A Time for Everything…

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

After 5 years of meetings, preparation, planning, traveling, connecting, selling, learning and watching our family grow physically, mentally and spiritually, we are embarking on a new adventure…we leave for the field March 10, 2011!!

We can’t even begin to explain our excitement, anxiety, fear, joy, spinning thoughts and huge list of unfinished tasks…the time has finally come to start our new lives overseas.

We have an incredible amount of things to accomplish over the next 29 days and we hope you’ll continue to join us on our journey to serve the Lord in a new country with a new people, new language and  a culture that will take some time to wrap our minds around! We look forward to the day when we can live and serve those in Austria, and our move to Germany is the first step in this long, difficult process. We continue to pray the Lord will open the doors quickly for us…we know that His will is not the same as ours and we will serve Him where ever He leads us.

The first items on our master to-do list are to confirm our flights with our travel agent, get our paperwork in order, purchase health insurance and pack our favorite things.  We’ll be having a “WHAT’S LEFT” moving sale next week and will send out info about that as soon as we can arrange it.  We have already given notice to our landlord, utility companies, etc. and are getting our countdown calendar organized.

We have gotten the release from KMUSA to leave for the field because we have raised all of our start-up costs and have reached their minimum monthly support requirement.  We will need to raise additional financial commitments to stay in the field long term and are looking for those who will join our financial support team.

We will be putting out more updates over the next few weeks as we share our countdown with you…we are so thankful for you who have stood with us as we have followed the Lord’s guiding and leading.  We are blessed to have you be a part of our team and look forward to what the Lord has for ALL of us as we have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with those we meet in our travels.

We fly out of the USA on March 10 and fly into Stuttgart, Germany on March 11. Our first temporary home will be at the KM Zentrale offices in Wüstenrot, Germany. We should be there about 6 weeks and will be using this time to register with the police, fill out visa applications, start the Mission Academy, start language school and register the kids into the German school system and look for an apartment to rent.

Please continue to pray for us, our family and our mission (and for wisdom and a clear mind these next few weeks!)

For the glory of the King…

Gene & Amy

To become a financial supporter, please visit http://www.calledtopurpose.com and click on the financial support link for partnership options.

5 Great Reasons to Buy Mom (or Dad!) a Smartphone for Christmas

Just wanted to share 5 nifty reasons why someone would want to get their mom/dad/spouse a smartphone for Christmas this year!

I know I could come up with way more…but, I am sharing the top 5 from my own “personal experiences”, or a.k.a: “How-I-have-survived-living-an-unhappily-disorganized-life…even-though-I-have-been-trying-to-live-an-organized life”.

Feel free to share your comments with me 🙂

1.  My number one reason for buying your mom/dad/spouse a nifty smartphone for Christmas would be your spouse would NEVER AGAIN forget their GROCERY list!!

2.  Your mom/dad/spouse would always have their calendar with them!

3. Their nifty new smartphone would send them reminders so that they wouldn’t be late to appointments and better yet…it could even have reminders set to remind them to MAKE dinner for the family 🙂

4. This nifty new smartphone could be used to send web-based texts to family and friends who might live in ANOTHER COUNTRY so that they won’t have to incur expensive international-per-text-charges (hint…hint: this would be a cool gift for ME since I have a silly broken “go-phone” and am moving overseas and would LOVE to have an inexpensive way to stay connected stay in “instant contact” with my family and friends 🙂  Did I mention that this is a neat hint???

5.  And last, but not least, my fifth and TOTALLY AWESOME reason to buy your mom/dad/spouse a nifty new smartphone for Christmas would be that they could use http://www.cozi.com, which has an ONLINE FAMILY CALENDAR, family journal, unlimited customizable to-do and shopping lists….ALL IN ONE PLACE that can be accessed from anywhere you have an internet connect (hint…hint…you can even access cozi from that nifty new smartphone you’ll want to get for your spouse for all the cool reasons listed above!!)

