Our 7 year old, Jayne, did all the video for this episode! I hope you enjoy it. We won't have a new episode up next week because we will be gone visiting family. The following week we might introduce you to the Canadian dollar.
Morgan Minute Y14 02 from Adam Morgan on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label missionary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missionary. Show all posts
Monday, December 08, 2014
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Update That Took 7 Months to Write
Really, this is the update that took 7 months to happen. It all started with a crazy question to the Reach Global missions organization In mid-December...but you can check out all those updates in the Living Faith tab. Today we are starting with last night.
Adam and I headed to Apple Valley where we met the lead of the Montreal team. He was visiting MN to teach at a missions training week. It was wonderful getting to know him. We talked for 3 hours about so many subjects. We chatted a bit about our faith and what works we are currently doing for the Lord. There was a little bit of budget talk and he asked about our technology needs and apartment needs. He also gave us some wonderful advise about the work we have to do ahead.
In the end the important things we came away with were that he is very encouraged about the works that we are currently doing and feels that we will be a great fit in Montreal. That he wants us to come for 15 months instead of 12 so we can do language training for those additional months. The immersion training that he wants us to do would involve our living in someone else's home for 6 or so weeks. The people in this home would not speak any English and we would be learning in survival mode. It sounds quite intense, but God would not put us into something he did not think we could do and so, with Him, we will make it through. Plus he is planning to have the team up there really train us on being missionaries so we won't be tossed out to the sharks alone, thank God for that.
We also learned that not all missionaries have the gift of faith. The gift of faith is the highest gift for both Adam and I and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to go into missions without it. The lead got to see a glimpse of this faith in us and he was really amazed, so far as to say he could learn a lot from us (commence blushing).
It was after 11pm when we finally made it home and I always check my messages before bed. There was a pile of junk mail, the lead's e-mail to us and our rep detailing our night's conversation, and a surprise for the lead and us...
What an exciting way to end the night! Let's just say it was hard to get to sleep and poor Adam worked at 5am this morning.
It is time for the 2 of us to get to work as the ideal leave time for us would be April. There is a lot to pull together, letters to write, people to connect with, and everyday life needs to be in there too. We wanted to share all of this exciting news with all of you. You have been a fantastic support team so far and we look forward to having you all continue in this journey with us!
Adam and I headed to Apple Valley where we met the lead of the Montreal team. He was visiting MN to teach at a missions training week. It was wonderful getting to know him. We talked for 3 hours about so many subjects. We chatted a bit about our faith and what works we are currently doing for the Lord. There was a little bit of budget talk and he asked about our technology needs and apartment needs. He also gave us some wonderful advise about the work we have to do ahead.
In the end the important things we came away with were that he is very encouraged about the works that we are currently doing and feels that we will be a great fit in Montreal. That he wants us to come for 15 months instead of 12 so we can do language training for those additional months. The immersion training that he wants us to do would involve our living in someone else's home for 6 or so weeks. The people in this home would not speak any English and we would be learning in survival mode. It sounds quite intense, but God would not put us into something he did not think we could do and so, with Him, we will make it through. Plus he is planning to have the team up there really train us on being missionaries so we won't be tossed out to the sharks alone, thank God for that.
We also learned that not all missionaries have the gift of faith. The gift of faith is the highest gift for both Adam and I and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to go into missions without it. The lead got to see a glimpse of this faith in us and he was really amazed, so far as to say he could learn a lot from us (commence blushing).
It was after 11pm when we finally made it home and I always check my messages before bed. There was a pile of junk mail, the lead's e-mail to us and our rep detailing our night's conversation, and a surprise for the lead and us...
I am very pleased to let you know that we are accepting you for an 12-15 month term to serve with ReachGlobal in Montreal!
What an exciting way to end the night! Let's just say it was hard to get to sleep and poor Adam worked at 5am this morning.
It is time for the 2 of us to get to work as the ideal leave time for us would be April. There is a lot to pull together, letters to write, people to connect with, and everyday life needs to be in there too. We wanted to share all of this exciting news with all of you. You have been a fantastic support team so far and we look forward to having you all continue in this journey with us!
Friday, June 21, 2013
Half the News
We came back from a 3 day vacation on Wednesday and the house and our routine are mostly back in order. The highlight of our stay in the Twin Cities was visiting the EFCA headquarters in Bloomington where we were able to meet our ReachGlobal rep in person. Yes, the Como Zoo and science museum were fun, but this was a big deal.
These past 6 months we have done all of our communications through phone or computer so getting to see our rep face to face was great. The most exciting, of course, was finally getting to talk to him about our acceptance. It was the reason we went to visit him after all. I will stop stalling now and get to all the nitty gritty.
