JAM January 2017

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THE AIR UP HERE

Every day I walk outside and am amazed and enthralled by the view no matter which direction I cast my gaze. For those of you who have connected on WhatsApp you have probably seen some of the spectacular pictures (find our WhatsApp numbers in the right-hand column). We have had two wonderful dumps of fresh snow and Jonny has enjoyed throwing it, making a snowman and lying in it to make some sort of snow angel. The ice is slippery but one learns to be careful. You also should adjust your expectation of how long things take. It truly takes 30 minutes for our family to get ready to leave the house together. We have had water off a couple times with frozen pipes and a couple of electricity outages, but in general the utilities here are pretty reliable.

MARIE’S CORNER

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December 2016

THE JONOLOGUE – THE BEST TEAM MEETING EVER

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We have finally made it to Khorog! It has been four long years since Marie was here and it is the first time for me and the boys. Tonight was team meeting, and as it was our first, it was a social get-to-know-you. We went down to KFC and picked up pizzas!

MARIE’S CORNER

Our washing machine is working, yay! I’m very glad to be back in my old home with my host family. I’ll write something more next month.

THE AIR UP HERE

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November 2016

FROM BIG SMOKE TO MOUNTAIN AIR

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We are in our final month in Dushanbe. The next update will come to you from the crisp clean air of the Pamir Mountains – God willing. We have had great culture coaching in our orientation, we have made a start on language learning, we have settled into a new and different place, we have a level of familiarity and comfort in the capital city which will help us as we will come through here probably 3-4 times a year.. We are now starting to collect all we need to transition one more time. Pray for sanity as we make our list and check it twice. We have a long cold winter to last through in the mountains before we will be back. But we are happy to go. We are happy to re-establish friendships (Marie) and make new ones (Jono and boys).

JONNY PEACE’S PIECE

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SEPTEMBER 2016

MILLER’S TRAVEL LOG

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One month, eight flights, a few cars, vans and buses, 8 different beds and we are all still standing. Just.

Thanks to those who have prayed. The boys have gone better than expected although little tell-tale signs of tiredness are creeping in.

We had an emotional week in NZ. Thanks for praying for my sister Ruth, please continue to pray. She has had one round of chemotherapy and will start round 2 soon. Her tumour was large and advanced but they are hoping that 3 rounds of chemo will shrink it enough to make surgery successful. Please keep her and Jon and Gabby in your prayers.

Then a whirlwind week in Rzhyshchiv where I realised it’s impossible to catch up with 6 years of friends in a week. However, it was great to see people.

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AUGUST 2016

TRAVEL LOG

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Life has twists and turns. Sometimes we see them coming, and sometimes we don’t. As I begin to write this, we expected to be in transit to Ukraine (and summer time). Instead we are in cold, wet NZ. The reasons are not what we would choose. We are here to be with my sister Ruth and her family. Here are her words:

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JULY 2016

Emotions and Goodbyes

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Let me make this easier than saying goodbye: let me tell you hello in advance for the next time I get to see you.”

I’ve said goodbye and left many times. It’s different this time. I have become emotional in my old age and prone to moisture around the eyes at random moments. It may have something to do with having a family including a wife I love and precious young kids. It may have something to do with the depth of relationship that I have enjoyed here in the past few years.

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