HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Ahhh! It's been a wonderful week and a great Thanksgiving weekend! The days are flying by and in three weeks we will be heading to Marietta! Many people think that missionaries "sacrifice" so much when they go overseas, but in reality, there are many perks, one of which is


Our first care package!

recieving care packages to encourage us along the way. Our terrific daughter-in-law Kate made us some pumpkin muffins and they arrived two days before Thanksgiving, and in perfect condition! Thanks, Chris and Kate!


Our second care package!

Then we got a package from Adam Doughty's family, full of our favorite candies, a book/music CD and a picture drawn by Adam! We know Adam both from our church and the school where I (Cile) used to work. (By the way, Cile's favorite is black licorice (and M & M's) and Glenn's is peppermint patties, in case anyone is writing a book!) The packages were a nice surprise and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated!

Thanksgiving Day itself was a great day! During a normal week we start the day with worship in our small group of 7, but on Thanksgiving, all 14 of us going to Central and Eastern Europe met for a time of singing, worship (giving thanks!), sharing meaningful Scriptures and things God is teaching us during our time here. These folks will be part of our "family" overseas and we are growing to love and appreciate them.


Singing praises to our Lord!


Thanksgiving meal!

Then we headed over to our Richmond Associate's house for a delicious lunch of 2 turkeys, 1 huge ham, dressing, gravy, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, green beans, cranberry sauce, Watergate salad, yeast rolls, and 5 pies! The food was plentiful and a very welcome change from the cafeteria! We spent the afternoon coveting Susie's Polish ceramic dishes (at least, I did!), playing board games, and talking long distance with our families.

OK, so it's not leftover turkey sandwiches, but it was just as good!

The cafeteria was closed on Thursday for supper to allow the kitchen staff to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, so we had a pot luck meal in our "quad" that evening. Everyone hit Walmart on Wednesday night in order to contribute to the variety! We had pizza, meatballs, chips and cheese dip, candies, sweet breads, nut mix, and lots more!

Friday morning came all too quickly and it was back to classes as usual, but Saturday was a trip to Washington, D.C.! Oh, not for sightseeing! No, it was a working, cultural experience only! It took 5 buses to haul the 192 missionaries and their children to Washington. Everyone was divided into groups of 4-5 people and had certain tasks to do, having to do with our "people group" that we will be working with overseas. (Since our "people group" will be the missionaries, we went with 3 ladies going to Poland.)


Driving past the Washington Monument on the way into town was the closest we got to "sightseeing"!

We had to observe an international family for 15 minutes and record their behaviors that are different from American ways. We had to do something kind or helpful to someone of a different nationality. We had to share our testimony or talk with a foreigner about a relationship with Jesus Christ. We had to go somewhere via the metro system to experience how a large part of the world gets around. We had to locate and visit something that had to do with the culture we were going to be living in, so we went to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center since Poland is a very Roman Catholic country and proud of the fact that he was Polish.


Weiner Schnitzel, red cabbage, cole slaw and sauteed potatoes!

We also had to eat an ethnic meal, but because we could not find a Polish restaurant, we ate at a German one, and it was delicious! We walked enough across the city during the day to justify the American milkshake we bought as we were loading the buses at 5 pm to return to Richmond. We were exhausted by time we got home, but it had been a fun day!


Chris and Kate at Chili's in Staunton, Virginia

On Sunday afternoon, we drove to 1 1/2 hours to Interstate 81 in the western part of Virginia to meet up with Chris and Kate as they were driving home to Tennessee from visiting Kate's parents in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. They arrived at the restaurant about 2 minutes before us. Perfect timing! We visited with them for about an hour while we ate lunch together, then they had to get back on the road, so we headed back to Richmond.


Chris, Kate, Glenn, Cile and Shadow (the dog)

We enjoyed every minute with them and look forward to seeing them again in 3 weeks! See you soon, Shadow!

Busy, busy week!

It's been a wonderful but very busy week! Monday through Wednesday mornings from 9 am to noon we had lectures on spiritual warfare by the President of the International Mission
Board, Dr. Jerry Rankin. (9 hours, but very interesting!) We also had classes on staying healthy on the mission field, working with churches to keep them informed, and even a visit by Miss Lottie Moon herself!


Map of where our missionaries are going.


Much needed seven minute break!

