Surprise Visit

Today we had a very nice surprise! I got a call from Sean when I got out of school and he said that Lindsay Cameron was in town and wanted to meet with me in an hour! Unfortunately, Sean couldn't get off work to come meet him. For all of you who don't know, Lindsay Cameron is the National Superintendent of Australia. So he's pretty much the big important guy in the Wesleyan Methodist church in Australia. Sean told me to go meet in McConn, the coffee shop at IWU. I was a little nervous because I had no idea what he looked like, but I found him on my first guess! I didn't have to go up to any random strangers and ask if it was him!

It was such an encouragement to be able to talk to Lindsay. He shared more with me about the culture and the Wesleyan Methodist church in Australia. I enjoyed hearing about his heart for the people of Australia. Lindsay is originally from Australia but he and his wife served in South Africa as missionaries for a while. He shared with me that things are changing in Australia. Before he and his wife left for South Africa in 1997, religion was not something that was ever talked about in public. You kept your faith to yourself and from my understanding, it was inappropriate to talk about your faith. Then, when they returned, they started noticing that people were more open about their faith and Australians were no longer opposed to talking about their religion. It's not that they were necessarily excited about it, but they weren't turned off from it. I asked Lindsay what we can specifically be praying for. Lindsay's biggest desire is to see a revival in Australia and he believes that we need to first have a larger evangelical presence in the country. So that is what we are going to start praying for. We are going to pray that more churches are planted so that the Lord can lay a foundation to create a revival in Australia.

It's so encouraging to see what the Lord is doing and to talk with someone that is there! It was a wonderful surprise today to talk to Lindsay. I'd ask that you would pray with us that churches will continue to be planted in Australia. As far as the visa goes, we haven't heard anything new. Lindsay said he was going to try to email some people to see where everything is at. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything!

Long overdue update

This is a very long overdue post. Everything has slowed down so much that I feel like I don't have too much to write about! But I will tell you everything that has been going on :)

Visas-The last we shared, the Australian Embassy was waiting on 3 things from us. A local criminal history check, an FBI background check and proof that our nomination has been approved. I sent out an email update last week asking you all to pray for our FBI background

checks. Well, thanks to your prayers, they came in!!! It came about 2 months earlier than we had expected. Now, all that we're waiting on is proof of our nomination. The Embassy in Australia asked for more information 2 weeks ago in order to get this approved. They said once they had that info it should be processed immediately. So, it should be any time now that we have the letter of approval. That should be the last piece of the puzzle, but ya never know. We will pray it is though :)

I (Sam) was recently offered a paraprofessional position at RJ Baskett Middle School is Gas City. After a lot of prayer I decided to take it. I will be working as an aide in a Special Education room with students dealing with emotional disabilities. I am learning SO much and it's been a good experience. I'm so thankful for the way the Lord provides. Who knew I'd end up in middle school?? Not me!

Besides that, we're doing great. We're just hanging out and waiting! We had the privilege of going to North Carolina last week with 2 of our good friends Nathan and Kammi and their son Markwith, to visit our new little godson, Hudson, the son of our friends Darren and Courtney. They are so cute that I just can't resist sharing a picture!

We bought the shirts that the boys are wearing through and organization called Ordinary Hero. The money from the shirts goes towards a family at our church that is adopting from Ethopia. If you are interested click on this link! They have all kinds of fun stuff. Then, when you go to buy whatever it is you want, click on Jennifer Travis as the affiliate. You can help bring their precious little girl home!

I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the beautiful Spring weather!!

We will wait upon the Lord

I think the question we get the most often is, "any news?" Sadly, there's not too much going on to share, but I thought I'd tell you as much as we know. 2 weeks ago we received an email from a woman at the Australian Embassy. They were requesting more information. They needed an FBI background check (complete with fingerprints), a local criminal history background check in the county we've lived in for the last 12 months and proof that our nomination has been approved. Let me explain the nomination real quick. Our church in Australia has to nominate us to come work for them. They have to file an application and once it is approved they will get a letter from the Australian Embassy in Australia. Once they receive that letter, they have to mail it to us, then we have to mail it to the Australian Embassy in the US. Crazy right? We were on vacation in FL with my family when we got this email so the first thing we did when we got back was go to the Sheriff's department and get all of this taken care of. We got our fingerprints taken, received our local criminal history background check and mailed our info to the FBI office in West Virginia. We were told that the FBI check can take up to 3 months to be completed. So again, we wait. I had to laugh to myself at church on Sunday when we sang the song "Everlasting God." At the beginning of the song we repeated the phrase, "we will wait upon the Lord." That's what we're doing. As I was singing I started laughing because I felt like the Lord was reminded me that he is here and that we need to wait on his timing and not try to rush things. We're enjoying our time with family and friends right now and getting exciting for our time to leave. Until then, we will wait upon the Lord.

