Between Continents
First of all we want to thank all of you who are supporting us by your words of encouragement, your acts of kindness, your prayers, and for your financial support. We are grateful to God for each one of you!
Transition
As you may have guessed, we are not yet able to travel to Kenya to begin our ministry at Rift Valley Academy. For now, the Lord has work that He wants us to do here, and work He wants to do in us!
We moved out and closed on our home in Stillwater on August 15. After spending a couple nights with my sister we moved in to the lower floor of a couple that graciously opened their home to us. We’ll be here until the middle of October.
Moving is not fun. It was stressful and chaotic, but somehow we managed to get everything out of the house and on to it’s next destination:
- to the trash
- my parent’s house (stuff we want to keep but not take to Kenya)
- the church basement (stuff we don’t need now but will need in Kenya, as well as stuff we haven’t made a decision about)
- the trash
- our current location (the everyday stuff we need now)
- the trash again
Thank you 1-800-GOT-JUNK!
Closing day brought with it some mixed emotions. Lilli and I drove over that morning and cried together as we walked through our empty home, going through each room often exclaiming, “Remember when…?” Later that morning I brought the kids over for a final goodbye – and one last turn on our tree swing.
By 1:00 pm that day, the house at 189 Maryknoll Dr. in Stillwater was no longer ours (or at least no longer Ditech Bank’s with an account with our name on it). And you know what? along with sadness came the feeling of freedom. We were no longer weighed down with a mortgage, with the responsibility of a home and property, and with the accumulation of possessions. How good that feels. And as soon as we are cleared for Kenya, we know it won’t take us long to pack!
Departure Date
Speaking of being cleared for Kenya, the question we get asked most often is, “Do you have a departure date?” The short answer is, “no.” We need to be at 100% monthly support before we can go. Currently, we are close to 60%. During this first term of school, RVA is making some adjustments to get along without us. It would be their desire and our goal to be able to make it by the start of second term at the beginning of January, 2017.
So what are we doing to get to 100% support? In addition to prayer, we presented our ministry to a local church missions committee last night, have an appointment with another church in October, are waiting to hear back from a church in another state, and are in the process of making arrangements with a couple others. A few of you have said that we could come and share in your small group. Thank you! Other than that, we continue to make contact with many of you by phone or in person to share our heart for this ministry and answer any questions you may have (so don’t be surprised if we give you a call!). If we haven’t called you and there is something you have a question about, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Items for Prayer
By God’s grace our kids have handled the transition out of our home and to a more transitory lifestyle amazingly well – sometimes better than we have! They have settled back into the school routine, but for the most part are eager to be on our way to Kenya. Even our youngest, Sophia, who has struggled with the decision to fly across the ocean to Africa, has grown in trusting the Lord to provide for her.
As you pray for God to provide the finances we need to get to Kenya, please pray that He would continue to strengthen Lilli and I and prepare us for the life and ministry He has for us, both now and at RVA – our marriage, leading our family, relationships, growth in godliness. By His grace, we are seeking to grow in our obedience to Christ in every moment. He has promised to give us all we need (2 Peter 1:3, Titus 2:11-12).
Thank you all for your prayers, support and care for our family and your love for the lost. You have been a source of strength, encouragement and joy through these days of living in transition.
Now here’s our prayer for you:
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace…For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:3–11)