Burn the Ships! (June Newsletter)

Praise & Prayer 1.) Praise the Lord!  Generous friends have offered us their guest house to stay in during the month of August. 2.) Please pray that as we go through training, our hearts and minds would be open and we would be changed by this valuable teaching. 3.) Please pray for the physical, emotional and spiritual health of our team in Honduras as they host 16 short-term teams this summer. Monthly Support Level 71% Schedule 6/21-6/24 Adam's cousin's wedding 6/26 Our 8th Wedding Anniversary 7/1-7/31 Cross-cultural Training in NYC How to Give Online: Click Here By Check: Please be sure to put#11369 in the memo line Mission to the World P.O. Box 116284 Atlanta, GA 30368-6284 Living In Grace Our intensive missionary training is underway.  We just returned from Ridge Haven Conference Center in North Carolina where we participated in the “Living in Grace” Conference.  At first, the sessions seemed foundational in nature, just basic Christian truths (i.e. Session 1: What is the Gospel?).  I was reminded of legendary Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi who would emphasize to his players the basics of the game saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” However, as the conference continued, we used small groups and personal appointments with our counselor to apply material (such topics as; Surrender, Humility, Repentance, Love of Others, and Prayer) to our everyday lives.  It became increasingly evident that we are in desperate need of God’s grace in these areas.  Re-learning these basics and putting them into practice has the potential to be truly life-changing. The basics proved effective for Lombardi as he never had a losing season and led his team to 5 championships.  We believe the foundational material from this conference will impact our ministry in Honduras in a significant way. Dr. Paul Kooistra presents one of many sessions. Burn the Ships! Upon reaching Mexico in 1519, the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés ordered his men to “burn the ships.”  They were only 600 men (without protective armor) trying to conquer an expansive empire.  The move was an extremely bold statement, “conquer or die.” We have reached a comparable point in our journey.  The end is not in sight as we are not yet fully funded, but we’re not turning back.  We have cancelled our lease, sold a car and many other possessions, and will move out of our house at the end of the month.  We will even send some possessions ahead to Honduras in anticipation of our arrival.  There is no exit strategy. We trust that the Lord has brought us this far and He will carry us the rest of the way. Cross-Cultural Training We are spending the entire month of July in New York City!  This is for our Cross-Cultural Ministry Internship.  This training will provide us with practical skills and insights that will enable us to interact effectively with new cultures and areas of service.  Classroom training and hands-on ministry experiences will equip us in several areas:  Cultural Interpretation Language Acquisition Church Planting Evangelism Techniques Spiritual Health Team Dynamics Conflict Management Real Life Application  These opportunities along with the practice of self-reflection will help us establish realistic expectations, and receive feedback to help us develop spiritually, emotionally, and professionally.

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Living in Grace

This week begins our intensive training for mission work.  On Sunday, at 6:00am we board a flight for North Carolina to attend the Living in Grace Conference at Ridge Haven camp.  Here is a brief description of the conference:

Conference Description

Living in Grace is a grace-based, Christ-centered conference grounded in the Scriptures. The purpose is to demonstrate how all of the Christian life is lived in the grace of God in Christ. The goal of Living in Grace is to provide discipleship training which leads to being more fully equipped for life and ministry.

The eleven 35-minute messages will be given by Dr. Paul Kooistra, Coordinator of Mission to the World.  Small group meeting time will allow us to discover how the messages apply to our walk with the Lord.  Michelle and I will also have 3 one-hour appointments with our small group leader to aid us in discovering areas of our life and ministry to which the message of grace may be applied.

There is over 3 months’ worth of material included in this conference – which we will cover in 5 days!  Fellow missionaries describe the conference as, “drinking from fire hose!”

This conference will be pivotal to our success on the field.  Please pray that we the Lord would open our hearts and minds to receive this valuable teaching so that we may be better prepared to serve others.

~Adam

Last this, Last that

I am thrust back into my senior year of high school when I start thinking about our "lasts."  I always rolled my eyes giggled at the funny ones: "This is our last second Tuesday. . . in September . . .in high school," "This is the last time I eat at Golden Chick in December," and "Tonight is the last home football game!" (ok, I love Texas high school football so that one can count!)


Of course, I don't think our "lasts" today are so silly even if you do.   Let me explain: LAST RENT CHECK PAID.  We are stepping out in faith and praying that our last 27% of our monthly support comes in before the end of August.  (God has provided 73% in just four months! Amazing!) We will be in cross cultural training in New York City ALLLLL of July and have been blessed with a guest house to stay in for August.  So last rent check paid means a lot of things for us including clearing out our house, packing up, and lots of training to gear us up for ministry!  It also is a gracious reminder of His perfect provision in our lives!

LAST MORNING WITH TWO CARS! Adam sold his car this morning since we have a really limited time where we need two.  Adam has been working out of the house since January and we rarely use both cars at the same time.  We shared a car about 4 years ago and know this just means increased communication.  It's probably good training for us as we foresee only having one car in Honduras too!

So there's today's "lasts!"  Please be praying for all our changes, for the children to adapt swiftly, for the Lord to provide our remaining support, and for a sweet time of saying goodbye to things, places and people we love!

Tentative schedule:
June 3-9: Living in Grace in North Carlonia
June 21-25: Wedding in Vegas
June 29/30: Move out of our house
July 1-31: Cross Cultural Ministry Internship
August 24/25th: Leavin' on a jet plane??????