Chad and Amanda Waggoner

A Glimpse of the Past 2 Years!!!

2011-11-09T15:35:00.001-08:00

I was reading our last post trying to decide where this one should begin. A lot has changed since the last time we wrote so we will begin with the most drastic amazing gifts of all. We both so enjoyed our first semester of Bible School, however we were looking forward to Christmas break. Our family gift was taking a trip to Arizona to visit Chad's parents. This Christmas was extra special because even though my mom was struggling with an ongoing illness my parents were able to also join us in Arizona. I have never been a big fan of flying so I thought I would make a quick stop into the doctor on the way to Anchorage to get a magic blue pill that helps you to forget you are flying at all. :) Instead of the happy flying pill I was told to tie a bow around my belly that I was having a baby. That was the end of peaceful plane trips and the start of a new chapter in our life story. We did make the mistake of telling our parents about the baby at an all you can eat buffet. After my dad found out he was a grandpa he really got his money's worth eating that night! :)

In July of 2010 a huge prayer was answered when my mom was well enough to go back to Nigeria to pick up my little brother, Haruna. My parents officially became the parents of a 3 year old only two months before becoming grandparents. Malachi and Haruna are now best friends!

Malachi Edward Waggoner was born September 1st, 2010. I had no idea how much having a baby would change our lives. I was set on leaving Alaska five days after Malachi was born. Chad and I flew to Oregon where Chad had Lasic eye surgery. We not only had sleepless nights, but we were also down to only one driver because of the complications with the surgery. I drove us to Idaho where we spent time with my grandparents and then back to Oregon and finally to Washington. We attended Chad's Grandpa's memorial service and then returned to Alaska. A week after getting home we moved to Homer to finish our last year of Bible College. We both graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies in March of 2011.

I would never have finished school if it wasn't for the blessing of my parents moving to Homer. Unfortunately my mom was not well enough for them to return to Nigeria, but I know the blessing went both ways as she was able to spend time with her grandson.

After school we were able to stay at Chad's family's house while we worked on the yurts. Chad and my dad worked together on preparing the foundations for the yurt's. In June they were delivered and we were able to move in.

In the beginning of July our commercial fishing season opened. This year we were blessed with an abundance of fish, but we had to put in many hours of hard work. Once again Grandma Cristy was able to take care of Malachi while his dad and I went out to fish. A good way to sum up the season would be very hard, but worth it!

Chad and I were planning on heading overseas this year, but the Lord had different plans. We contacted many people in several countries, but never found anything that really fit our family. We also have been working with Malachi on different food allergies that he struggles with. He has not been able to get up to date on his immunizations so we felt it would be best to postpone going overseas. We both were very excited when becoming staff at the University of the Nations in Kona Hawaii became a possibility. We went through the application process and were accepted in September. We were planning on leaving soon after, but have been delayed due to finishing up Chad's ortho work. The blessing of having to wait to go to Kona is that Chad has been able to preach at our church for the last two months. He enjoys the preaching, but will look forward to no longer leading the worship! :) I guess taking choir class in school didn't make us pros. We also have had extra time to spend with Chad's parents before they leave to go back to Arizona. Malachi enjoys going over and spending time with grandma and grandpa.

We will continue to give updates during our time at University of the Nations. We will be serving in Kona for 6 months and then returning to AK for another great fishing season!

2009-12-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

BIBLE SCHOOL

Chad and I are spending our winter in Homer Alaska at the Alaska Bible Institute. We were able to go down to Idaho and Oregon after fishing before starting school. My brother and his wife blessed us with an amazing black VW Jetta. I specify the color because after Chad and I got married we spent a lot of time on the road. Every time I saw a black VW Jetta I would tell Chad that if I could have any car that is what I would like. God heard my request because in September we drove up the highway in our new car. A couple days after being home we packed up our things and drove to Homer to start Bible School. The first day of class was Oct. 1st. We have enjoyed every moment of it. We are learning so much about God's Word and it is stirring an excitement in us to share it with others. The school is a two year program and the classes go through the entire Bible. If it is in God's plan we hope to be back next October to finish our second year.

