Texas in a nutshell

We leave next Wednesday for the ship!  It feels like all of a sudden and finally here all at once.  I’d like to sum up our time in Texas but I’m not sure that is possible.  Now that we are at the end of these 5 weeks  I can say this time has been really good.  It has stretched and grown us in new ways and we are grateful for that.  We feel as ready and prepared as we think is possible.  Much of what we have to learn is yet to come and we hope that we are entering this next phase of our lives with open hearts to what God wants to teach us.

Part of the focus of our time here in Texas was on what missions is really about.  This was the part of the training that hit home the most for us.  I (Tracey) have always had a fear of going into missions as the rich white people coming to save the day for the poor starving Africans.  I know that I don’t want it to be this way, but unfortunately that is what relief and development often looks like.  I am still a long way from totally understanding God’s plan in missions but I do feel like we have gleaned some wisdom from our training that is really key in serving the people of West Africa.

For our final project here we had to come up with something that showed what we had learned.  I wrote this acrostic and I think it really does sum up what I want my heart to be as we board the Africa Mercy and open our lives to being used.

Meet them in the work they’re already doing

-if the work we do is to have any lasting value we must join alongside the people of the country to help them reach goals that they already have and help implement ways to helping them attain those

Invest in them as people first

-Jesus loved people.  He was not just out to heal the sick but to love them and draw them to himself.  Our role is the same.

Serve them with humility

-We may think we have all the right answers to their problems but it is not our job to think for them.  We are there to serve them and not ourselves.

See the world through their glasses

-We all have a different view of the world based on how we were raised and in order to serve them well I have to try to understand the world through their eyes

It is the work of God alone

-The best way to make a mess of things is to think for any amount of time that what we are doing is our own.  This is God’s work that we are joining in, not our work that we are asking him to join us in.

Only God receives the credit

                -Our motivation is the Kingdom of God, not a pat on our own backs

No agenda of my own

                -How many nations have been hurt by the agendas of others being imposed on them?

Salvation’s truth is for everyone

-Biblical truth is truth for every generation of every nation.  We are not bringing “our” religion to them we are helping them to see the truth of Jesus that has already been revealed to them

Please pray for us that we would live this out in our lives aboard the ship.  Please pray also for our flight as we are a bit apprehensive flying that far with two lap children.

On a lighter note, here are some recent pics from our time in Texas:

Last weekend we went to the zoo!

      Adalynn was in charge of the zoo map.

  It was REALLY hot. This was just before our snow cone break.

  The fishies were Adalynn's favorite.  Maybe it was the air conditioning!

 Last weekend we spent 2 days with our friends the DeLisi's who live near Tyler.

  6 of the 11 DeLisi kids entertaining Cora.

We said goodbye to Grandma on Wednesday. She was here for 4 weeks helping with the girls. We were so greatful to have her here!

Six boxes

After weeks of getting ready to go and figuring what we will be taking to the ship, the above photo shows what we have reduced our life to to prepare for our service. Along with four suitcases and computer type stuff traveling with us, we are left with these six boxes (Yes, I can count, the box on the left was something we were sending to my (John's) parents). This is what we shipped to Texas to have sent to the ship.

It was a crazy and emotional process. We learned a great deal as we did this and was very helpful in our preparation. It brought out our fears and expectations about what we are getting into and helped (forced) us to communicate those more clearly to each other. We may never want to go through that again but now that we are past that process and getting ready to start our training in Texas we are very thankful for all that was learned. In the end, it definately drew us closer to each other and to our God as we learn more and more about relying on Him to do what we are being asked to do.

Leaving, Giving a sermon, Family Time

We are now on our way to our training in Texas and spending a few days in Arkansas with John's parents prior to starting our training in Texas. The last seven weeks since Cora was born have been filled with lots of activity emotions and see you laters (you never say goodbye right?). Here are a few highlights.

Some amazing women that Tracey works with put on a rummage sale that raised over $2500 for our mission. Thanks to the crew for the amazing effort you put into that. We didn't hardly do anything to help and were so blessed by your efforts.

Some women at church threw a shower for Tracey with lots of gift certificates for baby things and one Moby wrap which has and will continue to receive much use.

The church allowed me to give the sermon our last Sunday there. Link below if you are interested (the first minute is blank because I forgot to turn on the mic, you just miss some bad jokes).
http://www.thejourneyatfb.org/media.php?pageID=6
What an experience that was. I have no idea how pastors do that every Sunday. I had eight weeks or so to get ready and felt overwhelmed. I learned so much in the process of putting that together and while I am not sure that I want to do it all that often, I actually enjoyed the process and giving the sermon that morning.

That Sunday was also the Sunday that we dedicated Cora before our church. While we are leaving for Africa we strongly desire to remain a part of our church and wanted to dedicate our parenting of Cora and her life to the Lord in front of our church body.

Speaking with so many people at our church that Sunday for the last time for a while, was something we won't forget. It was so hard to walk out the doors that day after all the encouragement and love we have received being a part of the Journey these last four plus years.

