If Stress = Lack of Trust, Discouragement = ?

Hello Everyone!

It's been a while since we've posted on here (a month exactly actually).

It's been a long couple months. As many of you know we had a support raising trip to WI at the end of October and were really excited that we're getting everything together and really starting to hit the ground running as far as support raising goes. Really, at that point, nothing could stop us.

Now, fast forward a month ahead - you're looking at two tired, hopeless, discouraged people. One our our main goals with this blog is to really share the ups and downs of our entire process (from support raising, to getting started in France, to leaving). Well, we're in a down.

As much as we've worked these past 6 months, we've barely seen a 5% budge in our numbers - and while we're thankful for that, we have a really long ways to go in a relatively short amount of time.

We are at about 87% of our one-time expenses (including plane tickets, training, ect.) and at 11.33% of our monthly expenses (the $5,500 we need to raise each month). If we're still looking at leaving in August (our projected leave date) we need to raise at least 9% each month (that's about $500/month pledged for the two years we're there).

It's been hard to keep going when we haven't seen any progress - I've found that we haven't been updating the blog, emailing out prayer request, or really talking to others about it at all, which really just makes the problem worse -

So - I would like to cry out to you! Please pray for us!!!! Here are something that we're really just struggling with right now:

Pray for passion for the work we believe God has called us to.
Pray for surrender of all of this to God, through which everything happens.
Pray for peace about God's time line, not ours.
Pray for contentment, that we would continue strong in our ministries here.
Pray for preparation and that we would be continually growing closer to the Lord.
Pray for provision - that God would bring the right people to partner with us at the right time.

Thanks so much - we really appreciate your prayers and support!

Normal Life

Things have settled down quite a bit for us, so much that we did not feel as though we had much to write about the last few weeks. New things in our lives: Snow! We got tons of beautiful snow on Saturday for which we were not prepared. Driving is much easier with an extra 210 lbs of sandbags in the back of our truck. Saturday evening we were able to go to the Skillet/Toby Mac concert with Jess' job and were blessed with fantastic seats. Sunday I taught my 3rd and 4th grade Sunday school class and the lesson was on Seeking God. The lesson was based on the parable of Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:10-14) and emphasized the fact that people only seek things they truly need. The Tax Collector new his need for God. It was a great reminder of my need for God and that I need to be seeking God.

Wisconsin Support Trip Update

As most of you know, we left on Friday for a support raising trip across WI. We started off in high hopes of visiting with someone almost every 2 hours over the weekend. It would have been crazy. We ended up meeting with 6 different families and it was WONDERFUL.

Before telling you about all of that, though, I thought it was great that God likes to remind us of things while we’re going through them. On Sunday, at church, the pastor preached on two different things – one in Sunday school and one in the main service.

The first lesson was being available to God. He talked about people in the Bible like the boy with the bread and fish in the feeding of the 5,000, or Esther, or Noah and how God “doesn’t look at ability, He looks at availability.” He then asked three questions (really read over them a couple times and think about it):

1. Are you available to God?
2. Are your possessions available to God?
3. Do you allow your spouse/family to be available to God?

What does that look like? When he asked the first question, I’m like “yes, I feel like I will allow God to use me wherever He wants to”, but then when he asked about my possessions (my car, my house, my stuff) and my family (my husband), I had to stop for a second. Do I allow God to use Steve in whatever way He wants, or do I think “Man, that could be time we’re spending together?” or “That person is just taking advantage”. It was a hard thing to look at.

The second sermon was on the blind man mentioned in Luke 18:35-43. Really paraphrasing his sermon he talked about how at first the man yelled to Jesus, was shushed and then yelled louder – after that, when he was brought to Jesus, even though it was obvious, Jesus had him ask for his sight one more time. He talked about the power to coming to Jesus with what we need – that even though Jesus knows, we need to ask! After the man received his sight, the people didn’t just follow him, but they praised along with the man.

We have learned to ask God straight out for what we need (WE NEED SUPPORT) and know that not only is He listening to us, but in His time and in His way, He will answer our cry – and we were definitely able to praise him during this trip that we took this weekend.

So, I want you all to praise along with us for the wonderful and encouraging support raising trip we just had! We want to give glory and praise to God alone! God is good (can I get an “all the time”?).