ReachGlobal is very excited to have us on board and wants to send us out on a 1 year mission trip. The position that we are going into the field for is quite new and 1 year gives everyone a chance to feel out how it will work. There will be a possibility of a 1 year extension which we can apply for toward the end of our stay, any longer and we will be looking at making the transition from short term to long term missionaries.
We do not have our "official" acceptance yet. For that we need our location to be finalized. That is taking a little longer as Jay, the Montreal lead is just getting back from Haiti...possibly helping to translate for our own church's mission trip. How crazy would that small world connection be. We are meeting with Jay on Wednesday to chat and just start building a relationship with him. It is also a time for him and us to see if we will mesh well on the same team.
There is a lot on our minds right now. We are planning a trip back to the headquarters in August for orientation and training. With our trip being only 1 year we have to make a decision about what to do with the house. In the coming weeks we will be determining a shop closing plan for The Crazy Elephant, how and when to get our wordpress blog up and running, what technology needs we will need filled, and a plan of attack for how determine what to bring, leave, or get rid of as far as stuff in our house goes.
It is all a bit overwhelming right now to look at all there is to do and plan. We will be turning to the Lord to help us in all of this. It is a comfort to know that He will be guiding us in this journey. We want to thank everyone for your prayers over these months. Please continue to pray for us as we begin making huge life changes in preparation for our trip. We look forward to seeing how God uses us to change the lives of those we will be serving and those who will be serving with us.
These past 6 months we have done all of our communications through phone or computer so getting to see our rep face to face was great. The most exciting, of course, was finally getting to talk to him about our acceptance. It was the reason we went to visit him after all. I will stop stalling now and get to all the nitty gritty.
ReachGlobal is very excited to have us on board and wants to send us out on a 1 year mission trip. The position that we are going into the field for is quite new and 1 year gives everyone a chance to feel out how it will work. There will be a possibility of a 1 year extension which we can apply for toward the end of our stay, any longer and we will be looking at making the transition from short term to long term missionaries.
We do not have our "official" acceptance yet. For that we need our location to be finalized. That is taking a little longer as Jay, the Montreal lead is just getting back from Haiti...possibly helping to translate for our own church's mission trip. How crazy would that small world connection be. We are meeting with Jay on Wednesday to chat and just start building a relationship with him. It is also a time for him and us to see if we will mesh well on the same team.
There is a lot on our minds right now. We are planning a trip back to the headquarters in August for orientation and training. With our trip being only 1 year we have to make a decision about what to do with the house. In the coming weeks we will be determining a shop closing plan for The Crazy Elephant, how and when to get our wordpress blog up and running, what technology needs we will need filled, and a plan of attack for how determine what to bring, leave, or get rid of as far as stuff in our house goes.
It is all a bit overwhelming right now to look at all there is to do and plan. We will be turning to the Lord to help us in all of this. It is a comfort to know that He will be guiding us in this journey. We want to thank everyone for your prayers over these months. Please continue to pray for us as we begin making huge life changes in preparation for our trip. We look forward to seeing how God uses us to change the lives of those we will be serving and those who will be serving with us.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Still Waiting
Here we are 4 weeks since our missions interview and we are still waiting. We even got an e-mail this afternoon from our rep apologizing for not calling us while ON VACATION! What ever he has to tell us must be of great importance. Perhaps it is a yes, perhaps something else is going on.
A week ago the wait, and missed phone call, was eating away at me. I was going crazy knowing that we could have had our answer had we simply been home. God used that time to show me a thing or two. First of all he reminded me that this is HIS plan, not mine. God will see to all of the details, I simply need to come along for the ride and be a willing vessel for Him.
He showed us the peace we can have in waiting. We have really enjoyed this quiet week knowing the chances of our rep calling us while on vacation are slim. We have not thought much at all of our mission trip this week. Instead we devoted our time to bible study and family togetherness. I think God much preferred that, as did we.
He also laid out more of his design for us. God is already placing the support net on his plan for us to be missionaries. It is quite incredible to watch! With out any solicitation, we now have 3 churches and a fantastic business woman who want to talk to us about partnership when the time comes. While I am not willing to take that as a guaranteed yes. till I actually get one, I can see that this is God's work preparing us in advance for the next step.
There is a good chance we will have another week to wait. We decided a short vacation was in order after all these months of hard work. So we will be taking a mini trip to have some much needed fun and recharge our batteries. Then we can come back, get our answer, and get to work. In the meantime, I will enjoy the quiet stillness of the wait...and try desperately not to itch my bug bites any more (a result from outdoors family togetherness).
A week ago the wait, and missed phone call, was eating away at me. I was going crazy knowing that we could have had our answer had we simply been home. God used that time to show me a thing or two. First of all he reminded me that this is HIS plan, not mine. God will see to all of the details, I simply need to come along for the ride and be a willing vessel for Him.
