The Yard Sale

It is getting closer, we're purging ourselves of our possessions.

A Yard sale is a recognition of all the junk one has accumulated, and an effort to simplify.

My family is not especially materialistic. When any four of us see something we want, our second thought is usually "do I really need it?" This is another one of the subtle characteristics I've seen in this family that reminds me that God has been preparing us for a life of mission work. But no matter how good you think you are at living simply, a yard sale opens your eyes to the sea of junk that has infested your home.

Today I looked out, and I saw so much stuff, that at one time was valued and new, and now, is a burden to rid ourselves of. It is an endless cycle.

Becoming a missionary, you can only take so many things with you. You have to decide what is junk, what is essential to keep with you, and what is storable. Then you have to pay for shipping for the essentials and storage for the storables. This levies quite the price on whatever you decide to keep. The logical side of my brain says "put it in the dumpster" but my wife makes a good point, we should try to sell what we can, otherwise it's wasteful. Now that the yard sale is over, she feels justified that she gave it her best shot to avoid waste, and we took it all to our local charity.

I figure each item has 4 prices. 1. Original purchase 2. Storage 3.Labor in trying to sell 4. Labor in donating or 4. Cost to take to dump.
And that's IF we get rid of it. I have entertained thoughts of a massive bonfire, but have you seen how much firewood is these days (-;


We have tried to live simply, but you never truly realize how far you've missed the mark until you've had a yard sale. And each yard sale is a symbolic moment. Like a New Year's resolution. "I'm going to stop buying junk." It is a cost of being a family and having roots. You acquire things. The important thing isn't the cost of these things, or the amount of these items. The important thing, is that we maintain the proper attitude towards them. God's kingdom is more important than our kingdom of junk, and all our worldly possessions can burn in a fire before we value one of them higher than every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Limbo Life

There are a lot of things that need to be done in a short amount of time.
We are currently at approximately 90% funding. 100% is required before we can leave the country or even book airline tickets out of the country.

To find the remining 10% of supporters, we're praying, writing letters, and making calls. We've exhausted our own personal relationships as sources of financial partnership, and are branching out to churches and other areas where we share common interests but no common relationships.

God has chosen for us a path that looks like individuals are going to be the main contributors instead of churches. That is exciting for many reasons, but I'm attempting to make this blog more logistical than emotional or spiritual, so I'll leave out a lot of the why's etc.

We have been sending emails to groups of people who are technically minded believers. Christian aliases at work, things like that.

If you have a christian alias at your company, and are willing to send an email for us, I have one composed that I would love for you to send. Thank you


So while we're patiently waiting on God to unveil the final 10%, one inch at a time, we have other things to do:

-finish our work permit applications and visas.
-finalize our training - we have 8 weeks in jan/feb/march time frame to finalize training.
-find storage for our worldly possessions that we are neither taking nor ridding ourselves of
-pack
-quit work and leave

As of now, it appears that since we do not know when 100% will come, we can not know when we will actually be leaving the country, but we DO know that all things would be MOST smooth if we could be packed and moved out before we leave for Carolina at the end of January to finalize our training.

Please pray for our funding to come in quickly.
Please pray for creativity. We are finding ourselves stretched to come up with new funding ideas.

Many of the churches we've reached out to, have responded with "we only support members" types of reactions, which is understandable. The final 10% is what is known as, the second HALF of financial support. IF that is true, we will patiently and joyfully accept that as God's will, and we go, whenever He says go.

There are several other logistics, but we're starting to cross items off the list which is making this very real for us. Our house is beginning to be emptied out slowly, our boxes will begin being filled.

We are having a garage sale on Oct. 14th, to unload most of our stuff we won't be keeping.

All of this adds up to.. "this is really happening".

IT is an interesting place to live, not being sure WHEN but having a goal, and a hope. For those type A's which both my wife and I are, it is difficult to not have a concrete calendar, but we remind ourselves that we can't push God, and we wouldn't want to.

Thank you for praying

answers to prayer

I recently got an email.
We've been praying that God would see fit to increase the bandwidth in PNG before we got onsight in January.

the email today was exciting news. they are deploying new internet service technology (I'm being vague on purpose) which will allow them more reliability and bandwidth!

There are a lot of technical questions at the moment, but, it is a definite and direct answer to prayer.

God is awesome. He chooses to bless us through continued answer to prayer and He is worthy of praise. When we see answers to prayer like this we get excited! God thank you! We do not deserve these mercies!

Going for 100%

Well, summer is over and the kids are back in school. Calvin started Kindergarten this year and Sydney is in second grade. We had a very busy summer, but were blessed to have a chance to spend lots of time with some of our extended family. Those times become much more precious when you realize that by next summer we will be living halfway across the globe.

