A Time to Celebrate!

The week of Wes's wedding was chuck full of partys and playing. I don't think there was a night I got to bed earlier than 12am from Monday on. First off we had a dual Xbox/Halo/Reach all-nighter bachelor party! The 52in Tv dwarfs a usually big 36in. Staying up playing Halo is my kind of party! Loved it more than Wes, I guess cause I won more often:)

Then we had another bachelor party since the Halo night was pretty spontaneous, this one had been planned by (my sister) Tamara. We went to an awesome amusement park out in Glenwood Springs. The swing was my favorite, but not Mallo's favorite though, by the look on his face! At the end of our time there we got the chance to bless Wes one last time as a single man! Then it was on to the Golf course where we had an 18-hole round before the wedding rehearsal; never done that before! This was one of the best times of the week! I did 2 of my best hits on the 18th hole!

Then the wedding, it was beautiful and elegant just like a movie. Loved every bit of it! The dance party at the end was the best one I have ever been a part of, sorry no pictures I was dancing! Sad that the week is over. Now I am back to work!!

God Bless,
Arls

Vollyball Tournament

My brother Wes and my nephew Kaiser.

It couldn't have been more perfect volleyball conditions. Cloudy most of the day with the air dead still. The morning consisted of a 6 team pool which means we played 5 games from 9:30 till about 1pm. We won all of them, only one game against a team was close but it made it more fun having to play under the pressure of a loss looming in your sights. Then, since we were the first seed in our pool of 6 teams we got a bye or got to skip the first round of play in the tournament. How they do it in Steamboat is the top 2 teams from each pool, there were 3 pools in our division, move on to a single elimination tournament. So by about 4pm we got to play our first tournament game which was the semi-finals, since we got that bye. Then for the finals we played a tall Minnesota team, brothers just like Wes and I. They were good players but half way through our second game one of them sprained his ankle and so the rest of that game he was limping around and in doubles it makes it a piece of cake to win when one guy is handicapped. We were able to win every match without a loss! It was awesome for me to be able to play with my bro one last time before I head out to China. I am expecting to be in China a long time and don't know if I'll ever have the opportunity to play with him again so that was a highlight for me to be able to do that.
 

High five!

 Now it's the wedding week. We have already had a shower for Wes and Em, and a bachelor party for Wes this last week. This week we will have another bachelor party for Wes on Thursday and then rehearsal on Friday, then Wedding. It's amazing that this weekend is their wedding already....seems like yesterday I was thinking about how far away it seemed while I was in Kyrgyzstan. Also my best friend John Horn is getting married on the same day!! It will be a long day filled with joy. After the weddings, my plans are to work for my dad as usual, and my flight to China leaves on the 13th of Aug. So I will be here for another 3 weeks after the weddings. I am stoked and slightly nervous about moving to China, different lifestyle and just a completely different life for me while I'm there. I am looking forward to it.

Mom, Dad and Kaiser came to watch.

Family and a Fund Raising Yard Sale

 It has been a busy week getting ready for the China Support Yard Sale! I have been working around the house, in the house and even under the house! I found every kind of seemingly useless odds and ends to try to sell. Some friends of mine have also been very generous in giving me things to sell, anywhere from new clothes to furniture! Also, as this all goes on, I have been working on getting my China visa sent out to an embassy, since one of the guys I have sent to before couldn't take mine at this time I have to go through a different agent, which is taking me longer than I thought to get all the documents together. 

I just bought my ticket to China as well. It's sad for me to go through so much money. Having seen the Lord provide before though, gives me hope that it will happen again! This has also been a blast seeing my nephew Kaiser all grown up! 3 yrs old and so much fun. I have been "distracted" many times this week and just had to go play for a while:) He has even been helping me with my yard sale a bit....cleaning my bike and just hanging out as I organize stuff. He almost turned the water sprayer on Gramma this afternoon, but I guess he decided the cost was too much:)

Arls, God Bless

Family Reunion and Wedding!

 My sister Tamara and her son Kaiser came home a week early and surprised all of us, now we're all together for Wes' wedding!

