Where did December go?

Wow, time sure is flying by! I can't believe we have been here for almost 2 months now!  We are settling into our assignment and new schedule and absolutely LOVE working in the carpentry department.  We have done something different every day we have worked, so we are learning, keeping busy and having fun, while still getting a lot accomplished. 

Here are some pictures of the carpentry shop at Tuxedo:

 

Me and Gregg have been mostly working with a crew that works on projects at Warwick.  Everything from building stairs and decks, to constructing sheds for inspectors.  Most of the things we are building are being used for the construction going on right now, and will be gone eventually, but it all has to get done  :)  

 

 

Me, Gregg, and Tristy standing in the town inspectors shed our crew built.

 

 

  

 

 

 

We love it here!

I am looking out the window at 2-3 inches of snow, and we are expecting 3 or so more inches this weekend!   We are definitely not in Georgia any more Todo! :)  We are loving it though.  Yesterday at Tuxedo, me and Gregg went hiking during our lunch break with a couple from the carpentry department.  It was beautiful!   It seems like there are hiking trails everywhere we look.
 
Here are some pictures we took while hiking and geocaching with a family from our congregation, Mike, Holly, Jack, and Kendra.
 
 

 

 

 

Looking for the geocache

 

Found it! It was a magnet with a tiny rolled up scroll of paper you wrote your name on.

 

Duke :)

Don't fall Gregg!

 

 



 

An assignment!

We got a call tonight letting us know that our temporary Bethel applications have been accepted and that there is a need for both of us at Warwick!   

All the details we know now are that we report for orientation on Sunday at 1pm., and our first day of work is Monday in the carpentry department.

We are feeling Malachi 3:10 so much in our lives right now.  When Jehovah sees you making sacrifices, he certainly blesses until there is "no more want".  The blessing and privilege of being able to work on the world headquarters project is beyond anything we thought we would ever get to do, so we are appreciative of any time we get to work there, even if it is only two months (but hopefully longer :) )

5 week update

Wow, time has flown by.  It's hard to believe we left Towne Lake over a month ago.  So what have we been up to the past 5 weeks? Well...after the Annual Meeting (which I will have to write a separate post about!  I mean...how exciting and incredible was it to be a part of history? and how much are you loving your new Bible??) and our Circuit Assembly the following weekend in Georgia, we left for a two week trip to spend time with my family before our move. 

First stop: Columbia, SC. 

 Granddad and Grandmom Arnold with me and Gregg

Granddad and Grandmom with the grandkids

 

 

We had a great time spending time with family, going out in service, and eating mom's cooking!!  No joke, I literally gained 5 pounds...and I'm not even upset about it.  It was worth every bite!

 

After we left South Carolina, we drove 9 hours down to Port Charlotte, FL to spend a week with my dad. 

 

The pier in front of dads house. 

You can actually see my dads house all the way on the left.  Not a bad view!

 

 

We went to the beach, went in service, and put his back porch to good use. :)  It was a great time! 

 

After we left Florida, we head back up to Atlanta to pack up the car.  The day we got back also happened to be our 6 year anniversary, so how sweet of Gregg's family to put together an anniversary dinner for us! 

 

That's an ice cream cake! Does my family know me or what??

Our nephew Ethan and us

 

 

It was nice to have a couple days to pack up everything.  The car filled up quick! Good thing Gregg is good at puzzles :)

 

 

So off we went on our 16 hour drive up to NJ.  We left on Friday Nov. 1, and were picking up keys to our apartment on the 2nd.  We decided to break the drive up into two days since we had been doing so much driving lately. 

 

 

 

We started getting excited when we began seeing mountains

 

 



So where are we living? Well...we scratched the whole RV idea due to the fact that a camp site cost $1,000 a month (Yup. That's right! and no...that doesn't include the camper!!) and started looking for an apartment.  I got a text from some friends we have in Bethel, and they told us about an apartment that would be available 9 miles from the Warwick jobsite, and it was fully furnished.  It was the answer to our prayers.   It was currently rented by a couple who had been accepted to Bethel for 3 months and was going to be available November 1st  (perfect timing!)  and it was around $200 less than anything else we had found. I called them right away, and via emails and texting we worked everything out.  Just one more thing that we have left in Jehovah's hands and has completely worked out...even better than we could have imagined.  So we are living in Wanaque, NJ, and I must say it is just beautiful here.

