We love and sincerely
appreciate all of you whom the Lord has used to encourage, pray, and physically
lend a hand, as well as those of you who have been able to partner with us
through giving. The past year is a blur of decisions and transitions but God is
faithful and many of you played a part. We thank you all for your love,
friendship and support!
The sale of our home is
final. Our earthly goods have been whittled down to fit into 20 plastic luggage
trunks and a few sentimental totes for U.S. storage. We have experienced the Lord providing in so
many ways. We had so much to do the
month of July as we worked to sell everything we could. Then, on Saturday the 22nd, we held
a moving sale at our house. We'd already sold most of our big items: TV's, dining
table and chairs, etc. but we still had a ton of items that needed a good home.
Our neighborhood was out in the country about twenty minutes from town. In the past,
when we've tried to have a yard sale on our own (without it being a community yard
sale) we had only maybe one or two customers the entire morning. So this time,
with a garage and driveway full of stuff, we prayed and asked the Lord to bring
people. Well, the entire morning, we had
constant traffic! There were more people
than we’ve had during community events in the past. We sold tons of stuff and
probably gave away just as much. Several of our friends came to help with
customers and we know that we could not have done it without them. At the end
of the moving sale, the remaining items fit in the back of one pickup truck! A
team of volunteers from Faith came and helped by taking them off to goodwill.
This whole event was undeniably God’s provision.
We are also amazed at the
way the Lord has been working through this process. We had many people in our
home as they came to buy our stuff, and we were able to pray with them and
share with them the good news of Jesus Christ.
It was such a joy to be able to pause in the middle of all this
craziness and do what we were created to do!
Each encounter refreshed our soul as we were reminded of the greatness
of our God and the mercy and grace we have through Jesus. We pray that the seeds that were planted will
have a ripple effect into eternity.
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In a way, we feel like the
Israelites in Joshua 3 as they stood on the banks of the Jordan River, about to
cross over, following the presence of God into the great unknown. With His strength and perfect provision along
the way we have made the preparations necessary to cross over, and He has
prepared and is preparing our hearts for what is to come. We go with our expectations,
but we hold our plans loosely because we know He has His best in store for us.
We go because we want to obey the Master. Please pray that we follow the
presence of the Lord faithfully and diligently do the work he has called us to. We have our plane tickets to fly out as a family
on August 13th, just a little over a week away. Full-time language school is our first order
of business, so we ask that you join us in praying that God will give us the
ability to learn the language quickly.
We have emptied our hands
but we have full hearts. We have exchanged building our kingdom for proclaiming
His Kingdom. We are learning to value relationships more. We are bowing our
heads lower, bending our knees more than ever, learning to obey each step of
the way. And even though the impending
circumstances seem scary as they are full of unknowns, our joy is full. Our God
is faithful and we are secure because He is with us.
“Who do I have
in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength
of my heart, my portion forever. Those far from you
will certainly perish; you destroy all who are
unfaithful to you. But as for me, God’s presence is
my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about
all you do.”
Psalms 73:25-28 CSB
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