Back to work!

Howdy! Amy and I have been in the USA now for almost two months! Time has been passing quickly. We have been traveling all around and having a great time.

We spent a lot of time with family during the first few weeks, then we prepared for our travels. Our cousin was married in College Station on June 15 and we decided to wait to start our major travels until after the wedding. A couple days later, on June 17, we started our travels with a short visit to Dallas, Texas. We stayed a couple days with some supporters there and even got to go to a water park with them! After Dallas we went and stopped in Chandler and Sherman for a short visit with more supporters, and then we left for Abilene the next day. We stayed the night with some fellow missionary kids who have moved back to the US and had a wonderful time catching up and sharing fun stories about when we grew up together. After Abilene we headed up to Snyder to visit with my aunt and uncle and the brethren at the 37th Street Church of Christ. We had some much needed rest and recuperation before we started traveling again on Monday, when we left for Brownwood, Texas. We stayed for a few days with friends and had a great time visiting and sharing our work with the brethren at the Austin Avenue Church of Christ. After Brownwood we returned to College Station for a day to plan, wash some clothes, and prepare for our biggest trip of the furlough.

Early Saturday morning Amy and I packed up and headed to Amarillo, then the next day we drove all the way to Pueblo West, Colorado. This was our first time to be in Colorado! We went to help the Pueblo West Church of Christ with their VBS this year. Amy Bissell, the children's minister at the congregation, invited Amy and I to join them and assist after her visit to Cebu this past year. We were excited to join and stayed with the family of Nathan Dunn, one of our past apprentices who was a teammate of Jon and Rachael when they went through AIM. They took us around to the mountains and we even got to ride the cog train up to the top of Pike's Peak! We also were able to go to a drive-in movie. After our daytime adventures we went to the church and assisted with the VBS classes in the evening. Amy was more-or-less the gopher girl while I helped with the Toddlers' class. The theme of the VBS was "Jesus Loves Me". It was a joy and we had a wonderful time helping the church and helping all these children learn more about our loving God.

After the last session of VBS on Friday night we visited with the Dunns and woke up Saturday morning at 5 AM to pack up and head back to Texas. We headed east across Colorado and Kansas. We dropped in at Dodge City, Kansas for some lunch, then headed south into Oklahoma and stopped for dinner in Ponca City where another supporter of ours lives. After dinner was over we sped off south again to Dallas and finally arrived at 1:30 AM. We totaled it up and we had spent a total of 15 hours on the road! Yikes!!! That is the most driving that Amy and I have done without our parents and any other family with us. This furlough has been full of adventure for us! Since we arrived in Dallas we've gone horse riding, to the Zoo, and to the Arboretum. With less than one month left we have a lot more adventures left in store.

Everything back in Cebu has been going well. Classes are in their fourth week and we have some great students. It is strange to be so far away while so much is going on. All the little ones have been growing and growing without my permission! Everyone is busy as ever and healthy as far as I have heard. Amy and I are well. I've gained some weight since we arrived, much to my frustration! Dr. Pepper sure can be addicting :). Regardless, we are doing well.

As far as fundraising goes, the totals look pretty slim right now. Amy and I are raising $1,025 each in monthly funding and $4,500 in one-time funds. We currently have $235 monthly funding raised and $3,730 one-time funds raised. We also still do not have a sponsor! We are making progress, however :). We are scheduled to leave September 3, so we are hoping to have all of this sorted out before then. Having said that, if you or someone you know might be interested in helping us financially or if you know a congregation that is looking to sponsor a mission work, please let us know. Any little amount can help; even one-time contributions add up! Amy and I can send any information you may want and can call and will try to meet with anyone. Our time is pretty limited, however. Nevertheless, we are confident that God has a plan in all this and that he is in control. Please pray for our efforts in finding funding and let us know if you can help us.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

In him,
Sara Murrell :)