Newsletter: Decision Made

Praise God, and thank you all for praying!  After two crazy weeks (and a LOT of meetings, and even more praying)- I believe God’s going to have me minister here. It fits so well: there’s a huge need for steady personnel in childcare- and God’s given me not only training but even experience in childcare. These little ones are going to be missionary kids- having a very unique life with all kind of special challenges, adventures and blessings- and I happen to be an MK who can relate J. I want to be part of the Gospel going where it has never gone, which is what NTM is about, but my passion is encouraging believers in their own relationships with God- and what a neat place to do it- right here. Encouraging people as they prepare to go! I’ll also be able to continue to do this through the Hold the Ropes prayer ministry- which I’ve also been approved to continue, and continue working the kiddos at Potter’s Houseand the Celebrate Recovery Ministry. Yay!!! I am so excited!

·         Question: What about overseas? Well, if God says go, I will pack up and go. But as I have prayed and prayed and prayed about West Africa over the last few months, it was like the more I prayed, the less peace I had about. Maybe someday that is where God will have me go. Or maybe He’s got something totally different in mind. Like the path I’m on now. Certainly was NOT what I was expecting. At all J And if He changes my direction after a while, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

·         Question: When? Ah. Good question. See paragraph below

·         Question: How? Another good question! Also see paragraph below

Basically there are two options. Option 1: graduate in December, become a member of NTM, go back to Philly and raise full-ish support, come as staff as enough support is raised. Option 2: Graduate in Decemeber, don’t become an NTM member, return in January as worker, join the mission in May, and work on support raising over the summer.  

Basically the pro of option 1 is that right after graduation is the prime time to raise support, and that, if I join the mission, people would be able to give through the mission website etc, and when I come, being able to afford housing, insurance, taxes, etc. BUT- childcare is losing close to half their staff in January- and they’d really like me to come then. Support raising is typically a very very long and difficult process, and barring God doing something incredibly amazingly awesome…. I don’t think I’d be there anywhere near January.  Full support for a single here in Missouri is listed as $2,891/month (that covers everything- NTM doesn’t cover any expenses for us) and I’m required to have at least 60% of that to start. Including my jobistry at Potter’s  House- I’m almost up to 6%. And personnel thinks it would be wise for me to try it for a semester before committing longer term than a year (minimum commitment required for childcare).

With Option 2, I would leave the mission, and get paid as a worker (pro!), but not enough to make ends meet (con). I’d be looking for a second job in the area (there aren’t many jobs in the area)- but that could be tricky with the other ministries I’m already committed to here. Also, if I don’t join right away, people wouldn’t be able to give through the NTM website, they’d have to send it to me directly. And they say it’s a lot harder to raise support for a ministry you’re already doing. That makes sense, I guess. But, I would be able to start in January, and they’d still let me take membership in May.

Most people are recommending Option 2 at this point. Ideally, God would  do amazing stuff, I would join the mission in December, and in the remaining two months before January, my support level would be high enough to come in January. BUT- it seems like that would be pressumptious/foolish to assume that would happen. God could do it anyway- (that’s kind of how I’m praying, and if you’d like to pray that way with me, I sure wouldn’t object J). Neither of these choices is really a financially feasible option at this point actually. But that’s never stopped God before with any of the other stuff He’s told me to do before. College. Romania. Mongolia. Being here. Etc etc etc. He promised to provide, and He will (Lk 12: 27-34).

Praise: direction- YAY!

Praise: peace, actually peace, excitement about direction!

Pray: wisdom concerning timing/money of it  all: option 1 or 2

Pray: that however whatever happens ends up happening, it would be honoring to Jesus!

Pray: for the Celebrate Recovery kiddos, and opportunities to help them know Jesus.

Thank you all SO much for praying- your prayers have made such a huge difference!

If you have any more questions, thought, comments, advice, prayer requests- I would LOVE to hear from you!!

Latest Email Update:

Hello my friends :)

Fall is definitely here. Classes which are going at full speed. We've already completed two modules Phonemics (basically, it's step 2 out of 3 for making an alphabet for an unwritten language) and literacy (teaching people to read for the first time- we got to write little stories and teach letters and it was SO much fun!) 

