If you live in the North East U.S., it is near impossible NOT to get consumed with the start of baseball season! Not only does it (usually) mean that Spring (ahem, warmer weather) is on its way, but baseball is LIFE for many folks up here. For the most part, it is either Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees territory. Of course, who you cheer for or don't will be the topic of many conversations for the next few months. You might even find yourself mentioned in a sermon if you cheered when your Pastor's team lost! Ooops.

Well, in our house, we are anomalies (definitions 1 & 3!!). We don't really care for baseball. *gasp* We actually prefer football / fútbol - that's soccer for all you uninitiated. We love soccer for many reasons - this article does a good job offering up a few: The Beautiful Game.

And we aren't ashamed to start Jacob early!

Yep - those are matching jerseys...

Whichever sport or team you are passionate about, the terms "home" and "away" are probably familiar to you.

So while we were "away" for three weeks traveling around the South, we were surprised by the times we still felt at "home." Yes, the food, the weather, the scenery and the accents were all different from the North East, but God made sure we were welcomed around every corner by gracious host families, this giddy waitress at a Waffle House, strangers at rest stops grinning ear-to-ear at Jacob, and an overwhelming sense that God is wherever we are.

It was a lot easier to do what we needed do - that is, share the ministry in Chile and ask people to financially support us - when we felt so loved and well-cared for. Sure, there were times when we said to one another, "can we just go home already?" However, it was in those moments of frustration that God gave us encouragement in the form of an email or phone call from someone back home to tell us they were praying for us. Or even better, a phone call from a certain person in Chile just to see how we were doing! Wow - those emails, those phone calls and those prayers so helped us! Thank you!!

Having been back in Connecticut for almost three weeks, we figured an update was loooong overdue.

From our trip down South, we have added one NEW supporting church - Covenant Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, AL!!! That brings our new total monthly pledge amount received to 40%!! If you remember from previous updates, Mission to the World has required that we raise at least 65% of our monthly support by June 30. That means we only need an additional 25% - or $1,750 / month - to achieve that goal! (We still must raise 100% of our support before going to Chile.)

We are still waiting to hear back from about 15 other churches we contacted in the South. Each church has its own process to approve support for missionaries. We are learning to respect the process, as we wait & wait & wait... Some churches make these kinds of decisions monthly, while others only quarterly or annually. Would you continue to pray with us that we would gain new financial partners via the churches we visited?

While we wait and follow up with those contacts, we are going to be in Vermont and Maine for support-raising in May. The churches in these two states, and most of the North East for that matter, are very spread out, so we are trying to focus on certain areas (Burlington, VT and Portland, ME) to visit initially with the possibility of making return trips later on. Do you know folks in those areas?

With more travel and more unknown responses on the horizon, it is a relief to know that being "home" really means being secure in your relationship with Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 5 talks a bit about our heavenly home and how every Christian's desire is to be with his / her Lord. Won't it be marvelous once we have our new bodies (not these sin-filled, falling-apart bodies) and can SEE Christ in all of His glory?!

Thank you for your partnership in this ministry! We are eager to see what God does in these next days! Let us know what is going on in your world - we love hearing from you.

His Servants,

David & Danielle (& Jacob too!)