We're Home!

Hello everyone! It's time for one last update. We've arrived safely back to Kansas! We are glad to be back, and we're also very glad that everything went smoothly. All the flights were on time and some were even a bit early. All the luggage made it through as well. Customs went quickly. We were very thankful that everything went smoothly, especially in comparison to what we experienced on the way to Brazil. We consider it an answer to prayers!

We left on Sunday afternoon. After a smooth flight to Sao Paulo, we had some time in the airport to just relax and eat. The overnight flight to Miami went well, as did the subsequent flight to Dallas. We arrived there just before noon on Monday. There someone from the LST staff picked us up and took us to a hotel. After changing and showering, we went to a mall for lunch, a movie, some shopping, and dinner. It was good for the three of us to just spend some time together without any responsibilities or any time table. Later on, we went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast there at the hotel. It was great to have an American breakfast again! It was very energizing. There were a couple other LST teams arriving from other parts of the world - Chile, Japan, Thailand, and Peru. Around ten we started our Endmeeting, or our LST debriefing. It was a time where we shared stories with each other of our individual projects. It was really great to hear about others' cultural experiences and to see the amazing different ways that God is working around the world. It was also fun to share our own experiences. After a lunch at the hotel, we finished up with the meeting before heading off to the airport again. We passed the time prior to our flight by taking the train around the entire airport . . . there was little else to do! The flight itself was relatively short. We were very glad once we got off the plan. We met Natasha's dad and sister there and Chase's family as well. Chase went with his family to spend some time together while Kavan and Natasha went back home to Manhattan. Everyone was so glad to be back home with family and friends!

With all that said, we can finally say that we've completed our mission. We had an amazing time. We made lifelong new friends. We learned about cultures and languages. We were served by incredible people. We had the chance to serve others. We learned more about ourselves, and (most importantly) we learned more about God. We may not (ever) know what our work accomplished, but we know that God has a reason for it and that He will use it for His glory.

With all that said, it's time to say thank you. Thank you for reading our blog. Thank you for supporting us, whether it was words of encouragement, donations, helping with training us, or prayer. It all meant so much to us and we could not have done it without you. Thank you so much!

That's about it! We will probably post another chunk of pictures in the next couple days, so stay tuned. Other than that . . . thanks for reading and God bless!

PS - Enjoy the beautiful horizon.