists of getting together once a week, having dinner together, watching a DVD and then having discussion time in small groups. Any question can be asked. Ours is being conducted at Sunset Covenant on Monday nights from 6:30-8:30PM. Other area churches are also hosting classes currently or in the near future. If you live in the Portland Metro area you may have seen bus signs or billboards advertising the class.

Finally, right before we leave for Orlando, on October 2nd from 6:30-9 we are having our “Things, Stuff and Whatnot” Auction at our church. It is adults only and we are having Posh Sweets provide a decadent dessert bar. We will be speaking a little on our mission. So, in preparation for that we have been gathering items (over 40!) and getting them ready for sale (i.e. putting tags, getting a list ready for our auctioneer, arranging for set-up and the crew to manage it all).

I am looking forward to the coolness of fall, and hopefully some calmness will come with it. I am excited (as ever) for Thanksgiving and especially Christmas. I will sign off now and hoping this finds you all well.

Prayer requests this month:
1. That our auction goes well.
2. That we have a safe trip to, during and coming home from Equip.
3. That opportunities continue to open to us for speaking and PD (partnership development).

July Update

Reflecting back on the month of July I am amazed by what has been accomplished. We had our first successful fundraiser (Our Pie Auction, hosted by Sunset Covenant Church (our home church)) on July 17th. We raised a whopping $1,285! Thank you so much to everyone who baked pies, helped set-up, take-down, cooked, and of course bought pies! A special thank you to our pastor, Paul Burdick, for serving as auctioneer. You did a wonderful job!


However, I feel some trepidation about what is to come. I sort of feel like we, Evan, me and Liam are on a roller coaster. We have just been locked in and now we are going up, and up…clicking away to the top. The top I think being our trip to Orlando in October for our first round of training with Wycliffe (AKA “Equip”). However, I can’t focus too much on the future, even if it is looming on the horizon. We have lots of things upcoming to celebrate and plan…


Evan turns 30 today We will also be joining family for the annual Larson get-together at the end of the month. In the meantime we will be spending the next two months participating in the online portion of Equip. Lots and lots of reading.

Additionally we will be putting together the final arrangements for our next fundraiser. We are shooting for October 2nd. It will be a “Things, Stuff and Whatnot” Auction. It is shaping up to be a spectacular event (thanks to help from mother-in-law Debbie and Aunts Dondi and Diane)! If you are interested in donating time, items, want to attend, or just want more info…. Please do drop us a line: evan_larson@wycliffe.org

As the summer nears its end (I can hardly believe it) we are finally going camping. I am looking forward to a relaxing time and recharge the batteries and enjoy the lovely Pacific Northwest.

In closing things to keep in prayer for us:
Continued success in our support fundraising.Continued wisdom on our house issue…it seems to be getting resolved but it is early days yet.