Parties in the Street

This past week was a great one. I am so tired-physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, but I am so thankful to God for allowing David and I to work with Ridgepoint Church this week. It was one of those experiences that we weren´t even expecting, but we know that it was God´s plan for us to work with this church. The team was awesome, the three girls were all in there 20s so it was awesome for me to be able to get to know and hang out with some (North) Americans my age. It was very encouraging to get to know this team and the Pastor. They are a new church plant with a great vision and heart for the Word and missions. I am excited to see what God has planned for this church and its members!

During their week here, they partnered with a Venezuelan church, Nueva Jerusalem (New Jerusalem), which is also a church plant with a new pastor, Pastor José Gregorio. Pastor José and his wife have 7 kids and they are also both studying in seminary. Hardcore.

Throughout the week, the Ridgepoint team and Pastor José and his family and the Venezuelan staff (including David and I) went to different places in the community to do different kinds of service...one of which were carnivals. We went into a preschool and elementary school and also in the streets of different communities with balloons, face painting, candy, games, music, etc.

note: All the pictures posted from this week were taken by Daniel Magdaleno.

Tennessee

Everything is going great with the Tennessee Team! They arrived Saturday night. It is a small team, only 7, but it has been really neat because we have been able to get to know everyone! There are 3 girls in their 20s and the pastor and 3 guys. This morning we did a carnival at a pre-school for 100 kids! We are working with the Venezuelan church called ¨New Jerusalem.¨ More updates coming soon...!

Wedding pictures!

Click on this link to see the professional wedding pictures!

http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=955510027/a=646416027_646416027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=SNAPFISH/

More from Mérida...

More honeymoon...

The views were beautiful. As always, it´s impossible to capture it all in a picture, but we still tried.

Luna de Miel-Honeymoon

On our honeymoon, we went to Merida, the mountains here in Venezuela, about 4 hours away from Maracaibo. It was a nice break from the Maracaibo because it was COLD there. Well, maybe not cold for all of you who have had snow already, but it was cold compared to the weather in Maracaibo over 90 degrees! But even though it was cold, it wasn´t too cold to keep us from eating ice cream :) A lot of vegetables (carrots, lettuce, cabbage, etc) are grown in gardens on the side of the mountains. We also saw lots of flowers like cala lillies and sunflowers which aren´t grown in other tropical parts of VZ.

Jackie

I wanted to post a few pictures of Jackie and her family so you will have a visual as you pray...

Here is one with David and I at our Matrimonio Civil, another at the wedding, and one with Mom as Charlie´s Angels!

These were all taken the week before the accident!

Wedding!

Our wedding was wonderful. It all seems like a dream! No drama and simple, just like we wanted. We were very blessed to have our Venezuelan family and friends there, although we did miss family and friends from the US! When I get the professional pictures, I´ll put them online, but here are a few non-professional ones for now ;)

We are so thankful to God for all He has done in our lives the past few years and for always being faithful in our relationship. Despite many challenges, He has brought us together and although it´s still hard to believe...we are married!!!

at the reception with Emily, flower girl... Dad making me laugh by cracking a joke while we were dancing (typical) …
and during the ceremony

Matrimonio Civil

At the Matrimonio Civil, tons of pictures were taken, but here are a few just to give you a taste…David and I sitting at a table where we signed the papers...David´s cousin and husband and niece and nephews…and one with my parents...

Comida del Mar - Seafood

After going out and exploring the city a little bit on Saturday we went back to get ready for the Matrimonio Civil. David and I went out to a Columbian Seafood restaurant with my parents before the Matrimonio Civil and the food was really good.

Saturday night was the Matrimonio Civil, which is where a judge comes to your house and brings the paperwork for the bride and groom to sign. Similar to signing the marriage license at the courthouse, but in Venezuela it´s done in a house and everyone gets dressed up and there is a toast, drinks, snacks, etc. Family and friends come to this event. Our Matrimonio Civil was at David´s Uncle Louis´house.

Biggerstaffs arrive to Venezuela

These past few weeks have seemed like a blur. It´s hard to believe that my parents have already come and gone, we are MARRIED, and it´s a new year. 2010? ... really?

My parents arrived on Christmas night. Thankfully their flights went well despite the wintry mixes in the US and their dislike of flying. I was so excited to see them in the airport!! Braulio, Jaqueline, Aleko, Emily, Kathleen and Hebert went with us to pick them up.

The next day, Saturday, we went to the park at Lake Maracaibo (which is the largest freshwater lake in the world) and had a picnic. We also went to a mall, where I sat on Santa´s lap.

Pray for Jackie........and some good news!

I have a lot of updating to do and I will write soon with more about the wedding and my parent´s time in Venezuela. Everything went so wonderfully and it was so amazing to have them here and get to know Venezuela…and especially David. :)

For now, I´m going to post this picture, which is of the missionaries who are working with the Yukpas. (left to right- Beatriz, David, Sarah, Braulio, Jackie, Aleko, and Emily in front). As you hopefully already know, They were in an accident, their jeep flipped, and everyone is ok except for Jackie. She is in the hospital. We are praying that her hemoglobin will rise so that they can begin operating on her right arm, which is seriously wounded. When the jeep flipped, her arm was under it. Please pray for a quick miraculous recovery for her arm, because the plan is for all of the Yukpa Mission Team to go to CILTA in Peru this February to study Bible translation to better equip us to work towards translating the Bible into the Yukpa language. The arm that is injured is Jackie´s right arm, which is the one she writes with. Jackie is the leader of Bible translation in our team and she needs this arm. Pray for a quick recovery so that they will be able to go to Peru next month.

Braulio and Jackie (parents of children Emily and Aleko) and Beatriz have become like family to us and we are so thankful to God for allowing us to have them as mentors and friends. They have been missionaries with the Yukpas for 12 years and their passion in their work is an inspiration and encouragement for David and I.

Please also pray for strength, peace, and faith for Jackie´s family and Beatriz. And that God will be glorified through this situation.

And some good news….Braulio and David have been accepted to CILTA as well! They won´t be studying the same thing as Jaqueline, Beatriz, and I, but instead a different area of linguistcs, like social linguistics and phonetics. I think this is actually better because we will be stronger as a team with different people working on different specialties!! We know that through Him all things are possible. Thank you for your prayers!!!