Category Archive for "Personal" | jon and layne heller

Traveling home…

A Layne Post

Jon and I have left Portugal now, and we have begun our long journey home. Thankfully, we will spend one night in London before the long flight over the ocean. We hope to rest well.

We have a huge praise report already, and our travels have just begun. Because our flight to London was booked separate from our flight to the States, the airline on our way out of Portugal said our weight limit was cut in half. According to the new limit we would owe approximately $1000 in order to get our bags back with us. Jon explained and explained, as this had not been a problem on the way here. Apparently, it should have been, but thankfully we were shown mercy. As long as she could check our bags all the way through, she would not charge us the extra. It worked! We were and are so very thankful. Now we will continue to pray our bags make it on the airplane tomorrow.

Our last few days in Portugal were wonderful. We spent much of our time with friends we’ve made along the way. Because of the internet, “Goodbyes” are not quite as horrible. Staying in touch has become more and more possible.

We have what is possibly very exciting news.
There is an organization in Europe and Africa (Angola included!) that we have been put in contact with by wonderful friends we made in Portugal, Elizabeth and Armenio. The branch in Portugal had a meeting this week and looked over our business plan, which has now been sent to the main European office. They will be making a decision about whether or not we can possibly partner together soon. It seems that their goals and ours could mesh quite nicely.

Please join with us in prayer as this process continues. We want the blessing of the Lord in every step we take. If this is our open door, we praise Him. If not, we praise Him still.

We hope to see many of you very soon in Arizona and then in Corpus Christi. I am constantly amazed by your love and support for us. Thank you.

P.S.

Ladies, there is a neat opportunity to support Jon and I and get a really nice lip-gloss. Pretty cool, huh? My best friend, who lives in Ohio, sells a product by the name of Arbonne, which many of you probably already know. (Great quality!) She has teamed up with a few of my family members and they are doing a fundraiser called “Lip Gloss for a Cause”. There are 6 colors of gloss (https://www.arbonne.com/shop_online/showCatalog.asp?category=183) each selling for $11. Jon and I will receive 52% of the profit. If they are able to sell 500 glosses, Jon and I will receive approximately $2850! This is a great time to think about Christmas and upcoming birthdays. If you are interested, let me know and I can put you in touch with one of the sellers. =)

Here’s some pictures of our last week in Portugal. Click on them to see the full sizes.

: Layne’s last night in Porto

: Jon’s last night in Porto

: Us in Class

September 26, 2009

Layne

Angola, Personal, Portugal

4 comments

Almost Gone…

A Jon Post

Well we’ve got only one week left and we’re outa here. Hard to imagine some times.

Still working on our visa for Angola, PLEASE keep praying for that.

Still learning Portuguese. We are happy with how far we’ve come.

We’ve been putting up huge walls of text recently so I’ll finish here. Here’s a bunch of pictures of a trip we took today. We went to a vineyard and picked the grapes, gathered the grapes, stomped the grapes, broke the thing that presses the grapes (oops, Jon’s fault) and had a great time.

Love you all! Where’s all the comments to let us know you read this thing? Click on the little bubble at the top right of this post and add a comment! Come on people!

Click on the pictures to see the full sizes! Oh, sorry about the strange captions. It’s been a long day and I couldn’t get this out of my head.

: I HAS SO MANY BUCKETS!!!!

: I Be Breakin (the thing that presses the grapes)

: I Be Crankin (the thing that presses the grapes)

: We Be Stompin… And We Hope You Like Stompin Too!

: Stompin The Grapes… Makin the Wine

: I Be Goin To Find More Buckets!

: Layne Has No Buckets!

: I Has Her and My Buckets!

: Noooo She Be Stealin My Bucket!!!

: We has two buckets!

: I Has A Bucket!

: Layne Has a Bucket!

: Jon Workin The Fields

: Layne Workin The Fields

September 19, 2009

Jon

Personal, Portugal

12 comments

Afternoon classes

a layne post

This week had a bit of a different feel, as our classes did not begin until 3 in the afternoon, as opposed to our usual 10am. Originally I did not know which I would like better, but looking back the morning classes are definitely better. I would say this for a couple of reasons. First, because our mornings seemed to go by entirely too slow, leaving me munchy and drowsy. And secondly, the buses we usually catch are terribly inconsistent in the afternoons! One day we waited for an entire hour, while some six buses did not come at their scheduled times. When a bus finally did come, it was so packed the doors barely squeezed shut behind us… talk about hot and uncomfortable, and this is afternoon standing irritably for an hour in the scorching sun!

Anyways, on a more positive note, our classes went well and we learned quite a bit. As we quickly approach the end of our time here, we are encouraged about our Portuguese and feel confident in all that we have learned.

We continue to make contacts for Angola, and we feel that we are being diligent with what we have. I am extremely thankful to all those who have made effort on our behalf; it is humbling. I do not feel like we are at a standstill with things, which is encouraging, yet no definite progress is being made. We only trust the Lord and His perfect time.

