So a Priest, a Missionary, and Two Women walked into a Bar......

Well, Ok, it wasn't a bar it was a restaurant, and its not really a joke; Its what we did this past Monday night.  Our time in Gainesville has been such a rich time of fellowship, healing and personal growth.  Some places we've stopped on our journey have felt very lonely and yet spiritually rich, others though maybe not so lonely have been times of spiritual darkness and pressing in.  Gainesville has been so spiritually rich, and we have been so blessed to be able to begin to cultivate so many friendships with so many amazing people.  Of course to try to name them all would inevitably leave someone out so I won't do that, but this past monday evening we were able to get a baby-sitter (the first time in a month) for free and had a great time eating steaks and onion rings with one of the priests and his wife here at St. Andrews.  Much like ROL, St. Andrews has a very deep pool of fantasticaly gifted and brilliant people, and we have been learning so much from them.  The ladies in the church have been so warm and inviting with Shayne as well.  

It has been a rich time spiritually as well, not just for Shayne and I, but for our children also.  They structure Sunday School here in such a way that the program ends in time for the kids to join the adults for communion, worship, and prayer.  It has been deeply fulfilling as a parent to watch my kids grow in their desire to take communion, to see them get in the prayer line all by themselves to receive from the Lord, and to worship with them.  Watching my kids kneeling at the altar, receiving communion is so exciting.  Seeing them in their childlike way, pursuing Christ, and loving Him has been one of the most important parts of this trip both here and at IHOP in Kansas City.  This past sunday Ezekiel tried communion for the first time and it didn't go as well as we had hoped.  When the priest dipped the bread in the wine and placed it in ZZ's mouth he instantly looked to Shayne with the most horrifying look of disgust and proceeded to do his best to spit it out of his mouth.

Shayne was able to catch the ejected elements and dispose of them discreetly, thankfully, and the rest of the service continued without a problem.

Our stay here in Gainesville has ended up being a lot longer than we had originally anticipated.  We had originally only planned to stay here 4-5 weeks and then to continue on but the Lord changed those plans and we have now been here for about 2 months.  The depth of the healing and personal growth we are experiencing here has been beyond what we could of ever hoped.  We feel like the Lords desire for us now is to stay here til the middle of March and to really allow Him the time and space to impart to us everything He has for us here.  This weekend we are travelling about 3 hours south of Gainesville so that Shayne can attend a 4 day workshop on healing and healing prayer.  We are so thankful and grateful for the timely donation we received this past week which paid for Shayne's tuition for the workshop and enabled us to bless some of the leadership here at St. Andrews.  The Lord continues to faithfully provide for all of our needs, big and small, and has even provided extra money at times so that we could give to others in need and to bless those he puts in our path to serve.  The boys have needed new shoes this past few weeks and we were able to buy them all new flip flops, Judah actually got 2 new pairs because he lost his new pair just days after bringing them home.  

Our faith is growing in leaps and bounds.  I'm almost convinced that He might really be able to send a large family like ours to the mission field. The more healed up we get and the more we settle into our identity as our Fathers children, the more I feel the Lord will able to do with us.  We are beginning to make plans for our return to Canada in the next couple months and likewise are beginning to seek the Fathers will for the next steps in our training and preparation.  We humbly ask that you would be praying for us for wisdom in this time, and for continued provision, healing, and personal growth.

Thanks for Journeying with us,

The Schafer Family