Saturday, October 4, 2003 Same song second verse...... Howdy, I hope all is well with you. Everything here is going smooth. I wish that all of our newsletters for the past seven months didn't sound so similar but that's the way it is in our lives right now. Just day in and day out of studying a language that once seemed so foreign. I can definitely promise that next year these letters will be more exciting than a Stephen King novel. (ha ha!) With the initial move, survey trips, construction of our homes, and beginning of Makua learning, it should keep us all on the edge of our seats. With just a little over two months left to go here in Portugal, we are more than anxious to step onto African soil. Our conversations lately have been taken over by talk of survey and construction, our free time spent by decisions yet to me made, and over all our lives have fallen into the spiral of last minute preparation. And we enjoy every minute of it, almost. This time represents to us an investment of three years of planning coming to fruition. There couldn't be a more exhilarating time full of mystery and adventure. This is all just the beginning of a long journey to being settled in our new life in Mozambique. We can't begin to imagine all the changes that are about to take place. Please be praying for all the last minute arrangements to be made. Language school is moving right along. We recently switched teachers and we love the new changes. The director of the school once told us that she was going to save the best teachers for last and it's very obvious that is what happened. Our new teacher has an amazing skill of bringing out all the Portuguese knowledge we have already obtained. This couldn't have better timing because of the overwhelming fact that we know the Portuguese language better than we can speak it. Also, Rachel started school again this month and so Ann moved into class with her and I moved in with Alan. We have enjoyed the change and it is nice to have something different to talk about over the dinner table! At the end of this month we are planning to have a team retreat for a weekend. This will allow us moment to breathe before heading off to Mozambique. We are really looking forward to it. We hope to enjoy some free time together and try to prepare ourselves for leaving again. We realize that our time in Lisbon is almost up, and this fills us with excitement for the next chapter in our adventure story. A book that I was reading this month talked about the life of Abraham and the covenant that God made with him and how Abraham was to return the favor. God said, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. The author states that, "the kind of blessing that Abraham was to receive was the blessing of being a blessing to others." I thought his point was wordy, but well put. Our lives and our identity in Christ place us into a position to be blessed in order to be a blessing to others. When we live completely and utterly within the presence of God the blessing we receive comes when we are able to bless others. We are blessed to be a blessing! The peace of the Lord, -Rusty and Ann