Update

Hi friend!

I just received an email from the bank where I applied, and I didn't get the job. I had seen this job as a good opportunity, but God knows what's best. Please be in prayer for me while I check out some other options in the area.

This week turned out a little crazy at church this week: We had a lightning strike Saturday night that damaged the heating unit, copier, and 3 computers. So I've been working with people trying to get things back and running. PRAISE GOD: The heating unit had been on fire at one point, but it did not catch anything else!

Please email me, or leave a comment as to how I can be praying for you.

Love,
Carrie

Mexican with a Two-year old

This is Zoe!

Zoe and I went out to Mexican when I got back into town. She's so big! It's been odd returning to Shreveport and seeing all the changes, Zoe being one of them.

Things have been going well in Shreveport. Yesterday, I took a test to qualify for a position at a local bank. I'm praying that I get this position. It would give me a part-time job, and giving me ample time to continue Partnership Development.

Next week, I'll be filling in for the secretary at church while she goes to visit her family. Hopefully soon after that I'll begin training at the bank!

Please be in prayer with me about the potential job, and for my adjustment to Shreveport.

Please let me know how I can be praying for you!

Love,
Carrie

CO...the final week of traveling

We didn't get to see the Rockies on the way in--because we got into Dillon at 5 am! But when we woke up, we discovered we were in the middle of them! Everywhere we went within 30 minutes looked like this. It was a beautiful week.So, we made some homemade pizzas...that didn't cook, but boy did they rise! (I'm pretty sure this is a look I've seen on my mother...)

Why is that car so lined, you ask? Because it's LEGOs! This LEGO Volvo was at Beaver Creek Resort, and we stumbled upon it on our walk. It was like a dream come true to see that creation!

Carolyn, Elisabeth, and I spent a little time on the rink....

...until they kicked us off for resurfacing!

This is Carolyn the Figure Skater. She's a work in progress.

We had a great trip, and I thank you for your prayers. I'm now in Shreveport, preparing for Partnership Development. My mailing address has changed, so if you would like that, please email me and I will send it to you.

Love,
Carrie

A few more FL pix

This is by far my favorite picture of Elijah. He and I spent a lot of time with those pretzels...let's just say...Pacifier?

Grammy and Pappy

I got to spend a few days with my grandparents here in Florida. It was so good to visit them and catch up! Tomorrow I'll be with a group of friends I went to school with, then Monday morning fly to Kansas City. From there I will be driving with friends to Colorado for a week. Please pray for safe travels and an enjoyable time with friends!

Love,
Carrie

Long-awaited Pictures

Megan and Kris

The church I've been going to in Camdenton had a potluck after church on my last Sunday. We had a good time catching up since I'd been gone about 5 weeks.

Elijah and I got to spend some time outside exploring this morning...


Trash! I was around the corner and when I got back, Elijah was exploring a whole new area...
What on earth is THAT?!

I made it safely to Florida after my 5 day traveling marathon. We got into the Gills 2 hours later than planned because of a flat tire on the way to the airport, but all is well now. Thank you for your prayers while I've been traveling!

Love,
Carrie

Car Update

The newest on my car is that the problem was DEFINITELY the fuel filter. BUT the mechanic didn't have any fuel filters in stock. Please pray that the one he ordered will get in on time for him to install it tomorrow (Friday 11th) so I can pick up the car Saturday.

I'll be traveling the next 4 days from NC to MO, and MO to Orlando. Please pray for safety driving and flying!

Thanks!
C

The Car

Thank you so much for praying for the situation with my car!! Right now, we're looking at changing the fuel filter, which could solve the entire problem! Of course, the mechanic found nothing wrong with it when he drove it, but based on what I've told him it's doing, the fuel filter may be the issue. Praise God with me that this is an inexpensive fix!

In North Carolina

Thank you all for your prayers and Elisabeth and I drove here. We were able to stop in Tennessee at her brother's and sleep! Please continue to pray that my car will be able to be fixed, and that it's not the transmission!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Prayer Requests

Hi Friends, Well, my time in the training program at New Tribes in nearly finished, and I will be heading to NC to see my parents. My plans have changed from what I had perfectly laid out. The decision was made this morning to have my transmission worked on here in Missouri rather than pushing it to (hopefully) get to NC.

How have I seen God working this far?

1—A man on staff has offered to take care of my car on this end: getting it into the mechanic and dealing with it while I am gone.

2—I have a ride to NC with a classmate!

3—I have a way back to Missouri, where my car will be.

This all before 8:00 this morning! Praise God with me for going before and laying out His plans. Please pray for me as I have to repack, decide what to keep or get rid of, and work out many of the logistics of my new traveling plans! Thank you so much for your prayers; they mean more to me than I can express in words.

Love, Carrie

The Best White Elephant Gift...

