2015 New Year Update

Dear Friends & Family,

Well, the last few months have been rather eventful. We will give you a little snipit from each month.

July had us in Ottawa for the National Assembly of the CMA in Canada. Michelle made her first steps in Quebec while we were there (the farthest east in this rather large country of Canada for her). We also had an amazing time with colleagues from across Canada and around the world. Probably the best Assembly we have ever attended.

August held some holidays and a motorcycle trip for Murray and our son Mitch.

August was also a significant month as Murray went with a few other Canadian leaders to Ecuador to be part of the second all region (Latin America) missions conference for the CMA.  It was held in Quito…

We had a chance to hang with George Verwer (Operation Mobilization)…

As well as spend some time at the middle of the world…

At the end of August we had the privilege of seeing Mattea baptized in the Okanagan Lake (Vernon, BC end).  This was a picture of the lake before the baptism…

September was a really special month as we traveled to Germany for a Leadership Matters training course.  We were able to take Miki and Matty with us and we had a wonderful time together.  Here is some news from that trip.  We started in Germany for the course, then made our way down to Heidelberg…

We were able to speak in a church on that Sunday, and they had a special prayer time for Michelle…

We got to spend time in a number of Germany towns, including Mosbach…

From southern Germany we spent a day in France.  This is a small town that is likened to Venice…

And here is a family portrait taken in France…

And some of the countryside in France…

Next we spent some time in Switzerland…

Of which the girls’ favorite part was the Swiss cows that would just walk up to us while hiking in the Swiss Alps…

We then made our way to England…

Where we saw some ancient sites…

And some “ancient” friends from Cairo (Matchams)…

As well as some Middle Earth friends from New Zealand (Evan & Janice McKain)…

October found us in Toronto again to meet with the CMA Canada leadership.  We also made our way to Mexico and then to Cuba.  Here is a downtown shot, and then a typical Cuban car…

In November we ventured to Montevideo, Uruguay (a first for us) for another Leadership Matters event (in Spanish).  We had a chance to hang with our US counterparts – Timothy & Melanie Wendel…

After the week in Montevideo we had the opportunity to go to Buenos Aires, speak in a CMA church there, and spend time with some great leaders.  We got to the presidential palace (below), but didn’t meet with the president this time around :0)

December held a trip to Colombia where we are working with our national church leaders from across Latin America in establishing a missions training center.  We are really excited about these possibilities (picture of gathered leaders, and some of the abundance of Colombia’s coffee region)…

And December was a special family time as we were all together for the first time in 1 1/2 years as a family.  We felt amazingly blessed…

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us.  May 2015 be an amazing year of new beginnings for you and your family.  Please stay tuned for more consistent updates (one of those New Year’s resolutions :0).

Murray & Michelle