If any of you would like to meet with us, please let us know – we would love to share our ministry with you. Just email us at steveandjessinfrance@gmail.com or call 651.216.1792 at any point.

Steve's Turn

Hello, it is Steve making another appearance. We are trying to get back into the habit of blogging so Jess and I will take turns writing. Friday I sat down and figured out exactly when we will be able to pay off my student loans. February 4th all of my school loans will be paid off. I am very thankful for the job God has provided for me and ask that he continue to bless us with the ability to pay off my school loans as we prepare to go to France. Technically my internship was supposed to end and the end of summer, but I have been able to continue on which has been great. I love working, especially for such a great company. It is just amazing that God has provided in such a great way. I can only think of it as God providing us with the ability to go to France without having to worry about raising more money for loan payments while we are in France. Because there is no specific end date for my internship so far I have found myself worrying that it will end before we leave for France or all of the loans are paid off. But then I remember Philippians 4:6-7 which says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. " It also help that the kids sing this as a song every week before Sunday School so it gets stuck in my head for the entire week. It's funny how that works.

We are going to WI to share with friends and family about our future work in France so if you are in that area we would love to meet with you, and whether you are or not you can pray for safe traveling and God leading people to partner financially. Jess will share next week about how the trip went. The End.

New EVERY Morning

Lamentations 3: 22-26

²² Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

²⁴ I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

Good morning – I just thought I would share that verse with you this morning. “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning” – AMEN! As we start of this week, we want to remember that. That God grace, mercy, and love is new every morning and his faithfulness is great!

We’ve had a busy week this last week, but got a chance to just settle down and relax this weekend. We were also able to draft up another prayer letter, so you should be receiving that soon!

Here are our prayer requests and praises for this week!

Prayer:

• Ø RIGHT NOW if you could say a prayer for Steve, he has a presentation in front of the big wigs at Medtronic at around 11(??) today.
• Ø That our prayer letter would bring new partners to help us reach our goal of 50% by the end of September
• Ø For the Girls Group that I organize and our Sunday School classes as they start up that God would be doing great things in these children
• Ø For a more consistent time to spend time with God together and on our own – our schedules have been crazy and it seems like we’re sneaking in times here and there instead of building our day around time with God.

Praise:

Ø Lord willing, we will be paying off my (Jessica's) school loans on Friday J PRAISE GOD!

Ø That God’s mercies are new every morning.

Ø For a relaxing weekend and being refreshed to face this new week.

Ø For lots of French connections this week – I (Jessica) got to meet some French church planters at work on Thursday, and also a student who is looking to pursue French (also have been dreaming in French a lot lately, which is fun J)

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Hello!

Yes, we realize that’s it’s been a while and we realized we kind of dropped off the face of the earth…but WE’RE BACK and better than ever J God has been doing some great things and teaching us some great things in our lives this summer. Too much to even put on one post, but we’ll try…lets go back!

May – While stressing about getting a job, and finals and vacation (only we can stress about vacation, right?) and all the things that needed to be done, God provided in every way. Steve got a job about 2 days before he was planning on calling the YMCA to continue working there throughout the summer. He’s working a Summer Internship at Medtronic (a company that designs and manufactures medical devices). So, basically all summer he’s been doing stuff with defibrillators and pacemakers (or at least that’s what I get out of when he tells me all day). This has given us a chance to pay back HUGE chunks of my school loans and start into his before they start gaining interest! What a huge praise.

June – June was a month of fun things – we were able to spend some time together camping, going on some road trips and amusement parks. We finally learned that we don’t need to have a week off in order to have a great summer. We took advantage of the weekends and the great weather to have some fun.

July – At the shock of seeing July 1^st come around on the calendar and us looking and seeing that our support hasn’t really moved in almost 2 months, we realized that we needed to buckle down on our support raising. There are always excuses though – in May we said we’d wait until Steve was done with school and started his job and things “calmed down”; June came and we said that we’d wait until we got into the swing of things with both working 8-4:30 jobs, but when July came around we had no more excuses – well, except that I was going to be gone for 3 out of the 4 weeks for music festivals and vacations and my mom coming into town.

