Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from Sun City! I hope that you have had a wonderful summer. It has really passed by quickly. It seems like the kids just got out of school for summer vacation, and now they are back in school already. My bride has continued to improve a little at a time, and we are going to the fitness room together 3 days a week. We are looking forward to a little getaway next month as we celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary. Over the last couple of months, we have been meeting here in our home with couples that need a little support and encouragement for their marriage. I have been working remotely with a worker in Africa, and tentatively Pat and I will do a marriage intensive with the couple in November. We will begin to teach a small group of 10 couples on Wednesday evenings for 8 weeks beginning next month. Speaking of November, we are planning on visiting Austin in November. We are looking forward to seeing folks, and visiting our Northwest Fellowship that we love and miss so much. Hugs, Mark & Pat An Update from Turkey (A note from one of the couples who attended our Marriage Intensives this past spring in Istanbul.) I realize some time has passed since we attended the Marriage Intensive in Turkey, and I wanted to take a moment to express our thanks. One of the challenges of living cross-culturally is that few people understand the unique pressures you face. We realized that unintentionally we'd been taking the other for granted, making excuses for small unkindnesses toward each other, thinking "He gets that I'm just reacting out of stress, so it's not a big deal." Since the intensive we have put an intentional stop to those, and are quick to ask for forgiveness. Today we prayed together briefly before heading in various directions. Praying together is something we never made a habit in our 16 years of marriage, but we've been fairly consistent at it in this last month. It's a small sign of a trajectory change in our relationship away from unhealthy independence and toward each other. For me, the wife, the biggest breakthrough was hearing an invitation from God into "more, and better" through expressing vulnerability - something I have never been good at. We didn't have a bad relationship before, but there were areas of weakness that could have gone on for years unchecked. Instead of settling, we're experiencing a new sweetness and joy in our relationship. It really does feel like we're headed on a different trajectory, and have higher expectations for what married life can be. Thank you very much to you both and your team and to all the people who made this possible. Honestly, we wouldn't have spent the money to go, thinking things weren't that bad in our relationship, but having gone I can see how significant it was for us. We plan to use what we learned in our church context to help other couples. We also have to give a special "thank you" to Danny and Kathy, who adapted on the fly and split up so we could be more comfortable. They were great! We wish you all well, and that God continues to give you joy in your work as you bless many people. Nine Years Later! Dear Mark and Pat, We have been incredibly helped by your mentoring us and would love to see your work continue !!! We love you both!! "Why would you NOT want your marriage to be all it could be?" Mark asked us as the Marriage Intensive 4 days began. In 2010 we attended the Marriage Intensive in Bodrum in Mark and Pat's home. We had been serving in Turkey as church planters since 1993. Our kids were all launched at that point. They not only taught us useful material for our marriage but what made all the difference was they opened up their lives to ours and were willing to pastor us by Skype after the Marriage Iintensive was over. It is incredible to be cared for and mentored when you are a pastor yourself. Sometimes you have no one to go to when you have difficult marriage issues. We are still learning and growing in our 38 year old marriage but because of the tools we got at the MI, we have learned to work through conflict in a much more healthy fashion and to re-set our relationship after conflict. Because of Mark and Pat's input in our lives we meet together once a week for a date night and have a once a week meeting to discuss scheduling, goals, finances and how our relationship is doing. This has been an incredible help to us as we serve in a lonely place and we have met one another's friendship needs as we debrief each weekend together." Much love to you both! Calling for Prayer Partners and Financial Supporters! We would like to ask you to consider partnering with our work in the following ways…
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AuthorMark & Pat Juarez Archives
September 2019
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