Uniformity or Unity?

For the past few days I have been thinking about this issue within the Christian church. Does God want uniformity? No - even amongst the disciples ministry was carried out in a variety of ways. Some of them were very direct about needing financial support from the other members of the kingdom. Some were not. Some had families, some did not. But all did great works for God, which he had prepared in advance for them to do.
Does God want unity? Absolutely. Moments ago I was reading Luke 11:17, also found in Mark 3:24-25, "Any kingdom divided against itself will fall." I am thankful that we don't have to worry about Christ's kingdom falling, but we should be concerned with division in it. Division among denominations is very prevalent in Guatemala, and I feel in the North American church. It would do us all good to remember that God does not want uniformity, but he does want unity.

So, when are you guys leaving?

Hmmm...That's a good question. "When God want us to" is the simple answer. As many of you know the school where we will be serving in our primary ministry is having new teacher orientation on August 8. We were hoping that God wanted us to be there for that, but apparently that is not the case.
We want to finish well here in the states, and thus Kenneth wants to give the 30 days notice that has been requested of him. It is also very important for us to visit his family in Canada before we move. Through prayer and consultation we are currently waiting until we have 75% of our monthly support pledged before we move on this.
So, at this point we will be leaving about 40 days after we have pledges for that 75%.

Thank you for caring about our family. We appreciate receiving encouraging comments from you.
Please pray that people in this area will receive their ministry letters soon. (Especially since we are getting ready to mail the next one...wouldn't it be funny if people got that one first!)

Frustrated!

We are getting a bit frustrated as it has been more that 2 weeks since our ministry letters were mailed and they still have not arrived here in NH. In TX they were told up to 2 weeks, but my dad's postal person said 8 weeks this morning. We may have to look into not using bulk mail next time, it just takes too long.
We have to remember, though it is not easy, that God will put that letter in someone's mailbox when they need to read it. From the human perspective we look at the fact that our first deadline for support is in a few days, and that is what keeps going through our heads.
Please pray that God will keep us stayed on Him, and that he will get us to Guatemala when He wants us there, which may not coincide with the time we wanted.

A Charming Morning

This morning we were blessed to speak at a local country church.  I think there were about 8 pews on each side.  We met many new people, and we hope that we were able to minister to them.  Kenneth preached (for the third time ever) about Being Extraordinary in an Ordinary World.  The main question he posed I will pose to all of you - What are you going to do with the life God gave you?  Are you going to live it for Him or for you?

Blessings to you this Sabbath day!

Ahhh...New Hampshire

We are finally home. We had a 22 hour day yesterday, and boy are we tired. Our flight was delayed first in San Antonio, then again in Chicago. Apparently pilots don't like to fly through severe lightning - praise God! Ken is working today, and I just picked up the girls and brought them home. It was really nice to be with them again!
Thanks to everyone that has been praying!

You know you're in Texas when...(Part 2)

...The parking lot of your hotel has 20 trucks (like, the ones you see in the commercials!)
...The dairy queen menu has a chicken fried steak meal.
...The specials are catfish and crawfish tails.

You know you're in Texas when...

The waffles are in the shape of the state of Texas - no joke, they really are.

Anyway, Day One of our orientation was intense, but excellent. It has been especially nice to put faces with names, and meet other people preparing to serve in Guatemala.

They really crank the AC here, which we expected, since it stays in the 90s well into the night. In fact, when we landed at 10:30 last night it was 92 degrees. Someone told me it would be a dry heat - they were wrong. It is really humid.

Prayer Requests - We are rethinking some of our strategy, pray that we would really listen to what God wants us to do...not necessarily people. (No big changes, mostly minor.)
Ken has to work tonight, while Joy is at the pool, pray that he will stay awake and be alert tomorrow as well.
We are so thankful for our family taking the girls. It has been so much easier. There is a family here with their two little ones and they can't both be in the meetings at the same time. We have found it a blessing to listen and then compare our thoughts after each session. Praise God that he has blessed us with loving family for our girls - even Snickers!

Here we Sit...