*Can I just take a break and say I don’t know how people do support raising. I know that it’s a full time job in and of itself and we just can’t seem to balance it. Eventually (as you’ll find out) we learned how to do it little by little, but it just doesn’t seem to come naturally to us. I mean, I get how Moses felt when he told God that speaking wasn’t his strength and he should really pick someone else. It’s been a challenge to just pick up the phone and call someone and let them know about our ministry. We’ve realized we need to stop making excuses and just do what God has called us to do.*

Ok, back to July. Finally, the last week in July, Steve and I, sitting at a Perkins, faced the facts that we’re not going to be able to raise $5,500/month on letters alone, and started writing letters to talk to people one on one. We’re just getting started and hope that the money comes to us in such a way that only God can be glorified.

So…here we are in August. Lives are getting back to “normal” (or our new normal) – Steve’s boss has invited him to stay as long as they can afford them, which we’re hoping, will mean until we leave for France. This has been a blessing as it’s hard to find a job for just 9 months in the Engineering field.

We would love to leave as soon as possible and are still looking for partners in this – so if you’ve been praying about it, give (just click the box to the right). We’ll let you know a little more about support raising later! Keep praying for us! We appreciate it!

Who do we have confidence in?

Hebrews 10 34-35

34. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

We're reading through Hebrews in our young adult group, and these verses really struck me. "you...joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew you had better and lasting possessions, so do not threw away your confidence"

As we're gearing up to leave, some of our biggest fears seem to be about jobs we're leaving behind, or what we get to bring with us, or the fact that we're leaving security for the uncertain, but this verse really convicted me of what I put my confidence in. If my confidence is in my job, money, or possessions, then I'm not really going to be willing to give those up if that's what God calls me to do.

However, if my confidence is in God, it doesn't matter what anyone takes from me, my confidence cannot be taken.

I also think it's interesting that the Bible says "do not THROW AWAY your confidence." It makes me think that when we put our confidence in anything but God, we're waisting it, because those things are not lasting - they're fleeting.

My question for you (and for me) is, are we wasting our confidence? Are we throwing it away on things that can be easily taken? Are we not following (or afriad to follow) what God wants us to do because our confidence is in something other then Him?

Lord, please help me to be confident in You and nothing else but You. God help me to be willing to completely surrender my life to You, and not keep any part for myself. Calm my irrational fears because I know that You have and will continue to take care of us. Amen.

Is what we believe really real to us?

It's a rainy Saturday morning here in St. Paul, and seems like the perfect morning to write in a blog. I know I'm supposed to keep posts short, but I feel a long one coming on, so bear with me.

Like Steve mentioned in the last post, it's been a crazy week, or really, weeks (plural) since we've returned from Denver. It's really challenged our focus, drive, enery, and attention span. I know that when the devil knows that we're on fire and really running after Christ, he wants to do anything and everything he can to divert our attention from that.

I challenged my girls Sunday School class to be reading through John this week. We're talking about it in church, and I've been challenging them to give out gospels of John for months now, but we never actually read through it on our own (lately at least). It's amazing that in this Gospel, Jesus makes no mistake to let his people (us) know who He is.

Just in the first chapter it says he is:

• The Word (vs. 1, 14)


• God (v. 1)


• Creator (vs. 3, 10)


• The Light (vs.4-5)


• Grace and Truth (v. 17)


• The Lord (v. 23)


• Worthy (v. 27)


• Lamb of God/Taker of sin (v. 29, 36)


• Teacher (vs. 38,49)


• Son of God (v. 49)


• King of Isreal (v. 49)

All I can respond to that is WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE. How can we not shout that? How can we go about our day when the Light, the Creator, the Lamb of God wants a personal relationship to us?

I once heard someone say that the reason people ignore Christ is because if Christians REALLY had what they say they have, they would act different. Not just being "better" then the person next to you, but if we REALLY believed that we have a personal relationship with the ONE who takes away the sin of the world and give us a life, we would be shouting it from the rooftops. But we don't. I don't. Most Christians don't. So...that begs the question. Do we believe that what we believe is really real? Let me say that one more time....do we believe that what we believe is really real? If so, then how would our lives look different?

I know mine would. I would not be scared to share the Gospel with EVERYONE because I knew that I found the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I would not have to schedule in time to read my Bible and pray because I would realize that I have a personal relationship with the CREATOR of the World and maker of all things. I wouldn't worry about the little things because the One who takes care of me gave it to me and He can do with my life what He pleases.

