Hey friends! There’s a soft warm breeze here on the porch reminding me that it’s no longer 100 degrees, and winter has come to south Texas. And with it, the time to close another chapter. Study, sweat, friendship, and gratitude have filled up these last two months too quickly, leaving us with just a week left for good grades, good packing, and goodbyes. Here’s a glimpse into what life has looked like recently at Rio Grande Bible Institute in Edinburg, Texas.

Erin Finishes Well

The brightest milestone of this season has been Erin’s completion of ICS, the Intercultural Studies Spanish-language program. After a semester thick with project after project and tense moments with Spanish tenses, she now approaches graduation week with relief and joy.

Her coursework this fall pushed her far beyond vocabulary drills and verb tables. She shared her personal testimony en español, practiced evangelism in assignments, and delivered many devotionals. She, along with her four classmates, put on a Nativity play and helped lead an entire chapel service for the school. Each project became half lesson and half worship offering, knitting together language skills and cultural understanding with spiritual reflection.

Acting and singing in the ICS-led chapel

Singing, teaching, laughing, studying—Erin’s deep engagement on campus has been a huge encouragement to many…the Americans and Latinos alike. Bryan has been a very proud hubby!

Bryan’s Homeschool Adventure

While Erin immersed herself in linguistic pursuits, Bryan was immersed in children thirsty for learning! We continued our daily homeschool rhythm with many Mom-honored classics (same curriculum and traditional morning time), but the Texas chapter introduced fresh Dad-approved elements.

Each day began with running and calisthenics, making fitness a shared adventure. The kids came to love starting their days with movement, and showed competitive interest in continually besting their 1-mi times. Then we studied Scripture, sang hymns, solved chess puzzles, read poetry, and listened to world history together.

Thank God for Miss Andy too, who tutored these crazies 3 times a week in Spanish!

We bookended each day with science lunches, logic puzzles, and geography. Bryan loved relearning and teaching everything at least as much as they enjoyed it! Really the greatest gift of this semester was not the academia, but the cool and admittedly unique chance as a dad to pour into their hearts each day—to pass down a love for learning, nurture their growing independence, and help the older girls enter that age where it becomes not just instruction, but exploration. This season strengthened those Dad bonds in cool ways that will hopefully last far beyond Edinburg.

A Thanksgiving Pilgrimage

Amid the studies and rhythms of campus life, the Josephs enjoyed a joyful Thanksgiving road trip up to Dallas. We reunited with Bryan’s parents and sister and brother-in-law—and met the most adorable four-month-old baby ever to roll the planet, the unofficial centerpiece of every gathering. Very thankful for a deeply refreshing long weekend break with family.

Friendships in the Valley

Even amid school deadlines, we continued hosting Latino students, Redeemer en Español church friends, and American missionaries for dinners at home—meals that sometimes stretched late into the evenings, and grew our understanding of culture and Spanish all over Central and South America. These were some of the most meaningful parts of our time at here RGBI, a glimpse of the ministry we’re sure to welcome in Mazatlán.

The campus community too has been awesome…Bryan participated in the seminary’s biannual sports tournament, Erin created a few board game nights for ICS, and spent time both 1 on 1 and in groups with some friends we’ve grown to love. Letting go hasn’t gotten any easier, but it’s God’s blessing that we’ve met great people whom we’ll miss.

Ecuadorian dinner with tutors and friends

Fun birthday celebration for Ezra with some of their closest friends

Closing This Chapter

At the end of this week we’ll fly back to Ohio for a brief season of reconnecting, plus a few weeks visiting family in Pennsylvania, and soon after, begin the long-awaited final move to Mazatlán in early February. Dios por delante!

Answers to Prayer

We received our visas in October! It turned out to be a great appointment, we had all the documents we needed, and we’re all set with temporary residency.
We have finished school and can speak conversational Spanish!
Thanks be to God and many of His people who are providing for our home and vehicle necessities while visiting the great North!

Prayer Requests

For grace in all the goodbyes—
Pray for the many farewells happening this week—that we would leave RGBI with gratitude, peace, and well-cultivated relationships.
For their upcoming travel and transition—
Pray for our flight back to Ohio on Dec 13, and the shift into a season of uprootedness requiring flexibility and trust in God’s provision.
For meaningful time with family and friends—
Pray for a meaningful, Christ-centered advent and many intentional moments with friends and family we (mostly) haven’t seen for a year.
For the final preparations for Mazatlán—
Pray for wisdom, endurance, clarity, safety, and peace as we prepare for the long-term move in early February.

And if you’re in northeast Ohio in January, please reach out—we’d love to hang out with you while we’re stateside!

Grace and peace,

The Josephs

Goodbye RGBI