Mission update

In Tanner's last two emails, he talks about his investigators. His first one was a man named Akash. He has made a baptism date to work towards. He has some addiction issues he's trying to resolve , but is solid.
 Tanner and his companion had an appointment with two  investigators from the refugee center one night. One of the ladies invited her friends and they ended up teaching six new people instead of two. Most of them didn't speak English or Dutch! Luckily they had a translator available to help.

Just this last week they added 8 new investigators to their list. One made a baptismal commitment- but only as a goal to work towards, not a full blown commitment.
Their first investigator, Akash, is making good progress. 
One of their investigators, Mano, is a great cook! They eat lunch with him most every sunday and they love his food!

15 investigators  in one month's time , sounds like the work is moving forward steadily.

Our Missionary's news

Tanner is enjoying his first area there in Den Bosch, Netherlands. His flight  over  was about 10 1/2 hours long. There were no problems other than he couldn't get much sleep on the plane. He has a decent apartment there. It has two fridges, one of which is disguised as a cupboard. His shower has this funky hot/cold cycle. Hot water for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds of cold water. He said if he pays attention to  it's noises he can tell when the temp is gonna change.
At the End of February, they were celebrating Carnaval there. It is the Dutch equivalent of Halloween for adults with alot of alcohol thrown in. Sounds a bit like Mardi Gras to me. He mentioned he would be glad when it was over because people drive insane during Carnaval.
 

March 2

One of my favorite author's had his birthday on March 2nd. Dr. Seuss was a great author! He did so much for children's literature. Who doesn't remember-- Hop on Pop; Red fish, Blue fish; Green Eggs and Ham; Horton Hears a Who;The Cat in the Hat; and many more wonderful rhyming stories with wild and wacky characters!
If you were someone who missed out on these wonderful stories, my heart goes out to you. What a wonderful imagination! He has President Bush beat when it comes to making up words! :) For the last two years, I've celebrated at school by making his famous hat and having a reading marathon of his wacky, wonderful stories. If you want something to make you smile and have  an honest-to-goodness hearty chuckle, check out some of his stories and have a good read. It'll bring a smile to your face and surely make you laugh.

catch up

Well, let me fill in the gaps. After we took Tanner to the airport, we had a few days to get ready for our trip. The following Saturday, we flew to Texas to spend Christmas with the girls and their families. Depite some difficulties with the pets and their caretaker, we had a good flight to Texas. We stayed for nearly two weeks at Marissa's home in Houston. She kept us hopping with  school activities and other things as we prepared for the holidays. Sean decided to stay in Texas for a bit with Emily and Andy after we went home.  Unfortunately, during that stay he never found a job. We had a good Christmas and a nice visit. Our return trip was good and without problems.

It felt kind of strange after we got home, seeing as there were just the two of us now. It took me awhile to get used to cooking for just two, but eventually I pretty much got the hang of it. Well for most things anyway.  What I didn't make smaller, turned out to fill my freezer with  another meal. That was not such a bad thing:). The house was quieter and life seemed a little simpler, but at times it felt a bit lonely.

Well before I knew it-- Emily had her baby and Sean was heading home.