Just ponder on that for a bit (I know I will) - Do you believe that what you believe is really real?

Just to give credit where credit is due, these throughts came from a combination of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project".

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, concerns, and prayer requests on our blog. We love to hear from you.

Just to let you know, our next week blogs will be about France (which, considering it's called FOCUS ON FRANCE, would be good). We will be posting different facts and also our reasons for wanting to go to France. Thanks for following. We really appreciate you all!

The beginning of this week was a stressful one for me (Steve). I had a long engineering assignment due Tuesday and a French presentation Wednesday that I hadn’t started. That was just the start of the week. I had to keep reminding myself (and Jess would remind me too) to take deep breathes and take one day at a time.

The other thing that helped me through the week was Romans 5:1-5

“1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but w] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

I was very encouraged by this passage.

The second half of the week I had a homework assignment for my Advanced Analog Integrated Circuits class (yes, this class is as much fun as it sounds). The class is extremely challenging and when I started the assignment I knew how I needed to start and how it should end. The steps in between were hazy so I worked on it Wednesday and did not get far.

Thursday morning I received an email from my professor who had solved the tedious middle part save for a few steps and posted his work online. I realized it is great to see how he worked through the problem because it gave me an idea of how to do the last few steps. The parallels our walk with God, we need people who are able to teach and guide us as we grow with God.

Life Goes On...

Our Mid-Term Training Group - Pray for these people as they're on the same journey we are raising support to go over seas to preach the Gospel!

Well, we’ve been back for a week, and like coming back from summer camp excited about what you learned, the training last week gave us the renewed excitement for the ministry ahead. However, real life is still going on. *sigh* We had a busy week with lots of extra hours of work and school and catching up from the weekend we didn’t really have.

I have learned this week (as many of us do after coming back from something that spurs us on to ministry or a call that God has given us) that I cannot rely on excitement alone – when I come back from a conference or training, I am so hyped to do EVERYTHING! I eat, sleep, dream France and missions and presentations and culture, BUT…that excitement goes away. Just as the Bible says our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), I think that relying on pure emotion to follow God’s will is deceitful. I think that’s why the Bible talks on perseverance so much.

2 Thessalonians 3: 1-5 1Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

I need to have Christ’s perseverance. Think on Christ’s life and how many things He suffered through after they stopped being “fun” or “exciting” (if they ever were). He knew the will of God for His life, and nothing was going to stop Him until His time was done on earth.

Let me ask to you – is there something in your life that God is spurring you to do, but because the “thrill” of it is gone, you have put it on the back burner? Has your Christian walk become like that? Just because you can’t “feel” God in your life, have you stopped seeking after Him?
Can I just ask you to, right now, rededicate that thing to Him – whether it’s your passions, your service, your money, or your life, give it to Him. The Bible says that if you “commit to the Lord whatever you do…your plans will succeed” (Prov. 16:3).

Lord, please forgive me if I ever try to take the passion You’ve given us into my own hands. Lord, I give this to you. I pray that I will not rely on my emotions, but that I will allow You to give me the strength and perseverance to finish the calling that You gave to me.

Yesterday was a hard day for me. I was challenged by many of my downfalls and could feel myself starting to get anxious about everything. We started talking about transition and starting out on the field. Someone asked how we will know if we’re doing things right and all of a sudden a sheet of dread just closed in on me. I like order, I like routine – and although I like to be spontaneous, it’s only when I’m in control of the adventure. This adventure is one that is out of my control for the most part, and in God’s hands. My mind tells me that is a good thing, but my stomach did flips.

How am I going to know if I’m doing a good job? How am I going to build routine? Will I have enough stuff to do during language training that will give my life purpose? Am I ACTUALLY a people person, or is that just what I’m expected to be? I feel panicked at the mere thought of trying to build relationships in France….does that mean I’m going to fail as a missionary?

We also talked about support raising. There are so many rules. I feel like I can do nothing but wrong things – it seems weird that we have to jump through hoops in order to get the church to support doing God’s work through us. I mean, I’m not saying anything about the church, because, honestly, I usually have to be VERY impressed with a missionary, or organization in order to give my money. It takes something emotional and something convicting for me to even part from $32/month for my compassion child. I’m definitely one of the culprits.

