We are finally and actually going overseas. We've been planning and preparing to go for so long that is seems crazy that we will actually be in Cote d'Ivoire in less than a month. We are so excited to start the next segment of our lives.
It has definitely been a time of transition. Both Jess and I have been home for the last 4 weeks and didn't drive each other completely insane, which is a miracle. I am currently sitting in an almost empty living room because we had Karen and Tom take a load of living room furniture to store. It has been odd getting ready, and even for us it feels like it is still not real, but we are leaving in 3 weeks. When we found out we could leave earlier rather than later it went from looking at all of this from a distance, to being right smack in front of it. Such an odd feeling.
We started shopping for all of the things we will need while over in Africa. Some of them are fun and exciting, like a hand pump water filter and sandals (because that's pretty much what we wear all the time). Other things aren't, such as a year’s supply of tooth paste and deodorant. It is so different to try and have everything we will need for 2 years packed in suitcases, that's what closets and Wal-Mart are for, right?
We have started saying our goodbyes to all the people we know and will continue to get together with people through November 23rd (let us know if you want to get together). After that we will spend Thanksgiving and our last few days with our families.
We hope you will continue to be excited for us as we depart, we will post as much as we can while we are in Africa and will have plenty of pictures. Feel free to email us or comment with questions. Next update from either Colorado or Cote d’Ivoire!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
OCTOBER UPDATE
I'm starting to realize that we're in a process - a process of the Lord giving and the Lord taking away. He's given us new eyes for Him, new eyes for the lost, a new passion for this mission, a new outlook on life, but in that He needs to take away some things. He needs to take away our comfort, our security, our future. In order to follow Him in what He gives, we need to surrender the things He's taking away. It's not easy, but it's so good to say, through the good and bad, hard and easy, MAY THE NAME OF THE LORD BE PRAISED!
Just an update for you guys on our lives. Steve had tried to extend his contract to into November. Because my mom moved closer, we didn't feel like we needed as much time inbetween. God had different plans - although his boss was totally okay with that, the project he was working on got shut down, so Steve is done after this week(CRAZY). We are praying that we will be able to leave mid-November. We need about $600/month to order tickets and $900/month to leave. God has given us about $800/month more in the last two weeks (He is Good). Keep praying!
Prayer:
Just an update for you guys on our lives. Steve had tried to extend his contract to into November. Because my mom moved closer, we didn't feel like we needed as much time inbetween. God had different plans - although his boss was totally okay with that, the project he was working on got shut down, so Steve is done after this week(CRAZY). We are praying that we will be able to leave mid-November. We need about $600/month to order tickets and $900/month to leave. God has given us about $800/month more in the last two weeks (He is Good). Keep praying!
- That we would surrender ALL - our future (or what we think it will be), our comfort, our money, our time, our way of life.
- That we would be material that is being "built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22)
- That we would have a crazy love for God that doesn't make sense,but is following HIM whatever the cost.
- The people's hearts would be open to giving to God's ministry in Africa - a ministry that He picked us for. Pray that we will have a good understanding of our timeline (if God wants us to) by the end of this month.
- Wonderful sermons that have been LIFECHANGING from Sir Reverend Larry Willman :) I don't know if you know that God has been speaking through you to change our lives in a big way.
- Continued people serving God through giving.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Praise-tastic!!!
This is my happy face.
I'm having one of those weeks - the weeks where it's hard to be around me, because I can't stop smiling and I have to tell EVERYONE about how God is blessing us this week. The week where I've been saying cheesy phrases and words like "Praise Update" and "Praise-tastic" just so that I can talk about how good God is.
Then I realized that the ultamite way to blab this to the world is blogging - oh, internet, how I love thee :)
Here goes the "praise-tastic" news:
- God is building our financial team in a big way! We have 7 new partners in the last week (we haven't seen a jump like that in quite a while). We have seen generousity in ways we've never seen before - I think God is booting us out of the states, and we're ready to be booted.
- We've been given the go ahead to leave in November - it's a VERY long story, but there was a little worry we wouldn't be able to leave when planned, now we're good to go as long as we have the money (see first bullet).
- God PROVIDES! Should I ever doubt that? And He provides for things that we never prayed about as if to say "See! I know your needs before you even talk to me about it." We found out that we didn't really understand how our health insurance works and we have a chunk of money sitting in our health account for the needs that we were worried about. Enough to cover my dentist appointment yesterday, enough to cover the two fillings that need to be done, enough to cover a dentist appointment for Steve, glasses for me, and any immunizations that we need to do before we leave!
And those are the extra special blessings - we should be praising God like this everyday because we have another day to worship Him, love Him, and tell others about Him.
I know that this blog won't let you comment on it, but I would challenge you to share with us your blessings - whether they're in the midst of a "blessing storm" (where everything seems blessed) in the midst of a hard time in your life. His mercies are new every morning either way. Great is YOUR faithfulness, oh, God!
