Alleluia Frog!

I thought you guys would enjoy some of these random pictures and my Alleluia Frog! We were playing around the other day around campus and I was able to take this picture. Now I assure you this is a real frog and nothing was wrong with it. It jumped away from us when one of the girls said that she would kiss it to see if he turned into a prince. It might be better that he jumped away when he did, LOL!

"Alleluia, I'm so glad God created me!" ~Frog~

I love God's creation, it all reflects the Majesty of who He is. He has created all things, big and small! And you know God has a sense of humor as well and loves to place things in our lives that cause us to stop and say, ha God you are so good!
I encourage you, look around you today and find something that you don't notice everyday and give God praise for it, He deserves all our praise!

Come on baby ... I just want to give you a hug!

Pic-a-boo Squirrel

Have you ever seen a hairy spider, spinning up its food.
This is how you package food that last up to a month later, lol.

Weekend in Greenville with the family!

Wow, it was good to get out and eat some good old steak over the weekend. : ) One thing that you need to know is that at EI, steak and potatoes is a rarity. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining but simply stating the blessings of eating some good red meat over the weekend. We had a very relaxing time walking downtown and enjoying the Reedy Falls Park with the family. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

New Arrivals from India!

Another answered prayer! An Indian couple that has been trying to come to school here in Greenville since 2006 got their visa's approved and arrived on Monday of last week. It has been a blessing to have them here and begin to get to know them. Something very interesting, they still have arranged marriages and even within the Christian families. They actually had an arranged marriage and most arranged marriages don't even speak with each other before they get engaged. They spoke once before their marriage and got married 3-4 months later. Most of the times Indian couple also still pay a dowry in order to get married. Meaning pay a price for their bride or groom. When i was in Africa the men paid a dowry for the women but in India its the other way around, the bride pays a dowry for the groom. Isn't it fascinating how different cultures deal with situations that many people face completely differently, like marriages.


Oh and by the way, you thought American guitars are pretty cool instruments. You haven't seen anything yet. Check out this 18 string Indian guitar, made from pumpkins.

God answers prayer!

God is faithful! We have been busy and have limited time to get on the internet with homework and everything but I just wanted to thank everyone for praying for us as we traveled home last weekend. It was so good to see so many of our family and friends in the short time that we were home. A praise report that I want to boast about my Lord about, is for our safe travel back to school. We were traveling 77 and had stopped to fill up with gas and when we went to start off again a warning sign came up on the car. We have a Toyota prius, so its a hybrid and mostly electronic. The warning that came on after reading the manual was a total hybrid system malfunction and the manual said to stop the car and call a Toyota dealer. So it was a major warning, being in Virgina right in the middle of no where close to home both ways we didn't know what to do. We went through the self diagnostic to clear all warnings if they were faulty and that didn't change anything. We did what you do when you have a computer problem and don't know how to solve it, shut down and reboot hoping that it would reset itself but still the same warning came up.
The last several weeks we have been learning a lot about specific praying (not general praying) and we all stopped and prayed that the Lord would specifically clear the system and allow the car to run smoothly, because the facts were we needed to get back to school on time and had class the following day. Also that He would give us wisdom to know what to do in this situation because we were completely helpless and relying on Him alone to get us out of this situation. A last prayer was that we would get back before it was to late because there were some things that we still had to do when we got back to school. After having the car shut down for about 15 min. us guys (Dan Baker went with us home) went around checking all the batteries and fluids making it look as if we knew what we were doing, lol. We got back into the car and started it up. Praise the Lord! None of the warning signals came up again and we had a smooth ride the rest of about 4 hrs back to school. And we got to school at a great time where we still had time to finish up on some things for Monday class. All praise be to God, our supply and help in time of need!

Also please continue to pray for my cousin Trinnen. We had a chance to stop and visit while we were home last weekend and he isn't doing well. For all that don't know about a month ago he was diagnosed with a tumor at the stem of his brain that is non operational. He is 2 years old and the only son of my cousins Carrie and Jr. They also have a daughter that is 4. It is a very difficult time for the entire family. When he was diagnosed he was only given 1-2 months to live, so everything has been hurled upon the family all at once. Please pray for baby Trinnen and the family during this time.

Day at the Farm!

