First Two Weeks

It feels like these last two weeks have just zipped right by. Starting off, classes are going great. We are currently in Foundational Bible Teaching, Communication, Worldview Analysis, and Learning Styles. We just got back home from working on our group project for Learning Styles. We are creating a media presentation showing a conflict due to people having different learning styles. We will try and get some of the pictures we took up on the blog and explain some of what is going on.

I'm loving working over at the MKEC (Missionary Kid Care and Education Center) for my campus ministry. They will be training me to be a home school consultant. We have also discussed various other training opportunities for me. I look forward to learning as much as I possibly can from them. For my outreach I am volunteering at a Pregnancy Center. My team narrowed down each of our roles into pairs. My partner and I are going to ask them if they want to learn to sew. :) Please be praying as we build relationships with the moms and workers there; we will be visiting the center on Monday evenings.

John's campus ministry is grounds crew. His team takes care of the campus grounds. What a great crew! They were weed-whacking earlier this week. John came home exhausted, but his area looked great! On Tuesdays John will be doing his outreach with teens at a new center. Please be praying for him as he builds relationships with the teens.

The Klines, will be our staff mentors. We had dinner with them last Wednesday, and enjoyed catching up with them. They are good friends of John's parents when they went through Bible School. Rumor has it they were in John's parent's wedding! We look forward to spending time with the Klines while we are here as students.

Thanks so much for your love and support! It means so much to us to know that we have people standing behind us in prayer, and encouraging us to keep moving forward.

John and Amanda Strozewski <><

Visiting Uncle Bob and Aunt Raye

Wow What a great time we had visiting John's Uncle Bob and Aunt Raye! Most of the weekend was John and Bob heavily discussing hunting, while Raye and Amanda enjoyed getting to know each other. What a joy it was to sit back and relax. On Saturday they took us to the site where the initial point for surveys of the land, for the Louisiana Purchase. It was so interesting looking and reading about the science and history behind this particular area. If you look carefully by John's shoulder you may be able to see the gap in the trees that creates the base line for the surveys. It was also Amanda's first experience in a swamp. Praise God the mosquitoes were not as hungry as anticipated.

We also enjoyed the drive out and back. It was interesting to note the changes in the land. It was fascinating seeing all the ranches, and farms that would stretch for miles on end. One unusual thing we noticed, while driving out to visit Uncle Bob and Aunt Raye, were the number of buses parked in people's lawns. We entertained ourselves by coming up with theories about how they got there. Our favorite was that the bus drivers felt compelled to go off-roading and then got stuck. :P Who knows!? We also entertained ourselves by counting the number of "off-roading" buses. And the grand total was 20! Yay for random!

School starts soon!!!

So here we are 6ish days before school starts!!! I am super excited and John is getting there. What a blessing it was to take a year off but the teacher in me wants to get back into a classroom and learn. :P Silly I know. School here doesn't just contain classes, there is work detail, outreach, and E-link.

Work detail is basically a program that was established for students to help out around campus/ learn new skills. Students are asked to put in about 8-10 hours each week. I will be working at the MKCE (Missionary Kid Care and Education Center). I am excited to join the team of missionaries that currently work there. I can't wait to learn what they have to teach me. I will be trained later on this semester to be a home-school consultant. (Basically a go to person for homeschooling moms.) We aren't sure where John will be...he could request to be back on the construction crew, but he wants to see where they will put him. We will find out the first week of school.

Outreach is basically where students plug in helping out the local community. There are many different avenues in which people do this. Some women help out at the local pregnancy center, and other women to women ministry opportunities. There is a rehab center that a portion of the guys help out with. There is also a Young Life program out here that a number of students help. Plus a few more opportunities. Not sure where we are going to plug in just yet. We are waiting to hear about each of the different ministries.

E-link is a program where students/couples are partnered with a staff/couple. Basically a discipleship program. We are excited to see which couple we are partnered with!

Classes won't officially start for us until after the first week of starting up. We have a week of orientation. :P Not so excited about that but it's needed! Please be praying that we are patient during this particular week.


Other Prayer Requests:
-Our visit with John's Uncle Bob and Aunt Raye. They live in Tennessee and we are going for a short trip before school starts.
-We use our time wisely as students.
-Child Care: there is not enough staff to properly run it this year so all female students are to work one morning a week. Some of the students I have talked with thus far are very upset with this decision. Please pray for their attitudes! It's a great opportunity to serve our fellow student Moms.
-Our marriage would be Christ focused. One year down... so far so good! ;)

California

Vacation Bible School (VBS) was a blast. We had two days that were "scheduled" for us to speak and the other days we were "floaters." On Monday we jumped right in and filled in for a teacher who went home early. It was fun figuring out where and what we supposed to be doing with the third graders. The kids were great and just went with the flow. Tuesday we spoke to the kiddos and adults about languages and the importance of learning a culture. We were amazed at how attentive the kids were. On Wednesday, John stayed home due to a migraine, but I was able to fill in an open spot in the nursery. I enjoyed my time with them but was thankful when their parents came to pick them up. ;) Thursday we spoke once again to the kids and adults, and were amazed with how much they remembered. We were able to bring a few things from Brazil to show. They loved the bow and arrow! Friday was spend helping transfer pictures for a slide show presentation for the parents. What a joy it was helping out in different ways!

