Big Transition News

It has been quite a while since our last update and we have some big news to fill everybody in on! We sent out a big life update to our supporters not too long ago but for anyone else that is reading this, we have a big transition coming up for our family, and it's not too far away. 

In summary, Samantha and I have been feeling for quite some time that God has been in the works of doing something big in our lives. Through much prayer and council, we believe that God is moving us, after serving in Costa Rica since 2011, back to the USA. 

This has not been an easy decision and has brought about almost every emotion that you can imagine. We have spent the entirety of our married life here, built our family here, fallen in love with the church that we serve at and made some very deep rooted friendships here through our ministry opportunities. We are especially thankful for the friendship formed with the Mora family as we served with and raised our family alongside them. It has been such a blessing to be welcomed into the ministry that they founded, and into their lives as family. We are trusting in God's leading as we make this big transition. There are many details that we are still working through as we near our leaving date, and our desire is to finish our work here well as we prepare our hearts and minds for building a new life back in Pennsylvania, wherever the Lord places us. 

In the midst of this decision making process and much prayer about our future, we were so excited to

discover that we have been blessed with another little life, expected to join our family this July! (Why not add another piece of crazy into our already crazy lives?) After an early pregnancy loss last year, this has brought about much excitement as well as some anxiety, but we are very thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far as we now head into the second trimester. With everything else going on around us, we have decided it would be best to make the move to PA before the new baby joins, leading us to a travel date coming up in late May.

What we know... As mentioned, there are many things yet to be defined at this point. We have our plane tickets purchased for May 20th. We are looking at this as a transitional time, in hopes of giving our kids and family the time needed to feel settled into the culture of the States and make wherever we land feel like home. We are uprooting all that we have known to be home and starting from ground zero - an intimidating yet exciting process! Our desire is to continue to serve the Lord and share the Gospel with those around us, in whatever way we are able. We pray that financial support will continue through this transitional time - Brandon is looking to find employment starting in August. This would allow time to get settled, debrief from our years overseas, and spend a little time with newborn baby. 

We are so grateful for the grace and understanding we have received from our friends and everyone within our church here in CR. As we have mentioned over our years serving here, it is exciting to see the growth happening within the ministry, and we are confident that God will continue to use and grow Semillas de Vida for His glory. We look forward to keeping in touch with the leadership and members of the church, and continuing to offer our encouragement from afar. We are excited to see how God will continue to raise up leaders and fill positions within the church over the next few months, and after we leave. 

Please pray with us!

• Pray for the logistics on both sides of the map.
• Pray that the sale of our property and everything we have in Costa Rica will go smoothly.
• Pray as we search for housing and everything in the Lancaster area.
• Pray for our hearts as we are experiencing a wide range of emotions.
• Pray for our kids as their lives are about to look a lot different.
• Pray for our current church, that God will continue to equip and grow His church.
• Pray for God to open doors for us to put our giftings into use for His glory in our new location.