We have arrived! These past few weeks have seemed like a whirlwind of activity – getting ready to move. A terrific highlight for us was on Friday morning, December 15th when our Ethiopian neighbor invited our friends, the Gualbertos (from the Philippines) and us over to her house for breakfast. Stephen and Theresa Gualberto will be living in our house in Kansas City – they recently moved to the USA to work for Nazarene Compassionate Ministries as the International Child Development Coordinator. It has been such a blessing of God to see our home become a new home for this wonderful family.
We then gathered outside with a group of friends for a wonderful time of prayer and blessing before starting our FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY.
After a 17-hour drive through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and then Texas again – we arrived in El Paso just in time to drive through the Franklin Mountains to oversee the beautiful city lights of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juaréz, Mexico.
The kids were literally screaming with excitement in the van and Pam and I were simply smiling to think that we had finally arrived. Allison prayed a prayer of blessing as we drove over the mountain range…one of the things she prayed was, “Jesus, this is such a miracle – we’re FINALLY here in the place you’ve called us to be.” Wow!
On Saturday (Dec. 16) we had Dave Hazel, a pastor friend of ours from Kansas City and a group of five people from El Paso First Church of the Nazarene arrive to help us unload our things from the moving truck into our new home. Two teen girls from the church took care of our kids and the guys helped lift lots of heavy things. Another lady from the church brought by a large box of food items – what a blessing!
So…in the midst of unpacking, moving furniture, and getting to know our new neighbors (yes, before we had even finished unloading half the truck, Allison and Nicolas were pleading for us to go meet our new neighbors) – we are thanking God for this blessing – the blessing of being directly in the center of His plan – His will for our life. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we are secure in knowing that whatever comes our way, we are a part of His plan.
More to come…
Blessings,
Joel, Pam, Allison, Nicolas and Annikah Tooley