Here are some videos and pictures that we wanted to post about a month ago and didn't get to it. It was right before we move to SC. They are precious. We were involved with a ministry in Canton, OH teaching inner city kids and Janelle and I really got attached to a family. So we took a Saturday and went and picked them up at their Nana's (grandma) house and took them for one of the first times out of the city to a farm to see and pet animals. We also went on a buggy ride, oh man they had a ton of fun. We got some weird looks though, a young white couple with four little black kids aged 6, 5, 4, and 3. It was a priceless experience.

Wow, its hard to believe that my little sister is in the 7th grade already!
She is getting to be a young lady.

Almost home! Looking forward to

Almost home! Looking forward to seeing the family this weekend! Got about an hour to go. Praise the Lord for safe traveling!

The only way to learn

The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials. - George Muller -

Learning a lot!

We have learned so much this past week! On Wednesday we had are first day of prayer and fasting, they do it every first Wednesdays of the month. At first I wasn't really sure about it because usually when you pray and fast it's a personal choice but here there is a day set aside that you have to do it. Not so much the fasting if you can't but a day with just you and the Lord. See here at EI it's like your standing in front of a fire hose trying to get as much truth as you can, really there are days I wish I could just meditate on one thing that our teachers give us, but we usually can't, we move on right to the next thing. So on Weds. everything here shuts down, no one is in the kitchen. You can fix yourself something if you want, no work is going on and no classes just you and the Lord, that way you have time to think about everything you have learned over the last month. I went on a nice long walk through the woods, and Kenny went somewhere, I'm really not sure where he went all I know is I saw him at 9 and then not again till 2:30. I think he was somewhere in the woods too! :o) I think I am going to learn to love those days! They really want you to get in a habit of setting time out your crazy schedules here but also when we aren't here and back home. I think it is so vital that we take time out of our busy days and just sit at Jesus' feet and really see what He's saying.

I also learned something very interesting this week. On Friday we did a group assignment. We were suppose to find as many references as we could in the bible about the exodus or the passover. As we were doing that, Zita told me to look up Exodus 7:26. So I got my bible and found out there is no Exodus 7:26 in my bible but there is in the Latvian Bible. Yep you guessed it, the chapters and verses in different languages my be broken up a little differently from each bible. They all work out, for example she had 29 verses in chapter 7 then only had 27 verses in chapter 8. Oh yeah and the first five books in their bible are called, 1st Moses, 2nd Moses, 3rd Moses, 4th Moses and 5th Moses. Instead of Genesis, Exodus, ect... So when you are witnessing to people from other cultures, what makes sensce to us may not make sense to them.


Here is just one of the many beautiful sunsets we get to see from our room! :o)

What we did last weekend!

Hey everyone, last weekend we went to an International festival in Spartanburg, which is like 45 min from Greenville, we thought it was really great just not what we really expected. I will put it this way, we got there at 1:30 walked around for 15 min watched the parade of nations and then left at 2:30 -3. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

The reward for living a

The reward for living a life of faith ... is to know God!
~ unknown ~

Wedding Pictures

Hey we finally got our wedding pictures this week. Here are a few for you guys to look at.

First Test

Hey everyone, well I hear that the cold is coming to Ohio and the frost has come already. As for us its getting a little colder in the evenings, usually around 65-70 but it has gotten a little lower, its been around the 50s once or twice. Ha, I have to rub it in while I can. It usually is around the 50's for the winter but it can dip down into the 30's. We have heard there is not to much snow and if it is it's gone the next day. They have had some pretty bad ice storms though in the past several years.
Anyways, things have been really busy for us these last three weeks. I think we are finally getting to be familiar with the times and scheduling. Here is a typical day. Wake up 6, devotions 6:30-7:20, Breakfast 7:30-8:30, Prayer 8:30-9, Classes 9-1:15, Lunch 1:15-2, Homework, work or ministry 1:45-5:45, Dinner 6-6:30, and then meetings twice a week and the other days we have study time from 7-10. As you can see we are pretty busy and thankful for a weekend!
Not sure what we are doing this weekend, we are thinking about possibly going to an international culture festival that is in a neighboring town and watching the Buckeyes tomorrow night but other than that hopefully taking it easy.
We had our first test today on the Love of God and His attributes. I have been learning a lot from the class. Its been really good. To truly see and study who God truly is and how much of our lives are lived subconsciously often on a works based relationship with Him. We ask the question "What have i done to deserve this, or I've been doing all these good things and teaching Sunday school at church how could God have allowed this in my life?" All of this stems from a wrong perspective of who God is. We shouldn't love God bases on what He does for us but truly on the fact that He is God the Self-Existing One and that is enough. We need to understand that God's love is Abounding Exodus 34:6 (deep, plentiful, and you can never exhaust the love of God for you), now He hates our sin but will always love us with His Abounding love as people. Be encouraged guys that when tests and trials come, He has allowed it because He is giving you a choice to be drawn closer to Himself. I pray that you all would be drawn closer to your the Lord this week! Love you guys!

