Friends, Family, and Fried Okra

We are currently enjoying spending time with friends and family in Texas while we are in the process of obtaining our visas to Ecuador.  Thank you for all your prayers during the last year!  God has been gracious to us in helping us to learn Spanish, and we are finished with our studies in Costa Rica.  We eagerly look forward to beginning our work in Cuenca, Ecuador.  We are waiting to receive two more documents in the mail with the special seal from the Texas government, and then we will be able to drive to Houston to go to the Ecuadorian consulate there.  If all goes well, we will be able to leave there with our religious visas in hand.  You can pray that we’re granted a two-year visa.  If we only get a one-year visa, it won’t be long after we get to Ecuador before we have to start the long process again. 

We are enjoying some of the things we missed in Costa Rica like peace and quiet (it was always noisy there), Mexican food, and fried okra.  On the way home from the airport, Nafisa chose to stop and pick up food from Taco Bueno while Trevor just wanted to stop for a Dr. Pepper!  On a serious note, it really has been great being able to visit with some of our friends and family during our stay here.  The kids all got to go to Vacation Bible School, and the boys went to the beach with Grammy.  We all took a brief trip to San Antonio to visit our good friends Preston and Christie Burton and went to the Alamo and the Rainforest Café.  The boys also got to go to Legoland with their Uncle Shahzad.  Cole and Lane have spent a lot of their time playing outside – swimming, riding their bikes, and catching bugs.  Cana also likes to play outside early in the morning (or whenever it’s not too hot!), and she talks almost nonstop.  She’s growing up quickly.  Trevor got the opportunity to preach at Union Hill Baptist Church, and he spoke at Fellowship Baptist Church in Forney.  It’s such a blessing to have friends and family that support us and our ministry.