We’d like to take a minute to say thanks to all of you who are partnering with us in this journey. Your prayers and financial support are invaluable. We are definitely looking forward to getting to Papua New Guinea, but this time we spend in preparation has given us a chance to get to know some amazing people who are a part of our team. In fact, this summer Kendal had the privilege of meeting some of our prayer partners. The residents of the retirement community where Kendal’s mom works have been faithfully praying for us for the past year. While in Oregon this summer, Kendal had a chance to meet this amazing group of people and share with them a little more about what we will be doing and where we are going. What a blessing to meet and share with these faithful members of our team!

Financial update:
We are at 84.8% with $600 p/month left to discover.

We don’t use the word “raise” because really we aren’t earning or raising any money, but you as our partners are supporting us because you care.

We are constantly reminded that we are on God’s clock, not our own. Personally, I (Chad) would like to see 100% before September ends. That would mean we could buy plane tickets to North Carolina at the best value, and make all our training on time, as well as finalize the details of moving. It is an interesting limbo state that we are currently in. If we do not reach 100% in time to purchase plane tickets and leave in January, then we will have to wait until the following August to go. God is sovereign, His timing is perfect. He has answered so many prayers that indicate that this January is the right time that we are acting in faith He will provide. All signs point to January as being when He wants us to depart, which is why we strongly believe we will reach 100% in time.

Please pray. Currently we have reached out to everyone we know, and friends of people we know. Historically missions finances primarily come from churches, but that does not seem to be the method God had in mind for us as over 95% of our current funds come from individuals.

If you attend a church that has an active missions department please contact us.
If you are interested in partnering with us through prayer or finances please contact us.

Please pray that God provide the 100% in time.

If you really want to sing shouts of praise, pray that we reach 100% by September 30th as it would take a load of pressure off of us. Not that God wants us to live pressure free lives (-;

Again, thank you to everyone for your prayer and support. It takes a team to accomplish this work, and we are very thankful to God for you.

Learning as we go

I don't desire this to sound preachy, so if it does let me know.
Part of the process of becoming a missionary is learning to let go of control.
Control of when the support will come in, how long it will stay.
There is also the kind of control that comes in the form of leverage.
Americans have leverage because of competition and because they are consumers.
If a service you pay for, doesn't live up to your standards, there is competition you can go to.

As a consumer, you have power and control.

Inside of a missionary organization things are different than inside of a company.
In a company, if they want you to train on something, they pay for the training, and typically it is optional but strongly encouraged.

In a missionary organization, the training is mandatory, and they don't pay for it.

Does it strike you in an odd way if I said, "you have to go to this class, AND you have to pay for it."

In my corporate America culture, that is an offending thought. I don't HAVE to do anything, I'm an employee with skills, I can quit and join a competitor!

Pay for it? Why would I pay for something YOU need me to do?

And so we have this sense of control, of leverage, of options.

I'm in the process of discovering how it feels to lose those ...options.

Admittedly, I have discovered that a lot of my trust is in my ability to creatively negotiate my options.
I don't like getting stuck in a corner in any way. Whether it's a service I pay for, or my career. I like to have possibilities.

It boils down to, finding the truth behind where my trust lies.

When I desire control, and I become upset when I can not have it, I discover that my trust lies in my abilities.

We're losing control. (not self-control). We're losing a lot of our ability to exert force over our environment.

It seems like a sad thing but it isn't.

We are discovering the truth behind putting our trust in Jesus (who is alive!).
Our hope is in Jesus. Not in ourselves.
The possibilities in Christ are endless, who can stand against Him?

Truly, this is a process of dying to self. It is not an easy process. Admittedly for the past week or two I've been emotionally struggling with the idea.

But in the last two days, I've changed from focussing on us, what WE lose, what WE are giving up, and instead discipline my heart towards praising God. It is amazing how, you think you figured it out before making the decision. You say "sure I can give up this, and this and this" and the growth doesn't really come from the easy things to give up, it's when you hit the parts that are harder to give up, the sneaky ones, the parts you didn't anticipate. Something as small as the fact that you won't have as much variety in life.

It was not until I was praising God that my perspective was altered, and I was transformed into a step of humility and understanding.

God is great, God is good. Christ is Risen!
Our trust is not in ourselves it is in Christ.
Our trust is not in our ability to make things work, but in God's ability to fulfill His plan.

still on the journey.

Status 8/29/06

News from the homefront is that the cost of health insurance has gone up, which changes our monthly goal from $3700 to $3900 which in turn brings our progress from 86% to 82%.

AT first what seems dissapointing (as if they moved the finish line while we were nearing the end of the race) is in fact another opportunity to worship God.

God is great. Christ is risen! Christ is alive. We don't serve a Jesus who is back in Israel 2000 years ago. We serve a Christ who is here, who is now, who is alive!

God can bring in the funds.