We have a prayer card made!!! The idea formed while helping out with VBS. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do and it helps as a reminder to pray for us. :) We are beginning to distribute them.

John and Amanda Strozewski <><

PS. We will be in Phoenix on the 10th of July until the 22nd of July. We look forward to catching up with family and friends in the area.

prayer

So here we are a week from taking a month long trip to visit family and friends in California and Arizona. Words can't explain how excited we are to see everyone. Please be praying for our time to be honoring to God. We are excited to share what God's been doing here and to hear what God's been doing there. Pray that we will be a blessing to those who have blessed us throughout out lives.

We fly out to Phoenix the morning of June 16 and then drive to California the following day. We then will be driving back to Arizona around July 10 and flying back to Missouri July 22. Praise God for the provision of tickets and a vehicle to borrow. Please pray for safe travels as we fly and drive this summer, look forward to seeing you all and God bless.

Stroze <><

Coming up

Only three more days left of this semester!!! What an exciting time it has been serving here at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) this semester. So what now... the semester is over. There is still a lot that needs to be done over the summer. MTC hosts a week long "Refresher Course" for all of the New Tribes Missionaries from the States. We will be helping the campus get ready.

Traveling is also a part of our summer. We are planning on visiting California and Arizona mid June through mid July! We are excited for another opportunity to reconnect with family and friends in the area. John will be traveling to Wisconsin the beginning of August. His buddy, Grayson, is getting married and has asked John to be a groomsman. :)

We will be students in the FALL!!! Starting in August we will be students, and go through the training! We are very excited! Please be praying as we begin preparing. One of the needs we are facing is purchasing another laptop. Amanda's laptop was getting extremely sluggish, so her sister Katie gave her her old one. Well Katie's old laptop is faster but it has a mind of it's own as it randomly shuts down. :( Not good. So we are working on looking into investing a more reliable laptop.

Life

Hello from Roach, Missouri! (The name of the town is priceless!) Seasons are changing once again, yet this state can't make up its mind. Last week was rather cold and this week has been very warm. Yay for Missouri weather!

Life in child-care has been a bit crazy this week. We were low on staff, due to sickness and other reasons. Chelle, one of the women I work with, took an emergency trip to visit her father in Florida on Monday. He is home with the Lord as of Thursday night. Please be praying for her and her family. Please also pray for all the ladies who work in child-care as this week has been difficult, due to it's abnormality. Pray that everyone will be refreshed this weekend and ready to begin a new week. (I found out next week will be a lot like last week. Please be praying for the ladies who are working and please don't forget the kids.)

Construction of the five-plex has been moving right along. We are just about finished with the wiring. Things have been moving fast it seems. I have been learning a lot that will help me serve better where-ever God has us in the future. I have really enjoyed learning everything. I am currently wiring the electrical panel for the last unit, the guys here that know the most, have been very willing to teach me anything I ask as we are going along. This has been a great learning experience. We just had the first 2 units rough in inspected and they passed with some minor alterations. We are praying that we can get the last three inspected by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. From there they will be insulated and dry walled, while we are finishing up the siding. Pray that we can stay focused on why we are here building so that others can train and learn here and go reach the unreached. We all have a part to play to further the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, some give, some pray, we build. Would you guys also keep in your prayers funding for the building projects here. God has been blessing us through and through, for this building, and as we move forward in planning for the new classroom building and more housing please pray for wisdom as that moves forward and the finances. Your prayers have been a real encouragement to me and Amanda as we serve here, thank you. If you could also keep in your prayers our goal, it is to get this built, so the new missionary students can live in them by August first. Please pray for continued safety on site.

There are four more weeks left in this semester here at the Training Center. Please keep the students in your prayers. Please pray they finish strong. Pray for adjustment as many will be leaving campus and serving others over their summer break. (There is one group that is headed to Indonesia.) Pray for the children here on campus as they know things are changing due to the parents packing up.

The end of the semester also brings transition even among the staff. Please be praying for people to fill in where others have stepped out. For example... us! It has been a joy serving here at the training center; however it is time for us to begin the training in the fall. That leaves one less person in child-care and one less person on the new construction crew. Please pray that God will bring people along to serve where we had served.