Hey everyone,

It has been a whirlwind of a month. This is how we live. I believe every time that I write you Jeff is either beginning or ending a quarter. This time he is finishing his winter quarter. Everything has to be turned in before we board the plane Friday night. With much hope, it will all be done by Friday morning so he can rest a little bit. But please be praying for him as he finishes these last 2 papers.

We are excited to be able to see all of your wonderful faces in Georgia next week!  We get in (too)early Saturday morning and we leave Monday after Easter. We are trying to see as many people as we possibly can during our week so if you are interested in getting together please let us know! That is why we are coming! 😀 You can call us or email us at thecardells@gmail.com

We had a prayer time this past Saturday here in Pasadena and it was so encouraging! Thanks to everyone who was able to come over and pray for Romania with us. Truly a blessing! We are excited to have two more prayer times while we are in Georgia too. We are having a prayer night in Marietta area at Mt. Bethel UMC. It is from 7-9 pm Wednesday, the 27th  in room B116. We will also be having a prayer time in Sharpsburg/Peachtree City area at The Bridge from 6:30 – 8:30pm on Thursday, the 28th. (that is a week away!) Whether or not you are a member of Mt. Bethel or FBCPTC, if you are in the area we would love to have you come over and pray with us. We are so excited to catch up with your lives, pray with you, and share with you how the Lord is leading us. Hope to see you all there! (*you can click on the links to find the addresses)

We are still behind on our support raising, but honestly, what I am more yearning for is people to join us on this journey in prayer and support. We have encountered so many people who want to live in the short term (we do live in check list nation), but we need/desire people to be praying for us and encouraging us in a long term relationships. I believe once we have more people in this active long term relationship with us, then the Lord will provide the finances. Please keep praying for financial support with us but also for the right people to connect with us who are interested in investing in the Romanian people with us.

So what has been happening with us this month?

March 7th, Jeff and I celebrated being together for 5 years! I can’t wait til that is 5 years of marriage but it still feels like a big deal. At times I feel like we haven’t been together that long and then at the same time, that we have known each other forever. We went to Pasadena Art Night to celebrate and we had a blast. We went to Lineage Performing Arts Center, which is a dance studio that puts on performances to raise awareness and money for a different non-profit every month. It was contemporary dance and it was so moving and absolutely beautiful. They also had a live artist, Chris Pierce, who has a very soulful sound. After dinner we had ice cream sandwiches from a food truck. Eat from food truck before we leave LA : Check.

Jeff has been doing great with school, and like I said earlier, he is finishing this quarter. Only 2 more quarter left! Next month he is starting his practicum with the Office of Urban Initiatives with Fuller. He will be working with people living in homelessness. He also has one class next quarter which sums up all his classes that he has taken so far.

My jobs are going well. My little girl is crawling faster than I can keep up, pulling up on everything, and teething. Please pray for my other family with the little boy that I watch. His dad was laid off, with hundreds of others (how the “industry” works), and he is currently looking for work. My little boy is talking so much more now and I don’t know what I am going to do when it is time to leave him. (Don’t tell anyone but I might have to take my little man with us.)

My class is finished now too. It was the most amazing class and so helpful. Every single week correlated to what was preached at church that Sunday and what we have been going through in the process to the field. So many feelings and emotions and guess what they are all normal. I am excited to finish reading the text books and share what I have learned with Jeff.

We also signed up for MTI (Missions Training International)! So in August we will be in Colorado to go through their training for cultural competency and language acquisition. We are so excited to learn more, but even more excited to be in Romania soon!

Love you all!

Ps. Georgia friends: see y’all soon!

Lauren