Day two - Safe Place

Day two - Safe Place

- A safe place for us;
Peace of mind, grace and faith (tensions and stress is high)

- A safe place for England;
That God will provide a home once we are there where we can make a safe place for the young adults in the area.

______________________________________________________________

Isaiah 32:14-20
"The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field.

The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Though hail flattens the forest, and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be,
sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free."

It is interesting that today we are praying over a house to hold ministry in while in England. I say it is interesting because today we sold our first large piece of furniture.. Now we have a card table instead of a kitchen table.  As we see this home we built here being dismembered piece by piece, whether to a tote or through a sale, we are trusting that God is preparing a new home for us. We are praying that it is one where we can grow as a family and use to minister to the young adults in the area. Like it talks about in Isaiah, God was talking about providing a home of peace and rest for his people. We pray that God creates a home that is full of peace and rest in a culture and time that is fast, careless, and harsh.   

Thank you for joining us in prayer and fasting this week. Please know if you want to share a comment, a verse, a prayer, or a word of truth - feel free to comment on the blog or send a text/email. If you do send a text or email let me know if I can share it on the blog to encourage others as well. 

God Bless. 

Day One - of prayer and fasting

Day one - Preparation

- preparation for us; 

Eric's schooling, that he would be able to accomplish what needs to be done for the classes.
Pre-field training, we'd have a spot to attend in October.
Preparing us for things we don't even know yet 

- preparation for England; 

Hearts and minds of the young adults in the area for the Word.
Hearts and minds of the people in the churches for young adults. 


____________________________________________________________

Today starts our 7 days or prayer and fasting for us as we prepare to leave for the mission field and for England.  Webster describes preparation as "the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use" 

1 Peter 3:15. Says "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."  

Prepared here is the same word used when talking about the virgins who had enough oil and we're prepared when the bridegroom came (in Matt 25:10).   

When I woke up today I didn't know what God was going to teach me about being prepared.  Then the doorbell rang.
You see we are moving at the end of Sept and our land lady wanted to stop by this weekendto look at the place and see if any repairs were needed. I told her I'd be home all Sat and Sun. I was going to be prepared for this. Scrub the floor, dust the shades, make homemade cookies so the house smelt nice... fresh fruit bowl on the table.  I wasn't prepared for it to happen today. I had boxes and bubble wrap and piles of books to sort through.

We were caught unaware even though we knew it was comming. The Bible tells us somthing is comming, tells us that people are going to ask questions and that we are going to have to give answers. We are told through both the verses above that we are to be prepared, to make our selves ready, for the things we know are coming and for the things we can't know all the details about.  What can you do today to be prepared for that?

During this season we are taking many steps so that we are prepared when it's time to leave - even if we don't have a departure date yet.  What is God asking you to be prepared for? Are you living life prepared for when God asks you to do something?

Join us in Prayer

For those of you who receive the newsletter by email you will have seen this. If you get it through mail it will be coming to you soon.


7 days of prayer and fast for the ministry.

September 1st starts the seven days we have set aside to pray and fast for the ministry. Each day has a specific topic to pray about and a focus for us while we are preparing and for the people in England. We want to invite our partners to join us in prayer and fasting over this week period. Each day we will post a little something on the blog about that days topic. Please feel free to post prayers, verses, or words of wisdom in the comments on that days blog.

Note: we don't expect or encourage anyone to go 7 days with out food. If you choose to fast with us do it how you feel called, Whether it is fasting for partial days or from something like TV, or maybe it is a specific type of food (like soda), what ever you choose please be safe about it.


Here is an outline of the seven days.


Day one - Preparation

- preparation for us; 

Eric's schooling, that he would be able to accomplish what needs to be done for the classes.
Pre-field training, we'd have a spot to attend in October.
Preparing us for things we don't even know yet 

- preparation for England; 

Hearts and minds of the young adults in the area for the Word.
Hearts and minds of the people in the churches for young adults.

Day two - Safe Place

- A safe place for us; 

Peace of mind, grace and faith (tensions and stress is high)

- A safe place for Engalnd; 

That God will provide a home once we are there where we can make a safe place for the young adults in the area.

Day three - Truth

- Truth for us; 

That we would cling to God's truth and his word over us and his ministry
That we would not let the enemy's lies distract us from what God has called us to

- Truth for England; 

That the Truth would burst through bonds of anxiety and depression in the young adults in the area

Day four - Connections

- Connections for us; 

While here we will continue to meet new people and churches to grow our partner team.
While here and there to have connections with people who will encourage and teach us in ministry.

- Connections for England; 

That when we arrive we will be able to connect with the young adults there.
We will connect with the churches in the area, and they would work in unity.

Day 5 - Impact

- Impact for us;

 God would move in large ways, that we can't imagine asking for

- Impact for England;

 God would prepare their hearts so that when they hear of Him they will understand the great might of God and go out and impact their community.

Day 6 - Warfare

- Warfare for us; 

Against attacks and discouragement
Against the enemy's plans to stop us or dismay us

- Warfare for England; 

That chains and strongholds that are in place would fall.

