All Dressed Up and Everywhere to Go!

Well, we had a GREAT weekend! Yaneth (our previous nanny) got married on Friday, so that afternoon the kids and Emily went out to her home town and got to watch. It was great for the kids to get to see Yaneth again, they really miss her. They had a good time visiting with her, even though we had to leave early, so that we wouldn't be driving home too much after dark. As many of you know, she's also 6 months pregnant, and she's feeling well. She is due in the middle of January. We asked if we could come visit when we get back home in March, and she said that would be great, so we'll look forward to meeting her new baby then!

On Saturday night, we went to a Harvest Party, at the private school that some of the missionary kids go to. Emily was going to make costumes for Elijah and Sydney, but when she went to the store to look for "craft supplies" she found costumes for only $8 - it would have cost about that to make them, so she took the easy way out, and bought the adorable costumes. Elijah had a blast at all of the games and activities that they had, and pigged out on the candy that he won. Sydney had her share of candy, too, but wasn't too impressed by the games (although she did like the one that you got to choose a sucker!) By the time we got home, they were ready to fall into bed.

Sunday was our last night without Scott. The kids were REALLY missing him after this long 10 day trip to Mexico. To make them feel better, we made a poster (well, mom and Elijah did) - Elijah had so much fun making it. His favorite part was gluing the foam cutouts onto the letters with the glue stick.

Scott walked in the door at 6:45AM this morning after taking a Red-eye flight from San Diego to Guatemala. The kids were ECSTATIC to see him. They ran to the door as fast as their little legs could carry them (which is pretty funny for Sydney to do, since her coordination isn't quite up to par, yet!) They tackled him with hugs and kisses, then we ate breakfast together. It's nice to have dad home.

Please pray for Scott - he has a missiology paper that he is working on in the next 1 1/2 days. It is due on Nov. 1. We are looking forward to spending Nov. 1 together as a family day, since it's a holiday here in Guatemala. Maybe we'll go to the zoo, or something (if anything's open?)

Here is the Funny Elijah saying of the week: "Old MacDonald had a MOM, e-i-e-i-o" (to the tune of Old MacDonald had a farm).

We love you all. Can't wait to see most of you within the next few weeks! YEAH!

Scott, Emily, Elijah and Sydney

General Board...Here we Come!

Congratulations on your invitation to attend the General Board meetings in February 2007. It is because of your service and dedication to ministry that you are able to take this next step in your missionary career.

YEP...Those are the words that graced our Inbox just a few days ago. We've officially been invited to General Board in February. For those of you that don't know exactly what that means, let me explain.

For the past 3 years (almost) we've been under an intern missionary contract with the Church of the Nazarene. These 3 years were a "trial" period, both for us and the church. We had an interview with the "mero meros" (Spanish for the head honchos) in September, and we were recommended to go before the General Board in Kansas City. During the 3rd week of February, we will have a time of leadership training, as well as a HUGE interview with the World Mission division and the Board the General Superintendents. After this interview, we'll know if we are recommended for a Global Missionary assignment (99% of the time, it is a yes!) So as you can see, this is a VERY important time for us. We are super excited.

Here is some "important info" for family members that will want to make plans to attend our commissioning service at the end of that week.

Monday, February 26 Sending Service –Kansas City Marriott Downtown
(Evening) Closing business session of the General Board. A
special service will recognize your appointment to global
missionary status and will honor retiring missionaries.

The service will be held at the Kansas City Marriott
Downtown, 200 West 12th Street, Kansas City, Missouri.
We will provide a map at your request. Please let me know if your family or friends will attend this service so seats can be reserved.

OK - what else have we been up to? We just finished a 10 day period of Missionary Training with 2 new Regional Missionary families - the Baños and the Sorias. It was a good time to get to know them, but it was stressful as well. We are getting ready for a team from Lafayette, IN to come tomorrow to start a week of Maxima Mision with them. We are planting a new church with them, and it will be a lot of work. Scott leaves for Mexico on the 20th of October, and will be gone for 10 days. By the time he gets back, we'll only have 2 1/2 more weeks until we come back to the States for our home assignment - isn't that crazy!

Bringing back the ever popular "Crazy things Elijah said" - we leave you with this comment "Hello Uncle Daddy!" - said to Scott after returning from the States and getting to know his family again. He was in a slight identity crisis himself.

Sorry there are no pictures - can't get them to upload today. Love to you all.

Scott, Emily, Elijah and Sydney

Whirlwind Trip to the States

Here it is! The family picture that you've all been waiting for. We realized that with a 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, that a good picture is characterized by everybody looking at the camera at the same time! We hope to have prayer cards made in the near future from this picture, so that we can leave them with the churches that we visit for deputation starting in December.

We had a great trip to the States - time FLEW! We were so busy. We started in Oklahoma City for the Work and Witness conference, and we had a great time. Clark and Connie came down to stay with the kids while we were at the conference. They spoiled the kids as much as they could in the 3 days they had with them, even including a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner the first night. They had a great time together.

