We're here!

We're here! The weather is beautiful. We're trying to get adjusted to our new life here. So far, so good. Our house is not ready yet, so we are renting a very nice house with Bro. Roca. It is lovely... although I would say it's in the middle of the jungle. (Maybe an exaggeration... maybe not). My only adjustment are the lizards and frogs in the house... and all the mosquito bites!

Tonight we are going to El Cano for church. We're very happy about this. Our good friend Juan is a short walk away from our house, so it's been wonderful to see him a lot. Tonight we will also receive the schedule for the next 3 months. We will let you know more about that as we learn it ourselves.

Please pray that we get into our house very soon. We did not budget for rent for three months, and we need to move in as soon as possible. We know God can work a miracle in this situation.

We miss you and love you very much. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

God Bless

We're Off!

Everything has finally come together! We're headed to Cuba tomorrow morning. We've had a busy couple of months. We truly enjoyed having Pastors Barizonte and Barbaro with us for three weeks in December. We celebrated Christmas and New Year's with them. It wasn't too hard saying goodbye, knowing we'd be seeing them in a few weeks. They were a truly a blessing to our church. The first night they spoke at our church, my Grandpa Ball was there, along with my Aunt Charlotte. It was really a blessing to have people who were involved with God's work in Cuba in the past, the present, and the future.

We can't leave without thanking some very important people. We couldn't do it without you: Pastor Ball, for your unending support, encouragement, and fund-raising abilities. Faith Apostolic Church, for being the best church family we could ask for. Our wonderful families, who make it difficult to say goodbye (Rennards, Rawlings, Balls, Newburns, Turners, etc). The Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ Foreign Mission's Department, for putting your confidence in us. Jodie, for taking care of our finances while we're gone. Leah, for taking care of our blog updates while we're gone. The Cuba Prayer Team, for holding us up in your prayers. Mom & David, for the great vacation and for buying so many things we need. Our friends, you know who you are and we love you. The families who have given sacrificially to help us realize this dream. Pastor Shurte and Pastor Logue, for offering a helping hand every step of the way. All the churches and pastors who have allowed us to share our vision and aided us financially. Everyone else who has offered friendship, prayers, support and encouragement. We truly wouldn't be on this path without you. Our prayer is that God bless you greatly for your sacrifice.

Many of you have asked what we will be doing while in Cuba. We will be doing doctrinal/leadership training 2-3 days a week, and preaching and teaching at weeknight and weekend services. Our plan is to visit all 15 or so churches while we are there. As you can imagine, this will be a very demanding schedule. We will also have intensive language trainging twice a week. Finally, we will be organizing a Training Conference and Crusade for the end of March. Please pray that God will equip us and be with us in every endeavor.

Our access to Internet in Cuba will be somewhat limited. We will try to send updates twice a month through Leah Newby. If you ever want to get in touch with us, contact Leah at Faith Apostolic Church (http://www.faithapostolic.us/) for our contact information.

I can't pass the opportunity to congratulate my brother Michael and his wife Marty on their beautiful new baby girl. We're very disappointed that we won't be able to see her until April, but are saving up lots of attention and affection to give her then. This is little Sophia Jane. Could she be any more gorgeous?

God Bless!

-Rachael, James and Ava Rennard