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.
No comments:
Post a Comment