Our classes are Christian Living (memorizing Matt. 5,6,7) Fundamentals of Faith, Old Testament (our favorite class) Acts/Romans, Intro to Bible, Christian Education, and Gospels. We go to class Monday through Friday from 8am until noon. Each morning we have devotions where we have a chance to share our testimonies with the 70 other students and staff. We have four 45 minute classes and two days a week we have a couple classes for an hour and a half. On Thursday night we have a prayer and praise time in the evening. We are living on campus so after classes we are able to walk home and each lunch. Many days after lunch Chad goes to work with Skip (He teaches our O.T. class.) He has been helping him do tile work. It has been amazing to see how the Lord has provided us with work. Before even moving to Homer Chad was able to find work with a local Yurt company. He spent the first few weeks in Homer going across the bay and taking down yurts for the winter. When there was no longer work taking down yurts, God blessed him with being able to learn tile work. I was not able to find a job in Homer and was feeling discouraged when I talked to my supervisor at my last job and she told me I could work weekends in Kenai. Chad and I have been driving back to Kenai (about 1.5 hour drive in our car that has wonderful gas mileage) every Friday after class and I have been able to work. Chad has also been working repairing pallets each weekend. We stay with Carl and D'Ann (Chad's parents) Friday night and Saturday night. Sunday we attend the Baptist church and then after lunch we pack up and drive back to Homer. We attend an evening prayer group with the Homer Nazarene Church every Sunday and then the week begins again!

God is so faithful always! I don't know why I am always surprised by God's goodness. He has given us so many spiritual blessing such as peace when we don't have understanding, comfort when we are being stretched, faith when we can't see, hope when we have doubt, strength when we feel weak, direction when we feel lost, satisfied when we feel empty, love when we feel fear, and friendship when we feel alone. Not only do we see His spiritual blessing, but also he has blessed us in so many other "little" ways. I needed a pan for pizza and within a few minutes our neighbor gave us a pizza stone. When it started snowing someone gave us 4 studded snow tires for our car. Also when it started snowing I knew I was going to have to find a treadmill to run on and the next day I found out a lady from town donated a brand new treadmill to the school. It even has a fan on it and talks to me. It seems that the Lord does know our words even before they are on our tongue because we can hardly speak a need before it is answered. The Lord is also teaching us to persevere in prayer as we continue to seek Him for my mom's healing. My parents are scheduled to leave to Nigeria in January, but my mom has been diagnosed with a blood disorder. Please pray with us for her complete healing. We also are thankful for your prayers that we continue to have teachable hearts. We pray that each day we continue to be transformed to be more and more like Christ. We desire and are thankful for opportunities to live out what we are learning and to share it with others.

On Dec. 13th we will be celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary. If we could some up this year in one word it would be awesome. We have had an awesome year. God has blessed us with an awesome marriage, but most of all we have an AWESOME GOD!!!

2009-05-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

A SAFE JOURNEY HOME

It was a long drive back to Arizona, but we made it without any problems. We are so thankful for our loving and awesome God that took us on an incredible journey that strengthened our personal relationship with the Lord and brought us closer to each other. When reflecting on our time spent in Belize we asked ourselves if we would do it again? We both would without question. There was a lot that was difficult, but it is in the trials that we grow. We each chose a part of our time in Belize that we wouldn't have changed. Both of the things we chose were the things that we struggled with the most. For me it was the location of our house. We were taking care of a house that was 20 miles out of town on a bumpy dirt road. With wear and tear on the vehicle (which made it back with almost 300,000 miles and zero problems...God is awesome!) and gas prices high we had to plan out our days for only one trip to town. Many afternoons and evenings we would be at the house with no one around. I am used to being very active and having a busy social life so it was very difficult. Sometimes I would get so frustrated I would cry and want to go home. This down time allowed Chad and I to have time together we would have never have had if we would have been in the rush of the world. We were able to see each other at our best and our worst and most of all we were able to let God renew us and refresh us when we didn't have the strength. The one thing Chad wouldn't have changed is our time at the school teaching the kids. In the beginning he was unsure about teaching, but wanted to at least check it out. He was teaching 4 students who did not know how to read. There was one boy in particular that was much older than the rest of the kids. William was 10 years old and unable to read. Chad and him really bonded and on the day we went to the school and told the kids goodbye it was hard for Chad to leave.

Our biggest highlight of the 4 months was when our family came to visit. We spent a week with my brother and sister in law. We were able to go on some of the tourist excursions and to eat some wonderful meals together.

We became family with our friends at the Nautical Inn in Belize.

We spent most of our time over there doing exercise classes, sharing meals, enjoying Bible study, and laughing together. We shared stories of life in Belize with each other. They were always having problems with people robbing them, but because we were so far out of town and had two big guard dogs we didn't have break ins at our place. We enjoyed it when we were able to work with them on their house and the day we left we were able to see the first coat of paint on the walls.