Have a BLESSED weekend (and make sure to count them and name them one by one)!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Yahweh
This morning while doing my devos I was reading out of the book "Praying the Names of God," and this week is all about Yahweh (LORD) and the reading is from Gen 22:15-18 where Moses sees the burning bush.
It's silly how some things stand out when you hear a word. Whenever I hear Yahweh I think of a chapel speaker I had in college. He repeatedly said "When you hear NO WAY, think YAHWEH!" He had us repeat that over and over again and it just stuck in my mind.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
To the Egyptians the name Yahweh would have been a terror - a name to forget because it conjured plagues, darkness, defeat, and death. But to Moses and the Israelites Yahweh would forever mean deliverance, freedom, promise, and power.
I love those ending words. Deliverance, freedom, promise, and power.
As we go on our journey - a journey that we hope and pray will lead us to the Ivory Coast in a month and a half, there has been many doubts in my own mind. Not others saying that there's no way that it will happen, but my own mind saying that the money amount is too big and that the amount we can do is too small.
However, in the last few months, when my mind is saying NO WAY, I've been able to lift it up to the LORD and say "Yahweh".
I pray that God is showing you that in your own lives, in your own struggles. That when life seems too big, God is bigger!
Blessings!
It's silly how some things stand out when you hear a word. Whenever I hear Yahweh I think of a chapel speaker I had in college. He repeatedly said "When you hear NO WAY, think YAHWEH!" He had us repeat that over and over again and it just stuck in my mind.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
To the Egyptians the name Yahweh would have been a terror - a name to forget because it conjured plagues, darkness, defeat, and death. But to Moses and the Israelites Yahweh would forever mean deliverance, freedom, promise, and power.
I love those ending words. Deliverance, freedom, promise, and power.
As we go on our journey - a journey that we hope and pray will lead us to the Ivory Coast in a month and a half, there has been many doubts in my own mind. Not others saying that there's no way that it will happen, but my own mind saying that the money amount is too big and that the amount we can do is too small.
However, in the last few months, when my mind is saying NO WAY, I've been able to lift it up to the LORD and say "Yahweh".
I pray that God is showing you that in your own lives, in your own struggles. That when life seems too big, God is bigger!
Blessings!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Excitrafied
I recently had an appointment with a student for my work at Northwestern. He had spent the last four years (since graduating from high school) doing different Discipleship Training Schools and different projects with YWAM. His parents were missionaries in India.
We started talking about Steve and I going to Africa and how we were excited/anxious/happy/nervous and they said "We have a name for that...Excitrafied." It was a perfect way to explain that excited/petrified feeling in my stomach these past few weeks.
Steve started a contract with Medtronic that ends on October 14th, in order to give us time to do those final things before leaving in November. I put in my notice yesterday and will be done at Northwestern on August 19th, leaving 3 months of not working to do full-time fundraising and ministry.
It's all coming together and really coming alive in our lives. It's crazy. It's something that God's been working in us to prepare us for this, but it's finally here.
My mom said it's like having a child - you spend all this time saying that it's TAKING FOREVER for this baby to come, and then two weeks before, you start getting all nervous about the future and how you're going to be as a parent and everything, and then when it happens, it's just a whirlwind and everything works out fine.
We're in the nervous phase...please pray for us. We know this is what God wants us to do, we know He's going to provide what we need, but sometimes it takes us a while from that to go from our head to our heart.
Also, we're in the last 2 months of support/partner raising. If you've been meaning to join us, but you've been putting it off, click HERE to join us in Africa through giving - we're looking for monthly partners of $25, $50, or $100, but any amount will be a blessing!
We started talking about Steve and I going to Africa and how we were excited/anxious/happy/nervous and they said "We have a name for that...Excitrafied." It was a perfect way to explain that excited/petrified feeling in my stomach these past few weeks.
Steve started a contract with Medtronic that ends on October 14th, in order to give us time to do those final things before leaving in November. I put in my notice yesterday and will be done at Northwestern on August 19th, leaving 3 months of not working to do full-time fundraising and ministry.
It's all coming together and really coming alive in our lives. It's crazy. It's something that God's been working in us to prepare us for this, but it's finally here.
My mom said it's like having a child - you spend all this time saying that it's TAKING FOREVER for this baby to come, and then two weeks before, you start getting all nervous about the future and how you're going to be as a parent and everything, and then when it happens, it's just a whirlwind and everything works out fine.
We're in the nervous phase...please pray for us. We know this is what God wants us to do, we know He's going to provide what we need, but sometimes it takes us a while from that to go from our head to our heart.
Also, we're in the last 2 months of support/partner raising. If you've been meaning to join us, but you've been putting it off, click HERE to join us in Africa through giving - we're looking for monthly partners of $25, $50, or $100, but any amount will be a blessing!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
My Heart Will Sing No Other Name
"Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms, the riches of Your love, will always be enough. Nothing compares to Your embrace. Light of the world, forever reign"
We sang that song at church on Sunday and it concludes with the words "My heart will sing, no other name, Jesus, Jesus."
When it got to that part, it started making me think. What other names does my heart sing? Does it sing money? Friends? Acceptance? Appreciation? Steve?
