LatinHeartbeat June 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this letter finds you all doing well...enjoying the coming of summer. We are now in the U.S. for a brief visit—spending much needed time with our family, seeing friends as able, and getting together all the documentation necessary for our move to Monterrey. Joyfully, we´re also enjoying some good ol´ American foods that we have missed! The children are certainly enjoying their time here. Andrew will be at basketball camp this month at Gainesville College. Megan has been snapping photos galore (one of her new passions—besides basketball). And, Jesse is going on her first mission trip—with the First UMC of Union County. All three are enjoying renewing friendships and making new friends.

We give thanks and praise that we have a house to rent, a school for the children and a clear sense of the ministry in which we´re to be involved. Ministry-wise, Jon will be teaching “full-time” at the seminary and working with the student pastors. Also, Bishop Garcia of the Conference there in Monterrey has asked us to begin praying about planting a bi-lingual congregation in this city of four million...a city that has offices and industries from around the world. We will be joining an exisiting Mission Society team there made up of Ron and Bonnie Hipwell, Jennie Clements, and Florencio and Maria Guzman...and look forward to sharing and serving with them.

We are certain that your prayers have helped to carry us and sustain us through the difficulty of the days past...and knowing that you are praying for us in the days to come gives us even more confidence to go forward into the ministry that lies ahead. Thank you so much for your prayers, your support, your love and your friendship. As always, we are grateful that we can be an extention of your love of God and neighbor, that we can be a part of your reaching out to “all the world.”

May the Lord bless and keep you, may you live the love of God each and every day.

Jon, Jeanne, Jesse, Megan and Andrew