Colombia Story (Email 3 of 3)

I sent this email out on Monday, April 1st to our friends and family.  I was encouraged by several people to blog this email and the other 2.  I hope you enjoy reading about what's happened in our lives over the past month.

It's hard to try and describe the range of emotions that Lauren and I have gone through over the past few weeks.  We've had some incredible ups and downs, intermixed with just waiting to see the Lord answer our prayers.  Waiting is tough.  We pray in faith, believing that God will answer.  But there's still that feeling in your stomach, that tiny bit of doubt that creeps in, that thought in your head that says, "be realistic...you're asking for too much."  And this morning, about an hour ago, the Lord again answered our (and your) prayers.  Lauren's Passport finally arrived!  Thank you so much to all of you who have prayed for this.  We truly see this as a miracle.  

For those of you who don't know the story, Lauren needed to replace her damaged Passport (Riley chewed it up about 2 years ago) and Lincoln needed a new one.  So she sent everything in (including her damaged passport), a few weeks ago, hoping that we would get new Passports really quickly.  Lincoln's came on Tuesday (the 26th).  Lauren received an email on Wednesday (the 27th), from the Passport place, stating that they needed Lauren's damaged Passport.  There was no number she could call to tell them that she had sent it already, and there was no way to reply to that email.  The only way to get in contact with these people was to send a letter, stating that she had sent the damaged Passport.  (On a side-note, isn't our government awesome?!  Utterly ridiculous that that's the only way to get in contact with them).  So Lauren over-nighted a letter on Wednesday.  We assume that they received it on Thursday, but we weren't sure what would happen with the holiday weekend, and it still generally takes 2-3 weeks to process and receive passports, even when expedited.  And so we waited and prayed...waited and prayed...waited and prayed.  We went back and forth on whether or not to change Lauren's flight to a later date.  We decided to not touch her flight and just trust the Lord.  And we are glad that we did.  

I was watching the first part of that Bible series from the History channel on Youtube last night, and was encouraged by the stories of Noah, Abraham and Moses - men who simply trusted God and lived their lives in such a way that demonstrated that trust/faith in Him.  I was reading in Hebrews 11 this morning and again was reminded of those who have gone before us, who lived lives full of faith.  That passage says that these were people "of whom the world was not worthy."  Simply because they had faith.  They trusted God and His promises.  In the gospels, the only time that Jesus is ever amazed is when he sees that someone has a large amount of faith (Matthew 8:10), and when he sees an incredible lack of faith (Mark 6:6).  We want to be in that first category and experiences such as this continue to grow our faith in Him.  

Our flight leaves for Colombia tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon.  We'll both be on it (with Lincoln).  Annie will be with my sister's family.  Our finances have been taken care of.  What a joy it is to follow Christ!  There's no adventure that compares in this life!  

As we travel, we have a few remaining prayer requests for our time there:

-That the Lord would use me as I speak 4 times to a group of 43 students and 7 teachers.  The theme I'm speaking on is "Radical Obedience."

-That the Lord would make it very clear whether or not He wants us in Colombia long term.

-If He does want us there long term, that He would provide a great housing situation for us.

-Safety.  

Thank you so much for your prayers and/or financial support.  We can't wait to let you know how this trip goes!

Colombia Story (Email 2 of 3)

I sent this email out on Friday, March 15th to our friends and family.  I was encouraged by several people to blog this email and the other 2.  I hope you enjoy reading about what's happened in our lives over the past month.

What a week this has been!  Lauren and I were talking this morning, and we decided that one of the coolest things we've taken away from this week, is that we've realized that so many people are for us - cheering for us, praying for us, providing for us, sacrificing for us.  It's been so cool to get phone call after phone call and email after email, from our friends and family, letting us know that they want to help.  Thank you so much for helping us raise the money that we need, to go visit the place where we will, Lord willing, spend the next several years of our lives.  

We reached our goal yesterday evening and still, people continued to email and call, asking if they could give in the "last hour," this morning.  What a blessing!   In total, we've received $2350 in given or pledged money!  Thank you so much to all of you who gave and prayed for us during this time.  We are so grateful.  For those of you who were waiting for this email to send in your money, please feel free to do so now!  We'll be buying the plane tickets this afternoon/evening and we're already in the process with the Passports.  If you wanted to give but didn't get around to it, please feel free to save that money for later.  If we move to Colombia in September, we'll most likely need to do this all over again and would greatly appreciate your donations at that time!  If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call or email us.  We'd love to talk!

There are so many stories I could tell from this week that encouraged our faith in huge ways.  But I wanted to share one in particular that we thought was especially cool.  

