wow time flies and my poor lil blog never keeps up! A lot has happened since i've last posted..both very painful, and very exciting.. on November 6th my L.A. mom was tragically killed in a car accident, it was a horrible shock… Rachel was an amazing woman. I wrote this soon after it happened in remembrance of her.

Rachel Witmer

When I think of her a flood of thoughts and memories rush into my mind. Moving to Los Angeles in January of 2010 I was a young man in trouble. I was still reeling from the pain of losing mom and moving in with the Witmer family was exactly what I needed. I needed a mom. One that could love on me, correct me, guide me. And that is exactly what I got from Rachel. There were many nights where just the two of us stayed up long into the night doing a puzzle, talking, whatever. She really treated me as a son. When I was sick she would go way out of her way to help and care for me. She worried over me. She made my lunches and did my laundry, She was so hospitable to everyone she met, so gentle, so caring, and loving, She truly was an incredible woman of God.

    All that makes saying goodbye that much harder. As the tears flow down my face, my heart is screaming, “why, God why?”  How could you do this to my “family,” - to me?!  I know You are good, but do You care? Really care that this breaks my heart? In the days and nights ahead when I sob myself to sleep are You there? When I ache to hug and talk to her, and she’s not there, do you feel the pain? DO YOU GOD?!”

    My thoughts go to the song that helped get me through the pain of losing mom, and now Rachel, It goes:

   Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?
 Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares,
 His heart is touched with my grief;
 When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
 I know my Savior cares.

Does Jesus care when my way is dark
With a nameless dread and fear?
As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
Does He care enough to be near?  Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks—
Is it aught to Him? Does He see? 

Though there is still a lot of questions and pain, its so comforting to know the He is in charge and DOES care! If you think of it please remember to continue praying for the Witmer family as they continue adjust to life without their wife/mother!

The Lord provided amazingly cheap ticket so dad, Sharilee and I were able to go to Colorado and be there for the funeral and also Rachels son, and my good friend, Asher's wedding. After returning to Thailand, we finished up the last semester of IGo before I had the incredible opportunity of visiting Egypt for ten days. I absolutely loved the trip! We had lots of touring and sightseeing mixed in with meeting many local Christians. I was so blessed to met them and see their faith and how bold they are despite the many pressures and persecutions again them. Heres one picture of the team I went with, if you'd like to see more I did put more on Facebook.

After wrapping up our final IGo term my family took a vacationing trip to southern thailand. We were at a beautiful Christian retreat for a couple days. It was wonderful!

Caden adored the monkeys and loved feeding food to them :)

 dad, de, and I kayaked out to a island a couple miles away...after almost capsizing a couple times and a few sore muscles we made it back :)

On my final day in Thailand my brother took my zip-lining in northern thailand for the day. it was so much fun and great just to spend one last day with him!

After once again flying the long flight back over here to america (the 22nd time i've done the 13 hour flight) to where I am now, still barely struggling with the effects of jet lag. Its been wonderful reconnecting with my friends and family here again, and being here for Jesse and Charissa's wedding…after like 20 years of liking each other it was about time they got married :)

Ice fishing for the fourth time...i think it'd be one of my favorite things to do if it wasn't always so frigid :) i guess thats why they call it "Ice" fishing

 some of my favorite people! :)

I'll be here for another week before heading out to Washington where I will be starting a new phase of life and hopefully helping to further God's Kingdom out there in Newport, WA. I'd appreciate prayers as I make this adjustment. I'm very excited about it and yet there is a lot of unknowns as well.