The Wurglers

Part apartment, part hotel, I give you the "Apartotel"

Just wanted to write and say we got our blog figured out... as for now. I had been posting on what I thought was our blog, but it turned out to be a pseudo-blog. So, I've copied and pasted the last 4 blog posts (which are the most recent) here. I hope you enjoy them. My goal is to have some humor to start your week off. Each Monday the hope is to have a blog segment called "Monday: Lost in Translation" which will feature some goofy English translations of various words and phrases. This isn't to demean the culture or people here, but to show that language is a difficult barrier to overcome and, as a language student, I am right in the middle of that every day. Today's version is to catch up on that which I've failed to post in the past. Emjoy!

"ARBITRARINESS" This is a video game in a children's play area at a restaurant we ate at...

Its so crazy to finally be in this country - its been a long time coming. There has been SO MUCH that has gone on the past 2.5 weeks that I struggle with what to share. I could go the route of how up and down, excited and down trodden we've been in such a short time. I could share about the innumerable ways God has blessed us and set us up so well to be here. I could talk about how our family is adjusting, or about how the kids' blond hair (at least brown hair and yellow hair as Emma describes herself) and blue eyes are the source of great attention. There's the sensory overload we experience each day we set foot outside our apartment and the occasional cockroach in the bathroom proves we don't even have to leave home to be reminded we're not in Kansas anymore. Air Quality Index numbers are a daily discussion much like the Vikings are back home. Will I put my kids' at risk by taking them outside today? This is a common thought that runs through our minds. How ...

The longer we go forward in this decision to go overseas, the more God seems to confirm His calling for us to go to Asia. It has felt darn near impossible some days to navigate all the hoops and red tape of getting visas and passports and the myriad of other paperwork in order to make this move happen. There have been moments of despair and even praying that God would call us out of this so that we wouldn't have to go through the hardship of simply being able to get into the country much less live and thrive there. Just when doubt seems to find a foothold, God has blessed us by providing housing for us. A friend of ours in country has been working his tail off to find us a place to call home. I have gotten phone calls and texts at 12 and 1am as he is looking at potential living arrangements for us and asking us to make a decision pretty much on the spot. If you find a good apartment there, you get about a 2-3 hour window to decide on it, or it will be snatched up by someone else....

Leaving Grand Forks was hard. It was a place that we came to love, mostly because of the people there and our wonderful church family at Faith Evangelical Free Church. Our staff team welcomed us so well right off the bat and loved on us throughout the 2 years we were there. The friends we had there before arriving and the ones we met while there will be sorely missed. Our church small groups, Sunday school classes and friends made life in Grand Forks worth struggling through unbearable winters. As we pulled out of Grand Forks last week, nostalgia set in as we recalled all our favorite memories. One of the fondest was seeing how God answered prayer for friends. Sara especially was feeling the loss of great friends in Sioux Falls and was feeling the strain of the time, effort and energy it would take to make new ones in ND. But she did, thanks be to God. We both met people who we could "do life with" and walk through joys and sorrows throughout the past 2 years. We are thankfu...