Since we are in classes from 8 am until 3 pm (with one hour for lunch), we have a 7 minute break in between each class hour. This is a good time for us to stretch our legs, visit with one another, and do something with all that water they want us to drink!


Co-workers in Europe

These are our friends that we sit next to every day for 7 hours of classes! They are either going to central and eastern Europe with us or have been working there but are moving to another region. If you spend as much time together as we do, you grow to love and appreciate each other!


Haircutting class

After buzzing all Glenn's hair off last week, I decided to take one of the extra curricular classes that were offered in hopes of learning a few more tricks of the trade. I asked all the other females that are going to central and eastern Europe to take the class too so that we could cut each other's hair overseas. I keep forgetting that Europe isn't Africa, and that there will be beauty salons in every block, just like there are nail salons in every block here in America!

Small group worship time

The fourteen of us going to central and eastern Europe were divided into two groups of seven, and it is in these small groups that we meet each morning for worship (overseas style!) and discuss/disect/digest "personal growth issues". We've grown to love these folks in our small group and recognize their unique personalities and gifts that they bring. We are looking forward to visiting with them in Europe too!!!!

We've had a blast from the past! Since we arrived, we've run into quite a few folks we've known from our previous overseas experience and it has been so much fun getting caught up on their news. Some are now working for the IMB in Richmond, some have just been reappointed like us, and some are home on stateside assignment (formerly called "furlough").

Kate was one of Kari's roommates in Senegal when they were Journeymen before Kate married Tim and Kari married Jonathan. We first met Kate when we went to visit Kari in Senegal.

Tom and Janet are from our previous home church in Marietta. They have been with the IMB for 25 years!

We knew Eddie and Debbie in France when we were in language school in 1984.

Larry and Trish were also in language school with us in France. They served in Mali.

Jerry and Carol served with us in Ivory Coast. They were the ones that accompanied us to our home up country in Daloa and helped us get acclimated to our new surroundings.

Karen and Al were used by God to confirm our call to the mission field when He was calling us to Ivory Coast in 1984. They were serving in Burkina Faso at the time. We've been spending a lot of time with them here at ILC and are enjoying their friendship tremendously. We've run across one other family we knew in Ivory Coast (Roger and Sarah) but didn't have my camera with me at the time!


Checkin' out the new boots to make sure they're waterproof!

We miss our leaves in Marietta so much that we went and raked someone elses leaves! Friends Karen and Al have a house in the Richmond area that they are trying to sell before they go back overseas. They were having an Open House on Sunday, so on Saturday morning we helped them do some yard work to get ready.

After raking leaves, our group of 14 going to central and eastern Europe assisted a local mission church in going door-to-door to invite families in 2 neighborhoods to attend their church. Either no one is home on Saturdays or they were all watching college football games, because we did not have very many families come to the door! After going door-to-door, our group decided to skip dinner in the cafeteria at ILC and went out for dinner! After dinner, everyone came back to our "quad" for apple pie and ice cream and some good ol' fellowship!



Apple pie and ice cream!

We are now half way through our time here. We have learned so much and can hardly process it all! We ask you to pray that we will use our time wisely and make the most of the remaining weeks that we have. Pray for those of us who have houses to sell, family members who are ill, visas to come soon, and the 1001 things that still need to be done before leaving the U.S.!

Summer or Winter????

The weather was beautiful on Saturday, which was a blessing after a hard week of classes! In addition to learning about the persecuted church in pre-pentecostal times (before the Holy Spirit), pentecostal times (New Testament Church) , and in the post-pentecostal (present) times, Glenn and I took the opportunity to learn a little more about computers. Since this blogging responsibility falls to me (Cile), I took advantage of an evening blogging class. My daughter (who taught me everything I know about blogging, which is very little, though it is not her fault! She knows how to do so much more than she taught me!) was thrilled when I told her the class was not particularly helpful BECAUSE I ALREADY KNEW HOW TO DO WHAT THEY WERE TEACHING!



Glenn, on the other hand, chose to go the route of a personal tutor who is a whiz on the computer. Debbie is helping Glenn to "clean up" his computer so that it will run more efficiently. He was thrilled when she said he really needed to dump his computer and get a new one to take to Budapest because his is soooooo old. I'm not sure that he learned much more than that he needed a new computer. Smile.



