Three Years Later

Almost 3 years ago our family was packing to return to the U.S. after almost a decade of ministry in Bolivia, South America. As we had imagined, the transition has been incredibly painful and difficult. The reverse culture-shock, the different landscape of the U.S. economy, the anti-Christian agenda of the left-wing media, and many other realities hit us squarely in the face without much of an idea of how to handle them. Today, we are settled into many of these American realities- among them, the high cost of food, fuel, education- but it still doesn't make it any easier to confront them.  There is a traditional stream of the American middle-class that can't imagine why our family has "wasted" 10 years of our lives in a 3rd world country, while we should have been building our careers and assuring a solid foothold in our children's future.  On the outside this opinion has merit, but we have developed a unique skill set that would only be learned in a strange, cross-culture environment and may in one way or another help develop our advancement in the American work world. Fortunately, success is not measured by how comfortable a life one is able to afford and we feel very blessed to be among those who have employment, a roof over our head and for all practical purposes are surviving just fine.  Surviving in America, however, is not the same as surviving in a third world country.  Here it means time, lots of time- time away from family-time away from ministry- time away from everything that is important to us.  If this is indeed where we are supposed to be, then we will adapt ourselves to find balance in every area of our life- but the process is extremely challenging.  Thank you to all who have supported us through the years in Bolivia, and we now understand the sacrifices that many of you made to help us continue serving there.

Dare to start another year!

Howdy, from North Texas! We're officially past the year and a half mark for being back in the good ole USA and approaching the one-year mark in our new home in Fort Worth. Alissa has actually passed her one-year anniversary as a nurse at Green Valley, and feels blessed to have a great job in this waning economy but also has experienced the stress of working in an often stressful environment.

As for me (Alan), I've had several ventures in 2009 and 2010 that didn't pan out, a part-time night-shift job that put enormous stress on the family, and in these last couple months a contract-based job as a tutor for high school students. Despite all the inconsistencies, we're surviving and thriving, all things considered. We must admit that, things look pretty grim for our beloved country, but as members of Christ's Body, we are upheld by the fellowship and communion of His People. Although we can make no guarantees as to what or how our government's decisions will affect our children, we confidently subject our future in the hands of the One who holds everyone's future.

Ministry and missions continue to be close to our heart, and opportunities abound to serve according to the gifts God has given us.

Many blessings!

The task of moving a missionary

This morning we unloaded a U-Haul truck from New York that contained household items from our home in NY from 10 years ago, books and paperwork from Singapore 6 years ago, and all this to add to our things from Bolivia from 1 year ago. Also, there are a few items from Alan's single days back in Missouri that are left to take out of storage. Oh the joys of traveling the globe in the last decade while establishing a family, serving in ministry, studying in far away places and coming home to roost. Please, please, Lord, can we stay a while and not move again? Thanks.

New Beginnings

We got the call today from our real estate agent that our offer to buy one of the many houses we've looked at in the last few months has been accepted. All we lack now is the contract process and the final stages of the financing. Although we wouldn't have imagined ourselves living in "neighborhood America" even a year ago, God has been faithful to lead us through this difficult time of transition by providing a way to make a new beginning, while keeping us conscious of all that our mission experience has done in our hearts.

Thanks to all our friends and ministry partners who have supported us and prayed for us during this time. Our new house will certainly be a blessing to us as long as God has us here. We continue to rely on the Spirit's direction to promote the mission movement started in Bolivia, and to use us to be a blessing wherever we are.

New adjustments

Hi friends,

Since my last post, we've been through several new changes. The most traumatic has been Alissa's acquisition of a job as a 'charge nurse' at the Green Valley Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. The Center currently has her working in an orientation/PRN position until they feel confident that Alissa can handle her supervision role over LPNs and CNAs. Since she started working on Dec. 31, she has actually worked full-time hours. Now that she has her temporary license for the State of Texas, she can continue working while she waits for the all the processing for her permanent license.

Because of this opportunity, we were left with the decision about how the kids' home school would continue. We decided that I would continue to market our internet business, as best I could from home, and teach the home school curriculum as well. Well, so far so good. It has been a big switch from our life in Bolivia, but we see how God is providing in spite of a "down" economy. We're also confident that God has brought us here for a purpose, one that may not be easy for us to understand.

We appreciate your prayers as we find our way through these transitions, and we know that we share many of the same struggles that many families are facing these days. Let's draw near to God, unload our cares upon him and let Him fill us with contentment.

About our new business

As many of you know, Alissa struggled with allergy-induced asthma in Bolivia and this gave us enough reason to think about moving to seek better health for her. Thankfully, that has happened from being in a cleaner environment- away from the smoke and dust that common in any Third World country. This experience became an inspiration for us as we began considering ideas for an online business. We finally decided to offer air purification products that might help others with similar symptoms to experience relief by dealing with the root of the problem, airborne particles and VOCs (Volitile Organic Compounds). On October 1st, we officially launched "Air Purifier Central" which distributes home air purifiers and filters from five major manufacturers. Now comes the hard part- getting the word out about what we're doing- not just to those we know, but also to everyone around the country. Competition is very stiff when it comes to online business, but we're praying that God will give us wisdom for reaching the right people who might be interested in improving their health. We welcome you to help us out by informing those that you know with allergy and asthma conditions that could benefit from cleaner air.

Our first month back in the US

Hello to our friends and ministry partners,

Since we have tied up our activities in Bolivia, our broadcast of news has become less frequent. We did, however, want to keep you posted as to what we've been up to during our first month in Texas.

Originally we had thought that it would take several weeks to penetrate the fog of uncertainty before we finally discovered what we might be here to do. Our first week was certainly a flood of mixed feelings and hightened emotional vulnerability, but after our first week, we began to sense our options narrowing down to a family-business, which involved using the resources we had with the business platforms that Alan's parents had created over the last three years. The umbrella business is a Limited Liability Company with several Partnerships underneath them. For now, Alan has become one of the partners in one of the Partnerships, called Pathway Builders, a Real Estate Investment Company.

As for ministry, we keep in contact with the Mission Movement in Bolivia and have been able to raise funds for one student and a couple to get training in Singapore. We desire to become more involved in Hispanic Ministry in the future, but the church where we attend has not explored this area yet- hopefully we can change that.

We ask that you continue to pray for the close of our house in Bolivia, as we still await the final funds to get wired through to us.

Alan hopes to make a trip to Bolivia early next year, accompanied by Christian Business Leaders, and association of Christian executives and statesmen. He hopes to start a chapter of CBL in Santa Cruz in order to unite Christian Leaders around the common goal of expanding the Kingdom.

Alissa has started home schooling for our three girls, and has found it both challenging and rewarding. Please pray that she will have grace to teach the girls this year and be able to balance her spiritual time with all her activities.

Until next time, God bless you all,

the Holcombes