Less Than a Month Away!

Well... I know I said "it's official" before, but now it's really official that we're going. We have money sent in, we've put in notices at our jobs (well, Ben didn't really have to), we have our move date planned (August 18), and I've been working on prayer cards! As we begin this stage of our lives, we'd appreciate lots of prayer as we consider our options for mission organizations/fields/opportunities. We really want to be open to God and what he wants for us. New Tribes is a great organization so we're excited to learn the Bible from them and to see if they're an organization we might want to serve with.

Ben and I have been talking to leaders of our church about our interest in missions and appreciate their prayers and wisdom as they help us consider our options. We are becoming members of our church next Sunday!

So prayer cards... Ben and I are different in our tastes, and I'm indecisive, so I posted three of the ones I made. We'll try to narrow it down to one ;) Feel free to print one of these off though!

We've Been Accepted!

We are now officially accepted to New Tribes Bible Institute and will be attending at their Jackson, MI campus starting in August. We are looking forward to going even though we are also nervous and anxious.

Now we just have paperwork and money to send in before we go. This summer will just be working relaxing and enjoying family and friends before we leave.

First Step...

I feel like we have officially made our first step toward being overseas missionaries. We have moved into the apartment above Ben's parent's garage. They built a garage in the fall which is something they have been wanting to do for awhile, and this is when we were talking seriously about missions and going to New Tribes in the fall. They decided to put an apartment above the garage because of this, and Ben did a lot of the work on the garage (drywall, trim, floor, etc) to make it a little cheaper. We are so thankful to them for allowing us to live there where we can save money... and then in the fall it'll give us a place to come home to once we start school.

So last week we packed up all of our things and moved into the apartment. It's smaller than where we were living, so we have quite a few things in boxes that will stay there until we go to school. It was a little sad to leave our first home (which we rented) because it was our own place and it was our first place... but I know this is just the first time of moving... we will be doing it many more times in the next few years.

We haven't received our official acceptance yet to New Tribes Bible Institute, but we have sent everything in, and we have received our "unofficial" acceptance. We are excited... nervous, but excited :)

A No-News Update

It's been a while since we've update. Basically, I've been waiting for the news that we have been accepted in order to update. But we've been extremely slow at getting everything in. We finally got out applications in over Christmas Break. Then we had transcripts, references, and physicals. We got our references in, and we now both have our transcripts to send, and I just got my physical, but Ben still needs to get his. Then... we should know! Finally! We are excited about next year, but in many ways it still seems far off. Ben is still working his normal job and I am still finishing my degree at Grace.

Hopefully next time we update, we will have the news that we have been accepted! Please continue to pray for us as God guides our plans. In some ways, we have no idea where we will be in five years from now.

Following Him

It's been a year since Ben and I married, but it's amazing to see what God has done in our lives in that time. In some ways, a year and a half seems like so long! It's hard to believe it has gone so fast. But Lord willing, we have many years left, and we hope we will bring praise to God in those years.

God showed us a lot this summer, and through prayer, passions, and conversations with others, we feel like we have a much more focused view of where God could be leading us. In the summer of 2006, after each of us spending the summer with Teen Missions International in seperate parts of the world, we came back knowing God had called both of us to missions. It was an exciting (and scary) call, but we had no idea what it meant other than the fact that it was a call. This summer, we finally began to feel more clarity. While we are completely open to God's calling in our lives, we are praying and thinking a lot about New Tribes Missions at this point. We believe in what they are doing and the way they are doing it, and we would love to be a part of it, even though it is sometimes completely scary.

At this point, we can only take things in steps and let God lead us from there. The first step is for me to finish school - I graduate in May! From there, we plan to go to Michigan for two years to do Bible training at New Tribes Bible Institute. We had a chance to visit the school last week and really enjoyed our time there. It was helpful and exciting to see the school. We think it will be good to be around people who are thinking like-minded. From there, ideally, we would go onto the training school which would be where I would study linguistics while Ben and I both studied things beneficial for a tribal setting. However, that is somewhat far in the future at this point, so we're not quite to that step yet.

The journey seems like a long one, but ultimately we hope to bring glory to God and extend his fame. Thanks for joining us :)