The Good New Breakdown

My sweet Italian Friend from church asked me for a breakdown of what I still have left to raise. So this morning I sat down and worked out how many people I still need on my support team depending on how much they give.

Okay here is how it breaks down...

I still need $2800 a month.


2 people giving $1400 a month
5 people giving $560 a month
10 people giving $280 a month
28 people giving $100 a month
56 people giving $50 a month
100 people giving $28 a month

I tend to be a glass half full type of person, so when I look at this I see that out of the 1,000's and 1,000's of people who are part of God's family I only need to find less than 100 to support me!

Like I said in my last news letter, I am sooooo ready to go to Rome, to join God in the work he is doing there. So if you would like to join my support team, and have a part in the Kingdom Building work in Rome please please let me know. If you have a group of friends who may like to support me lets have a party and I will come share with them about how they can be involved.

Thanks to all of you who have already started giving, to those who lift me up in prayer each day! Your support means so much to me, and having you share in this ministry is one of the most awesome parts of support raising, and missions.

Hurry Up and Wait

There is a lot more to being a missionary than I originally thought, and one of those things most missionaries fail to mention in their speeches at churches is the idea of, "Hurry up and Wait." I too have struggled with how best share with you my supporters what the Road to Rome is like. Do I paint you a pretty picture, do I bore you with details, or do I give you the raw truth. I am opting more and more for the raw version.

Why? Because I feel there are a lot of misunderstandings about missions, and missionaries and I want to have a more open dialogue about the reality of missions. So today we tackle just one aspect of missionary life, that of, Hurry Up and Wait.

This applies more often than not I am finding. When I applied to be a missionary with ReachGlobal it was a 6 month application process, filled with many, many tests and forms in the beginning, then months of waiting, then interviews, then more waiting. Then a plane ride to Minnesota for a week long interview and information session, then an day of waiting for the final decision.

Seeing that this is how things started you would think I would have caught a clue that this was just the beginning.

Then there is Support Raising, which any honest missionary would tell you is a whole lot of hurrying, for appointments, and contacts and phone calls, and an abundance of waiting for returns on those investments. If you have ever worked on a church committee then you can imagine just how much waiting it takes to get a decision from a church on whether or not they can and will support you.

Right now, I am waiting for the remaining 49% of my support to come in. I would be lying if I told you this waiting was easy. That is not to say I cannot see God at work even in the waiting. I have indeed seen him at work in the waiting, and I know He is using this time to prepare me for more, Hurry Up and Wait. As that is culture in Italy, and many parts of the the world.

I am also waiting for word on when I will be heading to Haiti, right now this is the hardest wait, because I can see reminders everywhere of the vast need, and I long to be there working, serving and growing in my relationship with God. But again I hurried to get ready to go and now I wait.

As I touched on waiting is not horrible, it is part of the process, part of being a missionary, perhaps part of being used by God. As I wait I am not only waiting on people but I am waiting on God. That is a good but not always easy place to be.

How can you help me in all of this waiting? So glad you asked.

1. Pray for me. That I will continue to wait on God and His will and timing rather than own.
2. Join me in fasting tomorrow for the people of Haiti. Perhaps as we wait together at the feet of Jesus on behalf of the people of Haiti we will in fact be just where He wants us to be.
3. If you have a church that I can come and share at please invite me to do so. If you work at a church I would strongly encourage you to take some time, to look at your missions policy and missionaries and see if there are ways you could help speed along some of the waiting. There is room for improvement on both sides.


Thanks for joining me on this journey for encouraging me along the way, and for your many prayers, it really does help especially in the times of waiting.



Lessons learned during the wait:

God is Faithful
I cannot do this alone
My timing and God's timing are not the same and His is best.
Waiting gives you time to wait on the Lord, use that time wisely.
If I was in Rome already we would have missed out on being in Haiti.
My waiting is nothing in comparison to those waiting for Food, Justice, and Shelter, Hope and Peace.
There is time now to rest, there might not be soon.
What can I be doing for God and with God here and now?
I need to be ready when the time comes

Just to name a few.

Meet A Real Live Missionary Night

Last night I was invited along with two couples to share at the Felton Bible Church AWANA for their "Meet a Real Live Missionary Night" I got to share with the TNT Girls this year, last year I shared with the Sparkies. I was asked just share about what a missionary is and where I am going and what I will be doing. It was a privilege to share and there were a couple cute moments...

The first was when a little girl came up and gave me a few bucks and then read from her book "I know it is not much, but I hope it helps!" IT DID!

The next was when someone was searching for Italy in Asia.

And finally my favorite moment was when one of the girls volunteered to pray for me, and the line that I loved was, "and help her not to get so bored on the long plane ride!" That is why I need people of all ages praying for me, we get all the bases covered!

In the Press

Yours truly has been selected to represent Reach Global in a new recruiting video aimed at reaching a younger population. (that's right I am "younger") Myself a a few others were asked to participate in a 2-3 min video that will be sent out to churches around the country to capture the imagination of our peers and perhaps inspire them to consider becoming missionaries.

If you are a George Fox Alum you will also see me mentioned in the upcoming George Fox Journal.
(that is a link to their last one I will post a new one when it come out.

Just thought you might want to know.

If you cannot wait for the upcoming video to come out and would like to know more right now about becoming a ReachGlobal Missionary you can click here for more info

Here and There

I am away from home. I feel like I have been away for quite some time, though in reality it has not been all that long. Not in comparison to how long I will be gone when I move to Rome, or even as long as others who are here with me in Minnesota. There are two couples who have spent the last 7 weeks in the Congo, and are now here and then they will finally get to go home. Which makes my month long journey not seem all that bad. But tonight friends I am tired.

It has been a great week of learning and of meeting with other missionaries to get to know them and the greater need around the planet, but learning can be exhausting. I am no longer used to sitting and learning for 8-9 hours a day. We have covered all sorts of topics and am certain they will come in handy on the field.

Tomorrow is my last day of class, and then I am off to see some friends for a few days and then back to my old home and church in Cokato, MN on Sunday to share with the church there about the need in Rome, and the work I will be doing there. Then on Monday I will be home.

Then in the beginning of November I am heading back to Colorado for two weeks for Language Acquisition School.

Thank you all for your prayers. I really do appreciate them, and it has been evident that God has been at work here this week not only in my life but in the life of all of us here. It was so nice to realize this morning that while I was here praying there was a group of people at home and around the world praying for me.