We are so thankful and appreciative of how much they took us in as part of their family.

The big question is if we are going to go back and make that home? We both are willing to go back if that is were the Lord will have us. We also have a desire to spend a year at a Bible school. We are going to be filling out applications to a few schools and praying about what to do after fishing in Alaska this summer. We have so appreciated all of your prayers and ask you to continue to pray with us as we seek God for direction after fishing!

We will post an update in August with our plans for the fall!

You better Belize it!!!

2009-04-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

One of the amazing sunrises here in Belize. The Lord has really been blessing us.

This is the public school we are volunteering in. The kids here are really missing out on some of the basic teachings. Amanda and I are teaching kids in 1st to 3rd grade that don't even know their letters yet.

Here is Amanda with two boys from Honduras. She is teaching them English. They sit in the Engish class with the rest of the kids and they are just getting past over. The one on the right is Carlos and the other is Eric.

I teach four different kids, three boys and one girl. The boys seem to really enjoy having a guy helping them. This is Shanda, she has the biggest smile and wants to learn but she gets so distracted.

We are doing all we can for the kids while we are here, but they have a long way to go. Pray for them.

One of God's many blessings.

We were blessed last week when Amanda's brother Brian and his wife Shannon came to visit us for a week. The house that we are looking after has enough room for guests and we took advantage of that. Brian and Shannon came and we were able to go do some tourist stuff with them that we hadn't had the time to go and do.

We rented a sail boat and our amazing captain Brian sailed us out into the deep blue. So much fun, I may have to take lessons.

We also went on a hike in the Jaguar preserve and rented tubes and floated the river. No one got eaten by Jaguars or crocs.

The four of us had such a great time but we decided that they would have to come back so we could do all the things we didn't have time to do in the week they were here.

God is so good. He is faithful to give us just what we need.

Thanks Brian and Shannon for coming and blessing us.

Changes...

2009-02-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a quick update to everyone since so much has changed in the last week. We posted in our blog that we were staying at the ywam base and starting to scout out ministry opportunities. We went to an orphanage in Belmopan and enjoyed our time with the kids. We also went to a school and had a nice time sharing with the students. We enjoyed the place we were staying and what we were getting involved in, but we still felt we weren't quite in the right place. Some of you were praying that God would show us exactly were he would have us be and that is exactly what He did. We went to several towns, but it wasn't until we were in Plantation that the Lord started opening doors. We came here to see our friends we had met at the youth conference and on the way into town we stopped at a place to see if we could pick up a snorkel for me. They did not have any snorkel gear, but they are a nice couple that just bought the hotel a few months ago. Chad visited with them for awhile and found out their family went to a Bible study and Church in town. We were hoping to meet them, but they were in the United States. They were supposed to be back so we decided to stay there so we would have an opportunity to connect with some christians in the area. While we were having dinner at the hotel, Sandy came over and gave us the names of some people that could get us connected to the pastor in Plantation. They wanted to talk to us first and asked us to meet with them at 10 the next morning. We were surprised when we sat down to talk with them and found out they have been missionaries here for 6 years. They have set up places for a dance team from the United States to visit so they have connections in several different towns and churches. We were offered a place to stay (God knows our desires because it is on the beach for Chad and beautiful for me.) that will be long term. We have the opportunity to come back after fishing and continue staying here.

After meeting with our new friends we met with the pastors. They also have a heart for the youth in this area and they welcomed us to work with them. The pastor teaches religion in the school and a few of the others help out with reading and tutoring. Tomorrow Chad and I will be going to the school for our first time. We should continue doing that every tuesday and thursday. Saturday we will be going around to meet with more pastors and missionaries in this area. There is such a need for pastors and young couples to disciple the youth. On Sunday we went to a wonderful Calvary Chapel Church and enjoyed the fellowship. In the evening we went to another Church and enjoyed that time also. While doing announcements the pastor's wife introduced us and then added on how they have been praying for a couple just like us to be youth pastors. There are so many opportunities and such a need for ministry here. The biggest thing you will hear in all of Belize is Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep. Chad and I have hearts to build relationships and disciple the people the Lord puts in our path. We are looking forward to spending until May 15th in this area and then we will be heading back to Alaska for the fishing season.

