Monday, April 18, 2011

Anyone have Airline Miles they want to donate???

We are looking into buying our tickets (as the last post mentioned) and the missionaries encouraged us to check with friends and family for unused airline miles.  So to all of the 0 official followers of this post:  Do you have any airline miles that you would like to donate?  Right now it looks like we may be flying with U.S. Airways, Lufthansa or United Airlines.  That being said, we could fly through almost any airline since we will probably have to fly to Chicago or L.A. before the flight out of the country. 

I also wanted to let you all know how touching it is to receive support from all of you!  We finally got our support letters out on Friday (what a process!!!) and we have already had people commit to support us monthly or give one-time donations!  There have been many people who have tight budgets and I truly didn't expect would be able to support us financially, who have committed monthly!  I cried every time.  How good it feels to have the love and support of friends and family!  Thank you!!!!!  God is so good!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Leap of Faith

We are leaving for India on June 28th.  That is in 2 and a half months!  Unfortunately, we have been unable to send out our support letters.  There are two reasons for this.  First of all, while Grace Church Missions Committee was considering our application to go to India, they spoke with Commission to Every Nation and CTEN placed our application status on hold.  We DID NOT want our supporters money to be wasted if CTEN did not officially accept us.  I know I already posted that CTEN accepted us (and they did UNOFFICIALLY), but it got quite complicated between our church and CTEN.  The second reason we have not yet sent out our letters is because we were waiting to hear the conclusion our Church Missions Committee reached.

We now have both decisions!  Commission to Every Nation has OFFICIALLY decided to send us to India!  Praise the Lord!  The Missions Committee at our Church has decided that they will give us prayer support and a commissioning, but will not financially contribute nor will they allow us to present before the church body.  This is because they are not sure whether Grace Church wishes to partner in India and we only gave them notice 5 months ahead of the trip date (they like to have 9 months). They have acknowledged that they are excited to stand behind us in this and that they will consider us again for long-term missions once we return.

 Joseph and I are excited but quite terrified.  Our plane tickets are $4500 (total) and our visas will be a few hundred dollars more on top of that.  I don't believe that either are refundable.  We haven't gotten our support letters out yet, and have not yet acquired even a dime.  We are not even certain we will make enough to leave for India in June.  We believe that God is asking us to take a leap of faith.  We know he has called us to go to India, but at this time do not have the funds to go.  Please pray for us!  Pray that we will receive support very quickly and obtain enough to go to India!