Hey guys! We just wanted to give you all an update of our
lives, so we’re sending this brief synopsis of our lives to you. We will try to give an update at least once every 6 months.
Since the
wedding, Olivia and I have been travelling quite a bit. First, we traveled to
Orlando, Florida for our honeymoon and got to go to all the Disney World parks.
However, before we got there, we had quite the adventure catching planes. After
our first flight, we were supposed to connect to another one and it was about
suppertime, so we stopped by Taco Bell for a quick meal. Then, we found out
that our connecting flight was actually at a different airport! So, we had to
run for twenty minutes only to be late by 1 minute. They gave our seats away 10
minutes prior to boarding and we got there 9 minutes to boarding, so we had
standby seats if anyone else missed their connecting flights to Orlando. We did
get there eventually, at around 12:30 in the morning. Then we somehow were able
to rent a car, despite being 4 years under-aged. Once we got that, we made our
way to our hotel, only to find that we were 1 year under-aged to sign in;
however, they understood our situation and allowed us to sign in anyways.
My favorite
park we visited was probably the Animal Kingdom. They had a full on man-made
safari where we got to have a tour and see all sorts of exotic animals…I’m sure
you got to see a lot of them on your trip to Zambia. We saw anything from
hippos to crocodiles to lions to rhinos. Olivia got to have her picture taken
with Pocahontas (the person acting as Pocahontas was pretty weird, at least in
my opinion; it weirded Olivia out too, lol). Besides that, my other favorite
park was the water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. They had the
world's largest man-made wave pool and a slide that went almost straight down,
dropping around 120 feet. Also, at Typhoon Lagoon, I got to swim with some sharks
including what looked like a tiger shark and some hammerheads. It was pretty
fun.
After the
honeymoon, we headed to Alabama for a quick after-wedding reception for her
family that couldn't make it to the wedding in Wyoming. So, we dressed up
again, me in my suit and her in her dress. Once we flew back to Wyoming, we
picked up our car and headed to my parents for a brief stop before we traveled
13 hours north to Grande Prairie where we spent the next 2 months in the bush.
Olivia's worker's visa never came through, so she stayed around camp, helped
out in the kitchen, and entertained herself with movies and writing during her
down-time. I headed out to plant each day and looked forward to seeing Olivia
every evening to retire to our tent for the night before waking up bright and
early again, only to do it all over again. We had a few interesting days, with
extreme weather (many of the planters were on the verge of hypothermia on one
of the days, and I got a minor heat stroke on another day), and heading to town
on our days off.
At the end
of the season, I got tendonitis and had to cut tree planting short. We packed
up that night and headed back to Coaldale for 2 weeks before we headed out with
my parents to New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, Wisconsin. On the way we
were able to stop at Mt. Rushmore and get a western picture of Olivia and I
done.
After 4
days of traveling we reached our destination and got settled in. It all seemed
a little overwhelming at first but we quickly adjusted. I had to quickly get
used to spending a lot of money that first week as we set our studio apartment
up to live in. We had so much stuff to buy, I could feel the stress mounting in
me, but I had to let it go and trust my parents and Olivia with what we needed
to buy and trust God to take care of our budget. Then, we got 4 days of
Orientation before classes began and we were thrust into the campus life at
NTBI. The classes really weren't a problem since both of us have taken all the
courses before at JHBC in Wyoming, so the only difference was us getting
involved in campus ministry, which is where they divvy up all the tasks to all
the different students to clean the school, thus saving costs on enrollment and
tuition. The other thing is they wanted us to get involved in evangelistic
outreach in the community, so we have become involved in our church and I'm
looking into a children’s ministry right now. Olivia is nannying a 4th grader
for a family and I get to tag along and play Halo with him occasionally.
We didn't
do much for Thanksgiving besides eating out, but we were able to go down south
to Alabama for Christmas and spent 2 weeks with her family.
Christmas break: J
Well, it started out with it snowing the night before we left. We woke up at
6:00am and got on the road by 7:20. We made our way through Chicago and down
through Kentucky and a few other states before reaching Alabama. It was a 13
hour drive before we made it to her grandma’s place. Her grandparents there own
a bed and breakfast with a lighthouse that is often reserved for newlyweds;
however, because we were making this trip a surprise for everyone, we ended up
sleeping in the living room futon with her uncle on the couch perpendicular to
us. It was an interesting first night. The only people that knew we were coming
were her mom, oldest younger sister, and her aunt, so everyone else was caught
by surprise. After a few more family Christmas parties, we trekked another 4
hours south to her parent’s place in Newton and spent the next 2 days there
before we headed back up 4 hours to meet up with her biological father and that
side of the family. We sure surprised her dad! We ended up staying the night at
Olivia’s aunt and uncle’s place before heading back to Newton the following
day. During the next week and a half we did opening presents, horse riding,
metal forging, some reading, and even got to take part in a tri-birthday party.
Olivia, her father, and her sister Shelby all have their birthdays in January,
and so they decided to celebrate all 3 together before we left on the 2nd
of January. We got to play laser tag, go in a gyro-chair (even though I was
over the weight limitJ),
go wall-climbing, and roller skate with Olivia’s family.
After saying goodbye to everyone we started our trip back
home to Wisconsin. We decided to break it up into 2 days so we wouldn’t have to
do 17 hours in one day, and it’s a good thing we did. Our car was having major
torque problems and so we were losing a lot of power climbing all those hills
in the Appalachian foothills. A few times we even had to turn our hazard lights
on and drive on the edge of the road to let the rest of traffic pass us. Once
we made it to our friend’s place, we told them about the trouble and initially
diagnosed it as transmission problems, even considering replacing the whole
transmission. However, we wanted to be sure and so had it scanned for problems
and discovered that the catalytic converter was shot, being completely clogged
up, essentially making our engine run like I was putting the brakes on even
though I wasn’t. So that was a bit of a relief, so instead of it being
$1000-$2000 to repair it, it was a bit over $500 (Thanks to some gracious benefactors our bill was covered. It was an answer to prayer and we greatly appreciate them).
While we were there, we both got to help out around the
farm/acreage and become part of the family for 4 days. We got to shoot their
guns at some targets they had set up in their back field and enjoyed getting to
know them better. We even got to be a part of our friend’s sister’s birthday
party and paint a bowl and plate that we now use! It was a fun time of
relaxation, despite the pressure of fixing the car. They were very good to us
and we appreciated them and their help a lot!
We finally made it back to Wisconsin and had a week or so
before classes started up again. Now, we’ve begun our next semester and have
already done Dispensationalism, and are now in the midst of Christology, Life
of Christ, and Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). Dispensationalism was
a fun class, although Olivia would disagree. We had a project in which we had
to draw out the different dispensations within the specified criteria, so
Olivia drew hers out and finished in a few hours. Well, I love photoshopping,
so I decided to make a photoshopped diagram outlining all the dispensations, so
it took me closer to 20 hours to finish, but the end result felt like it was
worth it.
Anyways, now we’re trying to get more involved in our
church, so we’re thinking of signing up to help out in their children’s
ministry of 1st-5th graders. This year has been a growing
experience, to say the least, in trusting God. There have been several times
when we have felt our budget crashing in on us, and suddenly unexpected help
comes ensuing the unforeseen bills. We are so grateful for all the generosity
of those around us who have been so willing to invest in our lives. We know
that if God wants us to become missionaries through this route, He will
provide. Please pray for my permanent residency, that the government would
process my papers quickly and approve them soon. The sooner I can work the
better.
Here’s to
an amazing first 9 months of marriage!
Richard &
Olivia
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