Friday, June 17, 2011

17 June 2011 Update!

Greetings from Peru!

The Lord is up to some great things here. Over the past few weeks we have seen the Father bring so many new people into His Kingdom. Peruvians from different people groups have been baptized. We've worked alongside some wonderfully talented USA partners from numerous Southern Baptist churches. We've seen new Bible studies started that will, we pray, soon become strong churches. Our teammates report great success in their work as well. If you are praying, then you are a part of the work. Thank you for all you do!

Only 7 more days and we'll be in the Great State of Mississippi for our Stateside Assignment. What is Stateside Assignment you may ask? Stateside Assignment is a time that missionaries can take advantage of after serving a certain length of time outside of the USA. For us, our stateside assignment will begin on June 25, 2011. We are currently planning to be in the USA until January 5, 2011. While on stateside assignment, we'll be serving at Mississippi College in Clinton, MS as missionaries-in-residence. They will put us in a cage in the middle of campus and students can come and see what 'real, live missionaries' look like. No, not really. We'll be available in a variety of ways to counsel students and faculty/staff considering involvement in missions and we'll be ministering to the large group of international students on the campus of MC. And, then there's the 'other duties as assigned' clause in the job description.

While in the USA for stateside assignment we'll be living in a home provided for us by Liesa's home church: Crossgates Baptist Church. We are excited about being a part of this church (they speak English, you know) and the kids are excited about being a part of the student ministry there. And, we're looking forward to chill-laxing a little bit. And, of course we'll be witnessing the Return to Dominance of Ole MIss Football this fall.

Haylee and Jackson will be attending the public schools in Brandon, MS and they are excited and nervous about that. Fortunately, they still have memories of 'big' school before we came to the mission field. So, they have lots of good memories. And, we've already been to the schools and met some of the folks there.

This will be a busy week as we pack up our furniture for storage here in Peru. We'll also be saying some 'see you later's' to some really, really special folks. So, you can see, we're experiencing excitement and sadness at the same time.

We've had a busy couple of weeks with Jeff working in Bolivia and a quick trip on the Amazon River to find Courtney Hunter. Courtney Hunter has been a part of our lives for almost 14 years. She was a little 7 or 8 year old girl when we first met her in Oxford, MS. Now, she's a grown, gospel- carrying, jungle-hopping missionary leading a team from her Southwest Baptist University. To say we are proud of her is a HUGE understatement. She is everything you can imagine and more. She's a wonderful follower of Jesus.

Liesa has been busy getting things ready for our departure and also helping with some last minute things for mission teams. It is time for Liesa to have a little break from keeping all of these mission teams on the right track. Hopefully, some time relaxing by a pool somewhere is in her near future.

Our next report will be from Mississippi. If you're in the area, holla.

Jeff, Liesa, Haylee, and Jackson Holeman

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