He showed us the peace we can have in waiting. We have really enjoyed this quiet week knowing the chances of our rep calling us while on vacation are slim. We have not thought much at all of our mission trip this week. Instead we devoted our time to bible study and family togetherness. I think God much preferred that, as did we.
He also laid out more of his design for us. God is already placing the support net on his plan for us to be missionaries. It is quite incredible to watch! With out any solicitation, we now have 3 churches and a fantastic business woman who want to talk to us about partnership when the time comes. While I am not willing to take that as a guaranteed yes. till I actually get one, I can see that this is God's work preparing us in advance for the next step.
There is a good chance we will have another week to wait. We decided a short vacation was in order after all these months of hard work. So we will be taking a mini trip to have some much needed fun and recharge our batteries. Then we can come back, get our answer, and get to work. In the meantime, I will enjoy the quiet stillness of the wait...and try desperately not to itch my bug bites any more (a result from outdoors family togetherness).
Friday, May 31, 2013
Extra Interview
It has been 2 weeks since our interview and we heard from our rep yesterday (2 weeks to the day). Sadly, it wasn't the definitive answer we were hoping for. Cue awesome facebook graphic...
This morning we had yet another interview. This one was all about our family life. We discussed how we discipline, touched shortly on homeschooling, and talked about how we connect together as a family. It went very well! The rep was laughing and having a good time with us which put us at ease and made it so much easier to chat.
She said at the end that we are very wise parents for our young age (complimentary in so many ways). We said that we are always praying that God would make us wise in our parenting. It was wonderful to hear because most of the time we feel like we are total failures as parents. I guess it is like standardized testing for school. You don't know if you are doing well or not based on your own guesses on the matter.
We also learned that the highest number of missionaries leaving the field are families. It is the reason that they really want to make sure a family is right for the job. It does make sense as the position we originally applied for became open because the man currently doing it left when he got married.
She said that our rep would get back to us with an answer quickly (early next week) because they realize that this process has taken especially long for us. It has felt long, but has gone by quickly. We have been going through the application process for 6 months! It was nice to hear that they also think it has been drawn out and not just that we are impatient.
So, we still don't have an answer but have gotten some great affirmation. God answered our prayers of the Reach Global team continuing to be punctual in their communications even if the communications were not what we expected them to be.
We are looking forward to what God has planned for us this summer. It could be a very busy one. Over the past 6 months of application time we have had several people tell us that they believe our fundraising will take 6 months. If we get our approval right away next week that could mean leaving in November. That is by no means our goal, but it will be very exciting to see God put this all together and to see when exactly He has decided we should go.
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She said at the end that we are very wise parents for our young age (complimentary in so many ways). We said that we are always praying that God would make us wise in our parenting. It was wonderful to hear because most of the time we feel like we are total failures as parents. I guess it is like standardized testing for school. You don't know if you are doing well or not based on your own guesses on the matter.
We also learned that the highest number of missionaries leaving the field are families. It is the reason that they really want to make sure a family is right for the job. It does make sense as the position we originally applied for became open because the man currently doing it left when he got married.
She said that our rep would get back to us with an answer quickly (early next week) because they realize that this process has taken especially long for us. It has felt long, but has gone by quickly. We have been going through the application process for 6 months! It was nice to hear that they also think it has been drawn out and not just that we are impatient.
So, we still don't have an answer but have gotten some great affirmation. God answered our prayers of the Reach Global team continuing to be punctual in their communications even if the communications were not what we expected them to be.
We are looking forward to what God has planned for us this summer. It could be a very busy one. Over the past 6 months of application time we have had several people tell us that they believe our fundraising will take 6 months. If we get our approval right away next week that could mean leaving in November. That is by no means our goal, but it will be very exciting to see God put this all together and to see when exactly He has decided we should go.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Mission Interview
Thank you to everyone that has been praying for us this week.We went into our interview today with calm and peace. 3 hours on the phone is a very long time, but we filled the entire time.
The first 2.5 hours we discussed our entire lives. That includes our past and current sins/temptations, our marriage, our ministry work, and most importantly our walks with Christ. We did our best and with help from God Almighty, we didn't fumble over our words and were able to speak clearly and decisively.
In the last half hour we talked about what will be happening should we be green lighted and move ahead in this process, training, funds, timeline, ect. We found our chat during this time to be very optimistic. Our rep is planning on putting together our mission description and budget during the 2 weeks we will be waiting for our answer. Since mission description and budget are supposed to be the next step after we are approved, we are feeling pretty strongly that we will be approved. Until we get a definitive answer, we will continue life as usual.