We have some pressing needs:
- we need to get to 100% by January, but I'm really praying for September.
- we need more contacts, more interested partners, more churches.

We've written and visited everyone we can think of, so now we need new ideas, new resources, new ways to get to 100%.

We are excited because we've made it so far so quickly and it's all because of you, our partners in this ministry!

Thank you.

As we continue to wait on God, we wait for some people to make final decisions as to whether or not they wish to support us.

We wait on God's timing as to when our Visa's will be completed.

In this society we live in, everything is HERE and NOW, instant, fast-food, microwave culture, learning to wait is something that is hard, but an experience we're becoming more accustomed to.

Praise God, His timing is perfect!

It's happening

pausing a moment for reflection
in the past week our support has gone up almost 8%.

As I look around now, we’re nearing 90% of funding, it’s sinking more deeply in that we’re leaving.

I’m having a great conversation with my dad and in my brain I hear “you won’t be doing this next year” and I start to tear up.

I’m looking at my nieces and cousins and having fun camping and thinking “you won’t be doing this next year” and choke up a little.

I’m hiding zucchini at my neighbor’s house and I think “this is my last practical joke in America for a few years” and I start to get melancholy.

The tragedy of this process is that it lets the pain linger for a very long time.
It’s like attending a wake for a year. No person should have to prolong these emotions.

There is a definite sadness to this process. I would be negligent if I didn't mention them in the blog.

You ask yourself questions like, "how long will it be before I see them again? What if something happens? Will I ever see them again?" In every person's case there are specific details and difficult to cope with emotions.

There is sadness on the side of those watching us go.

My dad explained it to someone like this "it's a joyful heartbreak."

This blog is about the process of becoming a missionary, and so I have to include these harder parts, even if they make it seem less...what's the word.. "glamorous" doesn't quite fit.

We aren't guaranteed that if we follow God's orders we will have a happy life. It is a temptation to believe that in following God all will be good. We know God desires good for His people, but we are prepared for bad to happen as well. Modern day martyrs are rare, but the heart still needs to be prepared.

So what do we do during these sad times? Do we complain to God, do we try to bargain with God and ask for Him to let us off the hook? No, because He jsut might (-;

We turn it, through discipline, into worship. Sacrificing our emotions of sadness and turning them into tears of praise because we know that following God is our goal in life. We don't know what the outcome will be, but we know, we need to be obedient, even unto a broken sadness that is leaving loved ones.... even further than that.

A mind like mine, asks "what if" a lot.
"what if you lost a child because of this?"
"what if you died and your wife was left in the country with 2 kids?"
"what if your grandmother got sick while you were gone?"
"what if your best friend marries and you weren't around to be the best man?"

but there is a what if question that trumps them all:

"what if, you didn't obey God?"

What would our lives be like if we decided to turn our back on what we know to be God's direction for our lives? We have very clear marching orders, He's confirmed it to us time and time again. To refuse to go, would be a clear case of ignoring God's specific will for us.

Living life after rejecting God in that way, would be a path we don't want to go down. God has set a banquet before us, and invited us, we're going.

We have fields and committments we're leaving behind, but that is the price we pay in order to live a life of obedience.

It's not all sad I don't mean to concentrate on that too much, it's mostly joy. Because knowing we are doing what God wants, is more comforting than anything, and it is also what comforts our family in our absence.

There is great honor and joy and comfort and hope and excitement and anticipation and love in knowing that we have been asked to do a small thing for God.

July Update 2006

wow, a lot of stuff has happened.

First, the new newsletter is up
http://www.gimpel.tv/newsletter/newsletter3.pdf

In the interest of getting the information out, we sort of hacked up the original format to squeeze in the info.

Let's see.

So we were praying:
1 - God would bring our finances up over 70% ... we're now at 76%
2 - God would bring folks who have committed to joining us, to telling us what level they are comfortable with.... .still in progress but some folks are saying "remember when we committed months ago.. .well this is how much we'd like to give.."
3 - God would allow the training scheduling to work out. See the training we need to take is only available at certain times, and they require multiple weeks of leaving work to complete. BUT ALAS... a huge prayer was answered and now the schedules are all worked out so that we can attend the training we need, AND get to the country by our desired departure date! (Jan/Feb. 2007)

God really worked out a major issue for us. POC is a 14 week in country camp/training based on teaching you how to live in the country. My future manager needs me at the job at soon as possible to train me before he leaves in country. If I were to attend the 14 week training it would drastically lower my ability to do my job right out of the gates (I like to hit the ground running).

So now the story is... in January we'll be attending 5 weeks of training, move to PNG, live there for 6 months, and then go to the 14 week training, which will allow us not only to have more time acclimating, but create a better appreciation for the 14 week training as well as more preparation.

