Y’all prayed. God answered! And it kind of turned our little world upside down!

Our training in Minnesota was a great time of learning, sharing, and meeting new friends; moreover, it was a time for us to plan and confirm our next steps with ReachGlobal. We are excited to share that we will be moving to San Jose, Costa Rica!! This move will give us the opportunity to attend language school, learn about the culture, and get involved with ministry possibilities there in Costa Rica.

We have been discussing the thought of moving for several months now and are thankful (and a bit nervous!) to have some direction. The first trimester of language school begins on January 11th, so we are hoping to get to Costa Rica the first of January. Of course, before we can head off we must have 100% support; please join us in praying for this!

Many of the details are still in the making, so we will keep you all updated as we get more information. Thank you for your prayers and support as we continue on this crazy journey.

We are excited to report that we are headed to our final training in Minnesota! This next week will be full of classes that will help train and acclimate us to living in and loving on other cultures. Ian and Reeves will both attend classes as well (although the kids’ schedules look a little more fun than ours).

Thanks to all of you who are praying for us. We have seen the Lord work in great ways over the past year. We have seen how He has changed our hearts and the hearts of our kiddos- how He has continued to grow us, challenge us, provide for us and direct us to the path He has before us.

Thanks to all of you who have partnered with us financially. Because of you, we now have almost 60% of our support raised. Thank you for your love for us and your faithfulness to help plant camps to spread the Gospel.

Please pray for us as we enter into this next week. Pray that the Lord will open our hearts and minds to all the new information that will be presented to us. Pray that He gives us wisdom as we talk through what our future plans are. Pray that we will have submissive and willing hearts and steadfastness of spirit to follow where the Lord is leading.

This is our “magic” number. The number that will take us from pre-deployed missionaries to DEPLOYED missionaries. The number that will allow us to go and plant camps and live out what the Lord has called us to do.

We need 147 people to partner with us at $30 per month. Our prayer is to reach full support by June.

Why June? For one, we are ready to get out there and serve! But also, there is a conference that we hope to attend in August that is only open to deployed missionaries.

Please help send us. Bottom line – we can’t go without partners just like you.

In a few hours, we are headed to Temuco, Chile to assist with a youth camp that is sponsored by a local church there. If you are like us, you have no idea where Temuco is! As you can see on the map, it is about four hours south of Santiago. It is currently summer there, and on a typical day the temperatures range from the mid 50’s to the 80’s.

We are so excited to serve. We are like kids on Christmas morning…. this is something we have been greatly anticipating and today is the day!!  Of course this day would not be possible without our ministry partners – those who have committed to pray for us and to financially join us in this adventure. I wish I had words bigger than “thank you!” Each of you is such a blessing to us and to our kids. We thank God for you and pray for you often.

 I recently had someone tell me, “I love that you and your husband have surrendered to the ministry.” I smiled and thanked her for the encouragement, but my mind was spinning. “Surrendered to the ministry”- such a beautiful and peaceful picture, right? Honestly, when I think of our experiences, our “surrender”, the picture above comes to my mind.

Yes, Matt and I felt a definite calling to the mission field over a year ago. I would love to say that with open hands we quickly surrendered to the calling we knew was being placed on our lives, but that is not what happened. We took that calling and neatly tried to blend it and fit it into what we considered our “normal” life. We dug our heels in deep and convinced ourselves that WE knew what was best and WE could make it work- we could fit God in our little, perfect, pretty box. God had very different plans.

About a month later, Matt was asked to meet with his boss. In a short 15 minutes our lives were turned upside down! In that meeting, Matt was informed that his job was gone; we lived on site, so this also meant that our housing and Matt’s vehicle were gone. God stripped us of our “normal” life.  We were trying to fit God into our box, and He tore it wide open! As Proverbs 16:9 states:

“The mind of man plans his way,
but the LORD directs his steps.” (NASB)

We had our plans, but the Lord firmly determined our steps. This was our point of surrender. No, it’s not a pretty story, but it’s our story! And despite the pain and loss that is evident, there is also such a thread of God’s goodness and mercy throughout. How awesome that we serve a God that loves us so much that He will cause us to walk in His statutes (Ezekiel 36:27). We serve a God that grabs and pulls our reigns, even when we stubbornly dig in our heels and resist Him. He tugs those reigns (gently and at times not-so-gently) to lead us to the beautiful plans He has for us.

There can be fear of the unknown, but there is complete peace in loving and trusting in the One who holds the reigns and knows the future He has for us. Yes, it hurt as God stripped our “normal” life right out of our tightly clenched hands! My prayer is that we can all come before God with open hands and with honest hearts, motivated by God’s amazing grace, and cry out:

All to Jesus, I surrender; all to Him I FREELY give.
I will ever love and trust Him; in His presence daily live.

The month of June has given me many reasons to be thankful for my husband- his birthday, our 15th anniversary, and Father’s Day. Anyone who knows Matt knows that he loves big, laughs hard, and lives loud. So what does this have to do with ReachGlobal CAMPS, right?

Matt and I met over 20 years ago as counselors at a summer camp. One thing that drew us together was our passion to love on others and share the love of Christ. I remember the light and joy in Matt’s eyes as he interacted with the kids at camp, and I fell in love with his selflessness and his love for others. Over the past years, though, I have seen bits and pieces of this joy disappear from his eyes.

Last summer, Matt and I were able to spend two weeks in Haiti. I saw a passion and a light reignite in Matt; a passion that I had not seen in years. He was right where he belonged- loving on others and sharing the love of Christ. Whether he was laying tile, installing ceiling fans, or teaching the kids to two step, there was such a warmth and joy that overflowed. I watched as the Haitian people were drawn to Matt- they wanted to know him more, to sit with him, to laugh with him, and to wear his crazy hat!

During those two weeks, God showed us what He created us to do! We are thankful and ready to see how God will use ReachGlobal CAMPS to proclaim the name of Christ. Our hearts are ready to return to the mission field. We are ready to share the gospel. We are ready to see hearts turn to Christ. We are ready!