Life as usual means taking the next 2 weeks to do major and deep spring cleaning. Our house needs it and it is great ground work for putting our house on the market this summer. I am going to enjoy the peace of these next 2 weeks. Should we be approved 2 weeks from now, we are going to have a lot to do!
The first 2.5 hours we discussed our entire lives. That includes our past and current sins/temptations, our marriage, our ministry work, and most importantly our walks with Christ. We did our best and with help from God Almighty, we didn't fumble over our words and were able to speak clearly and decisively.
In the last half hour we talked about what will be happening should we be green lighted and move ahead in this process, training, funds, timeline, ect. We found our chat during this time to be very optimistic. Our rep is planning on putting together our mission description and budget during the 2 weeks we will be waiting for our answer. Since mission description and budget are supposed to be the next step after we are approved, we are feeling pretty strongly that we will be approved. Until we get a definitive answer, we will continue life as usual.
Life as usual means taking the next 2 weeks to do major and deep spring cleaning. Our house needs it and it is great ground work for putting our house on the market this summer. I am going to enjoy the peace of these next 2 weeks. Should we be approved 2 weeks from now, we are going to have a lot to do!
Saturday, May 04, 2013
A Video on Montreal
I found this video tonight featuring Jay, the Montreal lead. These are the people we would be working with and the place we would be living in if we do end up in Montreal. Take a look!
Jay and Kathy Pinney ministering in Montreal with ReachGlobal from Jay Pinney on Vimeo.
Jay and Kathy Pinney ministering in Montreal with ReachGlobal from Jay Pinney on Vimeo.
Monday, April 08, 2013
Mission Update
Sorry to keep all my Facebook friends on pins and needles all day! I know you have all been looking forward to this update. As it turns out, it is great that I waited because we just got off the phone with one of the Reps we are working with and we have even more to share now!
One thing is set and figured out now. That is a nice feeling! We will not be in the media producer position This is not a let down in any way for us. This spot got us motivated to apply but was never the one thing we had our heart set on. We were also connected with 2 of the team leaders from Europe to find out about some other opportunities we asked about and others that may be available. That happened this afternoon and was exciting enough for one day...but then it got even more exciting.
We got a call from one of the leaders this evening. He shared 3 locations he thought would work well for us. Budapest, Montreal, and Lisbon. Canada was the one place he mentioned in his e-mail and it just made my heart jump to see it, which I did not expect it to do. I told Adam over the phone and he sounded thrilled. My Mom had a similar reaction. We shared this with the Rep and he told us that he had already mentioned us to the leaders in Montreal and they are very excited to talk to us. This is absolutely the first one we are going to check into. We would still be doing video and internet work most likely. We will be getting in contact with them soon to find out more about their actual needs and where we might fit into their ministry plans. We are just so excited after our chat! We will definitely be looking into the cities he mentioned tonight and seeing what they are like, as we were asked to do. I won't lie though, we are having a very strong leaning toward Canada right now.
One thing is set and figured out now. That is a nice feeling! We will not be in the media producer position This is not a let down in any way for us. This spot got us motivated to apply but was never the one thing we had our heart set on. We were also connected with 2 of the team leaders from Europe to find out about some other opportunities we asked about and others that may be available. That happened this afternoon and was exciting enough for one day...but then it got even more exciting.
We got a call from one of the leaders this evening. He shared 3 locations he thought would work well for us. Budapest, Montreal, and Lisbon. Canada was the one place he mentioned in his e-mail and it just made my heart jump to see it, which I did not expect it to do. I told Adam over the phone and he sounded thrilled. My Mom had a similar reaction. We shared this with the Rep and he told us that he had already mentioned us to the leaders in Montreal and they are very excited to talk to us. This is absolutely the first one we are going to check into. We would still be doing video and internet work most likely. We will be getting in contact with them soon to find out more about their actual needs and where we might fit into their ministry plans. We are just so excited after our chat! We will definitely be looking into the cities he mentioned tonight and seeing what they are like, as we were asked to do. I won't lie though, we are having a very strong leaning toward Canada right now.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Less and More
So many posts to write! Since missions updates are in slot #1 of the blog post priority list, I will start there. Tomorrow I will be sharing our Squinkies craft. Thursday I will share our 100th day of school. Friday will be a book review and giveaway. And ending the week with a post about Balloon Volleyball. Now that you know what to look forward to, let's get to the meat of the day...
We had a long chat on the phone today with our new Reach Global rep. He spent a large amount of time asking us questions to get to know us a little better. Then we got into missions talk. Somehow we now have less of an idea of what we are going to be doing but know more, in general. The missions team has found themselves in a unique position They have several people who have applied for this one spot. This is very out of the ordinary for them. They normally get 1 applicant for each posting. Crazy, right?
