1st Engine arrived to mechanic & was HORRIBLE!!!! 2nd Engine ordered a month ago, NOW Parts STUCK IN CUSTOMS in Germany! There is fruit anyway...

6/25/22
On the 25th we moved into a sublet-ed room in a home in Scotts Valley, CA for a month, through July 24th, to give us somewhere to land while we wait for our van fix. We had NO IDEA how long things would take with our van. Two days after we arrived, our used engine arrived to our mechanic in extremely HORRIBLE condition. He said it was about the worst engine he’s ever seen.

So yesterday we bought ANOTHER engine this time one from the recommendation of our West Coast Sprinter van mechanic! This one is a re-manufactured engine, as close to new as you can get as they aren't even available from Mercedes any longer. Now we have two expensive engines ($4500 plus $7000= $11500 plus $2000 + installation.)We need prayers that the first company refunds our money and miraculously pays for the return shipping and an extra $200 for the mechanic to build a pallet for it as the original packaging was also in horrible condition with oil leaking everywhere and barely arrived in one peice! Please pray their management will be gracious to this request as typically they never pay the return. Skye said the manager is out for the week and THEY WON'T pay the return shipping. $1000 was Skye's first quote from a shipper to return it. YIKES!

Meanwhile the Fruit:

I harvested these plums,  some lemons and flowers from the property we are living on. The Lord is good and faithful in His promises.

We moved into a household of 3 other single adults that do not share our same gospel beliefs but are SO wonderful and open to us. Amazing!! They are so very welcoming, accommodating, sharing and curious about us as we are of them.  We made our roommates dinner the second day and had great conversations.

Tonight we were invited to have dinner again with them and one house-mate's wife (they are separated) as he thought she would appreciate and connect with us about our faith as she has a new found faith in Jesus.  We've been having so many great dialogs with each of them about what it is to follow Jesus, sharing joys, laughter, hardships and our different journeys.

There is also a married couple, that share our faith, that we met in a fellowship here, that really are struggling in their marriage and are open to Skye and I coming alongside them. Don't we all need others to encourage us in the journey of marriage? If we bring our hurts and confess our sins to Jesus, who bore it all for us on the cross (YES, THAT SIN TOO) we can be totally free. Only Jesus Christ can redeem our wounded hearts of stone and turn them to a heart of flesh, but we have to choose repentance which means to turn from the sin. Through baptism he washes us clean and then we can be filled with His Holy Spirit to live a life free from the bondage to sin. He came to set us free from sin and this is for everyone of us. Following His example of forgiveness, we can be free of the old hurts, memories and bitter roots which just destroy the joy and the peace we can have. Unforgiveness can literally make us sick and bring chronic anxiety which leads to overproduction of cortisol and adrenaline. I know Skye and I learned this the hard way and still are growing in how to be peaceful servants to one another.

God has a reason for us being here and a big part of it, I believe is our friendships with these two special souls! We have been engaging with them most days. She cut Skye's hair in the beautiful setting of the Redwoods on this retreat called Prayer Mountain we visited with her.

7/18/22

Fast forward almost a month now, we thought our re-manufactured engine was shipping to our mechanics the end of last week after being assembled and would be installed by next week. We found out today (the vulnerable last day of our 7 day juice cleanse/fast) that a part for it is being delayed in customs in Germany because of a FedEx strike happening there. Whoa God! Seriously?! You're up to something here. Thank you Lord that even in the challenges we can trust you. Even in the unknowns of leaving the rental house Sunday, that we are homeless and car less, you are faithful and have a good plan for us. Then, to top it off, when we went to do some prayer time away from the house we noticed Skye's bike tire was flat.  Challenging things always happen in life and the enemy Satan, wants to use these to induce fear and doubt.  Whether it's a flat tire, a blown engine or whatever it is, we need to depend on you God.

The time here in Scotts Valley, CA has been fruitful to say the least. Plums, peaches, apples, lemons from the yard, and much seeds have been sewn in the gospel and discipleship happening. Peaches are a real treat for me as they are one of my favorite fruits!! Whoa God!

We've been blessed by Kyle, our fantastic chiropractor here, sharing many testimonies of God and what He's currently doing in our life. We are thankful for his care of our bodies and openness to giving us generous help as he is a believer in Jesus too. I guess when you sleep on air mattresses and engines are being thrown around in the mix, shoulders can get tense!

One of our housemates, Elena, grew up Greek Orthodox and seems to express that many paths to God are valid. She’s open to Jesus and other mindsets as well and very sweetly opened to us. We’ve spent much time together. She’s a personal chef, who has helped me numerous times in the kitchen with creative projects like canning plum preserves from the small fruit orchard in the yard and making goat cheese.

And she inspired us with a beautiful juice fast/cleanse.  Right before we came here, we thought that'd be a great idea, and then a couple days after getting here, she shows us this amazing outline of fabulous juice recipes that she was going to start!! Only you God could have helped us in this way! Thank you Elena!!!

Our house-mate's wife, Shema, loves Jesus too and we’ve spent a meal all together and got together a couple other times for chats and a hike with the house dog Tank who we love very much! Look at those madrona trees!!!

We got together a few times with Erik Pulido, a brother in Christ we met through TLR. We met once in San Jose with his home church group a month ago and then again for a couple hikes near us. We took him to one of our favorite hikes and at the beginning of the hike we were passing by an altercation of sorts. A Dad, Tommy, and his two sons were stopped and the father was yelling “Do you want me to call 911?”  Gabriel (19) was apparently suicidal and homicidal. He had been hurting himself and scratched his neck pretty bad. Erik and Skye asked if they could pray and they all held hands and prayed.

Later as we walked away, we saw Gabriel hitting his own head VERY hard. We turned and walked back and Erik asked his Father if we could do deliverance with Gabriel. Erik led him in a prayer to ask Jesus to forgive him and set him free. We prayed for him powerfully over 10-15 minutes with hikers passing by as we were casting out the demons in Jesus name that have tormented him.

Through our prayers, both Tommy and Gabriel heard of Gods love for them and some gospel interwoven. Gabriel still had a glazed look but said he felt peace and didn’t have any bad thoughts now. He smiled too. PRAISE GOD!!!! Erik shared his contact with the father so they could hear the gospel and told him what was happening to his son was of a spiritual nature. They walked down the trail peacefully behind us. Praise the Lord!

Update on our friends we are coming alongside in their marriage:  we had a powerful time with them yesterday! We've spent a number of days with them together and individually sharing practically what God's been teaching us in our marriage, encouraging one another, and praying together. God is on the move!!! It's so cool God uses our weaknesses for His glory!! Yesterday, one of them was given words, scriptures and images from Jesus that He WAS present in some painful times she had. Praise you Lord that you do care about the most painful places in our hearts and you died for them so we can have FREEDOM & LIFE!!