Eric finished up his work last week as a youth pastor, we are starting our partnership and support raising full-time now!  It’s full-steam ahead from here.  We have a few short months before we will be in Argentina, God-willing.

Support-raising and asking for funds can have an awkward side.  Money is often a personal thing to many people, and raising support 100% of our income is a new thing to both of us.  At times it is hard to swallow our pride and ask for people to support us in the Great Commission in Argentina.

But you know, the whole process has surprised us a bit.  In spite of some feelings of awkwardness and insecurity, we have been blessed so much , and the blessing far outweighs the awkward.  Here are few of the many things we have been grateful for in the last few months of support-raising part-time, and we are looking forward to seeing what God will do in the next few months as we do it full-time!

1. Connections with old friends:

We have been traveling a bit in the last few months, and one of the things we have been talking about often is the blessing of friends and family.  We have been able to visit with friends and family in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.  Both Eric and I have connected with friends in our hometowns.  Some of this travel has been a result of us connecting for support-raising purposes and some have been simply maintaining connections and making sure we see friends and family before we go overseas.

 

But we have realized again the preciousness of such friendships. The memories and fun we have been able to reimincse on have been so fun.  We have loved learning new things from these old connections and maintaining the bonds that were started years ago.  How blessed we are to have such a great network of friends and family who love and support us!  Thank you to so many for your friendship and love!

2. The generosity of so many

We have been so blessed by friends who are ready and willing to support us, both in prayer and finances.  We have had so many people tell us they are praying for us.  And we are blown away by the acts of kindness that people have shown to us.  From our car being fixed for free, to friends and family watching our kids while we travel, to people hosting us in their homes, to ice cream socials thrown in our benefit, to special prayers of blessings and commitments to prayer, to small and big amounts of financial support, it has been amazing for us to see generosity at work.

 

There are some people who, though perhaps their gift is seemingly small in size, have so blessed us with their sacrifice and willingness to give and encourage us.  It’s the people who tell us they are praying for us daily.  It’s the people whose generosity and willingness are contagious that have encouraged us so much!  We are learning so much from watching their example and are inspired to be generous givers as a result of their example to us.  We know that this is the Lord at work in many, and we are so excited to be a part.

3. The sovereignty of God

It is been increasingly more and more apparent to us that God does indeed own the “cattle on a thousand hills.”  We know that He has called us to Argentina and are excited abut the vision that He has given us to reach and teach pastors and church leaders.  And we know that He can provide the support necessary that we need to get there and to maintain our monthly support.  We rest in His power and control of all things.

 

God reminded us of this the other day when we we took a family day to explore a local mountain, Mt. Baker.  We got up there after driving a few hours and realized that we needed $5 cash to enter the park.  We don’t often carry cash on us, and had overlooked this detail, so we were bummed out. We weren’t sure what to do.  Not a big deal, but we had planned out our day and wanted to see the snow and the top of the mountain.  We took our picnic lunch out to a non-fee area and were contemplating what to do.  Maybe just turn around and go home?   Again, not a big deal, just disappointing.  As we got up from lunch, we looked down and found about 75cents on the trail.  And when we got back to the car, after rummaging through our bags, and the coin tray in our car, we came up with $5.10, all in coins, even some pennys.  We don’t normally have cash laying around so this was funny to us.  God used this experience to remind us that he can take care of small, inconsequential fun days, and He can take care of the big money needs we have as well.

So when we begin to feel awkward, unsure or afraid of how things might turn out, we are learning more and more what it means to “cast our all anxiety on him” and receive his “peace that passes all understanding.”  We are grateful for learning more about this peace and prayerfulness in the support-raising process.

May God continue to teach us who He is through this experience of support raising!  Thank you for your continued prayers and support!  We are grateful you are part of the process!