Back in Chi-Town

On Friday we left New Jersey and took our long anticipated trip out to the Chicago area. After several years of living in different countries, we have made so many trips to airports to see each other off and head home in different directions. Standing in line to board our plane together to Chicago we couldn't get over how excited we are to finally travel TOGETHER and not be saying good-bye!
In Chicago we were greeted by Jeyson's stateside "home church", lots of friends from the past, and tons of snow! We have been staying in the suburb of Winnetka about 40 minutes from downtown Chicago. Winnetka Bible Church has supported Jeyson's family as missionaries for many years and we were thrilled that they had shown interested in our ministry. One of the purposes of this trip was to meet with their missions council and they made us feel right at home. The church has beautiful, recently redone apartments where the church has allowed us to stay and they have let us borrow a van that belongs to the church - what huge answers of prayer! In addition to it just being a blessing to function, having an apartment has let us feel like we finally have our own little home, even if it is just for a week or so!
So, what have we been up to? A lot! We have spent a lot of time getting together with supporters and friends who we have not seen in a while. We have also been working on Stephanie's visa/documentation situation in the downtown area. On Tuesday we met with the missions council and were so excited to find out that they are going to be part of our support team! We really feel so excited to be part of Winnetka Bible Church in this new way especially because the church has really been Jeyson's church family over the years. We also feel so blessed to have our support base continue to strengthen! Praise God!


Another great part of our trip has been founder's week - a huge yearly conference at Moody Bible Institute. We took a trip to the Moody area on Monday - we spent time with our college friends, ate deep dish Chicago pizza, and went to an evening of the conference. It was just such an encouraging time to be around so many believers, great teaching, and just step back into the "Moody bubble" (as it's called) to be refreshed.

(A photo of the conference is on the left and a photo of us with Stephanie's college roommate is at the top - I wish we could say we made the igloo!)

Tomorrow we are heading to Walnut, IL to visit our friends at Walnut Community Bible Church, one of our supporting churches and early next week we'll head back to New Jersey.