Psalm 117 (NIV)
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Though God has shown me/us time and again how much he cares for us and that He is faithful, I (Ron) continue to be surprised when he shows up. That is exactly what he has done this week. Thursday is our official departure date. Yesterday, it was confirmed that our van sold. Today, we signed a contract on our house. Though we didn’t know it when we signed the papers, we later found out that we know the folks who are buying the house (we knew the wife by her name before she was married). As I look back, we remember our kids praying that we would be able to “pass along” our house to someone that we knew. Sometime in the last five months, I came to believe that prayer would not be answer and I resolved that I would be happy if it just SOLD. God did not forget that prayer, and he saw fit to answer it with a yes. Some might call it icing on the cake, I call it a kiss from God. He is real, he is personal, and he cares about us – he cares about you. We hope you know that. The Christian life is not a cake-walk, but we have found it to be joyful! We pray that our kiss from God today is an encouragement to you.
That said, it seems we need to put some new prayer requests on this here blog. God seems to have checked all of these off in the last week. We will get on that. In the meantime, please pray for our goodbyes as we leave our training here. All five of us have made great friends over the last month, and saying goodbye AGAIN will be tough. A month from now, these new friends will be scattered across the world, looking for opportunities to share the hope that we have in Jesus Christ with those who need this hope. If you think about it, please remember us Thursday as we head to the airport and fly through the night to Paris and then on Friday as we fly on to Bamako, Mali.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Finishing Up!
It is hard to believe that we are in our last 3 days here at our training. The time has gone so fast. We have learned so many valuable things from so many knowledgeable people. We are grateful for the opportunity to be working for this organization. We have met so many awesome people, and are looking forward to all the cool places we get to visit them in. We had a great weekend – first hanging with our dear friends from NC. Thank you guys for coming to see us – it meant so much! Also we got to see our family again. My cousin Kathy and her husband hosted a barbeque and we got to hang out for one last hoorah before heading over the pond. We appreciate our family and friends for supporting our decision to go to Africa. We understand how much our decision affected those close to us and for that we are sorry. We love you guys.
Thanks to Aunt Diana for some really cool blankets – here is a picture of the kids sleeping with them.
Here are a picture of all the cousins (except Ryan - he is in college). The kids had a great day!
We are almost done here at the farm - we have today through Wednesday and then we fly out Thursday. Hard to believe! We will post before we go and then not sure when we will have internet again - please bear with us and check back - we will post as soon as possible!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Our trip to Washington D.C
We had a great day in the city - our purpose was to observe internationals, eat in an ethnic restaurant and share the gospel with those as we had opportunity. Overall it was a good day - we ate at a West African restaurant called Sumah's by Howard University. I think some of the regulars were surprised to see white people in there - but they were very friendly. We were able to share the gospel with the owner, Sumah. He was very gracious and very Muslim. The food was amazing. We had peanut butter sauce with rice, stewed okra, cassava leaves, jollof rice and some other types of leaves. It was great - a little spicy, which Faith wasn't too happy about. Our favorite was the peanut butter sauce. Typical African service - when we ordered drinks - Sumah's wife walked out of the restaurant and went to the convenience store to get them!
This is Sumah and his wife. They are from Sierre Leone - they were very warm and hospitable.
We have confirmed airline reservations and will receive our tickets by Wednesday - we fly out of Dulles on October 2nd at 10:15 pm and will arrive in Paris around 11:50 am and then fly out of Paris at 4:40 pm and arrive in Mali at 8:20. It is all very real at this point. Pray that the details will all come together. Our last week and 1/2 here is very busy with meeting with the regional team and finalizing all of the plans. We go get our international drivers license tomorrow and then lots of meetings. Somewhere in there, we will need to carefully pack so that each suitcase has the right weight. Thanks for your prayers. We would LOVE to pray for you, so feel free to let us know how we can!
This is Sumah and his wife. They are from Sierre Leone - they were very warm and hospitable.
We have confirmed airline reservations and will receive our tickets by Wednesday - we fly out of Dulles on October 2nd at 10:15 pm and will arrive in Paris around 11:50 am and then fly out of Paris at 4:40 pm and arrive in Mali at 8:20. It is all very real at this point. Pray that the details will all come together. Our last week and 1/2 here is very busy with meeting with the regional team and finalizing all of the plans. We go get our international drivers license tomorrow and then lots of meetings. Somewhere in there, we will need to carefully pack so that each suitcase has the right weight. Thanks for your prayers. We would LOVE to pray for you, so feel free to let us know how we can!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sorry
Sorry to all of you who check the blog - we haven't had much time for a update. But here goes trying to catch you up on all of the things going on. We have around 20 days before we head over to Africa. We are excited, but still have many things to accomplish before we go. There are still many details to work out. The kids are still having a lot of fun. They will shed many tears over the friends that they have made here. Tomorrow they have their "airport day". This is where they have created a mock airport and will practice travelling with their suitcases and passports and dealing with the custom officers. They are looking forward to it. We have our last day of security training. It has been a stressful 3 days. They roleplay many situations to prepare us for the "we pray it never happens" type of events.
Over the past week we have had many great teachers and have gleaned much. Dr. Tom Elliff spoke about the different doctrines. Some of the cool things he said were: "We don't pray to get God's attention, we pray because we have God's attention". I thought that was an awesome thought. Another thought he shared was: "we need to get to the point where all we want is simply all He wants for our lives". That is something that really made me think.