Well, at least the airport has wireless internet. We have been delayed thanks to some bad weather in Philadelphia....some guy just dropped a shot glass that probably cost 10 bucks, bummer.
Anyway, we finished our audio training and Ken is reading the book the agency assigned. I think I might play a game or something.

Orientation

Ken and Joy are heading to Texas tomorrow for our orientation meetings with CTEN. Joy's parents will have the girls during the day, and her sister-in-law and brother will have them at night. We are so blessed to have family that is able to help care for our girls! Please pray for the girls - that they would be well behaved. We know that they will be safe and well cared for.
Please, pray for our family as they are not used to having two little ones in the house. Please, pray for us as we try to digest all the information that will be coming at us.
We fly out tomorrow and come back late Thursday night. We will try to blog anything interesting.

Praise God for Health Care!

I am beginning to think that it is time for me to start renting out a room at our pediatricians office. We know that when we are in the center of God's will that is when Satan really wants to attack us. It seems that he has chosen the girls health, and ours, to be his method of choice.
Literally since the week we decided to follow God's call to Guatemala, one of us has been sick.

It all began with Abigail's chicken pox, and then her other chicken pox. Apparently the vaccine is only 90% effective. Hmmm...does that mean she is in the top 10%, or an overachiever, or both? The next big problem (at least that I remember) was that Emma seemed to have stalled in the weight gain department. (Great for my back, but not so much for her chart.) We had to have her tested for a variety of things. Turns out there isn't a test for just plain old stubborn. (Unless you count her genes.) As far as we know she is now gaining weight nicely - but still stubborn. Then of course there are the normal, wintertime colds, infections, viruses, etc...

Ken had a bout with some virus that caused him to take an additional 3 days off work, but claims that he is now on a "no sickness" diet. Joy had pneumonia and various other viruses, but escaped any major damage like broken arms. Praise God!

For the past few days Abigail has been complaining of leg pain, and limping around the house. Well, our plans for a nice relaxing day at the beach (as relaxing as it can get with a 4 and 1 year old) turned into a day in the radiology department at our local hospital. Though I am excited that we have a local hospital, and that is even has a radiology department that doesn't look like it escaped from WWII, it was a less than thrilling experience. Abigail had her hip X-rayed, but as far as we know there is no abnormality (I can hear snickering...I meant with her hip!) The doctor thinks that she has a virus that has settled in that particular joint. She reminds me a little bit of Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol. Bless her little heart she was still determined to play on the playground today.

Though the sicknesses have been annoying, we need to remember to rejoice in them. Satan will persecute us when we are doing the right thing....well, Nanananabooboo Satan we are still going to follow God. (I know, I just opened myself up for some kind of health disaster - remind me to rejoice when it comes!) I am very glad we have the health coverage and doctors here that we do. If any of you are reading, thank you!

Support Letters Mailed

Our letters were mailed out Monday, June 9 from Texas. They should be in your mailboxes soon. Thanks for taking the time to read them.

Update on our Preparations

We had our house on the renters market, did some showings, and thankfully none of them panned out. We have decided to wait until we are at 75% of our monthly support, then we will put the house back on. We didn't want to rent the house this month and then not end up leaving until December. We can live out of suitcases, but that would be really difficult on the girls.
We are very conscious of the fact that August may not be God's timing for us, even though that is when we are needed. Please pray that God will keep us patient as we wait for the "go" from him. For now our ministry is getting the word out about the importance of MK education and the situation in Guatemala.

Support Letters Finished

Our first newsletter has been sent to our agency and will hopefully be getting out to everyone soon. We will post when they are mailed, then if anyone wants one but didn't receive one you can let us know your address. These letters will be mailed every couple of months and will let people know prayer requests, support needs, etc...
The letters contain a response card that will allow us to know who is praying for us and supporting us financially. We really enjoy praying for our supporters and thanking them as well.

New Friends

Thanks to friends of ours from DBC, we met another family that will be moving to Guatemala this year. They will be living in our same town, and their kids will be going to our school! It was really fun to get together with them. We sat for a while and talked, it is amazing how similar our stories are. Abigail really enjoyed playing with the girls, who are about her age. Praise God for this new friendship!