The evenings here for the next week and a half or so are going to be in the upper 50’s. That is right, the 50’s! One word: glorious! I love needing a little sweater; it makes me feel “Fall-ish”. The only thing missing now is my pumpkin spice latte, a pumpkin cupcake from Sprinkles, a piece of pumpkin cheesecake (yes, 2 desserts!), and my pumpkin colored toe-nail polish. Mhmmmm. What cozy thoughts!

Jon and I will be returning to the states now in a mere 2 weeks. Wow! We will only have 3 weeks in Arizona and about the same in Corpus Christi before we head back to Southern Africa. We hope to be able to connect with as many people as possible during those times, while also allowing ourselves time to pack, prepare, and process prior to our “one-way” trip to Africa.

We love you guys. Thanks for helping us feel encouraged and supported. Many blessings.

Portugal 010.2

September 11, 2009

Layne

Personal, Portugal

1 comment

Harder Weeks

A Jon Post

Some weeks are harder than others. I guess this was one of those. It’s funny because there are actually so many things that should have made it a GREAT week.

We struggled a bit with Portuguese this week though we sent many emails to native speakers who told us we were speaking well.

We felt discouraged by the lack of progress with our Angolan visa though we actually made many good contacts, heard from some, have good friends here working hard to help us, and, in a practical sense, saw more progress this week than we have in a while.

So we keep pressing on. Some times our emotions don’t line up with reality and we just kinda deal with it.

We have only three weeks until we fly back to the United States. Some times that’s hard to believe.

Good news! Voices of The World (www.votwmissions.com) has officially received tax exempt status from the IRS. That is great news and a culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people.

To do our laundry we go to a local Laundromat a few bus stops away. It’s a bit expensive but then… everything is expensive for us because the US Dollar is so weak compared to the Euro. Also, it’s the only way to get clean clothes so we do what we have to. Usually we listen to a sermon podcast from a pastor in Dallas, Texas. We took a few pictures of our trip this weekend. Click on them below to see the full sizes.

I know we say it a lot but we really do love and need you all. Pray for us please.

: Listening to a Sermon

: Layne waiting for the laundry

: Jon waiting for the laundry

: Our Laundromat

September 6, 2009

Jon

Angola, Personal, Portugal

2 comments

Doing more… Still learning

A Jon Post

Well, another eventful week and plenty of new words to go along with it in Portuguese.

We learned quite a bit this week and have plenty to study this weekend. We have only 5 weeks left and we must be sure we use our time here to the fullest extent we can. We practice with each other as often as possible and our tutor this week has been fantastic. As our finish date draws nearer and nearer we continue to feel confident that we will speak and understand well when we are leaving Portugal at the end of next month.

We went to a new town this week. We met a friend from church named Elizabeth who was an incredibly gracious guide for us. She drove us around and showed us things we would NEVER have heard of had she not been willing to host us. She even took us to some Roman ruins that date back to 100 B.C.

: A restored Roman garden

: Jon at the Ruins

Elizabeth was more than helpful and it was an incredible joy to spend the afternoon with her.

We had a bit of an adventure getting back to our house the evening of our trip to Coimbra. There is a metro-train system here and one of the trains goes very near our house. We got on the train about 7 stops before our house and sat back and relaxed, waiting to hear our stop announced over the loud speaker. Before our stop, this train goes through a large station where all of the other metro trains connect as well. It is a large station and normally many people get off at this station. We arrived at the large interchange station and noticed our train start emptying most of the people but assumed this was normal and that everyone was getting off to catch other trains. As we were sitting, waiting for our train to start back up and continue on to our stop, the lights turned off, and the doors closed. A little perplexed we looked at each other but didn’t think too hard about it. The train started off and we sat back, ready to go home. Suddenly, the train turned off the main track down a side track and I thought, “This can’t be good.” I looked back up the train at the same moment Layne did and we both realized we were the ONLY people left on the train. Uh-oh…

We walked up to the front car and got the attention of the conductor who informed us that the main station was our trains last stop and we were supposed to get off there (hmm… it was starting to click). He told us this train was heading to the garrage for the night. Woops! He made a phone call and got permission to let us off at a stop on his way and we got a train back to the main station and MADE SURE the next train we caught was actually going to our house area. A little flustered, but none-the-worse for wear we got home and laughed at ourselves for not putting together the whole “lights-off, train-empty” connection.

Empty Train

Woops!

Somehow these posts always turn huge. I don’t know why.

We went climbing again this weekend. Layne lead her first climb!!! Lead climbing is when you clip the rope in as you climb up. It’s a bit more dangerous and takes more skill. I was so proud of her! She did wonderfully and I look forward to her leading more and more.

We love you all. Please do keep praying for us as we pursue minsitry and a life of service.

Thank you all so much.