Monkey Business

Hello everyone and God Bless you all! Sorry it has been such a long time since our last update. Life has been crazy, living in the States is a lot more hectic and fast paced, that is for sure.

Just wanted to give you all an update on what is going on in our lives. Alan is doing well, feeling much better. Jordan is getting along well also. She got a new cast last Friday that hopefully will be her last one. It will come off in another week. She won’t be able to walk for a while yet, but hopefully soon. Please continue to pray that the surgery did what it was supposed to do.

Ok now for the latest crazy thing we are doing… a friend told me the other day that we don’t ever do anything normal. I’m not sure if it was a compliment or not. Alan spent some time trying to find a “real” job to no avail. Then somehow we started exploring the idea of starting a small business. I can’t tell you exactly how this evolved but somehow we decided on a shaved ice business. With summer coming it seemed like a good idea… low investment, high return. But from the beginning we have prayed for 2 things… that this would provide for our family and also in some way bless other people.

Originally we thought that we would be mobile and do special events. Then we started leaning on opening up a small neighborhood stand. We purchased a small start up package but then found that finding a location for our small operation was a lot more difficult than we imagined. We were met with lots of opposition. We were either told no or if we thought something might work out, the door closed. Needless to say this process started becoming very frustrating.

Interestingly throughout the process God began revealing ways that we could use this business to bless other people. The name of our business is Monkey Ice (don’t ask). Our logo will be a jungle theme with monkeys and snow. God began showing us how this theme is just like the world… snow is not of the jungle and we are not of this world. Our monkeys will be holding a snow ball and these will represent nuggets of truth that we can throw at people. Another bit of symbolism God reveled is in regards to the ice itself and the syrups we will use. The ice is the common denominator in our product. It is the foundation (the truth) and even though it may be covered with many different types of flavors and colors, it does not change the foundation.

Who likes normal anyway?

So we had been looking for a business who would lease a small portion of their land or parking lot… wasn’t working. We had been praying but nothing seemed to be happening. I (Dana) was getting very frustrated and on Tuesday I was at the breaking point. In the morning I was reminded of how God had told me in Honduras to go past the point of resistance. I was so frustrated and tired of trying to make this thing work… that I told God that I could no longer do that. He was going to have to do it for me. I was out of ideas and when ever I try to “make things happen”, nothing ever does happen, I am just spinning my wheels. Alan on the other hand has great patience, calmness and an inner peace that is very irritating. He truly knows how to wait on the Lord. I guess that is why God uses us to counter balance each other in a marriage.

Tuesday night I went to a prayer meeting. It was a sweet time if prayer and fellowship, we prayed for many people and needs of our church body. After the prayer meeting I went back to a location where I had grabbed a Subway sandwich. Next to the Subway there is a shop available for lease… to make an already long story short… God just started opening the doors.

Alan had gone up to NC a week ago Monday and did some training with Adrian Johnson (the man who owns Pelican’s, a very successful snowball shop in Raleigh). Adrian had told him that if he could get a location next to some schools, that would be a smart move. This location (Quail Ridge Shopping Center) that we are going to lease is surrounded by three schools. It is directly across from the high school, right next door to a middle school and another shopping center away from a third middle school.

The owner is a Christian and is excited about working with us. He currently donates space in the shopping center to a Christian teen group that ministers to the students in that area.

We are very excited and also very scared (well I am scared more than Alan). Who would have thought God would be moving us in this direction… I certainly wouldn’t.

So here we are… we do have some specific prayer requests and would so much appreciate you lifting them up in prayer…

1. First and foremost that we are moving in the will and direction God wants us to go.
2. We have never undertaken anything like this, please pray that God will lead and guide us and that we will listen and make wise choices.
3. Our focus will not stray from our original intent.
4. Please pray for our finances. We are using the funds from the sale of our van in Honduras. We have a small budget and big dreams.
5. There is lots of work to do, we need to paint, install sinks and a counter… lots more than that too. Please pray for all the details will be worked out and that we can open as quick as possible.
6. Please pray for calmness and peace.


Thank you so much for your support. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you so much for your prayers.

Love, The Sims

Sorry it has been so long since we have updated this blog. Below is an email we sent out in February ... it gives you some details of what has happened this year. Who would have thought we would be back here in the States so soon. God's timing is perfect though and we are so thankful for all He has done.

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Dear Friends and Family

I hate that we are relating this message via email, but it is the easiest thing to do right now.

First of all we want to thank you so very much for all of your prayers and support. In the midst of these trying circumstances God has poured out His provision and blessing upon us in many forms. The overwhelming concern you have shown towards our family has been amazing. Thank you for your prayers and stepping up to help us out financially.

We wanted to let you know that we have made the decision to move back to the States. It is heartbreaking for us to have to do this, but we know it is what we need to do right now. We love the people and the country of Honduras and the work we are doing there.

We have grown in many ways during our time in Honduras and wouldn't trade this experience in for anything. The circumstances we are in right now prevent us from fulfilling our commitment and we are very sorry for that. Jordan's medical bills are overwhelming and on the rise, plus we have realized that her physical needs can not be met in Honduras at this time. These reasons alone are cause enough to return but there are other issues as well. God seems to be using this situation to call our attention to other areas in our lives that need to be taken care of.

We took Jordan to the neurosurgeon on the 23rd of January and all is well. Her cat scan looked good and she does not have to go back for a year. We found it interesting that the doctors said they had never seen this happen before. She was classified as shunt independent 2 years ago and yet her shunt failed and she is now shunt dependent again. They have some theories on what happened but really don't' know, they said it was bizarre. Her foot is doing much better. They put on one more cast, it is mostly healed and they are planning to do surgery in about a month.

We had been waiting to get more information on Alan before we headed back to Honduras to tie up some loose ends. Alan had one more test last Wednesday (a gastric emptying test, he had to eat radio active eggs and they took pictures of how they went through his system) and it came back normal. So now they have scheduled him for gallbladder surgery on the 25th of February. We were really hoping that it would be sooner so that he could feel better, especially having to take care of things in Honduras but since they can't get him in until then end of February we are going to go ahead back for a few weeks.

We will be leaving this Tuesday the 5th and returning the 19th. We will be getting rid of all of our things there with a few personal exceptions. It cost too much money and takes too much time to get them back here. So we will be starting over from scratch as far as material possessions. We decided to take AJ and Jordan back with us this time. They are old enough and been a part of this process from the beginning that they need to go back and say their goodbye and help with this process. The other four kids will be in the care of our good friends, Dean and Angie Rish.

God has blessed us with a loving, supporting Christian family (I'm talking about all of you) and we are so thankful that He continues to meet all of our physical and spiritual needs. A local church here in Columbia has a house they use for missionaries who are on furlough or in transition. It is available from mid February until the end of June and they are going to let us stay there. That will help us out greatly.

A note to our financial supporters...

Our intention was to get a real letter out to you... sorry about the email, but we wanted to let you know what was going on and now it's "crunch time". WGO will accept your contributions for us up until April (if you need an tax receipt) and forward them on to us. We are going to ask if you would continue to support us until Alan gets a job. Thank you so much for your care and concern for our family.

We love you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done for us. It certainly has been an adventure... and it's not over. We are all in this (life) together.

Love,
Alan, Dana and kids