I'm going to Disney World!

While we are waiting on our visas we decided to have some fun! Last week, Sean and I went to Orlando to spend time with my family at Disney World. Most of my extended family lives in south Florida, so a lot of them drove up for a few days. There were people coming and going all week and at one point we had 15 people. Like always it was crazy and so fun! We don't know when we are leaving for Australia, so we had to say some goodbyes in case we don't see them again which was sad. Hopefully we will see them again!

We thought we'd share some pictures with you and introduce you to some of my family :) Are you ready to meet the cutest kids ever????

Goofy is doing the Seminole Chop!!

My cousin Tim, his wife Angela and the two cutest kids ever-Caraline and Lily

My Mom and Dad with Pooh!

Caraline has learned some new dances moves that Daddy taught her :) Cute right!?

Lily!!! I mean really, you can't help but smile can you? Too cute!

A picture of some of the family at Epcot on our last day. Notice the pants and long sleeves. Sad.

This is my Sandra and her boyfriend Joe with us at Hollywood Studios.

You can't go to Disney without getting a picture with Mickey!!

Shunem House

Two of the girls that we had training with in January, Katie Hawkins and Nicole Schara, made a video about the Shunem house. This is the house that we stayed at during both weeks of our training. It's a really neat ministry. You should check out the video!!

A little change in plans

We've shared that we have 1 more church to visit this upcoming week in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, there has been a little change of plans. As you all know, Sean is still the worship leader at our home church. It has been a challenge to find someone to cover for him on the Sundays that we are out of town. I've always had a fear that someone would cancel at the last minute and we would be stuck. God has been so good and there has always been someone to cover for Sean when he needed it. Sadly, this week Sean wasn't able to find anyone to lead for him. We called the Missions Director at the church in Indy and fortunately she was incredibly understanding. For a while there, I thought that I'd had to go by myself which would have been scary but I was willing! We tried to reschedule but she said it would work best if we could come back after our time in Australia. We are very grateful for their flexibility and we feel awful about having to cancel. I guess this means we are done fund raising though. God is so so good in the way that he's provided for us.

A lot of people have had questions about what happens if we raise more than we need, so I thought I'd share with you all. The money will stay in our account for the next 2 years while we are in Australia. It will be there in case we have any unexpected ministry expenses or if some people forget to fulfill their Faith Promises. If the money is still there when we are done serving our 2 years and we decide to serve a 2nd term, the money will go towards our next term. If we don't feel called back we will get to choose the missionaries that the money goes to or we can just give it to Global Partners in general.

I know we say thank you a lot, but we really want you all to know how grateful we are for your love and support. Thanks again for your prayers. It has been a crazy 10 months but we have learned so much!!

A visit to Virginia

This weekend we spoke at Kernstown United Methodist Church in Winchester, Virginia. A while back, I started talking to a friend that I knew from Florida. She and her husband are living in Virginia now and her husband was the youth Pastor at this church. Meet Meghan and Craig!

Meghan and Craig invited us to come speak at their church in Virginia and we were very excited. This past weekend we made the 9 hour drive. It was a beautiful drive. Sunday we had the privilege to speak at both services and youth group. We were very touched by the hospitality of the church as well as their generosity. Last week we shared with you that we were $500 short of

being 100% funded. Well, we are happy to tell you today that we are 100% funded thanks to the

support of the people of Kernstown United Methodist and we received financial clearance from Global Partners!! Praise God! We know that it has nothing to do with us!

**This is the church we visited**

It was really fun to be able to spend time with Meghan and Craig over the weekend. We had no idea that the area we were going to was so full of Civil War history! After church, they took us to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. It is an old historical town. We spent an hour walking around the town and seeing all of the other buildings. It was beautiful. It was so nice to be able to be outside and we didn't even have to wear coats!! It was wonderful!

**This is the railroad bridge leaving Harper's Ferry**

**These are the ruins of an old church**

**We got to look and see inside the buildings. They are set up to look like the actual homes and businesses from the time**