All in all, God moved a mighty mountain for us recently!
so now...
visas are in progress
and we're waiting for the final 24% of people to let us know what they are comfortable with committing to!

We're excited... the rubber is meeting the road and we're ready to go!!!

thank you all, and please pray:

-that our funding hits 100% by September.
-that our visas and work permits go through smoothly.

This is very exciting stuff! We're seeing God answer prayers in His incredible style!

Exciting News

People are asking us if we're excited. The answer is yes!
Today we moved passed the 70% support line into 75% support!
That is exciting. 80% is our next milestone. We'd like to be there by the end of July. And we'd like to be at 100% by the end of August.

That's our timing, God's timing seems to be keeping in line with that, and we definitely will wait on Him.

We are going to take some family time this July, and hope to fit in some time to visit churches and friends.

We have submitted the application for the kids enrolment to school, and we have finalized the Visa application (it takes a while to get all the documentation in) and are sending it in today.

Pray that all paperwork gets to it's proper destination and is processed in a timely fashion and that things go smoothly.

It is definitely a discipline to do your paperwork thoroughly and on time, and completely. A discipline that is part of the job and that we are learning.

On a personal note, I find it ironic because I have always disliked paperwork, and now I am at a time in my life when paperwork is a huge portion of my day.

Doesn't God always work like that? Always trying to strengthen us in our weak areas (-;. As my folks used to say... "it builds character".

Financial and Prayer update

Today marks 67% of our financial goal!

We have begun our Visa application process and require prayer that it goes smoothly.
There is a lot of paperwork to fill out and rules and regulations to adhere to, official copies of this and that to get and such.

We do our best to make sure this all goes through smoothly, and then trust God to guide it all to the right people to get it through. As we start sending off document after document, pray for it's smooth sailing.


Thank you.

Progress

We are now at 60% financial partnership! Only 40% more to go! If you know of any interested parties we have yet to contact please let us know.

OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER is online at:

www.gimpel.tv/newsletter
(click on newsletter #2)


the financial data is out of date because in 2 weeks time we have had such a response that we were unable to keep up with it.

Support, and prayer

we've finished newsletter2, a few weeks ago.
now we're compiling everyone's email addresses.

With each email we send out, we save approximately one dollar. (printing costs and mailing costs).
So in the interest of stewardship, we've taken the extra week to compile email addresses.

If you don't think we have yours, please contact me at owens@gimpel.tv

now for the big news:

51% financial partnership!!!! (as of 5/13/06) We jumped right passed 50 and went straight to 51% !!! YAH....YIPPEEE!!! (didn't want to give a search engine free advertising).

Also, for those of you who desire a more personal touch, the newsletters aren't it. The newsletters go to a wide range of people, and as such, are typically more informative and general... as is the news.

For the personal touch, look first to the blog, which while public, is more personal. And secondly we do try to keep in touch with everyone on a personal level as well.

If you have any questions, or simply want to talk, we would love to have a chat with you.

thank you for your support.
God answers prayer in incredible ways.

Here's a funny one:
I (chad) have learned throughout my life to pray for everything. I don't believe in coincidence, and I don't believe anything is too small to pray about. God is all powerful, to Him it is as hard to raise full support for missions as it is to find a good parking space. His power can handle both with relative ease. In our eyes, things are harder, and so we tend to gravitate towards only releasing the harder things to God. BUT, in my daily life I pray continually, and while I sometimes do feel silly praying for the small stuff, I definitely have seen God take those opportunities to be glorified and encourage me.

Yesterday we were with some family at the beach. I needed to find a parking spot, so I prayed "God, please find us a good parking spot." It was the kind of day where prayer would be the only way you found a convenient one. With my son not feeling so well, and a van full of family, the closer we got the better. (-;

Well I was taking my time, not being rude at all, and I paused at an intersection to let people go, but jsut as I did, a large group of people decided to cross the street and block the river of traffic coming at me, so I took the opportunity and pulled behind a big convertable with one man driving.

His bumper stickers read: "hedonist" "apes evolved from creationists" and "boycott A.A."

I thought "God, this man apparently lives his life in mockery of you."
Well, the man was looking to his left, I don't know why, because I was looking to my right, and right in front of him, a car was pulling out.

This man missed it completely, and I got a prime parking spot.

I laughed and thanked God.
Not only, did God part the waters to allow me to drive smoothly, but He gave me a perfect parking spot in a very encouraging way as if to say "there will be those that mock me, but I reward my faithful."

It seems like a small thing, but I believe when you have eyes to see, you can see God working everywhere.

Prayer

A team of friends went to Senegal for computer work and networking. The whole world needs this stuff!

This week has been an amazing week of answered prayer.
Inspired by Karl Bastian's childrens book "Order of the Ancient" I have taken to making a specific intercessory prayer each day for something to occur that day.

