Montana

Hello again from the Hoffmans. We just got back from a two month stay in Montana. The weather was beautiful and thankfully not too much snow or pick-up trouble. We met many wonderful new friends and tried new activities: we milked cows, held farretts, rode horses, watched a taxidermist skin an elk, had a grizzly circle our pick-up in Yellowstone and all sorts of new adventures.

We even had the opportunity to do what Kevin loves best: building. We had a great time rebuilding a wall on a barn for a family we stayed with. We had some help and as Kevin always says "We need more horsepower" :)

God has continued to bring in the support needed and we just purchased our tickets for Bolivia. We will be leaving on the 15th of January and will arrive on the 16th. Please pray as we are expecting some political tension around January 23rd. They are trying to push a new constitution and we are expecting a little bit of unrest.

As we look to Thanksgiving, we are so grateful for everything that each and every one of you has done. We pray that God will bless your families as you celebrate this Thanksgiving.

Kevin and Lisa

Georgia

We had a wonderful time in Georgia. It was humid, yes, but the state and the people were absolutely beautiful. During our two weeks in Georgia we spoke at three churches and toured the South Eastern Conference. We were amazed to see how God moved the churches while we were there.

Below is a picture of a hike we went on one of our first days in GA. The weather was perfect and we hiked out to a place that had a waterfall that we could actually slide down. It was so much fun!

After we went hiking, Pastor Chris Cooper introduced us to a southern delicacy: HOT BOILED PEANUTS. :)

A group of church members from Grayson, GA took us to Stone Mountain and we had a day to visit the Coke Factory, as well as Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.


We then visited churches in Lizella and Fort Valley, GA. They took us to the 4th largest peach packing plant in the states.


Kevin and I both came down with a bug and lost our voices. Tammy, the pastors wife of the church in Lizella, GA did a great job at nursing us back to health. Even with no voice, God was still able to provide a loaves and fishes day. We had little to give but God multiplied it to do HIS work.

Our last few days in Georgia, we had a great deal of rain from the tail-end of a hurricane. Pastor Clint and Kristy kept us dry by playing games in the house along with encouraging us greatly. We really enjoyed our time in Georgia and meeting all of these special people.

Pennsylvania

Ok, I am going to have to play some catch up here. Hopefully as we become more familiar with blogging, we will also become more frequent in our updates. :)

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Pennsylvania for 10 days. While we were there we went to two Evangelical churches and taught the youth at the Eastern Family Camp. This was our first time to teach at a youth camp and we were very pleased with the way the sessions went and the relationships we developed with the different people there.

The picture on the right was taken during one of the sessions we taught. Every morning we taught two different age groups. One group consisted of 12-14 year olds and the other included 15-18 year olds. We, as teachers, learned a great deal, and the students provided great insight and feedback for how we can make things even better.

Kevin's favorite part about family camp was the recreational opportunities he was given. The activity on this day was a very soapy slip-n-slide. Later they brought out the shaving cream. Kevin loved every minute.

One last picture to leave you with from Pennsylvania is Kevin once again telling the story of Mario in an outside service on the last Sunday we were there. Pennsylvania was a wonderful experience for us and we will never forget our fist time visiting, teaching and speaking in PA. Thanks to everyone from Pennsylvania for your hospitality.

Lisa's Graduation Weekend

For Lisa's graduation celebration, we invited both sets of parents to come to Washington for the weekend. Unfortunately we had normal Seattle weather but that didn't put a damper on our celebrating. Kevin came up with many different ways to entertain and we went on all kinds of adventures in a short weekend.

Lisa was able to celebrate with a chocolate cake that her mom made and strawberries on top from Kevin's parents. It was delicious!

The next morning Kevin was very ready to teach everyone how to make Sushi. Since it is big up in the Seattle area, we wanted to teach our family members while we were still here.

Our families enjoyed making sushi. However, I don't think they will be making it on their own any time soon.

Once we were finished with the new experience of sushi, we headed out for a Vietnamese drink known as "bubble tea". Bubble tea can actually be different types of drinks: fruit drinks, smoothies, tea, etc. The reason we call it bubble tea has to do with the little tapioca balls in the drinks. Can you see the dark, little balls mixed in the cups?

That night, once we were actually hungry again, Kevin taught everyone how to make homemade tortillas. They were excellent! However, the method of taking two cutting boards and standing on them to press the tortillas was not the way we were taught. A tortilla press is much easier, though not as fun. :)

All-in-all, it was a terrific weekend. Lisa had a wonderful celebration, Kevin got his sushi, and our parents got to see our home one last time. They also took a bunch of our stuff back to Oregon. Our time in Washington is just about up.

Shifting Gears

Well, we are working hard at wrapping up everything in Washington. Kevin finishes work next week and I am anxiously awaiting my final presentation at City University. We are working hard to down size everything we own. The plan is to fit everything we can in the back of Kevin's pick-up and everything else...we get rid of. Obviously, we are very selective in what we are keeping. We are very thankful that my parents have offered that we stay on their property (in their trailer) while we raise support in Oregon. It will be good to so close to our families while in the state. It has been awesome to watch God moving in this long process.

So far, support raising has been wonderful. God has moved people in every church whether it has been through prayer, finances, or encouraging words. We have certainly felt the joy of the Lord in the different Evangelical Churches. At this moment, we are one-third of the way funded for our two year stint in Bolivia. We know that God will get us there in His timing, and it has been very encouraging to see how quickly He has been moving.

We are also anxious to get down to Oregon where there will have more time to devote for praying, reading, preparing for lessons to teach and getting involved with churches during the week. With Kevin working and me in school, it is difficult to feel prepared for weekends, let alone anything during the week. Once we arrive in Oregon, we will begin preparing for the ten days that we will be spending in Pennsylvania during the month of July. We have been asked to teach at a week long family camp and so we will be working hard to be ready.