The harvest is plenty

So this week we have been talking about missions. It's so funny how we think we are really doing our job as a Christian and bring the Good News to everyone but I feel that we are 1, afraid of man, and 2, we are to comfortable in our lives to get up and go. Guys we have to wake up and do what we are called. Give your lives fully to God and ask what He wants from you. Is it to be bold for Him in the work place? Or is He calling you to go? Be brave! Go! 

Here is a statistic for you to see how much we are needed...

Tribal: for every 1 million tribal people, there is 60 cross cultural workers

Hindu: for every 1 million Hindu, there is 2 cross cultural workers

Unreligious: for everyone 1 million unreligious person, 12 cross cultural workers

Muslim: for everyone 1 million Muslims, 6 cross cultural workers

Buddhist: for everyone 1 million Buddhist, 13 cross cultural workers

(www.kairascourse.org) 

If this doesn't get your heart churning I don't know what is. We are called to be His hands and feet! 

This week has been super emotional for me. My heart is for children/orphans. I want to be there for them. Give them a voice!  I have so many ideas to better them before they get a "forever family." I want them to know the love of a family, but most importantly the love of the Father. A Father that will never leave or abandon them. A love so overwhelming and consuming! I don't know what to do right now? I'm learning how to lean on Him everyday. He is my strength!

I am here preparing to be sent out and am so ready to go and I see these statistics daily. It breaks my heart because again I feel like we have just gotten comfortable in our specific church pews. This is a wakeup call to everyone! Wake up and let's get to work. God was gracious enough to let us in on this journey, so lets get moving. He entrusted us with something that is so important so why have we let it fall. I am not just "preaching" to y'all but also myself. We as a group need to wake up and get moving. Start praying for the missionaries that are already out on the field, the ones that are preparing to go, or for God to  start stirring someone's heart. We could be the sender, sending people out, preparing them for it, supporting them, being there for them as they go out on the mission field. Welcomer, lets get out and welcome the foreigners in. We are called to take great care of our foreigners and yet we fail on this one. Goer, be willing to be sent out, open your heart for that call. I am so grateful for the people that have stepped out and acted on this calling. Lets continue to lift them up. So lets go people! Lets start taking the those steps of faith and trusting God. 

http://youtu.be/MTVpyUOR_fI

Oh the adventures...

I don't know where to start, so many things are going through my head and have happened since I last wrote. I have traveled to Ireland and Scotland. Which I loved! Scotland more than Ireland, I'm not a city girl so the country side of Scotland had me from the beginning. We went to Hillsong London, which is one thing I want to talk about. I was so upset by it. I guess it's my fault for having such high expectations, but I was so upset after I left. Worship was like a concert nothing really intimate between you and God. The sermon was what really upset me. I am use to a sermon that is packed with scripture and so full of truth, but with this the guest pastor read 2 verses and then told so many stories. Then when it was time for the invitation it was just raise your hand and repeat this prayer and your saved. That's not the whole story people, you are leaving such an important part out! Some Christians are going to get to heaven and God's is going to say to them I do not know you. We have to tell the whole story about how God loves us no matter what. He doesn't just pick and choose what parts of us He will save and love. His love is so overwhelming and is a love our human minds will never understand. A love that everyone deserves to know about. It's time we stop just telling the good parts and actually do what we are called to do and tell the whole story. God will do the rest. We can't save the people only God can. He just uses us. My cry in all of this is for the people who are just telling them the good part, STOP! You aren't helping them, tell them the whole part and believe that God can still and will save them! Sorry for the rant but it's something so important. It's not life and death, it's eternity! 

Other things I want to talk about is my foot, school, and the many lessons that I have learned through these 2 experiences. Oh me and my stupid foot... Who would have that I would come all the way to England, start enjoying working out and then proceed to break my foot in the midst. So many things I never thought would happen and the biggest being that I would enjoy working out! I have learned many lessons through not having my foot. The biggest would be that I am stubborn and will not ask for help or speak what I am feeling. Well things have changed. It has been a tough moment but I have some awesome roommates and school mates that have helped in times that I have really needed it. We are here, as Christians, to help each other in times of need. That's why God created us. To help each other, to lean on each, and to learn from each other. This process has shown me the love of our father through these girls and guys. They are truly a blessing in my life and I could never find the words to truly thank them. 