And now we're in one of the longest classes we'll have during all our training- Culture Language Acquisition Practicum (we usually call  it Practicum for short)- basically its a chance to practice in a staged environment all the stuff we've been hearing.  Some of the teachers who've been overseas dress up and sit in little huts they've built just for this, and we go in and "make friends with them" and try to learn about their language, culture, and their village. It sounds cheesey- and it kind of is, but its good practice for everything from learning an unwritten language, to beginning relationships with people when you don't even know how you should say "hello", to realizing some things in your heart that are just not very Jesus-like. This class, as you might have guessed from all the stuff we learn during it, is a very long one- and will take until the 2nd-ish week of October. 

It's good to be back and see the girls in the longhouse, and the folks at church, and the kids at Celebrate Recovery. I even missed my little apartment over the summer. Susie and I are still roommates, and still having a blast together. She has definately settled on heading for West Africa, and begins support raising in January. 

I still have a lot of options on the table. Linguistics, no linguistics?  Africa? West or East Africa? Helping out with the short-staffing problem of child-care here or at another training center? Somewhere that speaks Spanish? Somewhere completely random I haven't even seriously considered yet? yeah... I really don't know. I've more or less narrowed it down to two primary options: West Africa, and helping with childcare/discipleship/the prayer ministry here. But God seems to like to surprise me late in the game, and I'm trying to keep an open mind in case He surprises me this time too :) Advice, opinions, questions, snide remarks and prayer are all welcome! (Especially prayer- more so than the snide remarks)

Please pray for me as I have lots of decisions coming up:

1- Pray that I would seek God, even more than His will. 

2- Pray that I would rest in the fact that God already knows where/what/when, and that I would be patient and confident in Him while I wait for Him to tell me. 

3-Pray that He tells me soon :)

4- Pray that I would be very purposeful and effective in sharing Him with the little ones at Celebrate Recovery. 

5- Pray for time management, also not a strong point of mine. Oh boy am I getting to improve this semester. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers! Without God, I am so toast. But then, so are we all. 

In Jesus, 

Anna

Is 42:6

Summer Happenings:

Look I'm still alive!

I fnished up the spring semester (still not sure what country God wants me in), went back to Philly for the summer. I got to see a lot of you, and spend time with the family. God even through the extra special blessing of getting to see my mom a bit this summer too! And Jess and I got to have a beach day (but Jessi has all the pictures, so you'll have to look at her facebook for those)

And I got to hang out with little kiddos all summer: I had the pre-school summer-camp classroom at my old job. I was reminded OFTEN how very much I need Jesus. But it was fun too, to be goofy and creative and not need an excuse. In fact some people think its super:

And it was good to reconnect with friends, and see what God has been up to in their lives over the last year (that's always more fun to hear in person, although email is great too, or blog comments- hint hint) And I have pictures of that too- but Jessi has those too. So you'll have to look on her facebook page - oh dear. Someday  I will remember to bring my own camera, and not just take other people's pictures. 

Mid August I headed back to school- and I'll let you pick up the next post from there :)

Prayer Request:

Tomorrow is a big day!

One of the leaders from NTM West Africa will be on campus, and will be helping answer some questions for candidates (like me) who are praying about whether or not God would have them serve there. There are some very real decisions coming up. It's exciting, but weird to think around how close it all could be. Moving overseas. Learning a new language. A new culture.

And I still don't know where that will be (West Africa? East Africa? Latin America? Somewhere not even on the radar at the moment?). Or exactly when I'll be going (should I stay for the extra year of linguistics training... should I just go straight into support raising/finding partners?) Tomorrow I will get what may well be the most in depth answers I am likely to get from the region I'm considering right now.

Please, please pray that my mind would be clear, that I would have wisdom to ask recognize questions that need to be asked that aren't on my list already, and that God would direct, and I would be sensitive to what He wants!

It's kind of overwhelming. Proverbs 16:9 is becoming a favorite verse: "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." ie- I make plans, but God decides what actually happens. God is SO good to re-direct me when I am seeking Him, but heading the wrong direction.

How on earth does anybody function without Him? I hope and pray God will use you and me to show those in darkness how very wonderful the Light really is!

Pricey Perspective

A few weeks ago I and a friend from Africa had occasion to get a ride with a friend from Europe. The car was fairly quiet- I was in the back seat, my two friends were in the front. We drove by a gas station, and I groaned inwardly to see the price had been hiked up again, trying to remember if I had filled my car yet.

Before I even had time to remember, my European friend glanced at the price and commented "Wow, gas is so cheap here in America! That must be why American's drive such big cars like this one." (please note: we were in a Civic- not exactly the most gi-normous car ever). To which my African friend agreed "Oh yes, I think they can afford such big cars because the gas prices are so low."