At any rate, he wanted to know our thoughts on taking another post. We discussed where our gifts lie and locations we would and would not be interested in (NOT Africa, you're welcome mom!). He said he will be looking into other opportunities for us and was happy to hear that we are planning that this short term trip will be a launching point for long term.
Ultimately, we came away feeling that ReachGlobal is looking forward to having us on board. We may not end up in a media position but we will end up where God wants us to be. If we remember back to the beginning, this was not a job we initially planned to apply for. It did open the door for us to get started on our missions path though and that may be the purpose God had in mind.
We had a long chat on the phone today with our new Reach Global rep. He spent a large amount of time asking us questions to get to know us a little better. Then we got into missions talk. Somehow we now have less of an idea of what we are going to be doing but know more, in general. The missions team has found themselves in a unique position They have several people who have applied for this one spot. This is very out of the ordinary for them. They normally get 1 applicant for each posting. Crazy, right?
At any rate, he wanted to know our thoughts on taking another post. We discussed where our gifts lie and locations we would and would not be interested in (NOT Africa, you're welcome mom!). He said he will be looking into other opportunities for us and was happy to hear that we are planning that this short term trip will be a launching point for long term.
Ultimately, we came away feeling that ReachGlobal is looking forward to having us on board. We may not end up in a media position but we will end up where God wants us to be. If we remember back to the beginning, this was not a job we initially planned to apply for. It did open the door for us to get started on our missions path though and that may be the purpose God had in mind.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Lots of Help
We have been working on our missions application forms for about 2 1/2 weeks now. The form that had given us the most difficult time was the Theological form. Thank goodness we have gotten so much help with them! First off, we have fantastic pastors who have given us resources to help us. Second, we prayed and waited patiently for the Spirit to help us put the words to paper. Third, was our past studies. In all the places we needed a verse reference but there weren't any suggestions we wanted to use in the books, we were able to draw from our past bible studies and our Sunday school classes. It has been incredible to use what we have learned over the last few years for something other than personal growth. I guess you just never know when you will get to take your knowledge out for a spin.
Our Theo forms are coming along. We are taking our time and the second drafts are far better than the first rough, very rough, drafts. We were hoping to get the remaining forms in by the end of the week, but now I will be happy if it is by the next. I never thought they would be so time consuming or difficult to fill out. We will keep plugging away at them and hopefully we will have all our applications in (including the demo reel) by the end of March. As long as we keep working on them and making progress, I will be happy!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Humbling to Say the Least
Some accurate, but not to be used, slogans for becoming a missionary...
Relive every dark moment from your past - fill out a missions app!
Put your doctrinal and biblical knowledge to the test - fill out a missions app!
Seriously though, it has been a very humbling experience thus far. I don't think anything could make me feel less adequate as a spokeswoman for Christ than these applications. I thought waiting to get them was hard. Turns out that was a piece of cake! I don't think I ever claimed to know it all when it comes to, well, anything to be frank, but I am starting to really feel just how much I really don't know.
There are 2 things holding me through this application process...well, 2 things that are not God. First are all the encouragement and prayers from our family and friends. Second is this post on the ReachGlobal Facebook page, "Jesus entrusted the leadership of that which he died for to non-professionals after just 3 years with them. And you're dragging your heels?" It is so true! I am doing my best to remember that God doesn't need me to be an expert, he needs me to be willing. That, I can do!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Application Checklist
Have you ever wondered what a missions application looks like? I will break it down for you. You will never look at job applications the same way again!
Adult Reference form - with 4 references
Child Reference form - with 2 references
Medical history form for all of us
Physician's exams for all of us
ReachGlobal application - similar to a normal job app
Theological questionnaire
Missiological questionnaire
Personal life history - very, very personal!
2 background check forms
Sending in a family photo
DiSC - self-knowledge tool (this one will involve some $)
That's it...no big deal right? I have already sent questions to 2 separate e-mails for 3 of the forms. We will just have to take it one at a time. At least we have a lovely checklist to mark up and keep us organised.
Adult Reference form - with 4 references
Child Reference form - with 2 references
Medical history form for all of us
Physician's exams for all of us
ReachGlobal application - similar to a normal job app
Theological questionnaire
Missiological questionnaire
Personal life history - very, very personal!
2 background check forms
Sending in a family photo
DiSC - self-knowledge tool (this one will involve some $)
That's it...no big deal right? I have already sent questions to 2 separate e-mails for 3 of the forms. We will just have to take it one at a time. At least we have a lovely checklist to mark up and keep us organised.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Moving Forward
The main issue holding us back was location. After a meeting they were able to have on Monday, this was resolved...in a way. They are planning on placing a 3rd team in Europe and the Media Producer position (the one we are applying for) would be part of that team. Amsterdam is high on the list of locations, but the actual location has not been finalized yet. So, the question was, "Will you be okay with going forward and not knowing where you will actually be going?" We said yes and that we feel called to use our skills, not called to a particular location.
