4 Thornes in Malaysia

It's hard to believe that on January 6 we will board a plane and head to Malaysia. At times these last 6 months have dragged...but now we feel like someone hit the fast-forward button! Bob travelled to Penang a few weeks ago and found us a great apartment to live in. Given that Josh has slept on the living room floor for the last 5 months, you can imagine that he's pretty excited to have his own room! The apartment has a good kitchen, much-needed air conditioning and ceiling fans in all the rooms. It also looks like it will work really well for hosting groups of people as we get to know new friends in Penang. We're so thankful for the many people Bob met in Penang who assured us of their prayers for our whole family and their excitement as they look forward to our arrival. We're thankful that Rachel will be able to play on the school volleyball team after Christmas. We're thankful for the great school that Dalat appears to be and all the neat experiences it seems th...

...but we're not there yet! We hope to leave the cold, wintry weather of Calgary, Alberta and head to hot and sunny Penang, Malaysia in the first week of January, 2009. I intend to use this blog to share our journey...the highs and lows...the funny cultural adjustments (and maybe the not-so-funny ones)...and most importantly the ways that God allows us to partner with Him in serving with the Penang International Church. We are excited about this new chapter of life! This last year has been one of hearing from God, listening (and, unfortunately, sometimes not listening) to Him as we began to sense His leading into a new adventure, and then a rollercoaster of emotions as we: travelled to Malaysia to interview with the church and accepted their call to be their Pastor sold our house and 90% of our belongings moved into a tiny 813 square foot condo finished five years of leadership of North Point Community Church We've completed most of the paperwork, started all of our immunizatio...