The Evangel

A New Direction

Thank you to all of my faithful readers.  At this time I am taking this blog in a new direction.  Because our internet connection as sketchy at best, and we don't have access to it often, I am temporarily postponing blogging here.  Alyse and I will try and blog as much as we can but we can't keep up with two blogs.  So until further notice, please keep up with us at our ministry blog.  You can find that here!!!  Thanks again fro your faithfulness.  

Today!!!

Today is the day.  When you look at our sidebar you will see 0 days left.  Let me encourage all of you who support us or even just follow this blog.  Buckle your seat belts, put your hands in the air, and enjoy this roller coaster ride!  Today is the day when dreams come true.  Today is the day everything changes. Today is the day we have been waiting for.  Today!!!

Is anyone out there?

I hope that many of you who read this blog are still checking in on it.  I am sure that some of you may have wondered off by now.  If so, please come back!  This has by far been the longest I have gone without blogging.  However considering the circumstances, I am sure you can understand.  

Well in case you haven't looked at the side bar, some things have changed around here.  One of those things is that I took off my Destiny Church Employee disclaimer.  Why?  Because Jan. 15th was my last day as our church janitor.  It was a sad and at the same time refreshing day, when I handed in my keys and officially became unemployed.  I no longer have a job, but I definitely have more time to prepare for our trip.   Not to mention that because of that we were able to spend some time in St. Louis with Alyse's family.  There were lots of laughs and lots of tears.  It's always so hard to say goodbye to family.  

One of the other things you might notice when looking at the sidebar is that WE LEAVE IN 4 DAYS!!!!!  I wish I had some great insights for you, or even a good description of how I am feeling, but right now my brain is just fried.  Sometimes I think it would be easier to move somewhere for missions than to plan a long term trip.  We are planning for our life here in Oklahoma and all that it entails, and we won't even be here to experience it.  At the same time we are blindly planning for a life in Cote D'Ivoire that we will soon experience.  It's sort of crazy at times.  

As I try and wrap this up, please know that God has been good to us and that your prayers are felt.  It's those times when I look at the countdown bar and find that I am running out of time to plan; look at our money situation and know we are still a few thousand short; or look at the weather and see a giant Ice Storm heading our way, threatening to mess up flight times, that I get worried.  But then I see our amazing family, those near by and far away, stepping in and helping us out.  I see our amazing friends showing up to make us laugh and forget about all the things that need to happen in the next 4 days.  I see my God showing up, on His own time, and fulfilling all of his promises. 

P.S.  Be praying for us this Wednesday.  It is the last time that we will worship with our church family for several months.  It is sure to be an amazingly emotional service.

Just to make you feel good

I have so much to update but not enough time to tell you.  For now, just watch this and enjoy.  It makes me laugh and smile when I watch it.  Something I have needed lately.

Viral Infections, etc

Another crazy week!!  Free time has quickly become a thing of the past.  Here's some things that happened this week, both good and bad.  We sent out newsletters(good), finalized stateside expenses(bad), finalized a list of remaining things we need for the trip(good), found out about some new expenses(bad), scored a sweet Kelty backpack that was originally $80 for $20(good), purchased missionary insurance at $570(good and bad), I wrote out my job description for my predecessors at work(good), found out Cote D'Ivoire has been added to the Danger country list by the U.S. Department of State(bad), hired and briefed our state side secretary(good) and .......got a virus on our computer(VERY bad.) That's a portion of one of the pages on our to do list.  

Although we spent a ton of money this week that was not our big emergency of the week.  It was the virus we got on our Macbook.  Yes you heard me right, "On our Mac."   I know that's supposed to be virtually impossible, but it happened.  After having problems with the internet we called Apple and had them help us try and find the problem.  After sorting through tons of possibilities they came to a conclusion.  Someone has developed a virus for Mac that you contract via Facebook.  So if you have a mac, stay away from Facebook for now.   However we caught it quickly, and that was more than a good thing.  This type of virus starts to destroy your Safari browser.  Since the Leopard operating system has Safari integrated in the OS, it will begin to eat away at your whole computer.  By catching it early we were able to keep this from happening.  But it has been a 3 day process to go through our computer and find all of our music, pictures, home movies, documents,etc. and we are still not finished.  I am so glad it happened now as opposed to in Africa where we would be unable to do anything about it.  