Next we talked a bit about the position. Before filling out the application to be missionaries with Reach Global we have to fill out a questionnaire for the particular position and make up a demo reel. For those who don't know what that is, a demo reel is a DVD that showcases our video/editing abilities. This is a special step for this position. She also told us that there are other people that have applied for this same position. She wanted to clarify that this will not be a competition. We let her know that we would be more than willing to take a different position should we not be chosen for this one. This is how we ended, for the last time, with our rep yesterday.
Today she sent me the questionnaire. She also introduced us to our new rep, in the short term department. That was all I was expecting, questionnaire - check...new rep - check. We got an extra surprise though! Since we have expressed an interest in doing missions in general and are not necessarily dependent on the Media Producer position, she is also hooking us up with a rep from the engage team who will be sending out our application pack! This is awesome because we weren't planning on filling that out for at least a month, when we plan to have our demo reel sent in. I am all smiles and excitement today! I was happy to just take another baby step, but here we are taking leaps and bounds. We will be busy at work on our forms the next few weeks and happy to do so!
I almost forgot! We were brainstorming video ideas for our reel and we were informed of a need in our church for a very particular video that will be a prefect fit for our reel. I love how God provides everything you need.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
You are Called
Since "coming out" about our missions aspirations I have had several people tell me that they have always felt called to missions but their spouse isn't. I have got a great book for all of you to sink your teeth into! It is called Godspeed: Making Christ's Mission Your Own by Britt Merrick.
This is a great starting point for missions activities. The whole point of the book is that we are all meant to be "on mission". What we all tend to forget is that God has purposely put us where we currently are. That doesn't mean we won't eventually be called to the far reaches of the earth. It does mean that each of us has a mission purpose where we currently are. It is worth a read. We started it before we started setting things up for our own mission trip and it really opened our eyes to our purpose in little SE Minnesota.
It is available on the kindle, in hard cover, or soft cover on amazon, or check your local library/bookstore!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Small Strides
You get 2 posts from me today because after nearly 3 weeks of waiting I got an update from our Reach Global Rep! I know that some of you are just as excited to find out something new as I am. It is pretty small though. I just feel good knowing that small steps are still being taken.
Our rep discussed the change to short term with her team...today. Apparently she has a very full plate and hasn't been able to till today. That is good though. It means lots of people are ready to accept Christ's call to action! They still need to talk to the people who are in charge of the Amsterdam location. There is currently no team there and Reach Global doesn't normally place people in a location with no team. So they have to find out what the plans for Amsterdam, and our position, are before getting us into the thick of it all.
In the mean time, I have been through my medical exams (got the paperwork on that early) and we will set up Adam and Little Guy for theirs later this week. That should be lots of fun...a 5 year old taking blood and urine tests. I guess this is where they start weeding out those who are not truly committed. We also need to get in touch with our church and make sure they know what is going on and the plans ahead.
So, we will get back into patience mode. God knows when the time is for us to go. We just have to follow Him faithfully. Thank goodness Adam and I both have faith as our strongest spiritual gift. It is the one gift that has never changed.
Our rep discussed the change to short term with her team...today. Apparently she has a very full plate and hasn't been able to till today. That is good though. It means lots of people are ready to accept Christ's call to action! They still need to talk to the people who are in charge of the Amsterdam location. There is currently no team there and Reach Global doesn't normally place people in a location with no team. So they have to find out what the plans for Amsterdam, and our position, are before getting us into the thick of it all.
In the mean time, I have been through my medical exams (got the paperwork on that early) and we will set up Adam and Little Guy for theirs later this week. That should be lots of fun...a 5 year old taking blood and urine tests. I guess this is where they start weeding out those who are not truly committed. We also need to get in touch with our church and make sure they know what is going on and the plans ahead.
So, we will get back into patience mode. God knows when the time is for us to go. We just have to follow Him faithfully. Thank goodness Adam and I both have faith as our strongest spiritual gift. It is the one gift that has never changed.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Switching It Up
This changes the look of our year by so much it would be scary if we didn't have complete faith in God. The short term process is much shorter and there is less funding to raise. So here is what our new outlook looks like:
Our rep will be getting with some other reps and supervisors to get a set idea of what we will be doing, where, and for how long (we are hoping to do 23 months). Till this is done, there is nothing for us to do but continue slimming down our house.
Then we get our application package. Our rep said we could get it done in 2 weeks if we hunker down and focus on it. Then we send it in and it is reviewed and accepted based on our new reps work load. that could be 2 months or more.
Next budgets and job descriptions are finalized and we go into the training/support raising phase.
Then we leave.