We are ywamers so we will always be connected with ywam. Santi and Lilian, the directors, sent us here with blessings. We hope to continue to work with them long term by getting youth involved in the conferences and also by making opportunity for youth in Belize to go to a dts (discipleship training school). God willing we will be able to continue doing ministry in Belize and fishing in Alaska. We are so blessed and God continues to lead us in amazing ways. We are learning to soar on His wind by the Holy Spirit instead of trying to flap our wings and fly in our own strength. God is so good and we are excited to share the testimony of what He is doing in our lives to encourage others. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray as we begin in this new place.

Love Chad and Amanda

We do have a phone if anyone would like to call I (amanda) would be so happy! 0115016650540

2009-02-16T13:40:00.001-08:00

Chad and I are in our first home together. It is in Belmopan Belize. Today we bought bicycles to get around town and I am happy to report my pink cruiser matches our little pink house. Our friends from Washington gave us a tour of our backyard and there is a wonderful swimming hole.

Chad loves the cold water. It is really hot and humid here.

I don't like the biting fish, but the locals say they help scratch your itchy mosquito bites. It may take me awhile to get used to swimming here.

Another daily event Chad enjoys is the pathway to our house. You have to walk across the Belize River on a swinging bridge that was built with the boards generously spaced apart.

We have met many of the wonderful families on the YWAM base. Our neighbors are from Nigeria, Guatemala, Jamaica, and the United States. We have also met some very nice people in town and look forward to getting to know them more over the next three months.

We are not sure what are day to day schedule will look like, but we are living at the base and they are involved in schools, orphanages, organizing conferences (This weekend Chad was security at the Youth Conference and I helped with registration....it was fun!), and many other day to day activities to maintain the property. Some of the normal animals on the property are the chickens, horses, cows, dogs, and big toads. Some of the abnormal animals are the large iguanas and huge spiders. The iguanas are protected on this side of the river so there are plenty of them in the trees and on the grass. Today Chad was walking across the grass when he saw a ginormous tarantula. The place is alive!!

(Chad is building screens for our house with the horse.)

It took us a little more than two weeks to drive to Belize. We drove the Baja with our friends, Spud and Mary Esther. Our highlight was when we took the short cut from San Felipe to the middle of the Baja. It took us almost a day and a half to drive 70 miles! It was rugged and exciting. At the end of the road we had to siphon gas in order to make it to the next town.

When we made it to La Paz we took the ferry to the mainland. When we arrived to the mainland we discovered the wonderful toll roads. After driving the winding, narrow, steep coast roads we headed north to Mexico City. Chad is officially the best city/foreign driver I have ever seen. We made it safely through all the cities without getting too lost or any accidents.

We slept in our trooper most nights. Some of the places we slept were in parking lots, beaches, toll booths, water parks, RV parks, and campgrounds.

We both have many wonderful memories from the long drive to Belize, but agree that we will head straight north on our way back to the United States. Thank you for your support and prayers. Each day God amazes us with his faithful love and guidance.

2009-01-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

It has been a fun and eventful month after the wedding. We have been waiting to get our wedding pictures before posting this so we could share them with you. These are a few of our favorites from the wedding.

Mom and dad this is for you! Enjoy Nigeria!! We Love You!

After the wedding we spent a week driving up to Whistler to snowboard. We had lots of fun, but it ended up being the best powder day when we got back into McCall. We skied Christmas day at Brundage and had an awesome day. The next morning we packed up the car again and drove with my parents to California. We spent a few days in Mt. Shasta and then drove over to Quincy. My aunt took us out cross country skiing to her 1970’s hippy cabin where she gave us the invite to stay if we needed a place to ponder and meditate on life.

The same aunt gave me the best gift ever. I am now the proud owner of a sewing machine. The thing that makes this gift so meaningful is that I love to hand sew my clothes to make them unique and funky. I always thought it would be fun to have a sewing machine, but because of my lifestyle I never even dreamed it to be possible. Just another way of God reminding me how boring it is to only dream of dreams that are possible. My aunt found a travel sewing machine in a bush and gave it to me. It is so small it fits in my hand and is capable of running off of batteries or electricity. I have already sown up a pair of shorts and a sun dress. I love my new sewing machine and I believe it was made just for me because it is perfect!

After leaving my aunts we went to Vacaville for the night and then dropped my parents off at the San Francisco Airport. They are in Nigeria and are doing very well.

Today Chad and I bought our first bed. We are driving south on hwy 1 down the coast of California. We are only an hour away from the beautiful sandy beach where we will be camping tonight. We bought a perfect futon mattress and each picked out a nice pillow. We bought it from a warehouse in Santa Monica. The guy selling it to us let us lay it out on the floor and try it out. Chad and I are looking forward to sleeping on our new bed in the tent, trooper, and many other countries.