I pray many things in a day but chose to focus on only 1 thing to have answered in a short amount of time.

Monday - Lord please let our support break the 37% barrier. When I got home my wife told me we were at 39.5%
Tuesday - Lord please let the team in Senegal successfully complete their installs by Saturday ...today I got an email that they were successful.
Weds - God please help me to understand [a complex problem at work I'd been having trouble with for weeks] by 11am something clicked and I finally understood the issue.
Thurs - (I can't remember, I should journal this stuff)
Friday - God please let us get a check in the mail tomorrow. Today - for no reason AT&T sent us a check for $79.00. Admittedly I meant a new partner, but God still answered my literal prayer. I think I shall be more specific from now on (-;

And so today, is Saturday and I've saved my short term answer prayer for you the blog reader.

Lord may everyone who reads this blog today be filled with your joy and may you be glorified somehow in their lives today.

We are at 40.5%... that's almost 50%! We've been doing this PD for almost 3 months now, but honestly it's YOU who has been doing it and God.

Our second newsletter is complete and we'll be mailing in out early this week.

I will also be putting up a link for information, so please stay tuned.

progress

We have been at 37% of our promised monthly funding for a few weeks now. We are praying that our trip to Southern California would increase this number as well as prayer partners.

We are also hoping that those who have committed to joining us will communicate at what level so we can get an accurate read of how close we are to our financial goal.

Please pray that God would advance this number towards 100%. Thank you.

God Answers Prayer

We've come to rely on answered prayer.
I personally get a kick out of watching God work! This last week, our trip down to Southern California was an experience in worship and faithfulness.

Worshipfully we recognize that as men after the fall, we have to toil. It's a plain truth, and toiling without complaining and grumbling, and is a form of worship to God. It brings with it encouragement and faith building.

Praying that God would work, and then being blessed when He shows you a glimmer of what He is doing, is faith building.

This week was one moment after another of being blessed and excited by the Holy Spirit. Seeing small groups study the Bible, hearing personal testimonies, hearing sermons, seeing old friends and family, visiting churches, seeing old friends in new ministries, all these things glorify God and we have become so encouraged seeing God's hand at work!

When people study the Word, when they worship and praise, we are filled.
When you are raised in the church, the idea of going to several churches in a week can either be exciting or can seem like more of the same.

At some point in your walk, you may get the impression that you've heard it all before. Church services can become mundane. But when you find a heart of worship, which is what God has shown my family these last two years, when you find that heart, suddenly the services take on a new light. The songs you've heard a million times before, take on a new life.

It was so exciting to praise God and worship Him in these new and old settings. WOW.
I got so energized we drove the night through to get home. I'm not a night driver, but I spent the quiet and dark hours praying and praising God.

One specific example is that, since we've grown somewhat addicted to seeing God provide (please Lord don't let me get too spoiled) I asked if He would give us one new Partner on Saturday. One day away. "God tomorrow when I wake up, will you please provide one new partner."

God did it.
How encouraging is that? How awesome is that?

I am convinced, that we need to focus our hearts into hearts of worship, and that will establish a relationship with Christ that surpasses anything that might sap our joy. And that relationship will grow and all things will spring from there. Loving others will grow, prayer lives will grow, all things will grow from that relationship which comes from a submissive heart of worship.

WOW! the Me of 2 years ago is envious of the me now. Two years ago I'd see people on fire and think "I have been a christian for 27 years now, the fire is strong but not explosive, I want to be explosive again." and now, 2 years later I am!

God we praise you and thank you for your faithfulness.
God this easter, you were victorious over death and sin. The world seeks heroes and Christ is the largest hero of them all. Beaten and bruised and conquered on Friday, with justice and strength He arose on Sunday to defeat all foes, death, sin, and prove to the world who will one day admit it, that He is GOD!

He proves to us daily that He is God.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us!

Anatomy of Partnership Development

A large part of the appeal of Wycliffe to me is our view towards "financial support". This is more accurately called Partnership because of the equality in ownership of a ministry that God is doing. He puts different people with different abilities and hearts together to accomplish something that otherwise would be impossible. I will hopefully put more detail later, but the gist is...
you're not asking for money, you're asking for people excited who want to join, and letting them decide the level of that partnership. Will they be prayers, encourages, come visit us, help financially support us.. what?

Thus we don't go on "fund raising trips" we go out seeking to do 2 things:
1 - glorify God by telling people, anyone, what God has done in our lives
2 - find the people who desire to get involved in some way.


number 1 above, is what planted the seed in our family years ago. We pray that God would be glorified through us and that we wouldn't be an obstacle (firewall) to His glory.

so... with that said... there is a reality to the fact that you have to pray for people to talk to, they don't know us or they do, they are excited to hear us or they aren't. We don't know how long we'll have or what the topic should be, or sometimes we do.

