It’s hard to believe it has been over three months since our last blog update. Keeping track of the days of the week (let alone the months), when everyday kind of looks the same is becoming increasingly more difficult. There is just a lot of time spent indoors, or working on online. I can’t wait until we somehow return to face-to-face ministry!
In our last update we were writing you from my parent’s house in Georgia. While it was very strange to evacuate to the States, it was also incredibly nice to get to spend that time with my family (especially Austin getting to see his Grammie and Grandpopi!). We are now in Indiana with David’s parents, and we are loving getting to now see Austin’s Grandma and Grandpa! While this time in the States was not planned, it has been a true blessing to get to spend time with family. One of the hardest things for me about being a missionary is not getting to see family very often. And now that we have Austin, and another one on the way, it is even more special when we get these rare moments to see grandparents in person.
As far as our ministry in Belize goes, we are continuing to connect with people remotely. It is definitely much harder to minister to people when you are not there in person, but we also know that much of our ministry would look the same if we were back in Belize right now since the churches and schools are still closed. For most of our time here in the States, Belize has done very well at containing, and almost completely stopping the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The few cases that would come up were typically found with people who were already being quarantined (and therefor more easily contained). However, in the last few weeks cases have been spiking across the country. It was only about 4 weeks ago that cases were under 100, but, almost out of nowhere, cases are now quickly approaching 1,000. Please pray for Belize as they work to trace and treat those who are infected. Please especially pray for hospitals that are already overwhelmed with the sudden influx of sick people. And please pray for quick healing for those who are sick. Belize had been planning on opening the international airport on August 15, but with the sudden increase in COVID-19 cases they have decided to keep the airport closed until further notice. So at this point David, Austin, and I are planning on staying here in the States for the birth of our next child.
I am now nearing week 37 of pregnancy (it’s crazy how fast this one seems to be going!). It is also strange spending the majority of this pregnancy in the States. Since I had Austin in Belize, everything about my prenatal appointments here seems foreign. Things are just done differently here and it almost makes this feel like a first pregnancy all over again, since so much of it is new (especially in the time of COVID-19). I’m very curious which way I will have preferred when this is all said and done. The biggest blessing at this point is that this next baby is still healthy and not here yet! As you might remember from my pregnancy with Austin, I was already on bead rest at 34 weeks and we were just praying for him to make it to 36. Well in this pregnancy I made it to 36 weeks and then the doctors decided to put me on bed rest. Both the baby and I are healthy, he just seems also to want to make an early appearance. Please pray for continued good health for me and the baby. Please also pray that we make it to at least 37 weeks (preferably longer) before I go into labor. And please also pray for a safe delivery: we’re getting close!
One other thing I would ask for you to prayerfully consider at the end here would be to begin, renew or increase your financial support for our family’s ministry. Over the past few months we have seen a decrease in our financial support (something we anticipated for this difficult time during a world pandemic), but as we approach the birth of our next child – and the considerable financial burden of unexpectedly having our son be born in the United States – we are asking for your help. Whether you might be willing and able to to increase your giving (by even a small amount), or whether you might like to start giving, or whether you would might even be willing to give a one time gift to help cover our insurance deductible for the upcoming birth, we would very much appreciate your partnership!
I think that’s all I have for an update right now. Thank you again for praying, and financially supporting our family. We are missing our home and in-person ministry in Belize, but we know God has a plan for all of this! We continue to pray for you. We would also love to get in touch with you all on a more personal level: if you would be open to a video call so that you can hear more about what’s going on with our family, and so that we can know better how to pray for yours, please send us a private message or email and we’ll set something up!