Classes have been great! Some weeks are harder than others, but I keep reminding myself God brought me to this place for a reason and from what I can see it is to change, stretch and prepare me for the mission field. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that I am an extrovert! Who would have thought. Not me that's for sure! But as I look back on my life I can see where moments in my life have started to shape that into my mind. As I kept getting shut down one way or the other I started to believe the lies of how God made me. I may be quiet but I have an outgoing spirit and I will not let lies determine how I look at myself anymore. God made me this way for a reason and I will stand in His truth from now on. The other one is being able to lay my future husband at God's feet. For so long that has been the main focus in my life. I need to be ok with what God has in store for me. His plan for my life is so much more than I could ever imagine. So I am going to rest in that truth and submit every part of my life to Him. 

I hope y'all are having a wonderful August and just want to say thank you for all the prayer and support. It means the world to me. Love y'all!

Hannah

Arrived

Well we made it here safely. Our wifi is quite limited and it has been a bit difficult in posting a proper update since our last one. I'll keep this brief as I know Hannah has one she's really wanting to post. 

Thank you for all of your prayers, encouragement & financial support. We definitely could not have made it here without any of it. We still need close to $4000 for our living expenses as well as for additional Visas & travel (for our Outreach Phase) if you could continue to keep that in prayer as well as for Hannah & I, we would greatly appreciate it! 

Today was our first official day and it has already begun to stretch us both. I am both encouraged and challenged at what God has in store. I am so thankful to be here and see the heart of those that love Him & serve Him so willingly. :-) 

- Beverly 

one more week!

hello! well as you can imagine is has been a bit of a whirlwind getting everything prepped and ready to hop across the pond! happy to report several things - we both have our Visas! we have  ALMOST raised all the money we'll need, we only have this week left of work & we got our t-shirts in! which is fantastic news! they turned out better than expected & i'm personally stoked about the design! :) 

Front View - Grey V-Neck

Backside

this journey has been challenging, encouraging, stressful, joyful and hopeful. it always surprises me how many emotions one goes through when embarking on such a life changing trip. i mean, i'm pretty logical so it really shouldn't surprise me but it does. :) 

****
we're due to head out this sunday! i can hardly believe the time has finally arrived! through all the ups and downs God has shown Himself faithful, gracious, and in COMPLETE control. sometimes i forget that and think He needs my help. which, is pretty hilarious since  He formed ALL of Creation and i just learned how to a make one perfect cup of coffee :) 


ah, i am amazed at how often He puts up with me, my frustrations and my control issues. but i am most thankful for His continuing grace and patience! it's pretty neat to look as far back as 5 years ago or just last month and see the work He's been doing in my life. i could never have imagined or dreamed that in just a few days i'll be walking around the very same places some of my quotable authors lived! c.s. lewis, edgar allen poe, jane austen - just to name a few ;) what incredible gifts!


now i'm off to start packing! :) but i'll end with this scripture - Psalm 145:3 "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable." if you have a moment read the entire chapter & may your heart be full of His praises!

beverly 

Living on a prayer

So as many of you know Beverly and I have been really praying hard over our trip to school and the financial aspect of it all. It was a crazy amount of money that we had to raise in what felt like such a short amount of time. We just didn't have $20,000 laying around and we surly could not save that much up. We had to rely totally on God to provide. From my last entry you could all tell that I was really struggling with letting go and letting God. I tried to hold on to it for so long, thinking that I could handle it all on my own (I know I sound like a broken record) but I could not get through this thick skull of mine that all I needed to do is trust in Him. He lead me to this school, He has opened every door. Why wouldn't He be faithful with this? You see this lesson I have learned is when you do things liking agreeing to go to Europe without knowing anything, like where, when, how long, these are moments that God really shines through and you have no where else to go but to trust solely on Him. In those moments He is going to shine so bright.