It can definitely sound like a chore. Pack the family up, get in the car, drive to a church, speak in front of the church, find a small group, get to know them and share what is going on. It sounds energy draining, laborious even.

It isn't. The reality is, yes it is work. Since Genesis man has had to toil. But...
God is SO awesome.

He is encouraging us every step of the way. How exciting is it when you find someone who really cares about what you are saying? It blows me away when people enjoy being around us and hearing what God is doing. I am deeply honored by the people who are joining us as partners.

I find that in my heart I am uplifted... seeing God work in Southern California is great! Some churches here are really catching on fire.

I can't describe what it is to not want to do a job, but know you must, set your mind to the point of sacrificing whatever you do, all the work, to God as worship, and then aligning your heart with God's because there is no point in grumbling while doing this chore, you need to be absolutely submissive to God's heart and will.... (excuse the run-on sentence) and then, when you've put everything you have into it, and are drained, God fills you through relationships and experiences. You find His Word, you meet people you love and who love you, you receive encouragement.

This process is a process of recognizing that God meets you when you work towards Him and for Him with the right heart.

We're in the middle of the week down here, and have visited 2 churches and a small group, we've spoken 2-3 times, and are anticipating one more church visit.

That's the work part... the blessing list is huge:
-we heard an amazing sermon
-we experienced an absolutely amazing testimony from one of the vp's at pepsico
-we saw people we haven't seen in years which is always so great
-we were able to meet other missions minded folks
-we spent time in family's homes and friends homes which is always an honor and a privilege.
-we saw the power of God in this process.

Honestly, I'm the kind of guy who finds leaving the home, packing, and driving 400 miles a huge chore. Staying in other people's homes you're always worried that your kids will behave etc.

But once I got my heart and mind to the point of... this is not a chore, it is a task that you are doing because God called you to the field, you are doing this out of obedience and out of worship to God.

Once I got there, and I got there pretty quick, God showed up and changed my attitude into one of flexibility, and awe.

God works like that, always has... working for Him, when you're in that zone, that right place, is ALWAYS more filling than anything else.

To me, the fact that serving is energizing and filling and encouraging and strengthening your walk in Christ, is the most important signal that you are in God's will.

I've been in "ministry" my whole life, some jobs are really draining, others pump you up.

This job, has pumped us up, and we've only jsut begun!

Thank you to all who have been praying and reading... HI to all our new friends and readers!

Prayer:
----we would LOVE to see more people come on board as a result of this trip, we would love to find great prayer warriors and ... because we like making a task so huge only God can accomplish it and thus be glorified we are praying that within a month of this trip we'll be at 50%

Could you join us in that prayer?
I'll throw out the biggest one, we're praying for 100% by July, 2006.

Only God can accomplish this task. If He opts not to, we realize we will submit to his timing and clock, but our passion is to go in January.

April 10-easter

WE will be in the Los Angeles area from April 10th through to Easter.
IF you are in the area and know of anyone who would be interested in hearing about our ministry and might be interested in partnering with us for financial and prayer support, please contact us at

email:
owens@gimpel.tv

Status:
We are at %37 of our financial support. We hope to see that number grow as we continue approaching churches for partnership, however thus far the trend is about a 25% success rate. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad rate, but it's God's plan so it's good regardless.

We anticipate hearing from many of you who are still deciding at what level you wish to partner with us financially, once we know that we will be able to get an accurate reading of how much more work we have to do.

We have been working on a second newsletter. We have also completed our ministry portfolio which is a folder containing introductory information to our family and our ministry, intended for churches and groups who may be looking to support missionaries with a shared passion.

If you know of any groups or churches who would like to hear from both or one of us, we are more than happy to come share or even to give you one of our portfolios.

We are excited to say that Bethany Church (where we were married) is the first church to partner with us financially on a monthly basis.
A few churches have declined financially supporting us in an ongoing way but are still encouraging. A few have shown no interest, and even fewer haven't liked where our organization stands theologically.

It is an interesting process, but we are confident that God will pull us through it with a stronger faith.

Prayer Requests:
--that God would move in the hearts of people and churches to partner with us
--that we would be at 100% ($3700 p/month promised committment) by June 2006
--we would be guarded against spiritual attack in the form of discouragement (or any form)
--that our kids would be protected against attack and would grow up wise in Christ.

thank you
also if you are praying for us, and happen to think of it, drop us a line, it would be very encouraging to know who is praying and who is reading the blog.

What about Burnout?

What about burn out?
(thoughts by Chad)
I do not know how many of these thoughts I should share. They are personal and not completely matured. Yet we desire to remain sincere and open to those who support us, because the end goal is to glorify God. Sincerely voicing the thoughts and struggles are part of the missionary process. People can never truly know unless you share, and unfortunately for the reader, when I am passionate I am also verbose (well on paper anyway). Keep in mind as you read, the context, we haven't been in the field for many years and thus we consult those who have been and are encouraged. We're aware we probably represent the youthful vitality one expects from "newbies".