It can send these incredible reminders to everyone in your family about upcoming practices, appointments, family events, etc.

You can also create these neat journal pages that can be sent out to those you care about and even be used to create family newsletter…all of this and more….and the niftiest part of using cozi is that it is FREE!!!

I hope that you seriously think about how neat it would be to get your mom/dad/spouse that nifty new smartphone for Christmas…you might even get your dinner ON TIME, have clean underwear and socks in your drawer AND they would never again forget that special treat you want from the grocery store!

The season ends…

Bradford football is officially over.  They had a fantastic season, winning 11 out of 13 games!!  It is always hard to see the season end, but shortly after one season ends, they start to prepare for the next season.  The players start their off-season diet, spend numerous hours in the weight room, attend early morning speed training sessions, get encouragement and training from the coaches, and dream about their vision and goals for next season.

After our move to Europe, it means that Hunter and Ethan will have to find ein das Gewichtheben Verein (a weightlifting club) to keep up with their daily weight room workouts and speed training.

Just want to share a few photos of our two favorite Bradford players… Thanks for all the encouragement and support many of you shared with my sons…it means more to us than you know.

For all the Bradford players…there is still some Unfinished Business they’d like to tend to.

 

Coach Kennedy with WI Coach Bret Bielema at the Bayview Game

Ethan after the Franklin game

After the win against Oak Creek

 

The Freshman team after the Oak Creek game

Hunter during pre-game warmups

Hunter celebrating with a teammate (photo by Erin Waynes)

Ian, Josh, Hunter and Brice after a win!

Playing a tough game against Park (photo by John Heinzmann)

Huge block against the Badgers (photo by John Heinzmann)

A special project…

Hello to all!

I would like to share a special need for a very special little girl: my precious niece,   “Little P”.  Some of you may know her and many do not…and since my sister and brother-in-law have done such a beautiful job putting everything together, I’ll just let them tell you their story.

"Little P"

This website they have created is about “Little P” and her family, their journey since “Little P” was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and how they are raising funds for a “special project” that they believe will help their daughter.

I’ll let you read all about it…please take the time watch the ABC video as well as the video when “Little P” met Kaiya…and if you would be so kind as to share this link with others you know and how they can possibly help with this project, it would be fabulous!

May your day be blessed,

Amy
http://adog4littlep.com

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1.03.01

It starts…

There have been quite a few veggies put into our blender lately and we are trying to not to turn ourselves into a frappe!

Sunday and Monday, July 18-19, the Bradford Varsity football team has an “official” start to their 2010 season with a team of coaches from UW River Falls coming to Kenosha to lead a 2-day intensive college-style football camp.  The boys can barely contain their excitement and are looking forward to taking care of some “Unfinished Business” (their theme for the 2010 season).  Please pray that the players will have a healthy and injury-free season and that they play well and work hard toward their ultimate goal of heading to the State Championship game in November.

We look forward to this season with bittersweet thoughts.  Football has been such a huge part of our lives since the boys were toddlers… we will be cheering on the sidelines, and I’ll be taking ridiculous amounts of photos and video…I can’t wait!!

Photo taken before the 2009 Tremper playoff game by my friend Erin Waynes

Next Sunday, July 25, Gene will be preaching at one of our supporting churches, Charter Oak Bible Church, in Peoria, IL.  We’ll be heading out early that morning and coming back later that day.  Please pray for safe travels, the message, open hearts of those who will be attending the service and for opportunities to connect with the congregation.

We have been gathering with our mission support team and laying out some plans for the next 5 months until we leave the USA.  We also have some plans for a few fundraisers that we hope to raise one-time gifts for some expenses that are not covered in our start-up costs.

We have gained a few new supporters since June and we are so thankful for their partnership!   We are moving down the “football field” with our support and we hope you’ll join our team as we all work together to make a touchdown and leave the country fully funded!