We made the decision yesterday, that we were not going to take Annie with us for this short week in April.  A number of reasons went into that decision, but we felt like it was the wisest decision we could make, taking all things into account.  We were planning on letting her stay with my Mom (Annie's "Nana") and Dad during that time.  I was talking with my Mom yesterday afternoon though, and she told me that she was actually going to be in North Carolina for her Mom's birthday - she'd bought the tickets several weeks ago before we even knew of this opportunity in Colombia, and it was going to be for almost the exact dates we'd be gone.  For the rest of the day yesterday, we were trying to think of people who could possibly watch Annie for a day or two at a time.  I called my sister that evening to see if she'd be willing to help out a little bit, and she said she thought she could help out for a few days, but that their schedule is, very understandably, (with 5 kids) busy.  Last night, as Lauren and I were praying before going to sleep, I prayed very specifically, that a situation would present itself where Annie could stay with the same people for the entire time and that it would be a perfect fit for Annie, where she would have a ton of fun with people she already knew, and that we would feel very confident in sending her into that situation.  We finished praying, and literally, 1 or 2 minutes later, I got a text from my sister which said, "I was looking at my calendar, and seriously...Annie can stay with us from Tuesday (or even Monday night) until the weekend, we could even keep her the whole time!!!"  

Wow.  Thank you Lord!  What a joy it is to know that there are so many people who are for us.  But how much greater it is to know that our heavenly Father is for us, leading and directing us every step of the way.  We can't wait to see what He has planned for us in Colombia.

"What then shall we say to these things?"

Thank you so much for everything!  We'll be sure to keep you updated as things happen. 

For Him,

Robbie and Lauren

Colombia Story (Email 1 of 3)

I sent this email out on Monday, March 11th to our friends and family.  I was encouraged by several people to blog this email and the following ones.  I hope you enjoy reading about what's happened in our lives over the past month.

As you probably well know, Lauren and I have been trying to figure out what we'll be doing in September for quite a while now.  My 2 year commitment at LeaderTreks ends in August and we need to make a decision very soon regarding whether or not we'll stay here for another year.  We've been praying and seeking guidance from lots of people, filling out applications for several different International Christian Schools and looking for jobs in the Wheaton area as well.  

Last week however, we received an email from the father of one of the girls that used to work at LeaderTreks with me.  He is the principal at El Camino Academy (ECA) in Bogota, Colombia.  We Skyped with them on Saturday and they really want us to come work there.  He would like me to fill the role of chaplain at the school, which is actually a position that they've been wanting to create for a while, but they just haven't had the right person to fill it.  This role would involve discipleship, teaching, leadership development and the implementation of a new discipleship program that I would create.  He has a vision for the teachers to all disciple one student and for the high school students to disciple middle school students, and for it to be an environment where real discipleship and growth takes place.  It sounds like the faculty and staff at this school are dreamers, which Lauren and I really love.  We don't ever want to stop dreaming about how God can use us!  This opportunity is something that has us very excited!  We would love to do this!  

They have invited Lauren and I (and Annie and Lincoln) to come down to visit at the beginning of April.  I would be teaching at a Middle School retreat for 2 days (3 sessions) and we would also have a few days to check out some places where most of the teachers live, look for possible housing, and just get a feel for what it would be like to live there.  

We have not made a decision yet about whether or not we will go in April, but it makes sense to take a "vision trip" to check things out and seek out confirmation from the Lord during our time there.  We need to make our decision and let them know about the April trip by this Friday (the 15th).  One huge obstacle is the cost.  The school can't pay for us to come down and flights are around $800/ticket, plus we would need to get Passports for Lauren and the kids (which we know we could get in 14 days or less).  The total cost would be a little over $2000.  

As we've been praying about this trip and seeking the Lord's will in the matter, I've had my doubts about whether or not we should go.  It seems like a lot of money to spend, just to go for a few days.  On the other hand, it would be extremely helpful for us to be able to do this.  Then, this morning I was reading in 2 Kings 4:1-7.  A woman loses her husband and the creditor is coming to take her 2 children to be his slaves.  She has nothing in her home but a jar of oil.  She brings the problem before Elisha and he instructs the woman to go to all her neighbors and borrow empty vessels from them.  She then begins to take the jar of oil that she has and fill all the empty vessels - a miracle from the Lord.  She was then able to sell the oil, pay off her debts and live with her children on the rest.  As I was thinking about this woman, going door to door and asking all her neighbors for these empty vessels, I wondered what the neighbors were thinking as they gave or lent these vessels to her.  I wonder because I often wonder what people think of me when I come before them with a need, asking them to help meet that need.  We don't know what her neighbors thought, but regardless, she had the faith to go and ask.  I feel that God is asking us to do a similar thing.    

While Lauren and I aren't worried about our children getting taken into slavery, we do have a need that I feel God wants us to bring before our neighbors, friends and family.  Many of you are monthly supporters of us already, and for that, we are so thankful!  We have tried to be faithful stewards of those gifts that have met our monthly needs to this day.  Our request now is that you would help us get to Colombia in April, so that we can see the place where (we hope) we will be serving for the next several years.  Would you be willing to give a special gift for this?  If so, you can make checks payable to LeaderTreks (for tax deduction purposes) or you could make them out to one (or both) of us.

Again, we need to give a response by Friday afternoon regarding whether or not we will come.  We will evaluate our financial situation Friday after the mail comes.  Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts ahead of time.  Lauren and I are so thankful for you all.  

For Him,

              

Robbie (and Lauren)