Reading: Romans 9,10 and 11

I see friends in professional ministry being absorbed by the frustrations of the professional side of their work. I see movies about priests that have lost their faith. Always these movies show men who once had a lively relationship with God and now are consumed with selfish desires and have lost that connection with God. I hear of missionaries who burn out and return home from the field.

This concerns me as in Romans 9:

All those people who didn't seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. 31And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. 32How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn't notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. 33Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Careful! I've put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
a stone you can't get around.
But the stone is me! If you're looking for me,
you'll find me on the way, not in the way.

I desire to serve God with my life. God can search my heart and know that I am a wickedly selfish man. I know that I am no good on my own. I know that I seek out selfish pursuits, but also, if I possess any wisdom at all, I know that these pursuits will not end in happiness, and the only true contentment can be found in God’s presence. On top of that I know that all of these things are temporary. My life is flying past my eyes, and the only investment worth making is in God’s eternal kingdom.

Worship helps me with my focus and motivation. I read the Scripture and I see God’s character and in a world where all is failing me, where many things are empty and devoid of goodness I see God shining above it all. God is so good and so Holy. And when I concentrate on that, little else matters to me. My self fades away, my soul desires to be with God’s holiness. As if I’m taking a huge drink after years of thirst, soaking in God’s holiness. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing, so long as I’m worshiping God through thought and action, and whatever I end up doing, I need to be convinced that I’m doing it to worship the goodness of God. Right now, I’m convinced the way to do that is to go to PNG and take my family. The risk is that we would be consumed by the process and lose sight of worshiping God, which would be the failure of the project. But I see no evidence that in not going that risk becomes any less. In fact, I am anxious for the opportunity to throw my life into a situation where I am stripped of my American culture and comforts and thus can measure how much I truly depend on God for all things. And continue to live a life where I am dependant upon God.

As a westerner, there is much I do not understand about dependence.

Romans 11:
4And do you remember God's answer?
I still have seven thousand who haven't quit,
Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish.
5It's the same today. There's a fiercely loyal minority still--not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. 6They're holding on, not because of what they think they're going to get out of it, but because they're convinced of God's grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.

My selfish nature and Bible study already tell me what I will get out of serving God, assuming I do it correctly. But I also know that none of these rewards will be sufficient motivation to forebear the suffering that will most likely accompany any faith developing scenario. (I use the term faith-developing instead of testing on purpose). So these rewards are not what motivates me. There is a sense of duty, yes. A sense of doing what is right also. There is a sense of not losing face among those invested in our success as well. But these motivations will crack under the pressure too. The motivation that will truly uphold us during the times when we can’t take any more, will be because we are convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing us. And we are. God’s grace is immeasurable. The fact that He chose us is inconceivable. We are fully confident of this. Couple that with a daily dose of worshiping His goodness and Holiness and what you have are addicts for God.

Perhaps this pushes the illustration a bit extreme. A drug addict, will do anything for their next fix. But they also know when they’re getting fake stuff. It doesn’t have the same effect.

That is how we intend to let the Spirit be our rudder. When entering God’s presence and sensing even a sliver of His holiness becomes something we can no longer do we will know that there is an issue we need to work out and right before God.

We desire to be submissive to Him, so we can stay close to Him, because He is good. We are addicted to God's holiness, we breath it in as often as we can. When you remain in this state, you eyes and ears and heart maintain a sensitivity to the Spirit that helps guide.

The risk of losing sight of God's plan is the same at home as it would be in the field. The pressures are strong against you whenever you are doing what God would have you do. The cultural adaptation stress can be a huge factor. As a missionary you are more in the public eye. A spiritual failure at home can go unnoticed, but a spiritual failure in the field will not go unnoticed. Also though, the stigma that comes with a missionary returning before retiring is that perhaps they failed in their mission. It's sad but that is an assumption that some folks make "what went wrong?" Maybe nothing went wrong at all. But that is a different topic.

We refuse to disobey God's call because the risk for failure is great. The risk of embarrassment is great. Failure is simply not an option. My family has been specifically prepared for this, we have been specifically called. We have the qualities required for success both in faith, character and personality. I can give you a very convincing resume of why we are very well suited for the work before us, and odds are you already know us and are convinced of our abilities yourself (otherwise you would not be supporting us). But none of that matters. There is only one requirement God needs and that is willingness. We are obedient and willing and submissive to what God puts on our hearts. God does the rest. In fact He even accomplishes the obedience and willingness simply by means of being who He is. He is completely good, and completely Holy. We are compelled to Him. We are not relying on odds or on pedigrees, we are relying solely on God's provision. God will not fail, and thus we will cling to His coat tails the entire way.

