The Wheels

A photo of our "new" van is in our July prayer letter but I knew I needed to include it here. The van is very nice and in the best condition of any Scott looked at. The title search and other paperwork are in process as soon as that is done we will put the rest of the money down and the van will be in our name. We plan to add the back side windows later, as it does feel a bit like a cave back there. Thank you to everyone who was praying and to everyone who gave sacrificially towards this purchase.

Got Gas???

A missionary friend of ours in Bolivia recently sent us an e-mail with that title. And, no, the subject matter within the email was not about fuel for cars. Rather it was about propane gas, you see we are having a bit of a shortage here in South America. Scott has had to drive all over town looking for garafas - filled propane gas bottles. Right now we have no estufa since we're all out of gas, BRRRRR! What makes it especially bad is that even when we find propane the bottles aren't filled all the way.

Thankfully we're not like our friends who are in a pioneer missions life where their garrafas run all their appliances, fridge included. The only appliances that we need propane for are our estufa, stove and clothes dryer. The latter is run by two very large tanks, about 5 feet high, and I'm wishing our other appliances were as well. I'll admit that it's a little annoying to be in the middle of cooking a meal only to have the gas run out. Though I can cook eggs in the microwave, for some reason it doesn't do such a nice job on pancakes.

Later today we're headed over to the immigration office with all the kids to get our temporary ID's. That should be an adventure all in itself. Though hopefully nothing like our Ministry of Health visit when we first arrived. Mr. and Mrs. B, I'm sure I don't have to remind of that adventure.

Scott is hoping to find a van to purchase this week as well. Keep praying we sure would like a larger vehicle especially since I'm taking up a lot more real estate these days.

We REALLY need a van

Just thought I'd update on our vehicle situation, as you know we've been searching for a van but it has been hard to come by one that is in good condition, still fairly new and has a great price. Scott found one - this is the same model but not the same year or color- and we went to look at it last week. The owner has a brain tumor and can not come down anymore on the price because the sale of the van is security for his family. So we asked for prayer and God is working. In the past week the Lord has brought in $4500 towards the van, we only need $1500 more.

This is the car we ride to church in as a family. Though this is a picture of only our children with Ruth, and her daughter, I thought you might appreciate it. Usually the oldest six children are in the back seat with Simeon in my lap in the front, and Scott in the drivers seat. It would be nice to have a seat for each of our children especially since we drive right in front of the police station each trip. Plus, Sunday afternoon we pick up 3 adult men and a lady for choir practice. For some reason the guys don't like sitting on each others laps. We've asked them to join us in prayer for the van funds. And we ask you to join us in prayer as well. We look forward to posting a picture of our new van, very soon.