If it only takes 6 months to raise the funds, there is a good chance we will be saying Merry Christmas form The Netherlands this year. This is a huge change from the 1.5-3 years till we leave that we were anticipating with the long term trip timeline. There is a very possible potential that we will be leaving in 9 months. While it could take longer, I am planning for 9 so that we will be prepared for whatever may happen.
I will try to answer some of the questions we have been asked recently.
Q: What about the house and the dog?
A: We are not making any decisions on those till we hit the fundraising phase and we are locked into our trip. That being said, we will likely sell the house and poor Tucker will most likely need a new home.
Q: Are you crazy? Adam already has a good and reliable job!
A: We are going to be working for God! You can't get a better, more caring, and rliable boss than that. Fith has always been our #1 spiritual gift and we intend to fully use it in this. We are going all in with God and couldn't feel more comfortable with doing it.
Q: What is happening with all your stuff?
A: Most of it will be sold, donated, or given away. The big stuff we will worry about when we are locked in, like the house. We will store a very, and I mean VERY, small selection of things with family.
Q: What are you going to bring?
A: Clothing, a small selection of homeschool materials, bibles, Kindles, studio equipment, and a very small selection of personal items. We fully intend to start from the beginning when we get there.
Q: What does Little Guy think of all this?
A: He is really excited! He can't wait to be a short term missionary. Just the title makes him feel better. Long term sounds like forever, and short term sounds short. He has decided that he can handle a short term trip, even to say good-bye to the house and Tucker.
Our little house is all a-buzz about this exciting new turn around. We are all on board and planning for the future. We will be doubling our efforts to unload stuff and clean things out. It is also time to let our vollunteer activities know what is coming up, so they can prepare too. Mostly, we are just praying for wisdom and strength during this enormously changing time in our lives.
Friday, January 04, 2013
Our Phone Call
Wow! It was actually about 45 minutes instead of the 1 hour we were prepared for. It is probably because the only 2 questions we had will be answered by other people farther down the line. If everything goes smoothly and according to plan, our whole year is basically planned out now. It is very nice to have any idea what that plan is too. Here is a rough outline of what will be happening in our year...
January-April
We will be filling out forms galore. We will be meeting with doctors and phsychologists as well. All of this is due by April 15th. This way we have plenty of time to get it all in and filled out.
May
By May 1st we will have an invitation to go to the interviews, if we are going to get one.
June
At the beginning will be the interviews in the middle will be the acceptance, should we be accepted.
July
We will be preparing for a training week.
August
A week of various training
After all that is accomplished we will be taking a vision trip in which we would visit each location we are considering (at the moment that would be Amsterdam and Berlin). This gives us a chance to see the area and meet the people we would be working with so we can make an educated desision of where we will fit best.
Then there is more training and fundraising starts. Whew! It is going to be some year! We are just bursting with excitement though! I will keep everyone updated on our journey to becoming missionaries. If it helps just one person to be more comfortable with taking a leap of faith and becoming a missionary, I will be happy.
January-April
We will be filling out forms galore. We will be meeting with doctors and phsychologists as well. All of this is due by April 15th. This way we have plenty of time to get it all in and filled out.
May
By May 1st we will have an invitation to go to the interviews, if we are going to get one.
June
At the beginning will be the interviews in the middle will be the acceptance, should we be accepted.
July
We will be preparing for a training week.
August
A week of various training
After all that is accomplished we will be taking a vision trip in which we would visit each location we are considering (at the moment that would be Amsterdam and Berlin). This gives us a chance to see the area and meet the people we would be working with so we can make an educated desision of where we will fit best.
Then there is more training and fundraising starts. Whew! It is going to be some year! We are just bursting with excitement though! I will keep everyone updated on our journey to becoming missionaries. If it helps just one person to be more comfortable with taking a leap of faith and becoming a missionary, I will be happy.
Thursday, January 03, 2013
A Big New Year
Happy 2013! This is a big new year for the Morgan family. We have been talking about missionary activities nonstop for a few weeks now. We may not be leaving for a good 2 years at least, but there are a lot of things to consider and it will take a lot of time to figure it all out.
Tomorrow morning we will be doing our hour long phone call with the ENGAGE team at Reach Global. We will be getting the nitty gritty details of the application process. There are references to get, forms to fill out, and doctors/specialists to visit. We should also get a chance to ask some important questions. We need to know if we can homeschool and if we are able to bring our doggie.
In the mean time we are diligently picking away at our material possessions of which there is still a large amount. I think we could almost supply the local thrift store on our own. I am just waiting for them to ask us how we are able to bring a stead supply of baskets headed their way. We bring one to them at least once a month plus continue to make donations at Savers. The majority of our things will not be coming with us. We plan to pack a few totes to store with family, but the rest we will gradually purge.
