What NOT to take into the Embassy...

Alix and I recently made a trip to the US Embassy in order to get her passport renewed. When you first enter you have to turn over your cell phone and other electronics (Items 1, 2, and 3). They then x-ray your bag before finally letting you enter. After x-raying my bag, there were a few questionable items that they wanted to explore further:

#4 - Pepper Spray - which they removed (of course)
#5 - Alix' current crochet project - they let us take this with us
#6 - I don't know what this is, or how it got in my bag, but they decided to remove this too. It must be something quite dangerous.

#7 - Mini-tripod - They let us keep this.
#8 - They also let us keep Alix' book. I think she would have rather they held her book and let her have her iPod, though.

Double Digits

Happy 10th Birthday, Nathan!

I was disappointed that I forgot to take a picture of the crowd that was present. It seems that there is an ever-changing presence of people here with us. Those present were: Duke, Candy, Cathy, Dave, Daniel and our family of 6.

Family Update

Hello from Costa Rica! It's been a while since our last family update. I'm excited to tell you about what God has been doing in and through our family over the past four months. However, before I start I want to thank each of you for your faithful prayers and support. We realize that God is using you to allow us to be here, and for that we are humbly grateful.

The greatest change over the past four months is that my position in 6:8 Ministries has changed. God has continued to grow and expand 6:8 Ministries and there is a growing need for someone to manage and oversee the operations. Therefore, the board of directors has changed my title to Executive Director. I'm currently transitioning my focus away from the day to day task of leading teams, and have more of an oversight and managerial role.

My new responsibilities include overseeing the operations in Costa Rica and the Guatemala pilot project. I'll also oversee the accounting and bookkeeping, as well as manage our rapidly growing staff. Finally, I'll continue to cast vision for where we believe God is leading 6:8 Ministries.

Please pray for us as I make this transition. God is growing 6:8 Ministries faster than any of us could have imagined. My prayer is that we will be able to successfully host over 50 mission teams a year by the end of 2010. That could be 1,000 people a year returning home with a strengthened and renewed passion and faith! Which translates into His people strengthening His church and expanding His kingdom. It's my prayer that God will use 6:8 Ministries to revolutionize the way short-term missions are done throughout His church.

While I've been busy with the transition and traveling back and forth from Guatemala, Molly and the kids continue to thrive. Molly had a very busy season as she was overseeing the child sponsorship program and all of her responsibilities as wife, mother, and teacher. God used her to orchestrate school sponsorships for almost a hundred children!

Alexis continues to be an intricate part of the ministry and helps to lead the mission teams. She is learning to balance her time between schooling and leading teams. God is shaping her into a godly young woman.

Christopher is going through his own transition. It seems that each day He matures more into a young man. He has an increased interest in helping lead the mission teams, and a greater desire to learn the language. He is picking it up fast! He now attends the Bible study we lead in our home as well as a local youth group. He feels more comfortable hanging with the older kids.

Nate and Seth are busy being boys! They are truly best friends and enjoy doing everything together. Nathan is counting down the days to his upcoming birthday. The past couple weeks have been exciting for Seth as he had his eighth birthday, learned to ride his bike, and was robbed in the streets of Alajuelita! He was walking with a group carring a camera when someone rode by on a bike and snatched it from his hands! All he said was "I think I just got robbed!"

In closing we want to thank you for all of your prayers and support. Please pray for our safety and health. Please pray that God increases our families personal support. Finally, and most importantly that He would continue to shine in and through us.

In Christ,

Spencer