Day 7 - Unity

- Unity for us; 

In our marriage, in our prayers, and with our partners,

- Unity for England; 

The relationship between churches in the community
The relationship between the young and old generation within the church

Ready...and ... Action

 We have been so blessed by various people.

This week Eric and I had the opportunity to start shooting for a short introduction video for our ministry.  Our dear friends at Creative Edge Productions offered to donate their time and talents for the ministry.

This is such a gift because it is something we can share in churches, at events, on facebook, and even with the church in England.




It was so fun! I have never been in a studio before or had to use a prompter. It was so neat to see the different cameras and equipment that they used.  It was so amazing to see them put God's gifts in their life to use.  We are so thankful for this blessing. This is an amazing example to show that ministry isn't done alone but instead we all have gifts that support and encourage each other.

There is still some work to do on it, we need to shoot a few more spots - but once it is done I will make sure to post on here. We will be looking for a few people to help us shoot the next shot and hopefully will have some footage from Somerset to add in to the video. Until then enjoy some of these sneak peak photos.

BOOYAH

This weekend we held a booyah and baked goods fundraiser to support our ministry in Somerset, England.   It is turning out to be an annual event.

We are so blessed by our parents (Brett and Lori), family, and church family who helped prep the Booyah and made yummy treats.

What an amazing day - even in the rain God showed he is our provider as he provided the people and funds to make this event sich a success!

Notebooks, New Pencils, Highlighters and Erasers...

These are a few of my favorite things....


It has been such an amazing summer! Wow - so much has happened in these past few months it is sometimes hard to process it all.


  

We have gotten to spend some time with family and friends. Helped put a deck on my parents house and got to celebrate Eric's 31st birthday. (Don't mind the candles) 


This summer we have also spent a lot of time praying and fasting over something very dear to me and that will impact everything going forward.


As many of you know our plan is to move in to Eric's parents house at the end of September as we prepare to leave for England. This helps us a lot because we won't have to worry about so many bills and can focus on getting ready to leave. It also makes it easier to have everything packed up in totes if we don't need to use it. Or to set things aside to sell in a moving sale. However, this brought up a big question... what about my job? As we prepare to move I will not be able to complete another school year.    


Normally this time of the year I would be getting ready to set up my classroom. I would happily walk the isles in the stores that were filled with pencils and notebooks, and I would get excited over the fresh highlighters and neat folders. I would be preparing to spend hundreds of dollars on students who would become my main focus for the next 10 months. I would be settling in for 9-10 hour days of organizing and preparing lessons, meetings, and IEPs.
                          

This was a concern for us - we won't need the paycheck as much because we will have less bills and we needed the time to finish fundraising and to pack up so we can leave sooner. The prayer became - 'God is it time to step away from Megan's job'. This was hard, honestly it still is, because it has been a part of who I am for so long. After lots of prayers we felt God directing us to take this next step of faith and walk away from my job. So now I am full time fundraising and connecting us with people and churches, along with packing, organizing, and planning everything that has to happen in the next few months.


As we continue to prepare to go serve in Somerset it has come time to leave behind this stage in our life. We are setting aside what we have had to move forward for what God has planned. . These have been hard steps. So many times our identity, whether we realize it or not, is tied to our home or profession, or if we are on the track poeple think we should be on. I've never been in the position before where I've been completely and only dependent on God for everything; every breath, every moment, every future step, not only in the spiritual but as well as in the practical sense.


As we have entered this new transition season I can say it is both equally terrifying and breathtakingly amazing. To have peace while being in emotional unrest at your realization that you are actually unable to control or sustain anything independently apart from Christ. When you remove your independence and your safety nets, when you set aside your pride and lay down the life you thought you wanted - when you die to the dreams and expectations that you and others have put on your life, whether consciously or not. That's when all you are left with, to stay upright every moment, to reach every future goal, to stay sane.... then you are left with faith... and where there is faith and dependence on God there is peace, hope, and joy... there is a way. Praise God that we get to live in faith... even when we have to live it a moment at at time or live it afraid. I know He will come through because He never let's go and there is power in the name of Jesus that we can't even fathom.

We love to share

Hi everyone.

Wow hard to believe summer is almost over. What a time it has been. We have been soo blessed to share our heart and God's ministry with so many people and churches.

This month we had the opportunity to share at Green Bay First. It was so great to speak in their kids Sunday school room. We love teaching kids about missionaries and how they can be missionaries in their own schools. They had great questions and we're excited to meet missionaries.  It was kinda surreal realizing the missionaries they were talking about getting to meet were us. I remember being a young girl and being excited to meet and learn from them.

We also got to share at their Spanish service. That was a real treat for me as I often don't get to use my Spanish skills, especially during the summer.
It was a busy morning as we also shared during their regular service then joined a lovely couple out for lunch.

We have been to lots of meetings, various churches, and some awesome advocate meetings (our partners connecting us with their family and friends)

This summer we have gotten to travel all over the Wi area and look forward to continuing to do so. We would love to come share at your church or Bible study if people are interested.  Like the title says... we love sharing!