When

     I will start this blog entry with a precursor.  Just because I say a date or time for us going overseas, that doesn't mean that we will leave at that exact day and time.  James 4:15 is clear, saying, "Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."  So, the timeline we lay out today is what we are thinking at the moment, but God is the one who is in control of our coming and going!

     How do you come up with a time and day to say, “Ok now we are picking up and leaving what we have always known as home, and we are moving to another part of the world, very far from our families and friends?”  Let me tell you, there is nothing easy about it.  The thing that keeps us on course is knowing that God is always with us and He has called us not to stay home but to go into all the world, baptizing and teaching!  Therefore, we are going!

     Basically, two things are between us and leaving for Guyana.  1. God’s timing: When He says, “Take off,” we will know it is time.  2. Money: Wycliffe requires us to have 100% of our monthly support pledged before we can leave.  The budget that Wycliffe figured for us is $2500 a month. (Check out the blog next week to find out ‘How’ this happens and where we stand in the process.)

     When we were starting this whole process, Wycliffe asked us to set a ‘Faith Goal’ for when we would have our funds raised.  We prayed about it and came up with May 6^th.   So we have faith that by May 6^th we will have donors in place to support us as missionaries.  We will then tie off any loose ends, step out of our current jobs, say very difficult goodbyes to family and friends, put our belongings into storage and then we will, sometime around June, head out on the adventure of a lifetime!  Lord willing that is.

     This past week at our training in TX, we learned we have another training coming up in March.  This will be our Language and Culture Acquisition, meaning we will be learning some tips on how to learn a language.  It will be a five day training (March 7-11) in Greensboro, NC.  After this, we will have finished all of our stateside training. 

     Again, Lord willing, we hope to have a great opportunity to go with a missionary to Guyana at the beginning of May for a ‘Vision Trip.’ This will be a short trip to go down, establish a relationship with the people we’ll be working with, see the house we will be living in, and learn some things that we will want to pack, and some things we will not want to pack.  (Please be praying that if God wants us to go on this vision trip that He will provide a way!)

     After all this is said and done, we will put our seats and tray tables in their upright positions, fasten our seat belts and soar above the clouds to a new opportunity to share the love and hope and joy of Jesus Christ to people who may have never even heard His name!  Praise God!

     Check back next week for the final post in this series.  We have enjoyed informing you, our missions family, about all that God is doing in our lives, today and tomorrow! Together we are the body of Christ!