We had 2 services in the Kansas City area on Sunday, and then we headed to Candy and Dan's house to spend some time with them. Dan is currently in a nursing home, and we went to visit him on Tuesday, and took him with us to Crown Center to visit the Crayola store. It was nice to be with our KC family for a few days, before we had to leave for Indy on Wednesday.

Elijah at the Crayola Store

We had a great flight to Indy, and a wonderful service on Wednesday. On Thursday, we got to see Peyton, Paige, Uncle Josh and Aunt Kris. We had so much fun - Peyton practically lived at gramma's house with us! Elijah had a blast playing with his cousins. Sydney didn't know where she fit in, because she's too small to play with the big boys, but she's too big to play with Paige. We'll figure that out later in life!

We went to Columbus on Friday and Saturday for the second work and witness conference, and enjoyed being with many Nazarenes that believe in Work and Witness. We hope to have made a few new contacts for our projects in Maxima Mision.

We had great services on Sunday, and couldn't believe that our time had come to an end, when Monday morning arrived. Elijah LOVED being on all of the airplanes that we took during this trip. In Dallas, they have a SKYLINK that is like a train, and he thought that his day was PERFECT, since he got to ride on a plane and a train on the same day. The kids were so good on the way and on the way back.

Sydney playing with the toys in the

Children's area at the Dallas airport

We are glad to be back in our own house, and playing with our own toys. Scott and Emily are deep into a missionary training, and we appreciate your prayers. We will have a busy 2 1/2 months to finish up lots of projects before we head back to the States for our real home assignment. Also, Sydney and Elijah have started on an antibiotic for sinus infections - please pray that they get better soon - it's starting to affect their sleeping patterns. Love to you all.

Elijah, Sydney and Rosa Alba (our new nanny)

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Scott, Emily, Elijah and Sydney

Our little evangelist

We have a funny story that we wanted to share with you all. A few days ago, Scott and I came home for lunch. Our new nanny starting telling us about the morning she had with the kids. She said that Elijah was telling her that Jesus lived in his heart, and he wanted to know if Jesus lived in her heart! He was explaining to her that the Jesus that lived in HIS heart was little, because he was little, and that the Jesus that lived in Scott's heart was big, because Scott it big. Our nanny is a Christian, so she told Elijah that Jesus lived in her heart, and he went on to tell her that her Jesus is big, because she's big. Then he asked her if she new the song Jesus Loves Me. She told him that she didn't know it, so he told her to listen to him sing it, so that she could learn it. She thought that it was so funny -we did too. We also think that it's pretty special that even a 3 year old can be bold enough to share his childlike faith - if only we were all that way!

Taking an idea from some friends (thanks Tricia and Jeremy!), we are going to start posting a "Funny saying from Elijah" every week (or at least whenever we have one). So, in honor of this new installment, we have the first one that he says often, and it makes us laugh everytime:

Funny Saying from Elijah:
"Excuse me...I just burped in my pants" - Elijah after "passing gas" :)

Love to you all. No picture this week, because I can't get it uploaded We are having professional ones taken when we are in KC next week - we'll be sure to post it! WooHoo! We'll be in KC and Indy next week! Can't wait to see family!

Scott, Emily, Elijah and Sydney

A good weekend

Hello! We just wanted to say that although our weekend was REALLY full, it was really good as well. We had our RAC interview, and we feel like it was really good. The members only asked us one question, and 3 of them had really positive feedback comments for us. We should find out in the next few weeks if we are invited to General Board, officially.

Sydney after "eating" a chocolate beater!

We also sang on Sunday morning for the special service that we had for the RAC committee members, and it turned out great. We spent the evening on Sunday with the kids, and just goofed around, since we didn't spend much "family" time together for the past week. Here are a couple pictures.

Missionary-style "Power Wheels" - Elijah pushed Sydney

around in this plastic tub for about 5 minutes,

before he pooped out!

What a group!

Camera Crazies

This is a blog for family - we were goofing around with the camera a few days ago, and we wantetd to send you the pictures. Hope that you all enjoy them. We love you lots.

Armstrong Bloggers

Hello!

We've finally moved into this century, and we are trying our hand at a blog spot. Lots of our missionary friends already maintain a blogspot, and we felt the need to "keep up with the Joneses"!

We are finally back at home for a period of time, before we start traveling again. We are working hard on writing a new VBS material and finalizing details and recruiting for our next "Jóvenes en Misión" project.

Scott celebrated his 29th birthday on August 18, and we had a wonderful family weekend to celebrate.

We have our RAC interviews on Saturday, Sept. 2 and we would appreciate all of your prayers. This interview will result in our invitation to participate in General Board interviews in February, 2007, with the possibility of being appointed at Global Missionaries with the Church of the Nazarene. We are excited at how far the Lord has brought us in ministry, and we are confirmed in our missions calls practically everyday.

The kids are doing great - We are still waiting for Sydney's first real words, and Elijah talks up a storm. We should probably be grateful that only one of them is talking our ears off! They are looking forward to spending a little time with Grandparents in September, when we are in the States for a few days to be a part of the Work and Witness conferences in Oklahoma City and Columbus, Ohio.

Thank you all for your prayers! We appreciate all of you very much. Que Dios les bendiga!

The Armstrongs