After leaving Craig, we spent three weeks in Denver staying with Tracey's parents. They were so gracious allowing us to unpack and pack taking up so much space in the house. The time with them those weeks was special for our whole family as we prepped to go.

During that time we got to visit with lots of people as we got ready to leave. Those times were special and actually provided us energy for all the other packing and prepping we had to do while in Denver.

Tracey's mother and sister threw a bon voyage party for us with lots of people coming by and encouraging us some more. Another very special time with lots of people.

Closed out the time with a family reunion in the mountains. A great time with Tracey's extended family that allowed me to get to know them better and fill a gap for us as we will miss cousin Scott's wedding in July.

The biggest thing (as you might tell) was all the encouragement we received from so many people as we prepared to go. There were so many people and we came back refreshed after every visit with energy to press through all the packing (separate post coming). We leave knowing how much we are loved with memories that will sustain us as we move forward.

Cora Ann

Cora Ann Wall was born April 19 weighing in at 8 lbs even and 21 inches long. She looks a lot like her sister including the full head of hair. Delivery was long but went well and Tracey recovered well. Cora did great once out and as such allowed us to go home about 20 hours after her birth. Adalynn hasn't quite figured out everything that is going on but she is trying to share her toys with her new sister. While dangerous depending on the force she uses when sharing it is extraordinarily cute.

We are so happy to have Cora here and bring her along on our little adventure we are embarking on soon. Our family seems so right and we are excited to move it to where we know we are supposed to be.

Local Article

Our local paper did an article about our upcoming move to West Africa. It was a really fun experience for us. Pretty cool to read you own story from someone else's point of view and a great reminder of the journey God has taken us on to get to this point. It also led to some great conversation around town with people we knew and some we didn't. Definately one of the great things about living in a small town.

http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2012/mar/31/dreams-distant-shore-craig-couple-fulfilling-share/

Wisdom of a toddler

The other morning I (Tracey) found myself having a conversation with Adalynn over breakfast about all of the changes about to happen in our family.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Adalynn, did you know that you are going to have a baby sister soon?”

Adalynn: “ poon” (spoon) as she shows me her spoon

Me: “Did you also know that we are going to move out of our house soon?”

Adalynn: “poon”

Me:  “We are going to have to get rid of a lot of our things and we are going to move onto a big boat and help people in Africa who are sick”

Adalynn: “Ma pees” (More please)

So, I realized, I think I was actually having a conversation with myself, trying to convince myself of all that is to come.  At 17 months, Adalynn really has no clue about what is about to happen to her little world.  I worry sometimes about how she will deal with all the transition but then I realized that she is so happy and content living in the present moment and has no worries at all about these next few months.  It really made me step back and assess my thoughts at this moment in the process.  We have been looking ahead to these next few months of change with excitement but we have also had many moments of stress and fear as we wonder how we can possibly get through all the challenges of adding a new baby, selling our possessions, raising support and moving.

My “conversation” with Adalynn that morning reminded me that I need to focus on today and take one step at a time in this process.  The Lord has been so faithful in bringing us to this point and we need to trust him that he will continue to lead us step by step.   Instead of being surprised by how God continues to provide, we need to trust and know that he will carry us through every step.

Church Send off and Worry Send off

We had our commissioning service yesterday and it was a tremendous time. We were asked to speak about 5 minutes or so, with more leeway in the second service. We practiced our talk in the week leading up and made sure all was good for Sunday including limiting my (John's) ummms to  less than 2 per minute.
Well the service came and God laid on my heart something different to say during our worship time. I whispered to Tracey that I felt like I needed to say that we weren't super Christians, just a family seeking to do what God would ask of us and ask the others in the service to do the same with their lives. That wasn't in the prepared speech and I am not much of a public speaker so my legs went into shaking overdrive as we went up in the first service. Why couldn't my wife, who has all the experience in front of people get that word?

Well, the jokes went well, Tracey gave a really good history and my talk about the role we would be taking and the new impromptu addition came off well and I added in that "we are scared sometimes, but just want to do what God has called us to do". Like I said everything went well and I still only used an acceptable amount of ums and no leg shaking was noticed in the crowd.

Second service comes and we are up again and things are rolling along well. More laughs, less umms, all is good. Then I get to the new part (can't really call it impromptu any more if is the second time through) and when I mention that we aren't super Christians and that "we are scared", I completely choke up. That choke up really came out of nowhere. Didn't happen in the first service but definately happened there without warning. I think the Spirit just moved in me at that moment. That was an unplanned word and when I said it this time I was completely moved. I struggled through the rest but at the end we had lots of people mention how real that made our experience  to them. Tracey and I have talked about wanting people to really feel like a part of what we are doing and identify with it in their own lives.

We are excited that the Lord used our commissioning service to let people know that God is there when He calls us to something scary and is okay with us voicing that as long as we continue to trust Him in those fears. I Peter says "cast your cares (worries) on Him", it doesn't say don't have any but to let them go when they come and let Him take care of it. We are more excited that I learned that as well, because I don't think I have been doing a good job of letting those cares go. The need to do that wasn't real for me until I reflected on how the Spirit moved in that second talk. Really cool how the Spirit moves to say the right thing at the right time.