The last move for at least 6 months!!!

Hooray! We´ve moved!

Last night Kelly and I were able to move into our new apartment. It was a wild ride right up until 5 minutes ago when the power was turned on in our house (unfortunately, as things go, the power is out in the neighborhood for one of the daily outages, but they assured us that there is power coming to our house when the street turns back on!!) As many of you know, we have been living with a host family since we arrived in Barahona, and have been looking for an apartment of our own. About 2 weeks ago we decided on one but needed to wait for the old tenants to move out which we thought would be on Jan. 13th. Well praise be to God because we got a call last Friday saying that they would be out by Saturday morning. This set in motion all of the steps needed to secure a house, including us getting a lawyer to draw up the contract, negotiating the payment for the house, purchasing everything necessary for the house, moving in, changing the locks and establishing a new contract with the electric company. We are so so so fortunate to have the cute place that we do. It is very clean and in great shape on a quiet street with great neighbors, our own water tank and garage, 2 spacious bedrooms, a nice bathroom, a great kitchen and outdoor wash area, a cute well lit living room and a cozy porch to sit on in the evenings. We are so thankful and excited to be there. When we moved in yesterday we laughed that nearly all of our possessions could fit inside one of the closests so it really didn´t take us any time at all to unpack. Tomorrow we will be going to the phone company to find out how quickly we can get a phone line and internet hook up at the house. When we do, we´ll be able to post pictures of our new place and maybe a little video tour.

We do also want to make you aware of a need that we have regarding our new house. Before we left, we thought that we would be living in the fully furnished house that COTN owns. However, upon arrival here, we quickly realized that it would actually be quite a bit better for us to find a seperate place to live. Additionally, for us to move in, we had to pay 6 months of rent upfront (it apparently is customary to pay 2 or 3 months at a time but, likely because we are Americans, we had to pay 6 months - he wanted a whole year!!) Those two things have created an unexpected financial need though as we did not budget for purchasing furniture, a refridgerator and stove, bed, etc. etc. In total, we need approximately $3500 to cover those expenses. At this point, we have purchsed a limited amount of kitchen supplies (still need dishes and a few other misc small items), a refridgerator, stove, washing machine and a bed. We were able to get all of those things for $2000 and are estimating that to purchase a couch, dining set, propane tank (for the stove), dishes, a couple of end tables and a small desk we will need an additional $1500 (hence the total of $3500). If you´d like to make an additional donation towards this, you can do so by sending a check to COTN (without our names or anything in the memo line) or go online and make a one-time donation. Please also pray for God´s provision in this situation. As well, we´d ask that you pray for safety in our new home, that it would never be broken into, and that it would be not only a place of retreat for Kelly and I but also a place of hospitality for whomever visits us.

It has been a whirlwind but we are in and already we feel a huge weight off of our shoulders because we are no longer living out of suitcases. It has been over 6 months since we have fully unpacked - over the last half year we have lived with the Fosters, at MTI in Colorado, stayed with the Mitchells, the Wests, the Keatleys, the Chicago Hamptons, 7 hotels in Europe, the Oregon Beelers, the California Hamptons, the Vegas Jacksons, a retirement home in Denver, the Cuevas´ in San Pedro, the Bautistas in Santo Domingo, the the Mission House in Barahona, the Bautistas in Barahona, and now, finally, our own home in Barahona. What a ride. We are so thankful for the many people who have opened their hearts and/or homes to us - we treasure all of you.

The Adventure Continues...
M&K