We have lots of great news to share in our newsletter (should be out by the beginning of Aug).  Thank you for standing with us as we have been preparing, praying for us, our children and our mission and for being such great friends!

Bis spaeter!

It’s time to “Go”!!

Well…we did it!  We finally were able to break the silence that we have been keeping under wraps for the last few months.

During a special message at our home church on Sunday, June 6, we had the opportunity to tell everyone that we are leaving for the field in December!!

Gene was given the honor of co-preaching with our Lead Minister, Brian Gorman, and presented our mission & vision through this message with our congregation.  It was so neat to hear them share God’s word with us, discuss the gospel, missions and our heart for the people of Austria… If you would like to hear the message, check out www.kenoshafcc.com, click on Sermons and scroll down to June 6 ( I was very proud of him…he did an amazing job!).

Just to backtrack…At the beginning of 2010, we sat down, evaluated everything up to that point, prayed and made the decision that it was time for us to go!  There has been and still is this compelling need to serve Him in the mission field.  We felt God’s peace in our hearts as we prayed.  We told our accountability partners about our plans and they agreed that, yes, it IS time for us to go.  We got our support team together and started laying out a plan for the rest of this year.  We have had numerous meetings with our Missions Team, Ministers, Mission Support Team as well as phone conversations with our KMUSA Director, Rob.  There is a really neat plan for our first year in the field and those who work in the Zentrale office in Wuestenrot are really looking forward to us coming to start our ministry!

At this present time, we have raised all of our start-up costs and have more than 60+% of our monthly support pledged or coming into our KM account.  We would love to be sent off with 100% of our monthly support needs by the time we go.  If you would like more information about how to become a financial partner with us, please contact us at geneandamy@gmail.com or go to www.calledtopurpose.com and click on Partnership for different options.

We are really excited about how the Lord is moving our ministry plans along and opening doors for us to share our mission with new people…can’t believe that it is almost mid-June!  We’ll be putting out more update posts as we start our countdown so you can keep up with what is going on.

Be on the lookout for our newsletter (it should be out in the next few weeks), we’ll have lots of information to share!  Please keep our family and mission in prayer…time is going by so quickly and we have so much left to do before we go!

We are so blessed to have you stand with us in this journey…thank you.

Encouragement

The Lord is so cool in how sends us encouragement… I just wanted to share this with you!

I have been having a bit of a rough few weeks; experiencing throbbing pain in my mouth (like I have been hit in the face with a baseball bat is a good analogy) and pain meds that don’t work.  Today has been the worst so far…I have been up since 6am with a bag of frozen vegetables on my jaw (I have already sacrificed a good bag of corn, now I am working on some cut green beans) feeling lots of pain that isn’t going away and being pretty unproductive around the house.

I have been on the phone with 3 different offices trying to find out when exactly I can get in to the dentist for my root canal an was told that the earliest they could get me in would be the WEEK of May 7.  I started to cry uncontrollably to the poor girl on the other end of the line.

Anyway…as I am crying because my face hurts, holding the phone on one side, the bag of corn on the other side, I saw an email pop up on my screen: “Young believer looking for a church in Austria” from an email address that I don’t know.  This is what it said:

Hello,

“…I am an American missionary preaching the gospel in Poland.  I’m looking for a church for a young Polish believer who plans on going to Austria for a year.  He speaks German and will be living in Eggenburg.  If you know of any Bible believing (preferrably non-charismatic) church in the vicinity, I would appreciate if if you could send me the address.

Thank you and may the Lord bless you and your ministry.” Under his signature, he has this scripture: “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” 1 Cor. 9.16

I immediately wrote back to him and told him that we are still in the States, but I would definitely contact our Team Leader in Austria and see if he can make a connection for this young man.