We will keep everyone updated on our travels!

Grandma I love and miss you!!!!

This is our first update and we will be writing each month to keep in touch.

2008-09-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Chad Waggoner

and

Amanda Millington

Invite you to share in the joy of the beginning of their new life together when they exchange marriage vows on Saturday, December thirteenth two thousand and eight at five o'clock in the evening at Quaker Hill Conference Center in McCall, Idaho.

Please RSVP @ waggonermillington@gmail.com

The reception also will be at Quaker Hill after the ceremony.

Directions

1440 Warren Wagon Rd McCall, ID

There will also be a reception in Alaska in February.

Amanda and I have both been living overseas and we plan to continue doing missions together after our wedding. Living this life of travel it is hard to take a lot of luggage with us. We are asking that if you would like to support us we have a missions account that is through the church and is tax deductible. We also have a personal account if you would like to give a wedding gift. More than anything we appreciate your prayers and would love to see you at the wedding.
The church address is Living Hope Community Church PO Box 598 Stanwood, WA. 98292

To give to our personal account online go to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=chad%2ewaggoner%40gmail%2ecom&item_name=Support%20Chad&no_shipping=0&no_note=1¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8

Our love story...

Chad and I met in the summer of 2004 in Kenai Alaska. I came to commercial fish for Steve Sturman, Chad's best friend. Chad and his family have had a fishing site in Nikiski for 30 plus years. We spent the summer catching lots of fish, but with anytime to spare we were spending it together. We have great memories of reading God's Word together as well as enjoying fishing, camping, catching halibut, playing tennis, hiking, and much more. Chad was also able to come and visit Idaho and meet my family and friends. The following summer my parents came to Alaska to fish so we were able to have many fun times together. Chad will forever be my dad's hero for taking him to the beach because he was sea sick.

After fishing I returned to Guatemala to live for a year and work with the Ywam base in Guatemala City. Chad went to Malaysia to do a Discipleship Training School with Ywam. After his school he did a school of frontier missions and returned to Alaska to fish. After fishing he moved to Indonesia to work with Ywam. Neither one of us had planned on returning to Alaska to commercial fish this summer. I made last minute plans and jumped on a plane to fish in Bristol bay and Cook Inlet. Chad also made last minute plans and returned to help his parents fish. We didn't get to fish much this year, but we were able to spend time together with our mutual friends. I knew Chad was planning to return to Indonesia after fishing so I started praying asking God for a miracle. Thankfully God is faithful and always has a plan that is beyond our imagination and dreams. I decided to stay in Alaska and Chad decided to postpone his travels to Indonesia to allow the Lord to take our relationship in the direction that He wanted it to go. I prayed asking God to someday make Chad my husband. Once again I was thankful when God answered my prayers by putting it in Chad's heart to ask me to marry him. This is where the story really begins.

This is Chad writing and this is my story of my two proposals, thats right two! I really wanted to surprise Amanda and wanted it to be something special. We were always fishing, either commercial or sports and I thought that I should ask her to marry me while we were doing something we both love. I thought about it one day while we were waiting for the water to reach the boat and I decided it would be a surprise and a fitting time. I walked around to her side of the boat and got down on one knee and took her hand in mine. I looked up into her eyes and said, " Amanda Millington will you marry me"? She looked down at me and said, "NO"!!! I was shocked and crushed. I looked at her and said "WHAT"??? She said no again and then asked me if I was joking. I said no and that I would never joke about proposing. She then realized I was serious and felt soooo bad. I told her it was alright and that I would ask again. She said that I should just ask again right there and she would say yes. I waited a few days to ask again. We were supposed to meet at my parents beach house for lunch, but I went early. I took some quarters and made a trail from the front door to the back room (Amanda loves quarters because she loves gumball machines). I then got some fishing line and made a path to outline the quarters. I got some candy that Amanda likes and made two hearts on both sides of the path. She came in and saw the path and followed it to the back room. She opened the door and found the room lit with candles and her favorite song playing. Behind me was a big white board with "Not A Joke" written on it. She started laughing and I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me for the second time. This time she said YES. I am the happiest man alive!

Chad and I will be going to Idaho in December to spend time with my parents before they leave to Nigeria. After the wedding we will take a week and go up to Canada. After we see my parents off to Nigeria and visit Chad's family in Washington and Arizona we will be returning to Alaska. We are praying about going to a School of Biblical Studies before fishing next summer. We love you all and thank you for your love and prayers!!