No hazy, lazy summer days here!

Dear friends,

Tubing down the Little Spokane River by our neighborhood.

Tina, enjoying life...She tends to do that ALL the time!

You think this shadow is scary? You should have seen the real thing! "Black girl hair" is something we have learned a LOT about in the last two years! It is a LOT of work!

Greg and Adjua enjoying a respite during our hike around Brown's Lake in WA.

Into August already! I 've seen very little rain for weeks and the weather is perfect here in Spokane. We have taken Adjua and her two friends both tubing and camping and have had a lot of fun doing it. It was Tina's first "real" camping trip! And Greg gave swimming lessons to them when we were tubing. Tina is from Maloui and Miriam is from Kenya. We enjoyed hearing their stories, hiking, seeing a bear from the car, making som'ors and playing cards. In general- making great memories!

Laura is back in the States since her time in Israel came to a close. She is with Jenni right now and will be here at the end of next week. We haven't seen her since Christmas, so we are excited! She has lots of stories to tell and decisions to make.

Jenni is in her new home and has the house full- people-wise. Late last week her roommate was found. She is from Portland and just graduated from a Christian college. She is a perfect fit for Jenni and they are excited. It was miraculous how the Lord brought them together. Jenni has been fixing plumbing and getting settled while she waits for her job to start. She needs to start work soon as she has gone through almost all of her savings. She applied at Starbucks last week.

Jesse is learing scuba diving and is really enjoying it. He is almost done getting certified and remarked that it was nice to do something that he could pass the test on without so much difficulty! That's my boy! 

Allison is still working hard at her nanny job. The boys are very sweet and the 19 month old can work and iPhone and is recognizing words when she reads to him.

My Reunion

Last month I went to my 35th high school reunion. It was a neat time and my thanks to Mitch and all who took part in planning the whole thing. I enjoyed re-meeting many old (not old!) classmates and their spouses and seeing several friends from my growing up years. How fun! Here are Nancy and Joyce.

One unfortunate thing that happened is that I fell and broke some toes- 3 breaks. The good news is no concussion and no foot cast. Gradually my foot is healing, but I think I re-injured it several times while camping with Greg last week. One bend the wrong way on a root or rock and ouch! Here it is a few days after I hurt it. The swelling was way down by then. I need it to get better before I go to Asia in late Sept. because I will be doing lots of walking and standing! I broke my other little toe last year before my trip to Asia. I don't want to make this a habbit!

I also got to see my mom and brother in Bath, NY for several days. It was good to be there. We got a chance to catch up and visit and talk about the future... And go to the ER to get me checked out. My cousin just happened to be working that day, so it was nice to see her! Thanks Mom and Scott. And the S's for loaning me a great car!

Greg and Me in ID last week

Greg hadn't taken a break for months, so last week we took 4 days and headed for the mountains. It was a fun time to off road camp together. We enjoyed the quiet, nature and swimming in rivers. We also saw 2 moose in one day- in separate places! Here they are, a grown female and a baby. We also saw a mother and twin fawns in a stream. Ahhh.

Here is one of our camping spots, and right beyond it is this 6' deep swimming hole in the river, which we had all to ourselves. It was cold but refreshing! No rangers, fees or neighbors!

While hiking on this path, I heard a huge crashing sound behind us. When we went back the other way, we found this huge tree that had fallen across the trail seconds after we had walked by there. We really sensed the Lord's protection! Someone told us we should go buy a lottery ticket! (We didn't.)

What is happening with our ministry situation?

Well, we are still waiting for our provision miracle from God. We still believe He loves us and has a plan. No one said it would be easy in this life. So we are riding out the surf of this unexpected wave.

We only have a fraction of what we need to pay our bills, let alone, do ministry. Opportunities are coming our way and we are turning them down for the time-being. My Asia ticket is already purchased, so that will happen, by God's grace. But opportunities after that are on hold. We only have 35-40% of our support pledged between now and the end of the year. We got no paycheck in July and will only get 40% in August and the remaining months of the year unless others join our ministry team, or we have some other miracle. 

I feel like I am married to George Bailey- the best guy in town, but although everyone loves and respects him, they don't realize he(we) are in trouble. We still have 1/2 of our townhouses to fill up before school starts at Moody in 2 weeks. The leadership there believe we will filll them, but Wow! This time of trusting is really stretching us.

We have never defaulted on any payments, so this is a very strange place for us to be. Our fridge is broken so we are using a borrowed one out in the garage. I stopped taking vitamins and am only doing limited chiropratic and other medical things. We just did not anticipate being in this spot. (See last blog entry.) Prayers and creative ideas would be greatly appreciated. It is obvious that in this economy raising support is extremely difficult. Even after almost 3 decades of living within this model, we are struggling. We feel that we have a lot to contribute, but without our salary in place, we are like a sailboat with no wind. Pray that the wind of the Holy Spirit would fill our sails both spiritually and practically. We want to learn what the Lord has to teach us during this time.

Unlike George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life, Greg's spirits are high. He is taking 2 hours a day to spend with the Lord and is optomistic and confident. I know in my head and need to trust with my heart. God is faithful. I am being very honest here. Bear with me as I pass through this time. I am looking forward to looking back and seeing what happened with all of this. I will testify! I already have much to testify about, so consider me a grateful daughter of the King.

We would love to be praying for you too. Let us know how you are!

P.S. When Greg and I were walking tonight, he reminded me that as we pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world, why would we think we deserve so much more as a standard than they do? Then we talked about living in a tent somewhere. There are worse things. If I would loose my joy in the Lord in this situation, shame on me! Putting it into perspective, makes it easier to be less stressed. Thanks for your prayers. It really is so small compared to what other friends are going through.

God bless- Nancy Fritz    nancyfritz@aol.com  Email me if you'd like to receive our newsletters.