We are still alive and serving the Lord:)

Well Hello Everyone,
I know we must apologize for how long it has been since we have written. There are all the excuses in the world but the bottom line is that we suck and we neglect those that care about and support us. So we are sorry and love you all very much.
Well a lot has happened since we have last written. As most of you know Tecla is pregnant! WOW! We are very excited for our first child. We do not know what this little bump is yet. At the end of the month we are going to find out. Tecla and I both have felt like it is going to be a boy and even have a name picked out, Jeremiah Zion. If it is a girl well then we have enough time to pick a name for her and will love her just as much. Tecla is about 4 ½ months pregnant, it is very HOT, and HUMIDE here. So please pray for her comfort and all that goes with being pregnant.
As for me, this past break, a good friend and I taught through Ephesians together at a little home fellowship group we had meeting at our house. It was just during the school summer break and it is very interesting here in New Zealand, during this time all life shuts down, as the mid-week service at our church was on break as well. I have also taken up a sort of part time job, due to a shortage of funds, not because I have a bountiful amount of time on my hands. Well I am sure some of you are already thinking it is building or construction, I am sorry to say but no it actually has very little if anything at all to do with building things. It is milking cows. That is right I have become a relief milker. I work about 4-8 hours a week. So it is quite different and even a bit exciting. I get up at 3:30am, and start at 5am, almost like my work hours back homeJ. Then we milk about 600 cows in 4 hours. Oh and for those who may not know, I am NOT doing this by hand, rather it is all by machine, I put these suction cups on the utters of the cows. So it is a bit draining getting up early, but it is all-good, plus if I ever have to get a job full time out here I always have another trade to fall back on. ☺
So our Second semester is about to start and things are getting a bit busy. Tecla will be in charge of the student’s servant hood (m199), the food/kitchen, and the housekeeping areas. She is very excited with the second semester getting under way. I am Co-teaching the book of Romans with director Mark Walsh. I am also teaching Community Outreach and Friday lectures, as well as various other practical responsibilities around the Institute.
I know many of you are asking when will we return home, and then when are we leaving again. Well our plan so far is Tecla will return home with Brienn Gisler, one of our dear friends, at the end of April. Then I will return when the school semester is over which will be at the beginning of June. As far as returning to New Zealand, our heart is to come back and serve with the Institute again, we just need to see God’s provision and we will follow. So please keep us in your prayers as we seek God’s will and see where He is going to take us in the upcoming months.

“Wherever you are, be ALL there!”
Jim Elliot

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Ephesians 1:17-19


Love Jake and Tecla