We recently sent out an email update as well - if you did not get that and want to get it, please comment and we will add you to our updates. We are humbled by how many people are reading our blog and thank you for praying for our family. Please join us in praying for a friend of ours: Janice Chance whose son Jesse was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Over the past week we have had many great teachers and have gleaned much. Dr. Tom Elliff spoke about the different doctrines. Some of the cool things he said were: "We don't pray to get God's attention, we pray because we have God's attention". I thought that was an awesome thought. Another thought he shared was: "we need to get to the point where all we want is simply all He wants for our lives". That is something that really made me think.
We recently sent out an email update as well - if you did not get that and want to get it, please comment and we will add you to our updates. We are humbled by how many people are reading our blog and thank you for praying for our family. Please join us in praying for a friend of ours: Janice Chance whose son Jesse was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
It's Electric!
Hello again to the modern world! The weekend was pretty uneventful as far as electricity goes.
We did learn a planning lesson -- only one of five flashlights work, and that one was dim due to low batteries! We ate well, and honestly found it was a nice change to eat in our apartment as a family without the distractions of a big dining hall. We ate two meals each day as a family, and then we had our bigger meal together with the rest of our small group going to West Africa. It was a good time to fellowship. One thing that we had to adjust for was - a person on crutches! No, it wasn't Chris this time - surprisingly enough. Ron was playing basketball on Friday evening and jumped up for a ball. He came down wrong on his foot and broke a bone in his right foot. He didn't go to the emergency room until Saturday morning. He was put in a cast and told to go to the orthopedic dr. on Tuesday. So, today the dr. switched him into a boot instead of a cast and he has to go back 3 weeks from now. It won't delay our departure - praise the Lord.
We also survived our second round of immunizations. This round was more difficult and the side effects were longer. We had yellow fever shots and they made the kids a little sick for a few days. We also had to have a TB test and we start the typhoid immunization tomorrow (it is oral). We have to take that for 4 days. Probably won't stop us from getting typhoid fever, but it usually makes it less severe.
God has really been showing us how much that we rely on ourselves and not on Him or His Word. We have been consistently reading His Word and He is revealing more of His character to us everyday. We have been learning about all of the miracles that are taking place all over the world - God showing Himself in dreams and visions to many peoples of the nations. We are so excited and privileged to be apart of the great movement around the globe.
The kids are learning so much as well - they are making great friends that I believe they will continue to connect with overseas.
This week we are learning Bible Storying. What an awesome way to share God's love. Did you know that only 4-5% of the world's languages have a copy of the Bible for their language? And even if they did - most of them couldn't read it. We are learning that sharing the love of God must be shared orally. That is scary for me, because it means that I have to memorize more things and I feel that my feeble little brain can't handle it. I know that I will truly have to rely on the Lord for that skill. That is one area where I know that I will not be able to do it my own strength, which is so hard for me to admit!
We are half way through the training as of today! We have lots to learn, but we are praying that we are eager learners! We will be sitting under Dr. Tom Elliff this week - what an awesome privilege. Well, that is all for now. Continue to pray for our house and van. We have a family that is interested in the house - we hope to hear something soon. Pray that this is the right family. Thanks for reading our blog and praying for us. Please let us know how we can pray for you!
We did learn a planning lesson -- only one of five flashlights work, and that one was dim due to low batteries! We ate well, and honestly found it was a nice change to eat in our apartment as a family without the distractions of a big dining hall. We ate two meals each day as a family, and then we had our bigger meal together with the rest of our small group going to West Africa. It was a good time to fellowship. One thing that we had to adjust for was - a person on crutches! No, it wasn't Chris this time - surprisingly enough. Ron was playing basketball on Friday evening and jumped up for a ball. He came down wrong on his foot and broke a bone in his right foot. He didn't go to the emergency room until Saturday morning. He was put in a cast and told to go to the orthopedic dr. on Tuesday. So, today the dr. switched him into a boot instead of a cast and he has to go back 3 weeks from now. It won't delay our departure - praise the Lord.
We also survived our second round of immunizations. This round was more difficult and the side effects were longer. We had yellow fever shots and they made the kids a little sick for a few days. We also had to have a TB test and we start the typhoid immunization tomorrow (it is oral). We have to take that for 4 days. Probably won't stop us from getting typhoid fever, but it usually makes it less severe.
God has really been showing us how much that we rely on ourselves and not on Him or His Word. We have been consistently reading His Word and He is revealing more of His character to us everyday. We have been learning about all of the miracles that are taking place all over the world - God showing Himself in dreams and visions to many peoples of the nations. We are so excited and privileged to be apart of the great movement around the globe.
The kids are learning so much as well - they are making great friends that I believe they will continue to connect with overseas.
This week we are learning Bible Storying. What an awesome way to share God's love. Did you know that only 4-5% of the world's languages have a copy of the Bible for their language? And even if they did - most of them couldn't read it. We are learning that sharing the love of God must be shared orally. That is scary for me, because it means that I have to memorize more things and I feel that my feeble little brain can't handle it. I know that I will truly have to rely on the Lord for that skill. That is one area where I know that I will not be able to do it my own strength, which is so hard for me to admit!
We are half way through the training as of today! We have lots to learn, but we are praying that we are eager learners! We will be sitting under Dr. Tom Elliff this week - what an awesome privilege. Well, that is all for now. Continue to pray for our house and van. We have a family that is interested in the house - we hope to hear something soon. Pray that this is the right family. Thanks for reading our blog and praying for us. Please let us know how we can pray for you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)