Another hot topic for us has been The Crazy Elephant Boutique. I spent the whole last year focusing on long term growth with the ultimate goal of making it a career for both myself and Adam. With the looming mission trip, we have been discussing what to do with it. We know that the closer we get to leaving, the more we will have on our plate. It will getting increasingly difficult to continue running the shop. We made the decision to keep it going till we are out of core material. I have 10 yards of the heavy absorb and 10 yards of the medium absorb. It should last 1-1.5 years by my estimation. Also we are streamlining the process by putting all energy and resources into Etsy solely, with the goal being higher short term sales verses our original goal of long term growth. Our customers have nothing to worry about for quite a while as we will still be up and running for a long time.
It sure has been an exciting new year so far...and it is only 3 days in! I will leave you all today with a shot from our new year's eve party. We had a lot of fun playing board and Wii games. We will have to plan to do this again next year.
Tomorrow morning we will be doing our hour long phone call with the ENGAGE team at Reach Global. We will be getting the nitty gritty details of the application process. There are references to get, forms to fill out, and doctors/specialists to visit. We should also get a chance to ask some important questions. We need to know if we can homeschool and if we are able to bring our doggie.
In the mean time we are diligently picking away at our material possessions of which there is still a large amount. I think we could almost supply the local thrift store on our own. I am just waiting for them to ask us how we are able to bring a stead supply of baskets headed their way. We bring one to them at least once a month plus continue to make donations at Savers. The majority of our things will not be coming with us. We plan to pack a few totes to store with family, but the rest we will gradually purge.
Another hot topic for us has been The Crazy Elephant Boutique. I spent the whole last year focusing on long term growth with the ultimate goal of making it a career for both myself and Adam. With the looming mission trip, we have been discussing what to do with it. We know that the closer we get to leaving, the more we will have on our plate. It will getting increasingly difficult to continue running the shop. We made the decision to keep it going till we are out of core material. I have 10 yards of the heavy absorb and 10 yards of the medium absorb. It should last 1-1.5 years by my estimation. Also we are streamlining the process by putting all energy and resources into Etsy solely, with the goal being higher short term sales verses our original goal of long term growth. Our customers have nothing to worry about for quite a while as we will still be up and running for a long time.
It sure has been an exciting new year so far...and it is only 3 days in! I will leave you all today with a shot from our new year's eve party. We had a lot of fun playing board and Wii games. We will have to plan to do this again next year.
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| Minecraft and flying chicken on the Wii. |
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Art, School, and the End of the Year
We have done many art projects, advent devotionals, read tons of books, and Jayne even read a few stories to me to keep up on practice. We also did some research on goblin sharks after reading about them in one of his picture books. You can see our favorite goblin shark video below.
It is only a few days till Christmas and it has been a huge month for us! Honestly, it has kind of felt like some sort of crazy dream between good news, bad news, and just good old fashioned fun. This year is certainly going out with a bang. The biggest event for us is our upcoming missionary activities, which I am sure will be keeping us quite busy in the coming year. Right now it hasn't exactly sunk in yet. I am still cleaning and cooking and doing all my normal everyday activities. For now I have to focus on those till we get the date of training, because if I don't I will wile away the hours wondering and waiting. We have had a few people ask us about details of the future and we really don't have the answers right now. God will provide a way, support us, and sustain us. He has our faith 100%
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Exciting News
Yesterday was an exciting day in the Morgan home! We have had missionary work on our minds for a while now but weren't sure about the next step we should take. Honestly we were a little nervous about it because we felt like contacting anyone would mean leaving home and uprooting soon. Due to a quick e-mail with a few questions about how things work and about a certain missionary position, we got a call from Reach Global yesterday! Adam was on the phone with him for a long time, so I knew that it was going to result in something more than just answering a few questions. Here is what happened...
The rep felt like we would be a great fit as media producers! Either for a large portion of Europe with our home base in Amsterdam, or For the 20 missionary families working in Berlin. We sent in our preliminary forms and will be attending the next training seminar where we will learn more about being a missionary, what position we will work best with, and the fine art of raising funds. Once we start raising funds we are looking at 1-2 years before we would actually leave. That was comforting, since our biggest concern was that we may have to pack up and leave in a matter of months, which we are not quite ready for yet.
Adam and I are very excited! Adam rarely gets excited and he is, so that is big! Little Guy is a little less excited. He doesn't want to leave his house. I expect our family and friends will have a varied mix of reactions. We would love for all of you to keep us in your prayers as we go through this whole process. It is a pretty big deal (which I realized when I saw the face of the first person I told) and very new, which makes it exciting but also a little scary. We trust the Lord to lead us in this though and so we can easily let go of the scary portion and just stick with excitement!
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