Lord, please calm me – give me a peace that passes all understanding and help me to realize that You are the almighty God and you already know who is going to partner with us, who is going to pray for us, and through You, we will succeed. I give this all to you, Lord – work through me. As Your Word says, we are only servants, and we plant and we water, but only you can make things grow. This is not about me or my ability, but about Your strength working through me. God, give me clarity to start today strong and learn more about serving You. Amen.

Jessica:
What a great experience. Everything from the people in the training to the people doing the training has been such an encouragement. I started getting sick on Wednesday before we left, but nothing could compare to the fuzziness I’m feeling right now. Nevertheless, I’m having a wonderful time.
Even before the plane took off, God was preparing my heart for this training. We got to the airport WAY too early and hunkered down to stay a while. All of a sudden the girl in front of us was talking and mentioned that she was planning on going to Northwestern College, St. Paul. Any of you who really know me, know that my ears perked up hearing that. I went up to her and asked about it, and here she’s a student I’ve been working with, but haven’t been able to meet – what a small world.

We arrived in Denver about 10:15pm (11:15 our time) and still needed to wait for the Shuttle to drive us to Littleton. When the driver started on the way all of a sudden out of the car speakers comes the song “Mighty to Save” – he was playing Christian music! I was able to spend that time in prayer – God was able to prepare my heart for this conference during that 45 minute drive.
This morning started with breakfast with the rest of the Midterm Missionaries. I have to be honest and say I was expecting your typical “missionary types” – middle age couples with 4 kids, using phrases like “young people these days…” and “when I was a kid...” Instead, out of the rooms come 3 right-out-of-college guys, an early 20’s Missionary Kid from Japan, a young couple with a 5 month old (ADORABLE) girl, and an older couple planning on doing missions in their retirement. What a fun group!

I’ll spare you the details (Steve is right next to me writing his post, so he probably told you about what we talked about), but one of the biggest things that tugged on my heart was the idea of my comfort zone. One of the activities we did today was to take things like “Cleanliness” and rate how much we value it, from strongly value to never value. We were able to list our top values (mine included rootedness, individuality, and a clean environment) and realize that these things might not be available in the country we’re ministering to.

Jerry (the leader of the training) talked about Peter, and how Peter’s comfort zone revolved around the Law, which included Sabbath, dietary restrictions, and who you associated with (meaning not talking to the Gentiles). He said that in Acts 10, where God shows him the vision of the cloth being lowered down with the food, Peter would have been VERY uncomfortable with what God was telling him to do, but when Peter allowed God to shape his comfort zone, instead of keeping it rigid, he was allowing God to make him an effective minister of the Gospel. Being able to keep his comfort zone flexible allowed God to use him as a light and witness to the Gentiles in ways that would never be possible if Peter was rigid in that area.

My prayer is that God will use this time of raising support to allow my comfort zone to be molded by Him. That my expectations for what my life will be like will not interfere with the ministry that He’s given me here in MN, or my future ministry in France…

Thanks for tracking with us – we’ll keep you updated!

Day 1 of Training

This is Steve, just thought I'd let you all know that so you didn't have to try and decipher the differences in our writing styles. We flew to Denver,CO Thursday evening and got to the WorldVenture home office late that night and stayed in the guest rooms that are provided.

This morning we had breakfast and met the other Mid Term Missionaries who are also attending this training. It has been great to get to know the other missionaries who are at the same place of raising support. It was also cool to see the age range of the group. There is an older married couple, a couple with a 5 month old, and 4 single college-ish aged people.

We started the training getting to know one another, did a tour of the headquarters, and learned about all the different ministries and services provided by WorldVenture. We also met Hans Finzel who is the president of WorldVenture and Jonathan Finley who is the leader/founder of the Oikos House in France (the ministry we will be working with).

We were able to sit down and talk with Jonathan about the work we will be doing with the Oikos House. We will be language training and building friendships the first year and depending on how well that goes will determine the extent we will be able to serve with one of the 20 WorldVenture church plants.

Getting back to the training one thing that stuck out was we were asked to make a list of questions that would help us conduct a Spiritual Audit, questions about my quest to grow as a child of God. Here are some of the questions my group came up with.

