Less than 3 Weeks Till Japan

Once again I am amazed at how quickly time goes. Stephanie and I had the privilege of speaking at my grandfathers church in Hiddenite NC and we were blessed by so many church members that encouraged and uplifted us. We are currently visiting with family in the midwest and are enjoying our time with our loved ones that we know we will not get to see for the next few years. We were blessed last week to help in our local church's Bible school and we were truly blessed by the children and their willingness to learn about what a wonderful God we serve. Please be in prayer for my Aunt and Uncle (Rodney and Joy Ballard) as well as my 3 little cousins as they are heading to Africa on Aug. 1st with Wycliffe and would love your prayers and support as they embark on this new stage in their lives. Thanks for all your encouragement as we have shared the news about our new little one. We are very excited to have this baby in Japan and know that God is going to grow us in so many ways through this wonderful addition. Thanks and hope you have a great rest of the week.

What's been in the making?

Memorial weekend in May will be one to remember for us. I took a home pregnancy test and we were surprised to see those 2 pink lines appear!!! Needless to say we were thrilled. I had a doctor appointment with my PCP and figured we were at 5 weeks. We then scheduled with the Women's Center and at 11 weeks had our first ultrasound and doctor visit. It was amazing to see our little person at almost 2 inches long. We saw the heartbeat moving so fast and the baby moving arms and legs and stretching out all the way for us. Besides feeling pregnant I still had no baby bump, so I was excited to know that there was actually something in there growing ;)

                                Baby Cook is on the way. Coming soon February 4, 2013.


We are so excited to begin this journey. The Lord has blessed us tremendously through our marriage and life together so far and we are ever so thankful for His provision and continued blessings that we know we don't deserve. 


Please pray with us and for us as we continue to prepare to depart for Japan on August 13th. We still have packing, some extra paper work, and one more speaking engagement scheduled before we leave. Our commissioning service will be at our home church in Ramseur, NC on Sunday, August 5th at 6pm. If you are in the area, you are more than welcome to come, email or contact us for any questions. We are thankful for the opportunity to go and are thankful for those whom the Lord has provided to help send us. Thank you.


                                   James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above."

Recent Happenings

After our Candidate Orientation with FIM in early June, we returned to VA and had a few days to pack up everything before our move to NC. On Father’s Day we packed up the truck with the help of David’s parents and several friends in Lynchburg and drove to Siler City, NC. This is where our home church, First Christian Church is located, and where David’s parents live. We are staying with them until our departure on August 13. On Thursday, June 21, we drove to FL to visit with my family one more time before we leave for Japan. Tropical storm Debby decided to visit FL with us and she left more rain and flooding than I had ever seen in my whole life living in FL. We are currently back in NC and staging things for packing for Japan and storage. David’s parents have been so wonderful to let us store all of our keepsakes in David’s old bedroom!! We are also very excited to be able to attend First Christian Church on a regular basis and help with their Vacation Bible School next week. 

We are thankful for more prayer and financial partners that have joined us this past month. We are still in need of 20 more prayer partners and we are at 95% for our one-time moving fund and 57% for our monthly donations. If you are interested in partnering with us in anyway or have any questions please let us know.