November 2014 Highlights

In November our busy, fall conference season wrapped up.  We had a chance to catch our breath and actually work on some projects around here like deep cleaning and painting in housekeeping.  In maintenance Dan and the guys could get into buildings and do much needed repairs properly.  Some of our staff took a trip to Asia to make some connections for future partnerships and team outreaches.  This is a first for our base to be in this part of the world so we are excited to see how God will lead.  The C/DTS finished up lecture phase and outreach preparations in November and left for South Africa on November 22.  The base is always so quiet when they leave.  I like the way there is an ebb and flow here.  It's good to have just us staff for a little while during this quiet time and then we are always excited for teams to return from outreach and for new schools to start.  

This is one CDTS family that our boys enjoyed playing with.  They are from New Zealand. 

In Michigan, Thanksgiving was always so predictable.  We would see the same people almost every year and eat the same delicious foods every year.  Since we began serving with YWAM each Thanksgiving has been very different.  2009 we were on outreach in Fiji, very warm and beautiful.  2010 we were with a family from church.  There was another family there too that are missionaries from Uganda to the U.S. so we had some Ugandan food.  2011 we were leading outreach in Guatemala, I think we ate tamales in addition to some traditional U.S. dishes. 2012 we hosted with some families here, pretty  normal.  2013 was similar to the year before but with different people.  2014 may be one of the most memorable yet!  We had 2 gals from Brazil, one just arrived the day before and didn't speak any English.  We also had a man from India, he had just joined our staff and thankfully he spoke English.  Here's where it really gets interesting.  We had a staff family that cooks southern food for Thanksgiving.  While I cooked the traditional turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and green bean casserole she cooked greens, ribs, fried chicken, and sweet potato pie.  Wow, what a feast we had!  We got to explain why we celebrate the holiday to our friends that were experiencing their first American Thanksgiving.  I always miss family back home on Thanksgiving but I'm so thankful for good friends to celebrate with here.

The fist PVC greenhouse that we built in the spring started to break when the temps hit triple digits.  Dan was able to cut it into big pieces and re-design it.  One day in November we gathered some strong teens and put up the pieces while Dan glued them together.  It was hard work but good to have a greenhouse frame up again.

It needs some supports and ends then it's ready for plastic.