Hey everyone!  Well it has been a little over a month since my last update, and let me tell you that time sure does fly by fast.  At the time of my last post, coming to Haiti still seemed like it was a prospect that was in the distant (or at least somewhat distant) future, and so it is very surreal for us to be here right now.  The last month, though, has flown by for good reason: we have been very busy!

Shortly after the last post, I (Kyle) was asked to preach at the Christian Church of Casa Grande.  They have three services, and so this mean I would have to preach the same sermon three different times.  Now that’s daunting task to put it mildly!  I don’t know how pastor’s do it week and week out, because preaching one sermon is time-consuming, exhausting, and challenging in itself.  From what I could tell the sermon went great, and hopefully it really spoke to people, but that is one thing that one can never truly know.  The comforting thing is that any fruit that comes from any preaching and presenting of the gospel is ultimately brought forth by God and not merely by the presenter.  God knows what he is doing, and so I trust that the seeds that I scattered may be used for bearing fruit when he is ready.

The whole preaching process was one of the last major things that I need to do before we left Arizona, but it was not the last thing.  The week after the sermon Lorraine and I spent getting all of the stuff organized and packed up from our townhome.  We needed to know which stuff needed to go with us to Haiti, which stuff needed to be left with my family in Virginia, and which stuff would actually fit in our little Honda Accord (especially considering our new addition, and all the stuff he needs).  This process actually took a long time and was quite stressful, because we had a lot of stuff to go through, and we ended up having to leave a lot of things behind.  To make this a little more complicated I had to also spend some time preparing for a wedding that I was asked to officiate.

Some friends from CCCG, Brent and Veronica Pons, had asked me to marry them after they found out that my Dad was moving to Virginia.  I,  having not done many weddings nor being officially ordained, agreed to do their wedding for them, because they are good friends.  The wedding turned out great, although I will say that it had its stressful moments.  The wedding, though, was the last major thing on Lorraine and I’s schedule that we needed to accomplish before we left Arizona for our cross-country track to Virginia.

The last small thing (from a responsibility stand-point at least, certainly not a priority stand-point) that we needed to do before we left Arizona was say goodbye to our House Church friends at Parea House community in South Phoenix.  The folks in this community did so much for us while we lived with them that it would take me many more posts to tell you all they did and meant to us (the same could be said of the folks at CCCG).  On our last Sunday with the Parea, they through a going-away party and send-off for us that was truly beautiful and touching.  They cooked a Mediterranean feast with at least 7 different types of Mediterranean themed pizzas with veggies and coucous.  Following dinner, everyone in the community took turns washing Lorraine and I’s feet (which if you would have smelled my feet that night you would know what kind of humility and commitment that took from them).  It was a truly beautiful way to be sent off and to say goodbye to some dear friends.

After saying goodbye to everyone in Arizona, we got up early Monday morning the 20th of October and began our long drive that would eventually take us to Springfield Virginia.  Well there is plenty of other gaps to fill in, so keep your eye out for the next parts!  Blessings!