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JAN 2017
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Ministry Partners Report

2017 - Burma or Bust

This new year marks the third anniversary of Esther and my calling back to missions and to move to Thailand and minister to the minority groups of Burma (Myanmar).  When we first started this journey we sold pretty much everything we owned and moved into my parent's basement for a couple months with the plan to move later that summer.  Well, the Lord had other plans and we are still here.  More appreciation and gratitude than words can express goes out to my Mom and Mike for their love and patience expressed to us, as a couple months have turned into a couple years!

Although we can all see the reasons for the Lord delaying us, I must admit that it has not been easy and has been very discouraging at times.  Esther and I have spent a lot of time wondering if we truly received a call from God to go or were we wrong?  Should we quit, go find a permanent job somewhere and just start over, maybe find some land down south and start a small homestead?  Many hours... days... were spent thinking and praying about this and yet, my heart would always end back to Burma.  No matter how hard I tried, the Lord would not let it go.

This Christmas season, with most of my projects ending with Cerner, Esther and I asked the Lord again, are we to go? We are excited about this new year and believe that this is the year we will be able to go!  Toward the end, a very dear friend gave me a book for Christmas that the Lord used to speak to me.  It is called The Land Between - finding God in difficult transitions by Jeff Manion.  The author discusses the Exodus journey of the Israelites in the desert and applied it to our lives as we journey through "the Land Between".  He says, "The Land Between can be profoundly disorienting. It also provides the space for God to do some of His deepest work. Many seasoned spiritual advisers propose that this is the only space in which radical, transformational growth occurs. God intends for us to emerge from this land radically reshaped. But while offering a greenhouse for growth, the Land Between can also be a dessert where faith goes to die. Your response will determine whether your journey through this barren place will result in spiritual life or spiritual death. You decide."  Through looking at the Exodus story, the end result as we are going through this time of transition is Trust.  Do we trust the Lord?  While reading, the Lord spoke to me in that small quiet whisper, "Quit wondering, move forward and just trust me."

Esther and I have decided we are not going to end up spiritual casulties!  We are going to move forward and trust our heavely Father!  With only one more step to take, raising the rest of the support we need to reach our ministry budget, we are planning the move to Thailand this summer.  Please continue to pray for us, for wisdom, determination, persistence, provision and courage.

Medical Debt is Paid-Off!!!

As you know, this year has been a trying time for us with Esther's health and I am exuberant to tell you, after 5 surgeries this year, she is doing amazing! We are so blessed and very excited to put this behind us and continue to move forward! 

I have also shared about the medical debt we have been under for several years due to her cancer and other complications. Esther and I felt led that we needed to put the support raising aside for a time and concentrate on becoming debt free.  We prayed that the Lord would provide a job for me to be able to pay this debt off quickly and He provided!  I received a call from a job fair that I had attended and was given the opportunity to become a contractor for Cerner and train doctors and medical staff how to use Cerner's medical software.  It meant that I would have to travel every week but we knew it would only be temporary.

10 months later and over a dozen cities traveled to, we are praising God that the medical debt is a thing of the past!  We have also been able to save enough money to allow me to stop accepting new projects and concentrate on raising the needed support that we need in order to leave for Thailand this summer!

Thank you so much to all our friends and family who have been continually praying for us!  Words can not express the gratitude we have for you!!!

As you are praying for us, we would really love to know how we could be praying for you!  Please reach out to us and let us know as we pray for our partners daily.
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Praise & Prayer

 Praise the Lord for His current direction!
 Praise the Lord for His provision to become debt free!
 Pray for His direction as we prepare to leave this summer.
 Pray for our support and those that are being lead to partner with us.
Esther & my verse for this year :

Isaiah 58:9-11

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
Esther shared with me the other day that she feels that we can reach our mission budget by reaching out to all of our friends and family to ask if they will partner with us with a commitment of at least $10 a month.  After doing some calculations, you know what?  She's right!  Along with those that have already made commitments to partner with us, if many of our friends and family would commit only $10 a month, we will be close to our needed budget to leave!

Would you consider partnering with us and committing a pledge of just $10 a month in order to help the children of Burma caught in hardship and oppression?

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