So.... things are still busier than ever.  Our only escape has been going to church and worshipping with our family and friends.  I can't wait for the madness to be over and have a chance to take a deep breath.  Until then keep us in your prayers.  At times faith seems to naturally flow from us and we are not the least bit concerned about the trip.  At other times we slip and forget to take our thoughts captive.  We look at the endless dollar signs and not at our Creator.  But when we do, he lovingly reminds us that it's all in his hands.  If he can make the sign rise just to make sure that I stay warm through the day, then he can surely supply all of my needs according to His riches in Glory.

Prayer Request

We want to pass on a prayer request regarding our trip to The Ivory Coast.  Due to some problems with the recent elections, or lack thereof, the U.S. Dept. of State has issued a travel warning for those traveling to Cote D'Ivoire.  This is not as big as it sounds but it does need to be covered in prayer.  So please pray for both Cote D'Ivoire and us as we travel there.

Half way there

Wow have I missed you guys!  It seems like forever since I have been able to post.  So, as  I'm sure you can imagine, things have been busy.  I am going to try and update you frequently now, because so many things happen on a daily basis that if I skip a day or two I will definitely forget something.  So far my blog has been a way for me to post things that are not completely related to ministry.  However I think that will be changing.  Right now things are so crazy that there is nothing to do BUT ministry related things.  

So here's the update.  Last week was a blur.  It was a 4 day work week with New Year's and a never ending to do list thrown somewhere in the middle.  Alyse and I spoke at church this weekend and let the congregation know what's going on with our ministry.  Sunday night we shared our story with Echo, our 18-30 year old group.  Then afterwards I was able to preach a little sermonette.  This week has started off just as crazy as last week. I sold my trailer today and tonight we are making the final decision about who to go with for overseas insurance.  That's a couple things we have done from a list of about 15 things we did last week.  Not to mention another 12-15 things on the list for this week.  

So I mentioned that we spoke at church last weekend.  Man did we have a response!!  We had over 20 people sign up for our E-newsletter, tons more take business cards and commitment cards, and about $300 come in.  God is so good!  Things are starting to move and I can't wait to see how God weaves it all together.  So far we have seen about $7,000 come in of the roughly $15,000 we need for the trip. Well not all of that's come in.  $3,500 of that has come in and $3,500 is promised money.  So ..... we're almost half way there!!!   Well that's a little of what's been happening these last few days.  Keep believing with us for our vehicles to sell and for the rest of our money to come in.  

To everyone who gave this weekend, or committed to give, or committed to be a prayer partner with us.....THANK YOU!!!  

Trying this out!!

My parents got me an ipod touch for Christmas and i wanted to see if i could indeed blog from it. Hope this works!!!

30 days and counting!

The madness has begun!!!  Sorry I have not kept up with this since Christmas.  However we are at the point where things go from crazy to hectic in a moments notice.  Pray for more hours in a day, or that we be even more resourceful with the hours we have.  Either one is fine.

Hug someone you love.

Don't worry everyone, I'll catch you all up on the Holidays when we get back in town.  However I want to update everyone on a post I made last week called rooting for coleman.  Hopefully those of you who read it prayed for him and his family. For those who were not able to keep up with his blog I wanted to update you.  On December 20th, after a week and a half long battle with acute leukemia, Coleman Hinkefent passed away.  Please pray for his family.  Of everything I have read they seem to be in good spirits and have a proper biblical attitude about the situation.  Regardless of all that, we know they are still hurting. So as you go through this Holiday season, pray for them.  I can't imagine the pain of losing a loved one right before Christmas.  So today, do 2 things for me.  

1) Pray for Coleman's family.

2) Hug some you love and be thankful that you can.