Well,this conversation went on for a minute or two before I ventured "So... how much is gas where you guys come from?" My European friend said that it converted to roughly... are you ready for this? $8 a gallon!!! My other friend said he hadn't been home in a while, but the last time he was there it converted to about $5 or $6 a gallon!

All of the sudden the latest 10 cent hike at the pump didn't seem so bad. And although, as my oh so practical neighbor pointed out when I told her this story, a 30% jump in gas prices is depressing no matter where the starting price was, somehow I still feel better when I drive past a pump and the number right after the dollar sign isn't 8.

Five Bibles and a Blank Page

What if you didn't have a Bible?

Today in Animism class (helps us understand the thinking of people who believe in manipulating spirits/forces in their surrounding nature for survival), Mr. Risse asked us what we would do if, right after we finished taking them through the Bible (laying out the Foundation about who God is and what He's like and why we need a Savior etc) the new believers come to you and ask about a terrible dream they've had (dreams are really significant in a lot of Animistic cultures). What do you do?
A couple of passages popped into my mind about who God is and how He is stronger, good and sovereign- from 1 Timothy, something from Ephesians, and I think the other one was from Hebrews.

And then I realized. Oh wait. They don't have a Bible. 

It does still come back to who God is, and they've heard His message so they know what He's like, and the Holy Spirit can be teaching these new believers anyway. But wow. No Bible. What would you do? The Bible is so full of .... wisdom, encouragement, reminders, teaching about what God is like.... no Bible at all? I just counted- I have FIVE Bibles in my room- just in my room. That's not counting New Testaments, the programs on my computer or the bazillion more I can access online.
I'm not sure why it hit me so hard today but it really did. No Bible?

What would I do without a Bible?

What would you do without a Bible?

Valentine's Day

This is, admittedly, not my favorite holiday. However, it has never troubled me so little as it has this year. Weird. Probably had something to do with being snowed in so much the last few weeks that I didn't make it to the store much. Or maybe my scatter-brainedness has now reached new levels.  Whatever the reason, Valentine's Day came kind of quietly this year, and I was intending to pass it right on by without notice it much at all. But I got some great valentines this year, so I thought I would share:
From God: on Sunday- I found a new pair of jeans for a fabulous price! I have been praying for one forever- it was such a special blessing!
In class: a couple of people wished me Happy Valentine's Day (I'd kind of forgotten it was until I got to chapel, honestly). And then- a secret somebody got all the single girls on campus a rose and little box of chocolates. Aw....
From my roomate: I got a very fun Valentine's Card
From Mom and Dad: a hillarious e-card about the attack of warm fuzzies
From some friends: I got the chance to babysit- I haven't gotten to hang out with kids in forever, so I thought it was really fun! and I got chocolates from them too. LOTS of sugar....
From God: and then, on my walk home... there was a beautiful moon rainbow! Have  you ever seen a moon rainbow? I've only seen one that big once before! It was gorgeous- what a beautiful end to a very nice day!

What I've been up to....

Work!! Lots of work! Classes, lots to do with Missionary Kids (MKs) right now- classes like Biblical Parenting,  MK care and education, and, at the moment, Child Protection. Right now we're also taking Field Health which is about how to assess and treat basic stuff when you're a zillion miles away from the nearest doctor. Super practical stuff. 

One of the big classes we're taking this semester is called "Missionary Technology". It's about how to set up water filters that will help you not die from disease in a remote location... and about how to get water into your house so you can wash your hands and shower and stuff. And how to set up a solar panel system so that you can use a laptop to help you translate the Bible and have lights in your house and stuff like that. 

For your amazement or amusement- here is some of the stuff I made in missionary technology class. I'm sad to say, I did not inherit my dad's awesome "fix everything" skills. nope. Not a mechanical genius. However, my teachers are amazing, and amazingly patient. Some of the stuff we're learning to use and build they've actually invented specifically for missionaries in the tribe. They build all this cool gadgets- in order to build God's Kingdom. Tim See (lead teacher) reminds us often to use this stuff to free up your time so you can learn the language and culture and share the gospel. 

In what we chose to bring, or not bring, or have or not have... it is still all about Jesus, and being God's mirror to reflect Jesus to a lost and horrible and hopeless world. Because Jesus is ... wow. yeah. Jesus is ....amazing.