This is the road we take to the Kingdom Hall. Such a pretty drive!

The Kingdom Hall we go to.  Ringwood and West Milford Congregations meet here.

First day in service!

 

 

So, maybe you are wondering...what is our assignment? What have we been doing for the two weeks we have been here?  Well, we haven't heard anything about our temporary applications yet.  We are in the process of submitting our commuter applications, and also getting involved with the local RBC so that we can work on local Kingdom Hall builds, but in the meantime, we have been doing lots and lots of preaching.  We are enjoying pioneering together for the first time... it is truly an amazing experience.  The congregation is so loving and has been so welcoming to us, and made us feel right at home! 

 

 



 

 

  



  

Headed north for the winter!

So, we are headed North for the winter...Somewhere around Tuxedo/Warwick,NY to be exact. It's a small town about 45 minutes north of New York City, NY. Lack of rooming is a bit of an issue at the building project...so we are bringing our own rooming. That's right everyone! Right now we are on the market for an RV. Let the adventure begin! We are both super excited! Looks like we will be leaving in two weeks to visit my dad in Florida, and then my mom in South Carolina, and then head up, arriving in New York around November 1st. Just in time for cold to set in...

We will let you all know how the hunt for a home on wheels goes!

While I'm writing I thought I would include a picture of the couple who really encouraged us to do more in our service, to regular pioneer together, and to think about things like moving to another country, or learning another language. They are an amazing example of sacrifice, and two people who are always looking to do more...even after they reach a goal, they just set another one. They just got back from being in Ecuador for 9 months and we are loving getting to spend some time with them. We will always be grateful to them for their friendship and we can't wait to see what the future holds for them. :)

Goodbye :(

We can't say thank you enough to Gregg's family for the going away party they had for us.  They put so much time and effort into getting so many people that we love and care about all together in one big room before we had to leave.  Every day me and Gregg are getting more and more excited about the move to NY, and hoping and praying that we hear something about our applications.  We are moving with a lot of "unknowns", but we just keep reciting Matt. 6:33 over and over in our heads and we know that everything is going to work out just fine as long as we put Jehovah first.  The best part is that we get to do this together :)

 

 Here are some pictures from the party:  

 

 

Gregg's parents and us. Love them!

 

Gregg's sister Renee, husband Virgil, and our nephew Ethan.

 

Jess and my nephew Connor.

Sisters and mom :)

Love these two gorgeous ladies!

 

Adorable kids!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where are we going?

That has been the question on our minds for the past 4 months. Many prayers and many conversations with family and close friends have surrounded this topic.

Are we moving to Ecuador? Will we need to learn a new language? Will we get our visa's in time? Or are we moving to New York? and doing construction on the new world headquarters? Two totally different directions. Two totally different courses of action that need to be taken to get there...not to mention two TOTALLY different wardrobes! but in the end, the final destination is pretty much the same...doing our all to serve Jehovah. And embarking on an exciting new chapter in our lives at the same time! So honestly, we decided a long time ago that we would truly be happy no matter where we ended up.

In the beginning of the year, we were certain that our plan was to move to Ecuador. By May, we wern't so sure. All this talk about the construction project in Tuxedo, and Warwick, NY sounded exciting and right up our alley. We needed to check this option out too. So we went up to NY in July with the RBC and volunteered for a few weeks, and loved it! We put in our Bethel application and it has been a bit of a waiting game since then.

My (Sarah's) last day at work is September 30th, and so our plan was to leave shortly thereafter...but...as of the 17th we still hadn't heard anything from Bethel...so it was looking more and more like we were moving to Ecuador. But something was telling us not to give up on NY yet. So, Gregg called a brother he met while volunteering, that is an overseer over the project and got to ask him some questions about the application process, what type of applications are being accepted right now, the housing situation, etc. Basically we got the answers we needed to make a decision one way or the other.

So...we do in fact know where we are moving now!!!! There are still some technical things to work out, but Jehovah never fails to amaze me with how things just fall into place at the right time, so I have no doubt that they will in this instance too. We don't have an exact moving date yet, but we will keep you all posted.