Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

We are writing this update with anxious hearts. Many of you have been praying for our visa situation for several months and we are so thankful for your prayers. David's has been approved, but Keri's and the kids' have not. We contacted the consulate Tuesday and they agreed to mail our passports back to us since we are leaving Monday (meaning Keri will have to return within 90 days and pick up her visa once it is approved. She and the kids can still travel to Spain as "tourists," until the 90 day limit is up). They sent our passports via overnight express mail Tuesday but the post office has no record of it being picked up and cannot locate the package. There's not much we can do at this point but pray and wait. Please pray with us about this situation. 1) that our passports will be found, 2) that the Lord will continue to work in our hearts to develop patience and perseverance.

We will update you as soon as we know more.

With much love and gratitude,

David and Keri Young

David's visa approved

Thank you to everyone who has been praying about our visas for the last three months. We just received word that David's visa has been approved. Keri's, Rachel's, and Mathis' visas have not yet been approved - please continue to pray about this. We are working with the headmaster at ECA to get their visas approved before we leave in August.

It's amazing how much stuff we have...

A few weeks ago, a couple of friends helped us move all of our belongings into storage. Almost everything that we own is stored in a 10x15x8 foot storage unit.




We have also packed most of our bags for transport to Spain. We are trying very hard to limit ourselves to 10 bags that we will take with us on the plane. We got a great deal on some large, blue, Hawaiian-print duffle bags. No one will mistakenly pick these up off the airport carousel!

These days have been overwhelming at times and joyful at times, full of anticipation about what awaits us in six weeks when we arrive at our new home in Spain juxtaposed with the sadness of saying goodbye to our home here in the States. We are so excited about the opportunity to serve with TCK's (Third-Culture Kids) and can't wait to be in full time ministry, while at other times thinking out loud, "we really have no idea what is awaiting us. It's probably going to be so much harder than we think." Yet we continue to trust that the Lord has so clearly paved the way for us to do this at this time in our lives. He has been faithful through every single tiny detail and every single gigantic obstacle. May the Lord be praised for his faithfulness to us and may we do our very best at a job we are unsure we are capable of, that it may glorify Him.