The really cool thing is that I know EXACTLY where Eggenburg is!!  Of all the photos I have taken while in Austria, one of my favorites is from our visit to Eggenburg…it was taken right outside the gates of Eggenburg Castle.  It was a gorgeous day in October and as we passed this gate, I turned around and the sun was shining down through the leaves….I just had to take a picture…

So, as I sit here hurting today, the Lord sent me a reminder of how He is hurting for those who don’t know him and how He is still directing our paths to Austria and that He is going before us.

This makes me cry for a different reason…and it has caused me to pray for the souls of the people that we haven’t met yet.

Joy in Heaven!!

Gene has been ministering to a friend from work for about the last 18 months.  Randy has gone through some major life changes this last year or so and was just calling out for help.  The Lord used Gene to plant and water the seeds of hope for this man.

Just this morning, Gene and Randy met for coffee at McDonald’s on Hwy 94 in Kenosha. Randy was just unloading all of his heart and the pain that he has been going through.  Gene looked him straight in his eyes and told him “Randy…Jesus can give you hope, joy and peace…no matter what your circumstances are!”  Then he shared his testimony with him and encouraged him to seek the Lord in his life.

Randy told Gene he was ready and realized his need for a Savior and that he thought he should find a church so that he could make that happen.  Gene told him “Brother, you don’t need to go to a church to find Jesus…you can ask him into your heart right here at this little bitty McDonald’s!”  So…Gene prayed with him, Randy accepted Jesus as his Savior and let’s just say that there is much joy today in heaven!!

This is just the very beginning of a new life for Randy…please pray for him as he begins his walk with Christ!!  He’ll need discipleship and a church home.  He lives near Burlington, so if you know of a church…please contact us.

What a privilege it is to share the hope that lies within you!  We encourage you to share your hope in Jesus with those who the Lord brings across your paths!

“…I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” – Luke 15:7

Behind the scenes….

On the surface, it might seem that there has been a lull in our ministry plans… but, I can assure you (from the looks of my laundry room and the dismay of my family as they look for clean clothes), there is a flurry of activity “behind the scenes”:

Since the beginning of 2010, we have had

2 Mission Support Team meetings

1 pastoral meeting

3 action/planning meetings

sent out two batches of support evaluation letters

attended our KMUSA Team Retreat in the Smokey Mountains

…and I am starting work on our Spring newsletter.  I am homeschooling Ethan and Kiara and Hunter is working fervently to keep up his good grades as he moves through these last few months of  his Sophomore year.

We are waiting for some pieces of information to come in to help us with our preliminary plans and goals for this year and before May, we will have some very exciting news to share with you!  But, we can’t let the “cat out of the bag” just yet…

Please continue to pray for our family and ministry…and stay tuned!!  More mission updates to follow in the next few weeks.

Hope…

http://www.northeastcc.org/483635.ihtml

Please take some time to watch this interview (about 17 min.).  It is from a series on “Hope: 30 Days to Live.”  The woman being interviewed is my sister-in-law’s cousin.  Take some time to evaluate your life and spend time on what matters…

On a personal note:  I have been feeling this unsettled-ness and an urgency in my heart for many months now…our time here on earth is so short!  In the blink of an eye, anything could happen and our lives and the lives of our families and friends would be changed forever.

We personally know of young friends and family who have recently passed or have had accidents and life-changing illnesses come upon them.  In a moment, their lives changed and it changed for those around them as well.

Many of us believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life…that there is no other way to the Father, except through Him and we have put our hope in that.  What are we doing with that belief?  Are we sharing that with others?  Are we witnesses of the love of Jesus to our spouse, our kids, family, friends and co-workers?

Or has our witness taken a back seat to the non-essentials in life and the things that don’t really matter?  What are we spending our time on?  Who are we spending our time with? These questions keep going round and round and round in my mind:  if I really believe that Jesus is the way, what am I doing about it?  What is my witness like?  Am I giving glory to God through my thoughts and actions?  How can my life impact others for Christ?

May your life be a witness for Christ… share the “reason for the hope that is in you” and His gift of eternal life with others.