The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, we have just about 4 months left of living in Pennsylvania before we pack up and move all our stuff to the Missionary Training Center in Missouri. We are both excited. I am feeling a mix of emotions right now about it all. I will soon finish working at the hair salon that has kept me busy for the last 7 or 8 months. I am excited to be done because there are so many other things I will be able to focus on, but also very sad because I've grown to love the girls I work with and I won't be seeing them so much anymore. They really are fun girls and I'm going to miss them.

I have had some really great conversations with clients at the salon. I was so surprised to have a few people show interest in what Don and I will be doing in the future. There have been some people who have told me they would pray for us and even some who have said they were interested in supporting us someday. What an encouragement! I never would have thought we would gain partners through my job at the salon.

I have some goals I'd like to accomplish this summer as we prepare to move to Missouri. Don and I have discussed becoming 'minimalists'. We are starting to realize how much stuff we have and how unimportant most of it is. I don't want to feel tied down to this world by anything. Also, with the occupation we have chosen it's just not going to be practical to have so many things. We have several moves we're going to have to make before we can move oversea's and I want to start preparing for that big move right now. So this summer I'm going to be sorting through all our things and getting rid of as many things as I can live without. We have a small apartment now, but we'll have a smaller one once we move to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) so this downsizing will be very necessary.

I have also been thinking about starting a small group with some of the girls at our church here. There are some wonderful girls at DCBC and I think getting together with a few of them in a smaller group would make it easier to teach them. Also, I've also felt that when I have to teach something I learn it much better myself. It would be a real motivator for me to study more and to stay in the Word.

I hope I will have the time to do that this summer. I feel like these next four months are going to fly by. We have so much traveling planned. In about a week Don and I will be driving up to Michigan to stay with my family for a week. I am especially excited for this trip because my sister Beth, her husband Tom and their 2 year old Jude will be home from Papua New Guinea! They are missionaries there with the Tigak people, but will be home for a few months for Beth to have her second baby. We are so excited to see them and to find out whether she is having a boy or a girl! ( If you'd like to view their website it is: http://thatallmayknow.org/ )


My other sister Abby and her boyfriend Nathan will also be up at my parents house for that week, and I'm sure my brother Davy will come home for the weekend from Bible School to stay. This will be one visit to savor since we don't know how long it will be before we can all be together again.

In June, Don and I are in our very good friends' wedding and it is in TEXAS! I'm so excited to see these friends get married, and it will be awesome to be able to be in another wedding with my husband. :)

After the wedding we will be driving to the Grand Canyon to meet Don's family and to spend some vacation time with them. Don's brother Dave has signed up for the Navy and will begin training this fall. So this will be the last time for a while that we'll be able to do something as a family. We are planning to hike into the Grand Canyon and probably spend a few nights there. After that Don and I will drive all the way back up to Michigan to see my family again and hopefully meet Baby Carlton #2.

On July 2nd we have a wedding in New Jersey to attend, which is only 3 or so hours away. We might get to peak at the Ocean while we're over that way.

Then in mid July we have another wedding that Don has the pleasure of being a groomsmen in. That one will take place in Nebraska. We aren't sure if we will drive or fly to that one, we're still looking into the prices.

With all of this traveling we will have more expenses then we would like, but we are planning to work very hard during these summer months when we are home. Please pray for us that we will be able to find good prices as we travel, that there will be lots of work for us this summer and that we'll be able to save enough money for our entire training at the MTC. We know we will have enough for our first year, but we would like to have enough saved for our whole time there.

Thanks for reading and praying!

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