Tomorrow Emily and I will be setting off for England. To think about how this opportunity came up, how once it did doors have flown open, and how the details and support have come together in such a relatively short span of time floors both of us.
Scripture says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27). This journey has reminded us of how foolish we are (we fret, but He is always in control), and just how weak we are as well. But it is at this point we need to find ourselves, so that we can be used by God the way He wants, and in a way that none of the glory can be given to us.
You have given your prayers and finances to help us get to England, and for that we are extremely grateful, encouraged, excited, and humbled. We fly out from Chicago O'Hare at 4:18pm, and arrive in London the following morning. Then we'll be there for 6-weeks in the Queen's country. Please pray that we will make it there and through customs without incident. We look forward to writing you from England. God bless you all!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
It's Almost Here!
We are now at $5700! There honestly are not words to describe how grateful we are at the overwhelming generosity of those who've supported us. Thank you so much for your prayers and donations.
The fact that God has allowed us to raise $5700 dollars in only 2 months is such a humbling and awesome experience. He has surrounded us with caring and giving people, and our hearts are so full from it. Just the monetary support raising alone has changed us. We continue to see more and more God's provision.
Another praise is that we found amazing ticket prices. We were seeing quotes for up to $1200 and $1300 for plane tickets, which would have raised our amount to almost $6700! But, God is good, and we ended up finding tickets for $940. Which brings our amount to about $6300 total. The blessings have been innumerable.
So, only about $600 to go and 18 days left before we leave. We are almost there!
Blessings!
-Em
The fact that God has allowed us to raise $5700 dollars in only 2 months is such a humbling and awesome experience. He has surrounded us with caring and giving people, and our hearts are so full from it. Just the monetary support raising alone has changed us. We continue to see more and more God's provision.
Another praise is that we found amazing ticket prices. We were seeing quotes for up to $1200 and $1300 for plane tickets, which would have raised our amount to almost $6700! But, God is good, and we ended up finding tickets for $940. Which brings our amount to about $6300 total. The blessings have been innumerable.
So, only about $600 to go and 18 days left before we leave. We are almost there!
Blessings!
-Em
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
New update!
We're currently at $5,200 for support raised, and trusting God for the rest! We are very thankful for everybody who has given of their prayers and finances.
We have been reading a great book about short-term missions called, Serving With Eyes Wide Open, which is about cultural awareness on the mission field. We wanted to share some stuff from it with you.
A main focus of the book is to get us to step outside of our Western mindset, and to be learners in a new culture instead of wanting to take the helm and do it all ourselves.
Here's some really encouraging statistics the book gives:
> On average 178,000 people are converted to Christianity each day.
> When China became closed to missionaries in 1950, there were reportedly 1 million Christians. Today's estimates are nearing 100,000,000.
> In Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world, at least 1 million people convert to Christianity each year.
> More people have come to know the Lord in Iran in the past 10 years than in the previous 1,000 years combined.
> 40% of Africa is said to be "Christian" today.
> None of the 50 largest churches in the world are found in North America. Among the largest are in South Korea, Ivory Coast, Chile, and Nigeria.
Some of these statistics could be questionable and not 100% accurate, but it shows that God is at work throughout the world.
Statistics show that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world! Another statistic says that for every 1 convert to Islam, there are 4 converts to Christianity. This is awesome! It is easy to become discouraged as we see the hardness of peoples' hearts around us, but God is expanding His kingdom. I hope you find this as encouraging as we have.
We have been reading a great book about short-term missions called, Serving With Eyes Wide Open, which is about cultural awareness on the mission field. We wanted to share some stuff from it with you.
A main focus of the book is to get us to step outside of our Western mindset, and to be learners in a new culture instead of wanting to take the helm and do it all ourselves.
Here's some really encouraging statistics the book gives:
> On average 178,000 people are converted to Christianity each day.
> When China became closed to missionaries in 1950, there were reportedly 1 million Christians. Today's estimates are nearing 100,000,000.
> In Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world, at least 1 million people convert to Christianity each year.
> More people have come to know the Lord in Iran in the past 10 years than in the previous 1,000 years combined.
> 40% of Africa is said to be "Christian" today.
> None of the 50 largest churches in the world are found in North America. Among the largest are in South Korea, Ivory Coast, Chile, and Nigeria.
Some of these statistics could be questionable and not 100% accurate, but it shows that God is at work throughout the world.
Statistics show that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world! Another statistic says that for every 1 convert to Islam, there are 4 converts to Christianity. This is awesome! It is easy to become discouraged as we see the hardness of peoples' hearts around us, but God is expanding His kingdom. I hope you find this as encouraging as we have.
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