Sorry I have not been writing as much lately but as many of you know, we are in Colorado, USA at Mission Training International going through their SPLICE program which is preparing us for our work in Europe. I am normally online for a majority of the day but here, I am only able to get on a couple of short times a day.

I just wanted to show you some of the pictures of the scenery that we have seen while we have been out here.

These were taken on the trail behind our training facility:

These were taken on a drive to and from and at Trail West Lodge (A Young Life camp I worked at a long time ago) that is in central Colorado:

On Sunday, we took the opportunity to go to an Eastern Orthodox church:

We’ll post more soon!!!

We have moved full swing into our SPLICE training at MTI. The training is made up of different tpes of learning methods (which is good because I don’t think I could handle all lectures). One of the lessons today was done when we were broken up into five groups. One of the groups was taken out of the room while the other four were given a bag of legos and told just to make something. It didn’t matter what it was or if we did it as a team or as individuals. My particular group decided to make a castle with a wagon (which became an offroad wagon - of course ) As we went along creating this thing, we noticed that we only had a few colors - green, white, and yellow.

Then something happened. One of the members of that group that was taken out came and sat at our table and asked what we were doing. We told him. Then he pulled out black and red legos and asked if he could join in.

We had a decision to make. It wasn’t like we needed his legos (although the extra colors would be nice) and I questioned if he really understood what our vision was for this castle and wagon. I also wondered about what trick he might have up his sleeve. But Cam (one of the guys in our group) said sure and so we started working with him.

As it turned out, this was a look at what its like to being new and working with a group in a new culture. This really made us look at ourselves and how we react to new people joining our groups. It also put us in the shoes of those to whom we are going to be the new people joining their groups.

I hope more and more of our time here comes with these revelations. Please continue to pray for us in that regards. Also, please continue to pray for health (this altitude and dryness is affect our sinuses and lungs) and for the sale of our home which is to close on March 8th - My mother is going to sign for us with power of attorney. Everything is still a go for that closing. Thank you.

The past two days have been interesting. Yesterday, we spent from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles. After their computers went down twice (darn computers!) and after they called Courtney back to redo his picture because they took the original one with the wrong paperwork, we were able to get our Colorado Driver’s licenses - well, not really. They will be mailing them to us in the next two weeks. These licenses will save us thousands of dollars when we go to Germany because Germany accepts them as equal to a German license where our North Carolina licenses would require exams and possible driver classes.

Today was an adventure. In an effort to finish raising our support, we decided to go digging for gold in a real gold mine. Just kidding. We all did walk away with some gold (not enough to support our ministry though). We also went to Breckenridge, Colorado and did some sledding.

We start our training tomorrow night. Please keep us in your prayers.

There’s not a whole lot to report out here in Colorado, USA. We got up early this morning (Alex thought it was still the night before because the sun hadn’t come up yet) and made our way to the airport in uneventful style. We flew through Minneapolis, MN on our way to Colorado. On that first flight, I got to speak with a gentlemen about what we are called to do in Europe while Alex was enjoying everything (and I mean everything) about the flight. It was really neat as Alex tried to figure out what were the frozen lakes and rivers below amidst all the snow.

After a very quick Burger King run, we got on our second flight. Once we got to Colorado Springs airport, we were greeted by Neva Ringdahl. Neva took us back to her house where Krista was able to get some rest while Alex and I got to go with Neva around town and she showed us the places that we are going to be going to over the next few days. It was great.

Then we got an adventure. Now all of Neva’s six children were home. Alex fit right in and they put him right in the sleeping bag and slid him down the stairs right away.

After dinner with the Ringdahls and a round of “What was best about today” at the dinner table, we made our way to the Davis’ where we will be staying until Monday. Their place is wonderful where they have a separate little apartment in their home including wireless access (my fears were relieved!!!).

This is the life.

Please pray as tomorrow we will be going for our Colorado Driver’s licenses and doing some shopping. They are having the winter clothes sales right now which is perfect for us but pray that we can find the things on our list. Also pray as we get used to the altitude and dryness that is here. Thanks so much.