We've been here a little over two weeks, which means it is time for all the guys to have haircuts, Glenn included. Glenn and I discussed whether I wanted to get back into the habit of cutting his hair like I always did in Ivory Coast, or did I want him to spend good money to pay someone else to cut it. I don't love cutting his hair, but if he'd give me $12 to cut it, I might be a little more willing! So, on Saturday, when it was gorgeous weather, we decided to go outside and give him a little trim.



We couldn't decide, scissors or buzz????



We decided on buzz!

After a long week, and the fact that it was so warm and pretty outside, and this was our first FREE Saturday since we arrived, I decided to stay in the sun as much as possible. We had some wonderful quiet time with the Lord in a gazebo down by the lake, took a walk for an hour, and then I set up my little office outside and parked myself there for the afternoon to do some required reading, return some emails, and work on my address book.


My office!

Have a great week!

Family Mapping Ceremony

There are 193 of us here for 7 1/2 weeks. Our first Sunday evening here, we had a ceremony where everyone introduced their family and placed a photo on the map in the country to which they were going. It was a very moving service. (By the way, we usually get to sit in chairs when we have classes, but the map is located out in the lobby and would not hold enough chairs for everyone!)


Glenn places our picture on Hungary.

Our classes have been excellent, the work load challenging, and the weather gorgeous! Our classes today were all on Anthropology. Okay, it wasn't one of the best, but the rest have been really good! Along with our required classes, we are being encouraged to take advantage of extra curricular courses such as cooking from scratch, hair cutting, blogging, CPR, how to drive a stick-shift, etc. All those practical classes!

We also had to weigh-in when we arrived and must log at least 30 minutes of strenuous exercise 3-4 times a week, minimum, and then there will be a final weigh-in at the end. Glenn and I usually walk really fast from our apartment out to the entrance gate and back (which is about a mile each way) 4-5 times a week.

We have on our walking clothes and are headed out to the front gate. Today we had to increase our distance and our walking speed to make up for our sins over the weekend.

KRISPY KREMES!

We shared them, of course, but are paying for the ones we ate!

International Learning Center

We've been here 11 days and the time has flown by! We are in classes from 8 am until 3pm, with optional classes until 5 pm most evenings. Three meals a day are provided in the dining hall, cafeteria-style. The evenings are spent working on various assignments, applying for visas (not credit cards!), corresponding with our Regional office on business matters, and for many of us, tying up loose ends from home.


Our home-Quad #23

I'm not sure of the total number of acres of the property here, but the campus itself is about 35 acres out in the country. We're 3/4 of a mile to the next house. Cow pastures line the driveway into the International Learning Center. The campus is comprised of an administration building, medical clinic, 3 dorms, cafeteria, gymnasium, library, 2 school buildings (for children), several conference buildings and about 30 "quads". The quads have a great room (living room) in the middle and 4 apartments off each corner.

The great room is where the four families socialize and have their small group meetings and worship times. It is very functional, and for those of us that are extroverts, we thoroughly enjoy sitting in the great room in the evenings talking with the other families. In our quad, we have 2 single ladies sharing an apartment, a young family with 2 preschoolers, another "empty-nester" couple and Glenn and me.

Our kitchen is tiny, but sufficient, with a small dinette table, 1 narrow sink, miniscule stove/oven, pint-size microwave and college-size refrigerator. Get the picture? Because our meals are provided, we don't need much, but it is nice for heating hot chocolate, making oatmeal or storing cold drinks. We do miss a big table for spreading out to do our work and assignments! Because our quad is right next to the building where there is wireless internet, we can pick it up from our apartment!

Our apartment has two bedrooms, which is really nice! The second room we use as our office and spread out our printer, files, books and office supplies. Each bedroom comes with twin beds (so we don't have any more children just after getting on the field?) but parents always push theirs together and get HUGE beds, King size plus!

Hope you've enjoyed our little tour of our home away from home. We are settled in nicely and are enjoying our classes which range from church planting movements to personal discipleship to cross cultural worship and lots more! Glenn and I are taking an ESL/EFL (English as a Second Language/ English as a Foreign Language) class for certification in addition to our regular classes. The ESL classes meet on Saturdays, so as you can see, there isn't a lot of free time! Will write more soon! We greatly appreciate your prayers for us!