-Is spending time in prayer and studying the Bible a priority?
-Am I investing time in others?
-Is someone pouring into me?
-What is my trust in?

These are the questions I will think about in how I evaluate where I am spiritually. In another exercises we were encouraged to start journaling as a way to express ourselves especially when we are entering a different culture where it will be difficult to adapt. Here is some of what I journaled during that time:

Today has been a great day of encouragement and challenging in preparing for missions and ministry. I"m not sure I'm ready to leave my friends and family to go to France, but I know that God will provide and He knows what is best for me. I am excited to see God work in raising support and in how He plans on using my Engineering before, during, or after France.

For being 12 hours of training with enough breaks, today has felt relaxing and encouraging.

Hello! Jessica here. Thought I'd keep you updated on our journey so far. We're headed off to support training on Thursday. It seems weird to be going to support training after we've already started raising support. It feels like they're going to tell us we're doing it all wrong...I hope not!

The last time I was in Denver (the headquarters of WorldVenture), it was such a blessing to me. I went to their Renewal Conference in 2006. This is a conference where missionaries can come back and be refreshed through worship and prayer. I was allowed to come to be able to talk to some current missionaries and really get to know the heart of WorldVenture. I was impressed.

Needless to say, I'm really excited for Steve and I to do this together. This is the first time Steve will be able to really experience the vision and mission of WorldVenture. I have to admit, when Steve and I first started dating, and he told me that he wanted to go to France with me, I was skeptical. I was so scared that he was just doing this because it's what I wanted to do. We've talked and prayed, and prayed and talked and I am SO glad that God has called us to this mission together. I don't know what I would do without a godly man to help direct and lead this venture that God has called us on.

I just finished reading through Proverbs and this verse stuck out to me:

Prov. 4:25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

This has become my prayer for our journey as we go through support raising, leaving this mission field for the next, and serve God overseas together.

Lord, help us to focus our eyes straight ahead onto You and serve You with our whole hearts and soul and mind.

Steve and I will be updating the blog after we get back from our Conference...please be in prayer that we would leave with many great ideas, encouragement, and a renewed excitement for our mission!

God Bless,

Jessica

We thought we would give you some background to this journey that God has given us.

I (Jessica) studied French in high school and had an amazing opportunity to go to France with my class my Senior year (2005). I thought that would be the end of it as Northwestern College didn’t offer French classes. Well, to my surprise (but not God’s) I had the opportunity to return to France my freshman year in college on a missions trip. I feel in love with the French people on that trip. We were able to build/paint a church along with meeting some Christians in France. What passion they had! It was amazing to see what Christianity looks like in a post-Christian country. As soon as I came back from France, I decided to go to France as a missionary. I had learned about a ministry opportunity (the OIKOS house) while I was over in France. I started applying for the ministry the summer of 2006 and was admitted to leave in 2008, when I graduated…however, God had different (and better) plans for me.

My (Steve's) journey to France started when I got to Northwestern College. Growing up in a ministry based family, I knew that I wanted to do some sort of missions/ministry, but didn’t know exactly what shape that was going to take. My sophomore year at Northwestern, I met Jessica, a women who was passionate about ministry, and knew that I wanted to do ministry with her. We started dating, got engaged and were married in May 2008. As we applied for this ministry, we know that we needed to make this OUR passion and were able to see that God put us together for a purpose!


After we were married, we reapplied to go as a couple. From the time we started the process until we were admitted was about 6 months. We’re planning on going to France in Fall 2010 (Lord willing) and will be working there for two years. The OIKOS house is a ministry of WorldVenture (www.worldventure.com) aimed at providing a mid-term opportunity for young people to find out what overseas missions is all about. We will be doing everything from leading short term missions trips and language training, to getting involved with an existing ministry. We’re hoping that by participating in this “internship” we will be able to see if God has long-term missions (whether in France or somewhere else) in our future, or if He will keep us in the states serving in whatever ministry He provides.

As we go along this journey, our goal is for you to share in everything from joys to frustrations, encouragement to discouragement. We will be sharing our heart with you and hoping that God will use this blog to bless you. Feel free to contact us and leave comments whenever you would like.