About an hour ago, I dropped Leah off for a birthday party for one of her classmates. The birthday person in question - a boy. A 10 year old boy. Sigh. I thought the first day of school was rough... man.
Oh, right... the newsletter. Honestly, September was full, and as usual, it flew by. The kids are plugging away at school, gymnastics, basketball, and your basic garden variety kid stuff. Christi and I are staying busy with this, that, and the other at the church. One of the things that we're doing to help is to get some things organized with the coffee shop ministry. As we're helping out and getting settled into life here in Mansfield, we're also very conscious of the fact that we're here not just to assist, but also to church plant somewhere. Feel free to pray for us about that - direction, balance, God's heart/vision for where He'd have us, etc.
VISIT TO CHATSWORTH HOUSE
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Newsletters are funny things. I think that's because "missions" is a funny idea to most of us. In a lot of ways, what we do just happens to be geographic. In other words, we just happen to live in another country, on another continent. We pay our bills, but we do so in a different currency. We take the kids to school, but we drive on the other side of the street. We go to church, but we just happen to be foreigners. Missionaries are expected to "live by faith," but "living by faith" to some means that we shouldn't be like anyone else. I know other missionaries that have been criticized for driving a newer car. It seems like "luxury items" for missionaries could be anything as simple as a microwave or a vacuum cleaner. Something as glamourous as a new television is often looked down upon. For the life of me, I'm not sure why this is.
I once heard a pastor talking about missionaries and I appreciated his sentiment. He said something to the extent of, "Why do we place extra pressure on missionaries? As if living in a different country isn't faith enough." If I'm complaining, please forgive me. If I'm overly critical, pardon me.
As I said, we do the same things as everyone else, it is just tougher to get many of those things done. "So... I can't put my wife on my bank account, why?" "I have to have lived in the UK for three years in order to get a mobile (cell phone) contract with you?" Good times all around for sure.
At any rate, we do covet your prayers. One of the things in particular is wisdom for us in regards to work/finances. It seems that I will probably need to get a job so that we can continue to minister here. The downside of that is that means that there will be less time to do what we're here to do. Funny balancing act. Please also pray for us this month as we need to get my visa renewed. Shouldn't be an issue, but nothing is as simple as it should be. Feel free to pray for what I mentioned above - wisdom about where to & when to. We're here for a reason, and part of that is to share the living Word of God with a group of people that are hungry for more of Jesus and His Word.
Lots of love all around; more in 30 days or so!
Jeremy, Christi, Ian, Leah, Kara, and Mikayla