It seems as we raise support, so much of the focus in on money. Now, both Steve and I have never been "money" people. What I mean by that is that neither of us care about how much money we make, or ever being rich. Because of that, it's new to us to have to focus on how much money comes our way for Africa. It's weird because all of a sudden we have a glimpse of what it means to be a "lover of money."
I don't mean to say this in a bad way - we have learned so much about God's character and His power throughout our support raising, but it's been difficult finding a balance. When we rejoice, we've needed to learn to rejoice in God's provision (not just that we see our support go up another 1-2%). When we get anxious, we need to learn to give it to Him and know that He has our future in his hands and that this is HIS ministry and HIS timing, not ours and not go back to trying to raise support with OUR strength, but HIS.
My heart will sing NO other name, Jesus, Jesus.
Remember that as our hearts are deceitful, they wander far away from singing the name of Jesus. I just want to pray that as Christian, we can all focus on singing that one name day in and day out, in the good times and in the frustrating times!
We sang that song at church on Sunday and it concludes with the words "My heart will sing, no other name, Jesus, Jesus."
When it got to that part, it started making me think. What other names does my heart sing? Does it sing money? Friends? Acceptance? Appreciation? Steve?
It seems as we raise support, so much of the focus in on money. Now, both Steve and I have never been "money" people. What I mean by that is that neither of us care about how much money we make, or ever being rich. Because of that, it's new to us to have to focus on how much money comes our way for Africa. It's weird because all of a sudden we have a glimpse of what it means to be a "lover of money."
I don't mean to say this in a bad way - we have learned so much about God's character and His power throughout our support raising, but it's been difficult finding a balance. When we rejoice, we've needed to learn to rejoice in God's provision (not just that we see our support go up another 1-2%). When we get anxious, we need to learn to give it to Him and know that He has our future in his hands and that this is HIS ministry and HIS timing, not ours and not go back to trying to raise support with OUR strength, but HIS.
My heart will sing NO other name, Jesus, Jesus.
Remember that as our hearts are deceitful, they wander far away from singing the name of Jesus. I just want to pray that as Christian, we can all focus on singing that one name day in and day out, in the good times and in the frustrating times!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Keeping the Faith
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of things unseen. We're sure that God has called us to ministry and know that He will provide for us to leave for Africa. I have to say that one WONDERFUL thing of having no control in life is that you get to see God work.
Recently, a member of a church I grew up in contacted me about our ministry and asked me to tell what's been going on in my life since he last knew me...in 2nd grade. I took a deep breath and hunkered down to write a long email. I breezed through my elementary, middle and high school years to the moment I knew that God had called me to be a missionary. I went into how God prepared me for ministry and my opportunities that came along. I went through when I knew that BOTH Steve and I were called to do this together and then how we support raised for France and now Africa.
I got done and I was nearly in tears seeing how God has directed EVERYTHING in my life to bring me where I am today (even down to NOT dropping out of school after my freshman year in college to do ministry, which seemed like an honorable thing to do, but then realizing I would have never met Steve). God is in control and as Steve and I reach an "uncertain" stage in our lives (not really knowing what Steve should do in the interim between job and Africa, not really knowing our EXACT date of departure, having to depend on God putting others in our lives to partner with us to do God's work) and we see how God has provided for both of us in the past.
Like in the Old Testament where people would stack stones to commemorate what God had done at that place, I was reminded how God has provided in the past and am confident that God will completely provide for us in our future.
We're excited to see who God puts in our lives to join us in God's ministry in Africa. If you would like to join us, please click on the number to the right to do a one time or monthly donation. Our hope (Lord Willing) is to be at 50% by mid-April.
Thanks so much for all your support.
Recently, a member of a church I grew up in contacted me about our ministry and asked me to tell what's been going on in my life since he last knew me...in 2nd grade. I took a deep breath and hunkered down to write a long email. I breezed through my elementary, middle and high school years to the moment I knew that God had called me to be a missionary. I went into how God prepared me for ministry and my opportunities that came along. I went through when I knew that BOTH Steve and I were called to do this together and then how we support raised for France and now Africa.
I got done and I was nearly in tears seeing how God has directed EVERYTHING in my life to bring me where I am today (even down to NOT dropping out of school after my freshman year in college to do ministry, which seemed like an honorable thing to do, but then realizing I would have never met Steve). God is in control and as Steve and I reach an "uncertain" stage in our lives (not really knowing what Steve should do in the interim between job and Africa, not really knowing our EXACT date of departure, having to depend on God putting others in our lives to partner with us to do God's work) and we see how God has provided for both of us in the past.
Like in the Old Testament where people would stack stones to commemorate what God had done at that place, I was reminded how God has provided in the past and am confident that God will completely provide for us in our future.
We're excited to see who God puts in our lives to join us in God's ministry in Africa. If you would like to join us, please click on the number to the right to do a one time or monthly donation. Our hope (Lord Willing) is to be at 50% by mid-April.
Thanks so much for all your support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)