Mom and her son

Just a hug from Stephen...We were able to spend some time with Stephen Sunday night since he wasn't able to join us in Gatlinburg last week. How special! We also left a friend of ours with Stephen - our Previa van that has carried us MANY miles and is filled with wonderful memories.

This past weekend was a wonderful close to these days before Orientation. Sunday morning we spoke at Tabernacle Baptist. A wonderful time together. My cousin and one of her daughters whom I had not seen in over 10 years drove about 7 hours to hear us speak and to visit for an hour or so before returning home. How very special!! Then that afternoon we drove to Phenix City to speak at Central Baptist at 6 pm. It was during our years at Central that we were first exposed to Guatemala. How very special to end our speaking engagements with these dear people! At the close, Pastor Dexter invited the congregation to surround us and pray as the chairman of deacons prayed a prayer of dedication over us. The chairman of deacons was a young man whom David had lead to Christ when we were serving at Central. It is very difficult to put into words the feelings we experienced. It was such a fitting close as we head to Orientation. How very thankful we are to have served among these dear ones. We know that they will join our prayer team and hold us before the Father.

These two days we are finishing the details of life as we have known it. The next time we post, we will be in Orientation, in the next phrase of the journey.

Continue to pray for us as we travel and visit family.

Daddy and All His Girls!

What a refreshing vacation! We enjoyed some special time with our girls - Miriam, Mom, Dad, Rebecca, and Deborah - this past weekend making memories. We were anticipating snow but only flurries, even as we were taking this photo.

We are home with Deborah and Chris tonight before heading out for the weekend. We'll be back for a couple of days next week to complete some final business before heading toward Orientation.

Thanks for praying for us as we were complete these busy days. We'll spend some time with my mother and our son, Stephen, this weekend. Pray for us Sunday as we share with two churches. May God use us to share His Gospel and His Vision for the unreached peoples of Guatemala. May some this weekend hear God's call on their lives to serve Him throughout the world.

We have a CONTRACT!

Thanks for praying! Praise God, as of this evening, we have a signed contract on the house! The timing is perfect as we finish here and make final preparation for our move to Richmond for eight weeks of missionary orientation. He has shown us again that His timing is perfect.

We are thankful that we can spend the next week in the Tennessee mountains and spend time with our children. After this intense time of packing and moving, we are looking forward to a time of rest and family time.

You have prayed, and God has answered. You prayed for our legal documents, and we have them in hand. You prayed for the sale of our house, and we have a contract. You prayed for a home for Floppy, and she is in a loving home.

Don't stop praying! We will soon be in Spanish Language School, and we are encouraged that the God who is working wonderfully in these days will continue to answer your prayers there.

He's official now!

Finally after a total of four trips, two trips last week, to the Vital Records in Atlanta and two, count them, two court orders, David is again officially David Stephen Miller! Documents are being processed by the Costa Rican consulate and have been processed by the Guatemalan embassy, so we are on the trail!

The craters came last Friday and our allowable 400 cubic feet were FULL! The craters said they had never seen anyone pack so much in such little space! I am sure that when we finally unpack in Guatemala in about 18 months we will wonder why we packed some of the things we did, but it is now officially done and in storage. Then Saturday we loaded the Uhaul and took the remaining stuff to our storage building.

We have now almost emptied the house, thoroughly cleaned it and are now awaiting the final word. Today our realtor said an offer has been made and so it seems things are coming to a close. I thought we needed to sell the house by the end of October but once again God's timing is perfect. Should I have doubted?!

Friday we leave for a week's vacation in Gatlinburg. Our 3 daughters and their husbands will join us for the weekend for some special family time. We regret that our son will not be able to join us due to work conflict. After they leave on Monday, we will store addditonal memories with some special friends for a couple of days. The last Sunday of the month, we will speak in my mother's church in the AM service and then speak in a former church in Phenix City that evening. spending a little more time with our son who lives nearby. That Wednesday we will begin our journey to Richmond for FPO (Orientation) stopping along the way to visit family.

There is still much to do as we continue the journey but are so excited as we "walk in the way." Years ago when God showed me that phrase - Abraham's servant in reference to his finding of Rebekkah for Issac said, "I being in the way, the Lord led me" - that has been my prayer that I would would be led as I continued "in the way." And so we are walking step by step.

Continue to pray
1. sale of our home
2. special time with family
3. attention to details

Sharing the Vision

We had a great time sharing our missionary journey on Sunday morning, Dec. 30 at First Baptist Church, Adrian, GA and Sunday evening at First Baptist Church, Portal, GA. Then we were off to South Carolina for New Year's with Rebecca and David and to speak at Marietta (SC) First Baptist Church on Wednesday, Jan 2. where the service ended with these dear friends surrounding us for prayers of commissioning. Rebecca's father-in-law, Benny Durahm is pastor. Back home now, we are back to the reality of selling our house and getting ready for crating next week.

We look forward to our missionary service in the MAC Region (Middle America and the Caribbean). The International Mission Board tells us that this region has a population of over 186 million with over 178 million identified as unevangelized. Though Spanish is the official language, over 244 languages are spoken in this region. Most of these languages are pre-Spanish Mayan languages. While our language will be Spanish, our work will take us to many of these Mayan People Groups.

As you pray for us, thanks for remembering:
1. Sell of our house
2. Processing of some vital documents for immigration
3. Over 5300 IMB Missionaries who serve around the world.
4. The people of Middle America and the Caribbean