Yes, at the Youth Christmas party, I bequeathed Mr. Wilson to an unsuspecting 9th grader. He (the fish) traveled in a beautifully decorated glass milk jug. He was so well disguised that our beloved youth all wanted to shake the milk jug and drink the innards... luckily, we caught them (most of the time) before too much damage was done!

Six of our guys...yes...six.

Blowing plastic bubbles

I've had a great time with the youth group over the past year and a half--it will be hard to leave them. Tuesday, 18th, will be our last meeting that I will be at.

Bible Translation

Target Audience for our translation: 3 year olds

This week we went through Bible Translation class. It had multiple aspects, as we discussed what was more important to keep in translating: form (word for word translation) versus meaning (communicating the message). It was very good to look at multiple English translations and see that even the most "literal" translations that we have are still not word-for-word from the Greek and Hebrew. It is just not possible, because languages do not always have a word-for-word translation. Just try to explain an idiom to a non-English speaker--it won't happen in the same number of words! And if that non-Englisher speaker tried to explain one of their idioms literally, it would not make sense to us.

One of the other parts of the translation class was to take Mark 2:1-12 "Jesus heals the paralytic". It takes teamwork to create a translation, and we were on teams for the project. We had to choose a target audience, and then translate the scripture into 3 year old acceptable terms. It was more difficult than we anticipated! In the end, we may have ended up with a translation acceptable to a 5 year old, but the goal was accomplished: we learned that translation is not easy!

Prayer Request for the next week:
--Church Planting class begins tomorrow. We will be in teams discussing different aspects of Church Planting from learning the national language (in my case Spanish) to leaving the tribe after a church has been successfully planted.

--I'll be saying goodbye to many friends that I've made over the past few years. Some of them I have gone through all 4 1/2 years of training with, and some have just come to school here this year. Please pray that we would all have a good last week together!

--Please pray that "Black Beauty" my favorite little Saturn will continue working until I get to North Carolina. The transmission has been acting up, and I have a 16 hour drive ahead of me December 20-21.

Thank you for taking this requests with me boldly before the throne of grace!
Love, Carrie

A Few More Okie Pictures:

Pastor DJ being guarded by the Romans (formerly known as Linguistics Students!)

3 VERY FULL carts of groceries for 60 servings of food 3 meals a day for 7 days...

And yes, I did find Muskogee, OK and said,
"Okie from Muskogee."

DONE WITH CHEROKEE!!!

I have finally finished my Cherokee write-up! I am going to begin translation class on Tuesday morning. (I'll write some about that later this week.) Please pray that we as a class will finish the next 2 1/1 weeks strong!


Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1-3

Back in Missouri

Thank you for your prayers while I was in Oklahoma! I made it back to Missouri Saturday evening and was able to get unpacked. Thankfully, I did that right away, because I got a cold Sunday. I'm still recuperating from it, but decided to stay here at school for the Thanksgiving holiday to rest up. Thanks again for praying!

Love,
Carrie

Spread the Words--and the Rice!

Do you spend a lot of time playing games on the computer? Well, here's a new one that will make you smarter AND help feed people. It's a vocab game, similar to the one in Reader's Digest each month. The catch is--people get food when you get the definition to the word correct! One correct answer is worth 10 grains of rice, and it takes a short time to get to 100 grains, or one bowl. Check it out, it's a lot of fun!

BOTTOM'S UP!!: How to Go Crawdadin'

This weekend a few of us went up to Missouri for a little R & R. On Saturday, we decided it would be fun to go crawdadin'. Here's our little "How to" Guide, in pictures:

Step One: Go in the summer. The water is warmer.

Step Two: Flip over rocks looking for said crawdad.

Step Three: Discover a better spot down stream where you can spot them from five feet up.

Step Four: Decide when ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
(Can you spot the bottom-feeder fish?)

Step Five: Take them home.

Step Six: Let the big ones duke it out.
(What haven't you ever heard of Fighting Crawdads?)

And the winner is....HERCULES!!

Step Seven: Cut dem tails.
(This is not the proper LA method.)

Step Eight: Wash dem tails!

Step Nine: Fry and enjoy!

Good luck next summer on your crawdadin'!

Down at the River

On the Campgrounds

This is "The White Dorm" where I live. I've got my own little cell-like room to enjoy. I keep forgetting to take a picture of it now that there's stuff in it.

This is the building the Linguistics students study in.
Mom, here's the pile of broken wood. :-)

Cherokee with the Scrapers

Everyday, Monday through Friday, Nate, Justin, and I travel about 25 minutes to go see Junior and Eda Scraper. They have been faithfully teaching us Cherokee for 4 weeks now. It's been great getting to know them!

Eda, Junior, Justin, and me

Junior, Justin, and Nate after a language session