This lesson was very hard for me to learn. I just could not learn. Then finally about 2 weeks ago I couldn't hold on anymore. God and I had a talk and I laid everything on Him just as He wanted me to do from the very beginning. After that I have had such a peace about everything. So about a week ago Beverly and I decided we would go ahead and pay for what we could, which was the first 6 weeks of school. So Sunday while at church pre-selling our shirts I started paying for our school. Now at this point we are about $13,000 short and our missions pastor came to us and said someone donated $500. That's awesome and I was in shock! That was so amazing! It kept getting better, between different donations, the yard sale, and our t-shirt sale we went from needing $13,000 to needing $2,500.

Again I say I learned such a valuable lesson here, that I hope I never forget. That once God tells you something He will follow through. He is not like me, who could back out at any second, or when things get hard. He will provide every step of the way. So my hope is that you see the beauty in all of this. That when you stop thinking that you can handle this world on your own and give everything over to God, He will out do whatever you thought was the best. He will show you beauty in every little step. I now look back on this journey and see the beauty of all the so called failures and frustrations and see that He was just trying to show me that I truly need Him.

- Hannah

Small World

so we only have about a month before we leave (GAH!) and there is still so much to do! we're still awaiting our visas and still need to raise a bit more money - but i know God has it all under control :) i know this because of some recent events.
2 weeks ago, a dear friend of mine, sarah got in touch w/ me because she met a girl (maria) that was training her who happened to attend the EXACT SAME SCHOOL as we are about to! what are the odds of that!? so sarah hosted a dinner party & invited maria so that we could meet. as the dinner went underway, i was able to talk to maria and discover what an incredibly small world we really do live in! as it turns out we had a few mutual connections and how perfectly timed this all was because maria is due to move next month! so God is indeed good. :) 

i love that God is constantly showing me how He's involved in every detail. how He would know the comfort it would bring to me, meeting someone that's walked the journey before me and was full of encouragement. my heart is full. i am excited, nervous, anxious, and happy all at the same time!

we've also been able to meet (so to speak) most of our future teammates, thanks to social media! shout out to facebook :) so they won't quite be strangers to us but i am very excited to meet each of them face to face. i know God worked it all out to put us together for a reason and i'm eager to find out why! :)

i'm not going to lie to you, this has been a very tough few weeks for hannah and i personally. our friendship has struggled and we've hit quite a few rough patches, but i know that we are on the right path. God has continually shown us both (individually) in His Word, through wise counsel and in our spirits that we are going in the right direction. facing opposition is all part of it as well. i know we will be stronger as a team and as a person for walking through these tough times. thinking on this i am reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 - "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."

as we draw near to our departure date, i ask for you all to continue to keep us and this mission in prayer. there is still much to be done and this is only the beginning. we are both incredibly grateful for all of your support, encouragement and PRAYERS! thank you for taking this journey along with us :)
-beverly

Fundraising

so hannah & I are in full force with Fundraising! we had our Yard Sale last weekend and despite the bad weather had a decent turnout & expect to do another Yard Sale next month. we were blessed with a LOT of donations from our church family! :) here are some photos from that day:

daisy wearing one of the necklaces we were selling :)

all the donations we received!

we also have our Pancake Breakfast tomorrow and sent out Support Letters last week :) next up are our T-Shirts! we are so excited about these and my beautiful friend Lauren & I collaborated on the design & are working on additional shirts to sell as well. here's a photo:

we have various sizes & they'll be $20!

God is providing slowly but surely, hannah told me we will receive a gift from our church of $470! completely unexpected and we are both very grateful. we still have about $12,000 to raise but i know God is faithful and what He has started, He will finish! :) 

we are both really excited about what God's doing and will do on this journey. i know for me personally, i have grown in my love of the Lord and how He has set me free from so many things, it's amazing what He can do in your life when you allow him to :) 

these next few weeks will be trying for both hannah & i and we appreciate your prayers, support and encouragement. we know this is the path set before us and we want to walk it with boldness and determination. 

beverly