where we've been

since we left Granbury a week ago, we've been to:

* College Station (aggieland, WHOOP!) where we enjoyed some Free Bird (than you, blake bahlman!), met some aggies, reminisced with Langfords and Blake Smith, and enjoyed our time with the AFC leaders!

* Houston, and met up with our precious amanda (intern in 2008). she took us to meet the Mendoza family, which was amazing, and she also helped us reconnect with one of Mark's old time friends - Heidi Felix. Our second day there revolved around picking up African purses from the airport and transporting them to...

*Austin. We've spent some fun time with family and "practically family" - Jonathan, Jessica and the girls.
we've been to a Fair Trade art festival, pre-school Thanksgiving feast, Panera, Sunday night family dinner, all in 3 days!


we will be in Austin until Tgiving, and Saturday we head to Belton to visit the SMITHS! yay!

thanks for journeying with us...

trying something new.

excuse us while we play with different formats for our blog.
we are loving all the new ideas and information flying our way
and we are trying to apply and adapt.

so enjoy the ride!

you will not believe it!

our time in granbury is coming to an end, and our hearts are a little tight about it.

the two weeks spent with the church here have been unforgettable, in many ways.

we've met and shared meals with wonderful people, we have participated in very entertaining life groups (including one that had a "hobo party"... and mark and i were like, "hey, we have one of those every friday. a legit hobo party!" ha), we've been treated like family, we've learned from experienced followers, and we have been inspired with direction and passion and many books for our ministries.

and one other thing: when we arrived the church provided us with our DREAM CAR - A VAN! it was such a treat to drive around dreaming of filling those seats with our crazy brazilian teenagers.




we then joined a life group on Sunday evening (and enjoyed it thoroughly), and on our way out of the home, the Berrys saw our borrowed vehicle parked out in front of their maibox. Jason and Elizabeth asked us if that was our car, and we proudly declared we would be driving it for our time in granbury. they very kindly offered for us to drive one of their cars, and even tho we were trying to tell them we were happy to have the van, Jason interupted us with, "dudes, you will WANT to drive her car! trust me..."

elizabeth then drove out of the garage with this machine







HOLLY COW (and if to you cows are holly, please take no offense) !
so we have been cruisin' in style for the past week. i'm going to go ahead and say that we are the most stylin' missionaries texas has ever layed eyes on! woo hoo!

so yes, our hearts are tight to leave, and not just because we leave our Mercedez behind.
we are leaving new friends, new bonds, a new home-away-from-home.

(** a very special shout out to the amazing Caseys who have been incredible hosts, special mentors and our favorite breakfast companions for the past 2 weeks! thank you, dave & jan.)

off to Houston ... here we come, amanda!

the first stop... granbury

we arrived on American soil last tuesday!
after leading a regional youth retreat at the church's orphanage on friday, sat, sunday and monday, we were on a plane monday night headed to DFW.

our first week has been so much fun! we could not have picked a better church/town to land in! everyone in granbury has been so hospitable and generous and kind. we ate mexican food, brownies, chicken fried steak, blue bell, wheaties cereal, bought milk in galon bottles and drank bottomless iced tea - all during our first week here!

we have also increased our running distance and speed and joined the YMCA today.

we cant wait to see you!
much love
m&a

our first sight of deer in Texas




some pics of the youth retreat

have we told you about Barbara?!

Barbara and our "son" Manu.




we have a dear friend. her name is Barbara!
i have known her since i was 17, when the Itu youth group went to her home town for a Carnival Camp.
barbara and i became great friends back then, but lost contact when i moved to the States for college.

but she showed up again last year... randomly, as she does it best. i received a phone call from her saying that she was spending a weekend in Itu, and wanted to have coffee. the date turned into coffee, conversations, hours of sharing life stories, and learning more about our purpose and ministries in itu.

to make a long story short, Barbara is our newest team member in Itu!
she moved here in August, and is serving as an intern until the end of the year.
once January rolls around, she will be blessed by the church & leadership as an integrated part of our church workers team.

she has blessed us immensely in the past 2 months, working side-by-side with the youth group, homeless ministry, rehab ministry and dreaming of ways she can serve the community and church in the near future.

Barbara is also one reason we are at peace about leaving for 3 months for furlough.
we know she will continue to serve and challenge our group while we are gone.

ak

dates and places

many of you have asked about our specific destinations during furlough

so we want to share with you the places we plan to visit: (this is when you imagine the crowds cheering for their city)

GRANBURY - November 3rd - November 17th

COLLEGE STATION - November 18th

SAN ANGELO - November 19th - 23rd

AUSTIN/BELTON - November 24th - December 2nd

OKLAHOMA - December 3rd - 7th

DALLAS/FORT WORTH - December 8th - December 11th

ABILENE - December 12th - December 18th

OHIO - December 20th - January 20th.

we want to see all of you, this may require a few parties along the way!

t minus 4 weeks!

ak

mexican food, here we come!

ANNOUNCEMENT: we are headed to the USA for our furlough in NOVEMBER!

We will be spending close to 3 months traveling around Texas (from Nov-mid Dec), Oklahoma (early Dec) and Ohio (from mid Dec-mid Jan) visiting all the wonderful people we miss so much -- and stuffing our faces with mexiacan food while we're at it!

please put us down on your calendars, so we can be sure to visit with you and your family!
and churches, please be patient as we are organizing this monster for the first time... we will contact you soon.

you have helped us live our dream!
much love

Kaisers