Night Out!!!!

Well, it has been raining all day, at least the heaviest rain I have ever seen in the US! It felt like rainy season in Nicaragua. But that wasn't going to stop us from doing something! It was so good to hang out with a lot of the students off campus! This is the Spill the Beans Cafe. It was so weird to walk in, in the middle of the city, and hear christian music being played! Yep we found a christian cafe by accident! ;) It's a sweet place! They only serve drinks, desserts and this really awesome ice cream that you can put almost anything in! I had brownies with strawberries in my ice cream, and Kenny had blueberries! yummmy!!!!

L-R: Laura-Louisiana, Ritu-India, Amanda-New Jersey, me, Marite-Latvia, Erika- Peru
and Christie-Maryland

Me and Kenny

Me, Marite, Ritu and Amanda.

And guys did go with us! So it wasn't just Kenny and all us girls! The computer is acting up for some reason it won't let me upload and more pictures right now.

It was a lot of fun! You'll will have to come on down and see for yourself! ;oP

Another Week at E.I.

Well I think we have now finally gotten into a routine down here. Orientation is done and we began all our classes this week. They have all been awesome! It's been really neat, since we are all living practically together, seeing every bodies personality's coming out, especially Tomasz and his wife Justina. (pronounced Ustina) They are both in their 30's and the only other married couple that is here right now. There is still suppose to be another couple from India coming. Anyway we took Tomasz and Justina with us to down town Greenville, and had a wonderful time talking at Spilling the Beans Cafe. It was great talking about how our cultures differ, learning more about how the church works over in Poland and how much Justina said about how opened our country is.

It's been awesome getting to know all the teachers here at E.I. they truly practice what they teach. One thing that we love, is they try to really get involved with your life while you are here. Mr. Braizer comes out and plays volleyball/soccer with us every day, Mr. Johnson always eats lunch with us and the 1st and 3rd Friday nights Mr. Garreau has an open house for anyone that wants to come over and fellowship. Marie his wife is 23 and their first child is due in Nov. I'm really enjoying getting to know her. Last night was the first time we went over to there house. We had a great time playing games and Kenny really likes the climbing wall they had! :)

Fellowship at the Garreau's
Joe, Kenny and Tomasz.

Marite, Janelle, Laure and Justina.

The climbing wall.

I have to say, coming down here I thought that volleyball would be a piece of cake. I was afraid that the girls wouldn't be competitive, but I was wrong way wrong. I walked into it thinking I knew how to play, which I do already know the rules, but my form was not up to what they wanted. I was told over and over again what I was doing wrong. At the time it made me really mad, thinking to my self "I already know how to do this, I'm getting it over the net, so whats the big deal?" But through that, I really realized I have a lot of pride in me, and always need to keep a teachable spirit through it all. The Lord has taught me so much through volleyball. Here I thought this would be a time to just play a game and get some exercise, but the Lord has a lot more to teach me.
Oh, and the girls are really competitive even if it's 95! ;o) We're gettin some sun even at the end of Sept!

We both have job's here on campus, since it is student run to keep the cost down. Like I said before Kenny is working for Mr. Sterr, lately he has been working on making shelves for the work shop. And I have been working in the media department. I've been learning a lot. They have me down loading the classes (since we record them all) on the computer to then edit. I'm still not sure what everything is called, but I am learning how to trim the sound waves from the beginning and then end, and cutting out part where they would cough etc..... Then changing them into mp3 format. That's just one of the things they taught. ;o) Like I said I'm learning a lot!

For though's of you who were praying Ritu and Zita, they got their visa's all straightened out. Praise the Lord for that. But please continue to pray for the girl from Chad and the couple from India, that they will be able to come. Thanks!
Love you all!