All our tomorrows.

Dear Family and Friends, thank you so much for praying for this vision of the Prodigal Son Project. In case some of you maybe aren’t to clear about this mission here is a good source of information from a group of people who had the same vision and right now they are in Spain doing it: http://oasistrails.org/en/reli-reizen/backpackers/ . This is a very interesting website and we encourage you to look around on it, and for your information the two flags in the upper right hand corner are for Dutch or English. Just click on the flag of your choice and the page will re-load in that language.


This target people group has been on our hearts for several years, as some of you know. We as a family been praying and waiting and we feel like this time we just have to run with it. I know some of you probably wonder if your money will bring fruit in this mission. But remember in Philippians chapter 4 Paul encouraged the church for the gifts that they gave to him and spoke of the fruit added unto them. With a lot of prayer and hard work we believe we will see much fruit from The Prodigal Son Project because the fields are ripe and ready for the harvest.

Backpackers are a restless people who are looking for a “good time” and many of them are on a spiritual journey looking for some kind of enlightenment. When they come to us we will show them the light, the love, what it means and what joys there are when living in the freedom of Christ. We accept them as prodigal sons and daughters and disciple them and bring them back to our Father. When they move on they will carry that light and that love, to city, town, or country where they are going and spread that love and light. This way they become a torch to places where missionaries cannot or will not go to and as travelers they can very easily enter places because they are considered a tourist but at the same time they are meeting people and sharing the change of heart they found. New believers are the best missionaries because they can’t contain their joy and they have to share it to someone. With lots of prayer and faithful believers along the way we hope they will be kept in the heart of their Father.

Why did we pick Europe? Europe is the starting point for many backpacker trails. Many pilgrim trails and hiking trails, not to mention the great Hippie Trail, all originate from Europe. Many backpackers start in Europe for “pleasures” and or history, then move onward to Asia for cheap drugs, enlightenment and Nirvana, which we all know Nirvana is not in Asia it’s in Hawaii. Just Kidding!! And on all of these travels they meet people searching for the same things they are searching for: truth, life, sex, and drugs. In Europe it gives us the advantage of reaching them with the true life of Jesus before they find the more appealing doctrines that come with many of the eastern religions. Can we all see the possibility of the gospel spreading like a wild fire through this restless people? I myself get exited just thinking of the gospel reaching out to Muslim countries not to mention all the Hindu and Buddhist nations. Or if they decide to stop with the wandering and come home and then tell their family and friends about the change they met on the road. It is truly exciting.

As a family this ministry is beyond our reach and capabilities. We do not understand how God is going to work. As a family we let go of this ministry last year and surrendered it unto God. So we got a place in Albuquerque, Nate got a steady job, I stayed home with three little monkeys who I am constantly losing my mind over but I won’t give them up for the world or change anything about them. But deep down in our hearts we know God has not let the vision of these backpackers die in our heart. So we start praying casually and waiting on God while we are doing our daily routines. I like the routines and the income that comes in and being a light to our neighbors and being patient with Wal-Mart employees.

Then in April God brought this vision back and since then we’ve been praying more than ever. As a wife and mom I worried a lot hoping secretly that God will somehow change His mind by not sending us because that means uprooting this family again right when I am enjoying having a bathroom in my own house, a car to drive and convenient restaurants and groceries that carry my brand of cereals. The boys have friends who speak their language and there is an awesome park nearby. Yup, this is way different than Africa.

I know many moms out there are not freaking out so much when their husband comes home and says, “Honey, God wants us to move”. I struggled for a while but I realized I have crowded my life with junks, material things, and I have push God into a tiny corner of my life and I don’t trust him as much as I used to. God has woke me up from this and we are trusting God to provide for this mission and we really believe that this mission will bring fruit and we will see God’s hand moving through the backpackers. I urge everyone to please consider standing with us in prayer and in financial support. We have a big God and to be His children is to trust in Him for our needs. We will let you all know what we expect for our monthly needs and we are in the process of finding a good estimate on the cost of living in Scotland. Please let us know if you would like to receive our newsletters.

We will be working with YWAM Scotland as staff for two years. They have accepted us and are very excited about this mission. During this time we will be working on the base in various jobs like cooking and doing other work duties, we will be learning about the culture, and visiting the hostels and establishing relationships with them. We will also be staffing on their Discipleship Training School as part of our two year transition, and praise the Lord they don’t speak Gaelic!! This is part of their new staff transition as we have been told from the new leadership team over there. This will also be a good time for us to reacquaint ourselves into missions work again. If you have any questions or suggestions for this mission please let us know. Thank you again and God Bless.

The Vision, Mission, and Goal of the Prodigal Son Project.

Hello again everyone.  We wanted to share something with all of you in hopes that you will let us know what you think either through email or by posting a comment on our blog here.  This vision statement is the result of some recent prayer and words from the Lord regarding our mission that we shared with all of you about three years ago when we came home from Africa.  Well, as we said in an earlier post, we still have the vision for the mission The Prodigal Son Project.  So here is our vision statement.  Please read and tell us what you think.  We are not starting any kind of fund raising at this time, just trying to see what peoples thoughts are.  Thank you.

• The Vision- “My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:31-32

This is the foundation for our mission, the calling back of the prodigal children of God, these wandering backpackers. Many years ago God gave Nate the vision of these backpackers coming to salvation in Jesus and taking the gospel to the world on the trails wherever they might roam. On a few occasions we had the opportunity to share the gospel with some backpackers. While we did not see any accept Christ we saw a willingness to hear the gospel and share about different beliefs. This openness is the key to get into their minds and hearts with the message of Jesus.

• The Mission- The mission of the Prodigal Son Project will be a two step plan. First will be the home side. This plan consists of regular bible study/discussion times during the week in our home with backpackers from around the nearby hostels. This will be done by putting up notices in the local hostels inviting backpackers to our home on certain nights of the week to participate in religious study/discussion. Food will also be provided as a means to draw people in and as a way to show hospitality.
The second step is to reach the backpackers where they are, in the hostels and on the trails. This plan involves three backpacking trips throughout the year. These three trips would fulfill what our Lord commanded by reaching our Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost ends of the Earth.
The first trip would be our family traveling together. This would be primarily a research trip to find new information about hostels and sites of interest to backpackers so we have updated information to share with the backpackers we meet. The idea is to go somewhere close to home and gather this information while also sharing the gospel should the opportunity arise thereby reaching our Judea. The second trip would be primarily to share the gospel so our children can also learn how to take part in the ministry but would also be a bit further abroad. This would mean traveling a farther distance from our home, thereby reaching our Samaria, and staying in hostels for a period of time. The last trip would also be primarily to share the gospel but would be reaching out to other parts of the world such as main land Europe, Asia, and the Middle East for example. Until our children get old enough for such a trip this would be only Nathan traveling alone. This trip would thereby reach the rest of the world.

• The Goal- The goal of the Prodigal Son Project is to reach the Backpacker community with the gospel of Christ making disciples who will then take this same gospel out into the trails and roads they travel thereby spreading the good news of Jesus wherever they go and thus fulfilling the great commission to go into all the world.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this.  Please pray with us about this mission and let us know what you think.  You can also check out our page titled The Prodigal Son Project and watch a short slide show there on backpackers.  You can find the pages on the left hand side of our blog.  Thanks again and God Bless.