A Day in The Life

So I am sure every one is wondering what a day in the life of the Cains looks like.  Well, I will enlighten you:

6-7AM: Boys wake up, get dressed, devotional
7:15 AM: Breakfast (COFFFFEEEE) and assemble diaper bag/backpacks for the day
8:00 AM: Leave the house, walk 15 minutes to the Subway station
8:15-9:15AM: Subway ride with one transfer about 1/4 of the way in
9:15-9:25AM: Walk to church offices to work on group assignment
12:30 PM: Lunch
1:30-1:45PM Walk to training center (another church/school)
2:00-5:30PM: Training; kids in nursery/kids program
5:30-5:45PM Walk to Subway station
5:45-6:45PM Subway ride with one transfer about 3/4 of the way home
6:45-7:00PM Walk "home"
7:00PM: Make and eat dinner
8:00-8:15PM: Baths, bedtime routine, boy in bed
8:15 til who knows when: Adam and Michelle do homework, readings, writing assignments, etc.
11:00PM: Go to bed

Wash, rinse, repeat

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

It is our great joy to share with you that we will begin language school this fall!  On August 25^th the Cain Family will board a flight for San Jose, Costa Rica where we will attend the Spanish Language Institute.

This step of starting language school is somewhat premature since we are not yet fully funded (we’re at about 75% of our monthly need).  However, the financial support has come in quite quickly thus far.  The Lord has led many individuals to commit to sending us and providing a ministry to the people of Honduras.  For this provision we are extremely blessed and thankful.  We are confident that He will provide for the remainder of our need over the course of the next few months.  This will allow us to go straight to language school rather than return home to raise the remaining support.

Will you please pray for the emotional health of our family as we prepare to leave?

Will you please pray that we would be diligent in our language learning and in our support raising efforts?

-Adam

There Is No "I" In Team

Many of the assignments we are doing this month are performed as a team.  Our team is made up of 8 missionaries going to places all over the world – where we will all work with teams!  The team environment allows us to do more and do it better than we could as individuals.  The downside of a team is there will be times of conflict.  Team conflict is the #1 reason why missionaries leave the field early (yes, it beats out fatigue, danger, and being under-funded).  It is crucial that we are able to manage conflict with teammates appropriately.  Our class on Thursday covered this very topic.  We will try to apply this information as we work with our team in NYC and with our team in Honduras.

Will you please pray for our team of missionaries as we work together in Queens, NY?

Will you please pray for Team Honduras?  They are in the middle of a busy summer, hosting 16 short-term teams.

-Adam

Mom reflections

Excerpt from Michelle's journal from the day we flew to New York:

"You know that sick feeling you can’t really shake when you haven’t had enough sleep and you know you’ve got a long day ahead of you? Yeah, that happens a lot around here lately but that’s how the day we flew to New York began.  We woke up at 4:30 with the intention of leaving the guest house we're residing in at 5:00 to catch a 7:00AM flight.  Flight was delayed 45 minutes and the kids are already running on empty.  We permanently moved out of our house yesterday and everything feels disheveled at this point. When I focus on wearing my “Mom hat,” I sometimes wonder if we are putting our children through “too much.”  Too much change, too much instability, too much emotional stress at such a young age.  I try to rest in the fact that Adam and my calling is also our children’s calling.  The Lord is equipping us (and them) for every good work.  The Lord is not surprised by what we are going through as a family and He will not be surprised by what we experience on the field.  He ordained it.  Regardless of solid theological thought, my heart sometimes wanders from that and I question what we are doing.  This is one of those days.  There’s really no true clarity of thought. Just an ill feeling in my gut."

Excerpt from Michelle's journal the first day of training:

"His mercies are new every morning!  Great start of the day and good subway ride.  The boys had seamless drop-offs.  Everyone is happy.  It’s moments like these where we can look back on the last 10 months as an Ebenezer.  We’ll remember the Lord’s providence and sovereignty in getting us to the field.  We’ll remember how He cared for our children a midst the chaos."

Day Two

During our month in New York we will be doing ministry and attending services at Astoria Community Church.  Our main ministry project at Astoria is to plan, organize, advertise and lead a week-long, intensive ESL course.  Teaching English as a Second Language excites us for several reasons.  Michelle is excited to teach ESL because she is well trained and very experienced in ESL from her education and work as a Teacher of the Deaf.  Adam is excited to teach ESL because he is almost fluent in English himself.  Above all, we are excited because teaching ESL will be part of our ministry in Honduras.  This experience will directly relate to our future ministry.

Please pray that the Lord would bring 20-25 people to our course.

Please pray that we would connect with these people on a personal level.

- Adam

First Day!

Monday was our first day of training.  We rode the subway from our apartment in Brooklyn to a school in Queens where we will meet daily for the classroom portion of our training.  We only have 1 transfer but the total trip takes about 90 minutes.  We were a little anxious about riding the subway with our young boys.  Much to our surprise, a woman graciously gave up her seat for Jacob.  Meanwhile, Asher succeeded in getting several stern looking New Yorkers to smile!

Once at the school, we had an orientation with our fellow missionaries.  The group of missionaries includes 51 adults and 49 children!  This is the largest Cross-Cultural Training group that Mission to the World has trained at one time.

Please pray for our instructors, our fellow missionaries, and their children.

- Adam

We are in NYC!

On Sunday we arrived in New York City.  For the next month we will be trained in crossing-cultures for ministry.  People have asked us, “what exactly will you be doing in New York?”  Our answer is, “We don’t know!”

Much of the training is secretive because it is designed to simulate the situations and stresses that we will experience on the mission field.  What we do know is that we will have classroom time with lectures, practical application assignments where we will interact with people in the city, we will be assigned to a church where we will participate in ministry, and lots of writing assignments in which to reflect on these experiences.

Here is an 8 minute video about the training:

Thank you to everyone for supporting and encouraging us and making this training possible!

Please pray for us as we go through this training.  We want to make the most of it and learn as much as possible so that we can apply what we learn in Honduras.

-Adam