March update... preparing for the Great Adventure

March 2011

The winter season is coming to a close and we eagerly anticipate the next season of our lives. This past season, has brought about our first major transition of the year. We are parents to a healthy girl, Elleazah Grace. We praise God for her healthy arrival with a rather uncomplicated delivery. 

We have also started preparing to head to the mission field, to El Camino Academy in Bogotá, the capitol city of Colombia. As part of Steve’s preparation, he has been meeting with our pastor and other men of the church on a weekly basis memorizing scripture, praying together, and discussing passages and articles as it applies to areas of ministry. From this group, Steve was given the opportunity to recite some of Ephesians during an evening service. It was a unique blessing to be given that opportunity to minister to others in our church. During the spring semester, he is taking a missions class called Persectives on the World Christian Movement (for more info, visit www.perspectives.org).  This class has been beneficial as he learns about the means God has used to establish and grow His Church throughout history and how we can participate in global missions and the advancement of God’s kingdom.

In preparation of advising a grade level at ECA, we have been youth group leaders at our church for our junior high and high school group.  We are also teaching the junior high Sunday school every other month, and we meet with a small group of junior highers each week. In Februrary, we and Elleazah enjoyed our 1^st winter retreat with the youth group. The theme of the retreat was “All for God’s Glory”, which stimulated many deep conversations. In addition, we have been preparing for our transition to Bogotá by learning Spanish through the Rosetta Stone software. It has been a challenge committing the time to the program as much as we have wanted, but we have seen some fruit from our labor! Poco a poco estamos apriendiendo español!*

A current 5^th grade teacher at ECA shares her experience as a grade-level advisor:

This past Friday I got the opportunity to go and serve alongside with my 5th grade class to their ministry. The ministry involves working with a church in a poorer neighborhood that offers a morning and afternoon children’s program that provides a meal and other various activities. The ministry shows the children genuine love, for most of them it is the only environment they’ll find this kind of attention.

As I sat at the back of the crowd, watching these 10 year olds share such a huge message that has been shared for thousands of years over millions of miles to billions of hearts, I caught a glimpse of the big picture: To witness these young students sharing with such passion and courage and with a huge future in front of them…reminded me of the great privilege I have to be teaching here at ECA. I’m serving and raising up what could be some of tomorrow’s ministry leaders, and from what I can tell, they’re already way ahead of some of us adults. To imagine what these kids will be like in 10 or 15 years, the lives they will affect; the change they could create.

Please join us by praying for us as we continue to prepare to head to the mission field in Bogota, Colombia:

1.      Please pray with Paul’s request in Ephesians 6:19-20 that as we share openly with friends, family, and co-workers about our intent to serve the Church in Bogotá, “words may be given [us] to boldly make known the mystery of the gospel… Pray that [we] declare it fearlessly, as [we] should.”

2.      Pray that we will “be very careful how we live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” ~Ephesians 5:15-16. Specifically, pray for wisdom with the use of our time, as we balance work, evening classes (Perspectives class & a parenting class), learning Spanish, helping with our youth group, strengthening our marriage as we celebrate our 4^th year, loving & caring for Elleazah, and building partnerships for our service at ECA.

3.      Pray that we will apply what we are learning in the parenting class and “not exasperate our child, but bring her up in the training and instruction of the Lord” ~Ephesians 6:4.

4.      Pray that we trust and rely on Christ as we continue building a support network. We are currently at 44% of our needed amount.

We are in need of more people who might be interested in partnering with us in this mission. We would like to have you consider furthering your partnership with us by having us share with your local church, small group, or close friends about what we believe God has called us to do. Please let us know if you are able to do this and partner with us in this great adventure.