Musings over our Mailings

We've been working on an honest-to-goodness, ink-on-paper support letter this week. We've stuffed 150 envelopes so far, and we have about 70 more to do. I've been reflecting on how different it is this time from years past...peel-n-stick advancements in stationary...sending out this letter as a couple...needing to raise more than five times the amount I did when I left for Russia in 2002...

The first batch went out on Wednesday; we're dropping another stack in the mail today. As each envelope disappears down the blue throat of the mail box, I'm praying that those who receive our letters will respond favorably - through prayer, through financial support, or through sharing this information with their churches.

As it often happens, we did some random calculations, such as "if every person gave a minimum of $10, that bring our total support almost up to 80%..." or "If there were 50 people who could pledge $50 a month, we'd be closer to 90%!" It's encouraging and frustrating all at the same time. Encouraging, because we believe we will see an increase in our support levels; frustrating, because it tempts us to think only on dollar signs.

I've thought about the many fellow missionaries I've met who, upon entering this season known as "deputation", "itinerating" or "support raising", have been counseled to make a list of every person they can think of, and then write a dollar amount next to that person's name. I've never done this. Why? What benefit is there in trying to guestimate who will support you at which dollar amount? Why should that matter? My experience has been that people who choose to support missionaries do so out of the fullness of their hearts, not the fullness of their wallets.

The people whose names are on our mailing list are people we greatly admire, appreciate or love deeply. They are individuals & families who have known us since we were children. They are people who served with us in ministry. They are are our friends, our mentors, our counselors, our voices of wisdom. They represent multitudes of encouraging words & prayers prayed for us.  Those people who are on the receiving end of our support letters are people who've made an impact on our lives. If they are able to be a part of our financial support team, that's wonderful, but we need them as our prayer partners first & foremost.

Regardless of how many mailings, e-mails, blog posts, or speaking engagements, at the end of the day, God alone is capable of supplying for all of our needs. How or who He chooses to use to accomplish this will only be a blessing on top of a blessing.

Prayer Needed!

For all of you who have been praying for us in this lengthy process of getting to Prague, we say "Thank You!!!"  Almost every day it seems that something else comes up that is frustrating or discouraging.  And now, another obstacle seems to have been placed in the way.

In order to get a long term (more than 6 month) Czech visa, the Czech government requires a criminal background check from any country in which we have lived more than 6 months within the past three years.  For us, that means getting  background checks from Russia.
We have called the Russian embassy and the Czech consulate, both of which have essentially said, "Call someone else."  We contacted the American embassy in Moscow, and we were told to have someone there in Russia try to obtain the background checks on our behalf.

We prepared and notarized no fewer than 6 documents and sent them to Moscow, in hopes that someone there could help us.  The word we have at this point is, as our documents were not notarized by a Russian notary, they were not acceptable for use.

What is the next step?

We will have a new set of documents prepared, then have them sent to the Secretary of State in Florida to be apostilled (given a raised notary seal) and then send them back to Russia again.  In the mean time, Christiana is going to call the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. once more to see if we can set up an appointment to meet with a consular officer, and present our case.

We need you to pray! Pray for favor with the Russian embassy, for speedy processing of papers by the Secretary of State's office, and for the miraculous arrival of these necessary background checks before we miss our deadline to apply for our Czech visas.

Psalm 146 tell us not to put our trust in powerful men, but to seek help in the God of Jacob, who is the maker of heaven and earth.  "He remains faithful forever.  He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  He sets prisoners free and gives sight to the blind.  He lifts up those who are bowed down and He loves the righteous."

Please pray for us, that we would not be so discouraged in this process.  Pray that we would be faithful to put our trust in Christ and not in man.

25%

That's where we are, as of Feb. 5 - just a little over 25% of the total monthly pledges for support needed.

One fourth.

A quarter.

Up from 20%.

God is providing. We are so thankful!

A Great Video with Encouraging Words!