Yes the pressures of cultural adaptation will be great. Yes the spiritual warfare will be present. Yes financial pressure will be a stress. There is a long list of reasons why we can fail. God is greater than all of them, God does not fail. We can fail, we will fail. God will prove faithful and compensate.

As partners in this ministry you have opened yourselves up for failure as well. You have committed to pray for us, and the more effective our ministry is at tearing down the strongholds of Satan, the more the people who pray for us will be under attack. Few consider this. Know that God overcomes. God is faithful.

And so, when the times come where we feel we want to give up, we will first go to God and admit it. We will ask God to shore us up, to meet us and supply. No one truly seeks to suffer, but we will not shy from it when it comes. We expect hardship, something that as Americans who have been blessed our entire lives is not something that we confront often. So when it comes, many people will wonder if we will be able to handle it or not. We don't know ourselves, but we do know that our instinctive reaction will be to plead to God for help through it. We do not ask to avoid pain, but we desire to seek God's face in the midst of it, and in the end, be more fit to glorify God.

We look forward to blogging the great stories of God proving faithful. For where the odds are their worst, when things seem impossible, those are the places that God absolutely shines without doubt. We are so anxious for those times, because it brings us all closer to God. Pray for those times for yourself and each other. Pray that this ministry would be a collective of submissive servants who live only so that God can be glorified.
Burnout is a reality. Stress can be overwhelming. Wycliffe has mandatory counciling and has good training and preparation for handling stress. We have been reading books and studying to prepare. Many practical steps have been taken to assure the full success of this ministry, but in the end, it comes down to the reality of every situation in life. How much are we going to try and handle without God? The answer is 0.00% There isn't any success to be had on our own.

---
p.s.
after re-reading this I realize that we have already undergone some spiritual attack and stress and suffering. In each instance, as a couple we immediately turned to God in prayer. In each instance, God met us there quickly and completely and so amazingly "God-like" that it was undeniably Him. The term "God-thing" applies because it is during these moments of sorrow, stress, weakness, complete humanity, that God is glorified because only He fit those jigsaw like missing pieces of the puzzle.

The story we blogged about my daughter carrying the backpack for my wife was such an example of God supplying for us when we were needing encouragement greatly.

Preparations

well, since we're not really sure at what time we'll be leaving or ready to go, we're in a mode of.... preparing. Faithfully working towards the idea that the money will come in before January '07.

we're planning to pack for a trip to a place we've never lived in.
so what do we bring?
Well first we talk to a lot of folks who live there or have lived there, and take in all their advice.

Then we look at our belongings and consider what can stay and what needs to go. Ironically we look forward to simplifying our lives, and yet have been advised to buy many things unobtainable over there. Like advil.

In the midst of this we are keeping in mind the idea of simple living. Depending on God. And balancing that with our passion to create a home environment for people.

for me personally, it seems very silly to be asking "how many computers should I bring?"

one for me, one for the wife, one for the kids, one for spare parts, one as a server...... really how many is "enough".

For my wife the question is photo albums, we're told not to bring anything we can't afford to lose at first... should something go wrong somewhere in the shipping process.

and then... we'll most likely need to move all of this stuff multiple times a year.

Managing this issue of "stuff" is a blessing to us from God because my wife and I are rather compatible in this area. Neither of us are too materialistic. Both of us have our areas of "i need this..." and each of us can be stretched and challenged enough to adapt that it makes it an adventure.

We both loved "colonial house" (a pbs special). The idea of getting away from dependence on technology, of a return to simplicity.

Now we are facing the reality of making choices... what stays, what goes, and what needs to be purchased for whatever reason to take with us?

Whatever decisions are made, we'll survive and be strengthened by any "lack" we might experience.

We also hope that it will develop a truer sense of priorities. Even if we think our priorities are right now, there is nothing like good old fashion testing your mettle.

-----Prayer Requests----
-that financial partnership reaches 100% by August 2006
-someone will be able to supply storage for our belongings that stay behind
-a partner that will pray daily for our children
-a partner that will pray daily for us
-physical conditioning to be able to handle the training camp 3 day backpacking hike.

What's next

well we are working on finding the people who want to partner with us in prayer and or financially. We have spoken in a few groups, and right now see our ministry as a process of informing and discovering. Our home church is having a missions emphasis month and so we're involved in helping other missionaries where we can.

We're writing a lot of letters right now, and seeing where that leads.

We're at 23% of our goal right now, and we're hoping to be at 100% before August but that all depends on God's timing.

This part of the process is the part where there might not be as much to blog primarily because financial matters inherently involve a bit of privacy.

But we can still talk about what God is doing and what He is showing us. Right now He is showing us how wonderfully excited so many of you are about us as friends and about our joining together in ministry!