Wow, things are happening fast! We are moving six weeks from today. As of this morning, we have a signed contract on our house. A family from Forestdale whose home was destroyed in the tornado is going to buy our house. They are getting a good deal, and we are getting out from under our mortgage! We are excited to say the least. This has been the biggest hurdle to cross in getting to Texas. We were prepared to move even if it did not sell, but it would not have been very pleasant…
Most of you know we were planning on staying in one of the apartments on campus at To Every Tribe in Los Fresnos, Texas. AJ Gibson (one of the staff members) called me a few weeks ago and asked if we would be interested in renting a house close to the campus since we have three kids and our oldest, Sam, is 14. We expressed interest and he started looking for something for us to rent in our price range. Several leads fell through, but last week Tommi Sitton found a house for us. It’s a 3 bedroom, two bath garden home style house less than a mile from the To Every Tribe campus. It’s so much more room than we were expecting. The lease is signed and the security deposit has been put in place!
The timing for all of this is perfect although this does change the scope of our move quite a bit. Before, we were planning on moving into a fully furnished apartment. As it stands, we’ll need to take most of our furniture with us, as well as yard tools and such, to live in the rental house.
So far, it looks like we will close the week of July 11th, and turn our house over to the new owners on August 1st. The weekend of July 30th-31st we’ll be loading a U-Haul in Gardendale if anyone is bored. Then Monday morning August 1st, we’ll head out and arrive in Los Fresnos sometime the afternoon of August 2nd.
We have a lot to do between now and then not the least of which is selling my car. If you know of anyone interested in a 2005 G35 4 door sedan, 6 speed manual, with around 130K miles on it, let me know. I need $10,000 for the car. The Kelley Blue Book value is around $10,700 so that should be a good price.
All of this is leading up to school. I have not been in a formal school environment since 1995, so I’m not quite sure what to expect yet, but I am excited at the prospect of getting to soak up so much teaching on theology and missions. Ron Sanford, the Executive Director of the school, sent out a summer reading list this week. I have three books to read so far. Send me your thoughts if you’ve read any of these:
- Twenty Years Among the Mexicans by Melinda Rankin
- Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul Tripp
- The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman
I want to thank those of you who have already started supporting us through To Every Tribe. The money that has accrued in our account at TET is enough to cover the security deposit and the first and last month’s rent. We still need more financial support , and I am certain that God will continue to provide as we move forward. Our budget is still around $3,000 and TET has been reporting $600 a month for the last few months going into the account as of May 27th.
I know that a lot of people are praying for us and I want to thank you for that. Calls, emails, Tweets, Facebook, and text messages are all appreciated as well.
Continue to pray for us as we approach our closing and move dates. I am trying to finish up some projects at work, and it is very stressful. Pray that I will keep things in perspective and not take my frustration out on my co-workers. Pray for our kids as they say goodbye to friends and family for a season. Pray for Kandy and myself as we sort through this process that we would keep the end goal of taking the Gospel to those who have no other chance of hearing it in mind and not allow the frustrations of any given situation to boil to the surface.
You guys mean so much to our family, please stay in touch, and let us know how we can pray for you and your families as well.
Hopefully we’ll get to see most of you at least one more time before moving.
May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always,
Jeremy, Kandy, Sam, Olivia, and Everett
Sanders Party of Five 