What an emotional roller coaster ride getting to Cuenca is becoming for us. We are glad to be in Canada...but we continue to work toward getting to our final destination, to where God has called us to serve. It has been painstakingly challenging to my level of patience as we have had 2 false green lights to getting our visas. Our teammates Bolo and Jaime in Ecuador have been getting frustrated probably even more, because it seems like every time they have fulfilled the requires of the government for our papers, there seems to be something else that needs to be done. However saying all that, both our teammates and ourselves are confident that the end of this process is near and we will be on a plane to Cuenca. Our teammates also talked to some lawyers concerning international visas and were told that they have the ability to get us our visas if we go there initially on a visitors visa. But after talking to our overseers in Saskatoon they told us to continue down the process that we are on because it is so close to being done. That way we would arrive with our permanent work visas in hand, rather than having to start over again, and have the possibility that something goes wrong and having to return home unexpectedly.
We continue to stay busy doing kingdom work here in Regina, updating supporters, as well as doing all the long term planning that has to be done while we are away from Canada. We have been preparing a will, setting up the kids some education funds, updating and extending passports, drivers lic's and other id's, and getting our health insurance in order. I've also got to play some hockey with my old friends, our team made it to the final Sunday and lost in OT. But playing was like therapy for my heart. We've also been learning Spanish. Alicia and the kids let me teach them. Alicia wants to be able to talk when she gets off the plane. She has such a head start already knowing Portuguese. We have also been paying attention to our emotional needs that concern returning missionaries. It is always difficult to transition through cultures. We returned to our home for a year, but in reality Canada is no longer our home. We try and find how we fit here, while still missing our spiritual family and friends in Brasil. We ran into a great book, "praying your good-byes" which is a great help for learning to deal with our feelings through life's transitions. God is taking care of us and getting us ready for our next ministry. It has been so good to reconnect with my family, my parents, my sister, her husband and my niece. It has been good to be around my younger brother who recently broke up with his girlfriend of 4 years. I have been able to help him process that and in some small ways hope to point him to God and faith. My mom's brother also just passed away unexpectedly and they family has asked me to do the memorial service. This weekend I will see many cousins and extended family on her side that I haven't seen in years. So that should be good.
But we are so looking forward to starting our next phase in life. It has been a blessing to live with my parents, and I know they will miss us again, but I'm sure they are ready to get their space back. We are ready to find our own place to live in. Our teammate Jenny is looking for rentals places for us in Cuenca. We have been blessed to have our finances in place but lacking our visas. The opposite was the case 6 years ago when we were leaving for Brasil. Please continue to pray that the evil one will not have His way in any way during these final days and weeks until we finally arrive in Ecuador.We continue to trust in God's perfect timing for our lives. In Him, Travis
thinking of you
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