My New Office

Hey this is where I am sitting and doing my updates:) Nice coffee shop! Really good frappes.

God Bless,

Arls

Mountain Top Experience

Last week we went to the high security prison with a couple friends who are with a local Church. While we were there we went to the cage where the life-term criminals are kept. They have a big house and courtyard that is surrounded by a cage. They have a bunch of woodworking tools and make local Kyrgyz board games with the tools. While we were talking with them in our stumbling Kyrgyz, our friend came up and helped us translate for them since he knew quite a bit of English. 

I asked Lucas to give a short message. Which is always fun when your leader asks you to do something unexpected right on the spot! He told a bit of his testimony which was very relatable to those in the prison since he had gone through some really tough times. Afterwards they had a time to pray to God and ask for His forgiveness and salvation! There were about 8 men who prayed with us. It was an amazing opportunity and a beautiful time of seeing men who have been doing some really horrible things, look to the Lord for forgiveness. Just getting a little spark into their lives to follow the only One who is worthy of our praise. Afterwards we got to play an intense game of volleyball! In which us foreigners got crushed! A couple of the other guys were pretty good players! Then we came back to the church in the prison and gave a short message for those who were in the church. I think that a few of the people there were not believers because the church is an open invitation to anyone in the prison and you can come and go as you please. So we sang some worship songs with them and then I gave a short message inviting them to accept Christ's sacrifice and come into God's family with me. I told them that we would have a party in Heaven and I would like to see them all there.

Zach and Lucas gave short messages as well, going along with mine, about forgiveness and intimacy with Jesus.

 It was sad leaving, knowing I may never come back to those guys. I pray that God will strengthen them every day and give them revelations of His love to share with the others who believe and those who do not in the prison.

Jalalabad was special. Three days we were in this beautiful little town in southern Kyrgyzstan. Time flew by. This town is much more open and a lot friendlier than Bishkek has been. While there we got to go up on the hill above the city and have a worship time with the Kona team that has been there since the beginning of April. We were very excited to get to hang out with them and pray over the city and each other. While there we got to have the Kona team and the local Jalalabad team pray for us. It was very encouraging. The last day there, we were invited by an English discussion group, we had one afternoon, to go on a hike. It was a 6am hike! We went up on the hill and ate some delicious plov that one of the girls made for us! I had the opportunity to share a bit about Jesus with one of the guys on the walk back to our apartment as well, which was really encouraging since we don't have that chance very often in Bishkek with the people we know. 

Now we only have 1 week till we are home. I have been looking forward to come home and at the same time I am slightly anxious as well. While I am home I only have a short time to get ready to head out for China. It will be a good time though, to prepare for my life outside the states. I will be looking for more opportunities to raise support for moving to China a lot. I need to raise my monthly support by about 300$. I will be hosting a garage sale the first week I am back to raise more money and also looking to work with my Dad or someone around Montrose for support during my month and a half stay before I fly to China. I am planning on flying out around the 7th-10th of Aug.

 

A Little News

Bishkek has gone through two revolutions in four years. This picture is of Victory Square, in the middle is the national emblem of the top of a yurta, a tent the nomadic people live in. If you look at the flag you'll see the design etched in the middle of the sun on a red background.


On our hike up to the waterfall a couple weeks ago a funny thing happened that I won't soon forget. Sitting atop a boulder eating snacks, when suddenly a herd of horses ran by, about 20 horses running free! I am sure they are not wild horses but it's about as close you can get to wild. They must pasture them in the foothills of the mountains in Spring. It was a spectacular sight.


One of the people we are helping here is a lady named Sarah, she has taken nine foster kids into her home. She is an amazing woman of God. We have been going twice a week to either get the kids out of the house or to help dig trenches for a bath house. They currently only have an outhouse for a toilet, so we are hoping to dig a septic hole for a bathroom in their house.


Last week we went up to the mountains to help with a conference for the different teams in Kyrgyzstan, we had child care! It was a great blessing for the parents to be able to have the whole time just to themselves without worrying about their kids. It was a challenging but blessed time of trying to keep eleven kids in line and focused, but still having fun!