We're ready to go! (video)

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Bryce National Park: Top 10 Photos

September 5, 2016:

I'm in Minnesota visiting my sister and her family.  The other day we saw the latest Imax national parks movie, in which Bryce Canyon was one of the parks featured (none of the Washington parks were even mentioned: dissed!).  I now am inspired to finally post the Bryce Canyon pictures that I took when we visited there this April!  It's always a challenge to narrow it down, but here are my favorite 10 of those photos.  For the rest, visit the Flickr album here.

Bryce Canyon National Park reaches 9000 feet elevation, and there was still some snow in April

Jenneka, of course, took this photo

The trails were pretty busy, but I liked capturing some activity here, especially the horses.

That's me.  My nephew Ender asked how I climbed this cliff.  Admittedly, I didn't.  It doesn't look like a good idea.

Back at our KOA cabin.  We like KOA cabins.

And a bonus photo.  Horseshoe Bend isn't in Bryce National Park, but I was super excited to finally see it.  It wasn't the right conditions to get a good photo, and I should be using a lens hood to prevent the flare, but it's a stitched panorama of Horseshoe Bend!  I have to share it.

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A Summer Update for you

Looking forward to giving you glimpses like this of our life in Tanzania, very soon!

(My apologies that the video isn't the best, but hopefully as I practice more I'll get better.)

Love,
Jenneka

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Phoenix Air Show: Top 5 photos

May 10, 2016:

The Phoenix Air Show happened to be happening on the same weekend Jenneka and I were in Phoenix visiting our friends Ben and Joanne.  I always loved air shows, having grown up in Yakima, WA, back when there was an annual air show with the Navy's Blue Angels visiting.  In Phoenix here we got to see the Air Force Thunderbirds.  Below are five of my favorites of the photos.  To see the rest of the set on Flickr, go here.

It was difficult to take satisfying photos of the planes on display, because of the great hordes of people, who liked to take shelter under the wings (sounds very biblical!).  These are the tail fins of an F-15 Eagle, which was my favorite plane when I was a kid.

My dad used to fly an F-4 Phantom, which is one of the coolest jets of all time.  I had to get a picture with one.

We were dazzled by the USAF Thunderbirds, who fly F-16s

This pilot was flying horizontally, even though the plane is angled up.  It was amazing skill!

The B-17 Flying Fortress "Sentimental Journey" with a Thunderbirds flyby.

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Some pictures from our travels ... and we're back in Seattle!

Feb. 2, 2016:

If you get our newsletters, you heard about our recent travels to Minnesota and Ontario, and back again to Seattle! (We're getting good at travelling and packing hehe)

We loved Christmas in Minnesota (even though we didn't get very much snow)! We celebrated James' birthday with the Walden family too. We were so grateful for time spent with them.

Celebrating James' birthday with homemade blackberry pie

Then we took the Megabus from MN to Detroit (that was an exciting experience! and we made our connections by several miracles). We celebrated my mom's birthday and New Year's with my ever-growing family. See the picture below .. we sure fill up our living room!

New Year's Eve with the Szmiett family side

I was excited to show James around my former home, church, and alma mater in Ottawa, Ontario. However, I realized he doesn't know some important Canadian history so I've since got a book to fill him in :)

Chilling (literally) in Ottawa

Having fun around Parliament Hill

James also got to experience two other important Canadian experiences ... his first hockey game and Roll up the Rim! (For you Americans, it's a contest at Tim Hortons). James won 2 for 2!

It's been a good couple months. Please keep praying for us as we continue to support-raise and prepare to move to Tanzania.

Love from Jenneka

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Why does Bible translation take so long?

We often get asked how long we expect it to take to complete a Bible translation.  There are so many factors that it's impossible to say, but we usually suggest 10 years or more.  Even though we have many helps nowadays in the forms of technology and translations in related languages, 10 years might be extremely optimistic.  I found a great post on Wycliffe UK's blog that explains it well, so please check it out!

Why does Bible translation take so long?: A full Bible translation takes a long time to complete, sometimes 30 years or longer, and a New Testament alone can take from 5-20 years to complete. So what is it that takes so long? .…

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Giving to God

When Jenneka and I attended a Partnership Development seminar with Pioneer Bible Translators we did a short Bible study that I thought was exciting, because it gave me a new perspective on financial support for those in ministry.

"Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord."  - Leviticus 27:30

This can be applied today as well.  When we are giving to our local church, to a missionary or some other work of God we are giving to the Lord.  I was reminded that it is important to recognize we are giving to God, not to people.

"Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance...'" - Numbers 18:26a

Those in ministry are like the Levites, who can't earn money for themselves in the conventional sense, because they are doing God's work.  Numbers 18:26 makes it clear that it is God is paying his workers.  This is sometimes particularly important for missionaries and others in ministry to hear.  In doing support-raising I am tempted sometimes to feel like we are living off handouts, but we are actually being paid by our Great Provider!

This paints the relationship between a missionary and his/her supporters in a profound light.  In the deepest sense we are giving to and receiving from God, not each other.  We have a joyful relationship with our God as we worship him and know his provision.  That is not to say that as missionaries we are not grateful to our supporters - we are deeply so - but we recognize God gets our deepest gratitude and holds our primary obligation.

God bless you and may he get the glory!

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