Coming to America

Hello Lubbock area friends! We’ll be in Lubbock for a short window this weekend, and would dearly love to see any of you who may be available. We’ll be at one of our beloved partnering churches, First Christian Church (2323 Broadway), sharing an update at both the 9am and 11am services, followed by a reception and sharing time after church from about 12:30pm for any who’d like to drop in to say hello and get some Bean hugs! 

Unfortunately our time this trip is short, and while we wish that we could get to see ALL of our ministry partners and partnering churches, MTW has encouraged us to be on “vacation” this trip rather than “home assignment”, so this will have to be our “little secret”. Regardless, we hope we may be able to maximise our time by seeing as many as may be available at church or the reception after. We would absolutely love to see you there!

Happy Thanksgiving American friends! In honour of all of our friends back home in the States I thought I'd post this classic Thanksgiving throwback pic from our days with RUF in Martin, TN in 2013 when our babies were little and my beautiful bride made her very first Thanksgiving Dinner all on her own without the help of parents and in-laws, grandparents, aunts, or cousins!

While we've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the different holidays here that are part of British culture that we don't have in the U.S., Thanksgiving is absolutely one of our favourite holidays back home in the States, maybe even more so than Christmas! But here in the U.K., today is just....Thursday. Our kids are in school all day today and no one here (except fellow American expats) gives a thought about stopping everything to gather with family and friends and consume massive amounts of roast turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and all the rest (that's just a Sunday roast dinner here). And just forget about pecan and pumpkin pies, and American Football!

So, American friends, we are counting on YOU to flood our newsfeeds today with pics and videos of family gatherings, full plates, football, parades, autumn decor, deer hunting, and all the rest that Thanksgiving entails for you and yours! We will celebrate as a family on Friday when our kids have a day off from school, and we have an incredible "American Thanksgiving" Feast planned with our church House Group Bible study after worship on Sunday afternoon. So have a big slice of pumpkin pie in honour of the Beans in London, and don't go easy on the whipped cream!!!

Lost & Found

Yesterday afternoon Shanna Hymes Bean and I found these two lost Yanks, Lourdes Obregon Ariceaga and Rodrigo Ariceaga milling about Paddington Station and decided to show them around London! In all seriousness, we were so encouraged and honoured for Rodrigo and "Donna Lou" from our home church in Texas to take time out of their 25th anniversry trip to Europe to be our first visitors from the United States. We so enjoyed getting to catch up with them and show them a bit of our host culture, and the kids loved getting to share a fun meal with them at our local pub, The Duke of Kent. We only wish that they could have stayed longer!!

***Please note that the pictures we post have been shared with the permission of those pictured. When necessary we obscure the faces and name tags of some of our friends who may one day have to return to a home country where their involvement in a church sponsored event, associating with a missionary, or even walking into a christian church may put them or their family in danger. Please don't share these images further without permission. Thank you for helping us keep them safe!!!***