Here's an awesome testimony to the way God provides: The Christian International School of Prague has finally raised the funds to move into their own building! You can read more about the school's story here.

We cannot wait to join this group of teachers & students at CISP next fall! We're believing that, just as this school has reached its financial goals for the building, the Lord will also provide for all of our needs as we raise support to go.

This video was made by the school, a thank you to everyone who provided support for their new building. These are the faces of our future students & co-workers!

So it Begins

We had our first speaking engagement of 2013! It was exciting to have an invitation to share about our calling before we'd even sent out requests to speak. We started small - the 3rd & 4th grade Sunday school class - but what a neat opportunity. If there's one thing we know, it's that children are sincere in their questions, and in their prayers. We thoroughly enjoyed speaking to this class, and it was a blessing to share about our experience as missionaries. Thus begins our transition into support-raising season.

Accepting the position at CISP means that we accept the responsibility of raising the support to get us there. Hang on - let's rephrase that. Accepting the position at CISP means that we accept the responsibility of sharing about our financial needs, and we trust GOD to supply the funds to get us there. 

After sitting down with our budget estimates, spreadsheets, & calculators, we've realized that we are nowhere near the monthly amount that we'll need to live in the Czech Republic. However, we're not starting at zero! We are incredibly thankful for each & every sponsor who has remained with us throughout our extended furlough, because it puts us at about the 20% mark. This means we have only 80% left to raise!

You don't need to tell us we have a lot of work cut out for us. It's January 25th; CISP needs us in Prague by August 15th. We have just over 6 months to see this task accomplished.

Our next speaking engagement will be on February 3, at one of the local churches in Niceville. We met with two other pastors this afternoon, to discuss the possibility of speaking in their respective churches. We're seeking as many opportunities as possible to share about the work to which we've been called, but with Phil teaching full-time, our ability to travel is limited. 

As you remember us in your prayers, please pray that:

• We will have wisdom as to how to spend our time & energy 
• Opportunities to share locally will be possible
• We will have the boldness to ask for that which we need
• God will provide in amazing, remarkable ways for an on-time departure

Stay tuned for more updates!

Happy New Year!

Hello & Happy 2013 from Brande Central Station!
In case you're wondering why things have been so quiet over here, let's just say that it's been an incredibly busy two weeks.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas in Washington, DC, with Christiana's parents & Phil's sister. It was also fun to catch up with many HCA friends & former colleagues from Russia. We wished we could have stayed longer, but we had commitments in St. Louis, MO.

We spent five days at Urbana '12 (which is actually held in St. Louis!) exhibiting & recruiting on behalf of our sending organization, RCE International. If you've never heard of Urbana, it's a ginormous missions conference, with more than 16,000 people in attendance. Here's a look at our booth:

The RCE Team at Urbana

It's hard to tell exactly just how many people we actually talked to over the course of five days, but we're guestimating at least 500 brochures went out, and at least 300 people signed up for more information about future opportunities at international schools. That's not too shabby! Christiana will have her work cut out for her, following up with all of these new contacts.

One of the perks of being in Missouri for New Year's is SNOW! We've enjoyed encountering winter again (although one of us likes snow a little more than the other...)

Enjoying St. Louis Snow

We're now in Jefferson City, MO, enjoying some time with family, and some much-needed down-time after the very busy week at Urbana. Next week - back to Niceville!

Prayers Prayed - Check; Plans Laid - Check; Decision Made - Czech

We know y'all are on pins & needles out there, so we we'll cut right to the chase.

In case you didn't catch our clue in the title, we're stepping out in faith and joining forces with this school in Prague, Czech Republic. It wasn't an easy decision.  It seemed like every day for the past few weeks we were in a different place each day.  But this weekend we came to the realization that not only is Prague where we feel God is leading us but also where we really want to be.

So now begins the daunting task of support raising, but we will leave that for another post....

Please keep praying for us and with us in this giant step of faith.