Getting Settled

Hello! 

We are writing this from our house in Ecuador, we have been here for a little over a week now. We left the snowy spring time of Pennsylvania and came right to 80-90degree summer days with full humidity. We are all detoxing through sweat, enjoying the fresh fruit, and getting acclimated back into jungle life. We have had mixed emotions on returning after leaving here last summer, but I’m happy to report we are all feeling at ease and home since arriving. 

We are staying in the same house we lived in prior, we debated a little about moving homes but in some ways we feel this house chose us, so we are going to make it our own. As we get the time, there’s some repairs to the home we would like to make. Currently the inside steps lead into the only bathroom, so we first would like to switch those to lead into the kitchen. That means the upstairs layout will need moved around a bit. It’s currently three rooms upstairs, we are considering turning one into a screened in porch/balcony. I am really looking forward to the day I can do devotions and sip my coffee with a view above the trees and having a slight breeze. As for the other two rooms, one will be our family bedroom, and Gideon has plans to turn the second room into a space for guests. We will also be painting walls, doing open shelving in the kitchen, and moving the washer and dryer outside of the house but in its own room. I have been apart of enough house projects to know this kind of stuff sounds easy enough to write out, but takes time to execute. I don't have expectations for much of this to be complete in the next couple of months. but it’s fun to dream about it while waiting. 

We will be purchasing a car for our family, which will be a huge blessing. The car belongs to the previous director and current director, so we know the history of it and we know it’s not been stollen (yes, that is a thing here when buying vehicles). Since arriving we have been busy. I have been unpacking, cleaning the house, organizing and finding homes for everything. Gideon has been prepping campus for a team that is arriving this weekend. He’s been fixing toilets and showers, chopping trees down, cleaning rain gutters, and much more. The team arriving is a group of 30 people, mostly high school students, it should be fun!

Some prayer requests as we get settled in. Pray as we transition here and join staffing, last summer we were more guests than staff members, now we have responsibilities and a “job” to do. When we were at Cross Cultural Training in October, we learned that when someone joins a team, no matter how long that team has been together prior or how well they work together, a new member means the team starts new in many ways. Roles typically change, new ideas and perspectives are being shared, the dynamic will inevitably change. Adding someone new can be exciting but it can also have awkwardness and tension at times. Please pray with us that we can serve humbly, be quick learners, and that our position is clear to us. 

Another prayer request currently is for this new little Miller baby growing. I am 20 weeks pregnant, so half way through this pregnancy already! Right before we left I had an ultrasound, baby is healthy and growing normal. They were not able to detect a gender, which I actually was happy about, it will be a sweet surprise at the end. We still do not know which country we will be having baby in, and honestly, if we have learned anything in the last few years, it’s that we can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps (Proverbs 16;9). There are many pros and cons to both locations and going over them makes my head spin and feel very overwhelmed, and I always end up in prayer over it. Whether we have the baby in Ecuador or America, we will be leaving the jungle for a few months and help will be needed at both locations. One thing is for certain, we both feel God specifically chose this time for us to have this baby, it was no accident. We know He has a plan, He wants to work, and He wants us to trust Him. Pray along with us as we make this decision for our family.