Dear friends and family,

It has been awhile since we have caught you up on our family and ministry news, so here goes…!

Thanks so much for praying for our sons and daughter-in-love as they have all undergone much transition in the last few months. Ryan and Summer have found the learning curve for Chinese culture and language to be quite steep! Ryan is teaching in two Universities approximately 15 hours a week and Summer is doing well with her online classes through CBU (California Baptist University). Pray for their continued acculturation and specifically for a girlfriend for our daughter in love.

Dear family and friends,

Greetings from Central Europe where we are already experiencing a crispness and coolness in the air! We enjoyed a good month in July of local ministry and preparation for our annual meeting for our colleagues in Oberweisenthal, Germany. It was good to ‘stay put’ for a whole month, meet with national friends and co-workers, and be able to attend our local Baptist church regularly; this also helped us gain a better grasp on the Slovak language.

Hey everyone!

I hope all of you are having a great summer! We are thankful for a cooler summer this year as it makes it much easier to work and enjoy life in our apartment. There were several days last summer when we felt like we were working in a sweatbox! We enjoyed our very informative visit to Germany with the European Leadership Affinity Team as we went on a Reformation Tour and had the privilege of having our cousins come for a visit from Phoenix to see us in Bratislava last month!

Dear family and friends,

It was SO GOOD to see and talk to many of our family members and friends while we were on vacation during the month of May! We’re also so grateful for the beautiful additions to our family, namely Summer, and her parents, Robin and Pam! Trey did his calculations and we went 2,500 miles by car and 13,000 miles by air. Whew!

Ryan’s graduation class was the largest in California Baptist University (CBU) history, and Ryan and Summer’s wedding was just beautiful and perfect! It was in a gorgeous, Southern California outdoor setting with a sunflower theme and had so many touches that displayed their unique and winsome personalities! We also had the privilege of spending time in Newport Beach with Trey’s parents, San Diego with cousins, as well as Napa Valley, San Francisco, and Muir Woods with our sons.

I’m sorry we didn’t get a newsletter to you in March but, once you read this one, you will understand why as we have had lots happening on the Atkins front!  We have been doing lots of traveling visiting our colleagues in Central Europe as well as attending meetings in relation to our job.  It is often so encouraging to hear how our colleagues are building into the lives of those God has called them to reach for the gospel as well as seeking to encourage their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to extend His Kingdom where they live.

Dear Family and Friends, Please pray for us over the coming weeks as we head off for America in the morning. We will get a proper newsletter out in a few days, but wanted you to know that we travel all day tomorrow and will spend about 3 weeks in California before...

Dear friends and family,

 Spring is almost here, winter really never came, and we are very glad about that!  It seems that Europe had hardly any winter and America got hit really hard!!  However, in early February Elise experienced a severe ice storm and nationwide power failures in Slovenia while she was there helping to lead a Grip-Birkman Team Build.  News sources said,  ‘A disastrous ice storm in early February has caused some 194 million euros (267 million U.S. dollars) to Slovenia’s forests, and sustained120 million euros (164 million U.S. dollars)in damage to infrastructure.’  It truly was like ice skating and we had to put on crampons to walk from our hotel to our colleagues’ home!  February ended with Trey preaching and teaching a business seminar and Elise leading prayer and Grip Birkman coaching and team building sessions at the Nordic Cluster meeting in Malaga, Spain!  To put it mildly, these were quite the extremes in weather!

Dear Friends and Family,

Please remember Elise today and tomorrow as she is in Slovenia meeting with the team there.

We had great Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, although we missed being with our sons and extended families. God’s grace in sufficient! We did have a nice surprise, however, when we were visited by Trey’s brother and girlfriend on December 29-30th! Our holidays were very eclectic with a Swedish/Brazilian Christmas Eve with our neighbors, an American Christmas Eve and Christmas with our colleagues, and a Slovak New Year’s Day with friends from our church!

Merry Christmas!

We hope this letter finds you enjoying this very special time of year when we celebrate our Savior’s birth! I love reading the Christmas story at this time of year and God always teaches me new truths! Here is just one of many…THOUGHTS… This year, He has shown me that peace is not for all, but for those on whom His favor rests and with whom He is pleased – “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14 NIV) “…on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14 NASB) We please Him when we walk by faith – “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NASB) I pray that you experience His peace in your life as you seek Him and trust Him to be “the author and perfecter of faith..” (Hebrews 12:2 NASB)

Dear family and friends,

October was a flurry of activity and now the holidays are quickly approaching! There have been no complaints about the beautiful weather we have had here in Bratislava! We are just now having temperatures in the 40’s after having tons of sunshine and temps in the 50’s and 60’s! In all of the 15 years we have lived in Europe, this is the BEST FALL EVER!

Dear Family and Friends,

We are seeing the leaves turn to beautiful colors of yellow here in Bratislava, but not the brilliant colors of red that we experienced in Arkansas! Thankfully, however, the temperatures have continued to be quite mild. We’ll see how much longer that will last….

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, summer has flown by as it always does! We hope each of you have had a summer filled special memories of times with family and friends. We were so blessed to have Bret come and visit us here in Bratislava!

He stayed with us for 7 days and also visited his ‘homeland’ of Croatia for 6 days.

It was a wonderful time together and so hard to say goodbye!

Pray that Bret would make choices that foster his walk with the Lord and for wisdom, as well as discipline, as he begins his third year at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU).