5 Months Away...!?!?!?

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!! Much has happened since our last post. We have definately noticed that God seems to open one door at a time. We cannot see the whole path in front of us, nor the entirety of where He will eventually lead; but He gives us enough confirmation and information to take each next step. Here are the highlights from the past few months:

• Northwest Church has agreed to act as our sending church, meaning they will support us spiritually, emotionally, and financially, as well as manage our funds. We should know by the end of January how much they will be able to help us financially. This is a HUGE answer to prayer, and we could not be more excited!

• We are pursuing training through Youth With a Mission (YWAM). They have a Discipleship Training School in Arua, Uganda that will prepare us spiritually, cross-culturally, and linguistically. Finding this training program has been another answer to prayer! The next DTS starts on June 9, 2010, so Lord willing, we will be there. We need to have our funding secured for the full three year committment in Kenya prior to leaving for training in Uganda, as we will not return to the United States between training and entering the mission field. We have two women praying about possibly accompanying us for the first 3 months of our training, to assist in homeschooling our kids while we take our own classes. Please pray that one of these women will be able to serve in this way.

• The Lord has blessed us with steady increases in our funding. We are at nearly 30% of our total needs for our time in training, and our three years in Kitale. We have a way to go to meet our funding goal prior to June 9. However, we are confident that if the Lord wants us there by then, it will all come together.

• The Paul Colman benefit concert is still a possibility. We have been emailing with Paul regularly. However, we have been unable to find a venue that will seat 1000+ people, that is available on one of the weekends in March that Paul is able to come. If you have any ideas for a venue, please let us know quickly!

• We are meeting with the Missions Committee at Highline Christian Church in early January. Jason's Dad serves as an elder there. Please pray that they will be able to assist us with some funding.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, pray for us, and encourage us along in this amazing adventure in faith!

Havin' Fun With the Lord!

We have been having so much fun watching the unique ways God has been working around us and for us as we prepare for our new life as missionaries in Kitale. Our most recent blessing came in the form of just plain ole' FUN!!

Third Day has been Amy's favorite band for a long time. (For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, this is where the email address "Mac Blaster" stems from, as their lead singer is Mac Powell.) Whenever they come to town, we try to go to their show with Amy's fellow groupie, Heather, and her husband, Paul. This year, Third Day was playing at the Puyallup Fair with Toby Mac. Because they got the Saturday night venue, the tickets were more expensive than usual. And because we are trying to save money for our mission, we decided to forego this time. This was a real sacrifice for Amy in particular, because it was very possibly the last time she would get to see Third Day with Heather before we leave for Kenya.

About a month before the show, Scott and Sam of Spirit 105.3 were giving away tickets on the radio. Amy called in and won 4 tickets in the 12th row!! Amy and Heather have a pact that any Third Day prizes get split 50/50. To the disappointment of the husbands, they decided to take their oldest boys, Ethan and Zachary.

Then, two weeks ago, Matt Case on Spirit 105.3 was giving away more tickets. Each day of the week, you could call in to get entered in a drawing for 5th row, 4th row, 3rd row, etc. Amy called in each day of the week, entered the drawing, and didn't win. By Thursday, apparently Matt Case was tired of talking to Amy every day, because he gave her two 2nd row tickets! So now, the husbands were going to join the fun (from the 12th row, of course, while Amy and Heather rocked out in row #2!).

Two days before the concert, Amy got a random call from Onnie at Spirit 105.3 saying, "Congratulations. We'd like you to have 4 back stage passes at the concert!" (Ethan secretly videotaped Amy calling Heather to tell her the news. That video will NEVER be shown in public.)

So, Jason and I started thinking, "How on earth could this happen? Maybe God has a plan for Jason and I to both be at the show for a reason? Or maybe He's just blessing us because He is so amazing and good." Jason's buddy Pete came up with the idea of putting our blog address on T-shirts and giving them to the Third Day guys and Toby Mac. Amy ran with that idea and quickly called up a friend who does silk screening.

Because we felt that God might be up to something here, Amy decided to take Jason backstage with her. Ethan was disappointed because Heather was taking Zachary backstage, and eating cotton candy with Zachary's Dad while the rest of us were backstage was not what Ethan was hoping for. But, he was very mature and decided to be grateful for getting to go to the show.

Before the show, we were at the Spirit booth getting our backstage passes. When Sarahann from Spirit realized that Ethan wasn't getting to go with us, she quickly spoke to her supervisor, Amy, and two more backstage passes appeared! All 6 of us got to go!!

When Ethan gave Toby Mac his T-shirt, Toby graciously bowed his head and prayed a blessing over our family and the work we will be doing in Kitale. How cool and fun is that ?!?! Mac, Mark, David, and Tai from Third Day also now have T-shirts with our blog address. We don't know if they will ever look at this blog (but if you are reading it now, Guys, THANKS for taking the time!!), or if anything else will come of our brief meeting with these talented artists, but we are so thankful for the blessing of getting to meet them and see them play one last time before our new life begins!

Oh, and one more thing, we let the boys have the 2nd row for the Toby Mac portion of the show. Afterwards, Amy asked Ethan, "What did you think of Toby Mac from the 2nd row?" and he replied, "WHAT?!?!?" So she asked again, and he replied, "WHAT?!?!?!" Amy momentarily panicked, thinking he had lost his hearing. Then he removed his earplugs, and asked again, "What did you say, Mom?" Whew.

Sleepless in Seattle

Amy doesn't usually sleep well. As soon as she lays down, her body shuts off, but her brain keeps going. Sometimes this can be the source of much frustration, as she tries to sleep, but can't stop planning, organizing, worrying, thinking. But other times, the quiet darkness brings inspiration. It's not uncommon for her to wake up with an unusual or creative idea. We sometimes have to ask ourselves, is this a "crazy Amy" idea, or a prompting from the Holy Spirit?

Last week was no exception. With fund-raising on the brain, Amy woke up having had a dream that Paul Colman was going to do a benefit concert to help us raise money for our mission in Kitale. She told Jason and got a really good belly laugh response.

And then she started thinking, "What if...?" So crazy Amy went to Paul Colman's website and got the email address of Karl, Paul's contact for bookings. Feeling a little foolish to even dream of such things, Amy emailed Karl and waited.

She didn't have to wait long, for the very next day she got an email back from Karl saying, "I have forwarded your request to Paul and he will contact you directly."

What?!?! Before we knew it, we were actually waiting for a personal email from the very talented Paul Colman! A few days later, it came. And here it is, cut and pasted, straight from Paul: Sounds awesome. Love it!! I would love to be a part of this.

Wow. So, crazy Amy, or Holy Spirit? "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21.

We have emailed Paul with some questions to help us get started in the planning of this very cool fundraising event. Please keep us and Paul in your prayers as we try to iron out the details to make it happen. We are having so much fun watching God work and waiting to see what He will do next. We are ever humbled and amazed at how the very Creator of the universe is revealing Himself to us in tangible ways as we take our baby steps of faith to join Him in His work.

Blessed...

I have just finished picking my jaw up from my lap and reattaching it to my face. Let me back up...

Last night's Harambe was awesome.

The church was transformed, by my marvelous decorating committee, into a beautiful display of Kenyan art and beautiful faces (Thank you Heather, Diane, and Becky!).

The food was hand-prepared by wonderful Kenyan friends (Thank you Violet and Company!).

The dinner was served by LakeStreet Catering (please hire them for your next event, you will not be sorry!).

Special words and prayers were offered by Grandpa Owen, Thomas Kotieno (all the way from Kisumu, Kenya!), and Larry Wu.

Spoons were auctioned off to those not ready to eat the Kenyan way.

Funny bones were tickled by the master auctioneer, William Lawrence.

And hopefully, God's word was spoken and hearts were touched, because that is our primary mission.

People have asked us all day if the Harambe was successful. Through this event, we have experienced the Labor of Love of friends who have given their time and business services in MAJOR ways to help us. We have seen the sacrifice of many who have "let go" of some special treasures in order to show their support. We were touched by the number of family and friends who encouraged us by attending, especially those who put aside their own needs to be there for us. We have witnessed the generosity of friends who purchased our personal artwork (Amy's quilts and Jason's watercolors), one of which was then handed over to our parents as a gift so it could stay in the family. We have received help from people we don't even know, such as Carol from Fabric of Life Boutique in Edmonds, who gave us many beautifully handcrafted items on consignment to take to the auction. We have been completely covered in prayer by some special "prayer warriors". These are just a few of the ways we have been blessed. So yes, I would say it was a success.

And then the numbers came in.

And my jaw dropped.

And I had to reattach it before I could post this blog.

According to our amazingly efficient accountant at church, we netted $15, 322 towards our start up costs. Did you catch all FIVE of those digits?? Wow. God is SO good, and we deeply appreciate those of you who have funneled some of His resources our direction. We pray that you will experience the felt joy of His love and His provision through your sacrificial giving.

Plans in Motion

I don't want to go one more day...without Your all-consuming passion inside of
me. I don't want to spend my whole life asking, "What if I had given
everything...instead of going through the motions?" -Matthew West

After much prayer and communication with Shawn and Linda Tyler, we feel that God is calling us to work at the Kitale Church of Christ Children's Home and Bahati Primary School in Kitale, Kenya. Our hope is to leave by summer of 2010. We are in the process of outlining our mission plan, learning Swahili, and fund-raising.
We kicked off our official fund-raising efforts with a garage sale last weekend. We raised $2200, enough for at least one more plane ticket! Even more importantly, the sale was a huge success in helping us to begin the process of "letting go" of all the STUFF that has tied us to our comfortable lives here in the United States. It also raised awareness among friends and family members of our intent to move to Kenya. The support and encouragement we received throughout the process of collecting donations, organizing, pricing, setting up, selling, and cleaning up the aftermath was overwhelming and humbling. THANK YOU to all who participated!

Open Doors?

Jason called from Kitale, Kenya this morning, more excited and emotional than I've perhaps ever heard him. He started with, "What a day!" He went on to tell me about his meeting with Shawn Tyler, a missionary who started an orphanage/school in Kitale a number of years ago. Shawn is currently living in Mbale, Uganda, about two hours away from Kitale. He travels to Kitale once a month to check on the facility and oversee the program from a distance. Over time, without a designated leadership to manage the facility full-time, the facility and program has fallen into disrepair, and is in need of solid management. Shawn's prayer has been for a missionary family to come to Kitale to live at the orphanage and oversee the program from a more hands-on perspective. Apparently he has already raised funds to build a new residence on the property to house said missionary family....and he has asked Jason to design the house!

If we were to move there, our roles might include overseeing the finances and staff, loving and counseling the children, grounds and building maintenance, upkeep of the gardens and animals that feed the children, and possibly some teaching. Could it be more suited to our skills and interests??

Jason said he felt a total peace about the area, and the possibility of taking our children there. It is lush, peaceful, more country than city, and home to 40 children who have been robbed of their parents. The property houses a main building for staff, school building, dormitory, fertile land for planting, a milk cow, goats and chickens. Perhaps best of all, it is also the home of one of our CRF sponsor children, Ian Emmanuel, who is nearly three years old, and spent the day holding Jason's hand and snuggling in his lap.

Jason will spend a bit more time with Shawn tomorrow attempting to outline the needs and goals for the program. He also has other areas to visit in the next week, and more people to meet with; however, at this point he is feeling very strongly that this may be our future home. Please continue to pray with us for discernment of God's plan and purpose for our family.

WANTED: Your Prayers!!

It's hard to believe that Jason leaves two weeks from tomorrow (July 1) for Kenya again. (It's even harder to believe he's going without me!) There are so many areas we need to cover in prayer, we are soliciting as many prayers as any of you are willing and able to offer up on our behalf.

Specific needs:

• safe and healthy travel for all the Washingtonians and Texans going on this adventure;
• that Jason's schedule will work out smoothly (things often don't go as planned in Africa!), and that he will be able to find transportation to and lodging in all the places he will be visiting solo to investigate further for our family;
• that Jason will have the opportunity to meet with all the people he is hoping to meet with: Francis Bii in Eldoret; Jared Odhiambo in Kisumu; Shawn Tyler in Kitale; and Tim Talley in Malindi. And that the meetings will be insightful and fruitful in helping us determine God's plan for our family;
• that Jason will find inexpensive ways of communicating regularly with us here back at home;
• that Amy and the kids will fare well without Daddy for two weeks.

Jason will return on July 15, with hopefully enough information for us to begin deciphering God's plan for our family as it pertains to Kenya.
SIMPLIFY AND SAVE
We are planning some big summer events to kick-off our "Simplify and Save" plan. We hope you are able to attend either or both.
On Saturday, July 25, we will be having a big garage sale at Northwest Church. If you can help with the garage sale (in the days before or during), please let Amy know. Also, if you have any gently used items to donate, please let us know and we will arrange to pick them up and take them off your hands! Remember, one person's junk is another person's treasure, so we hope to see you at the sale!
On Saturday, August 29, we will be hosting the BEAF Harambee at the Northwest Church! "Harambee" is Swahili for "Let's Pull Together", which in Kenya really means, "Please help us. We need your money." This will be a fun evening of Kenyan culture, food and music. We plan to present a short slide show of Jason's trip and share God's plan for our family (thus, we really need Him to reveal that plan soon!). We will end the evening with a sale of Kenyan jewelry and other small wares, and an auction of some of our finer things, including some original quilts by Amy and watercolor paintings by Jason. If you can help with the Harambee, or have special items to donate for the auction, please let us know as soon as possible. More info to come on this event.
THANK YOU for your prayers as we move into the next phase of the Beagle's Epic Adventures in Faith!

God Equips Those He Calls

Jason and I spent a good portion of the weekend at a conference at Seattle Pacific University on Microfinance. Microfinance is one way to enable poor people in developing countries to start lifting themselves out of poverty, by providing small, short-term loans that they can use to begin building an income-generating business. When the loan is repayed, it is either returned to the lender, or re-invested in another entrepeneurial borrower. Every system has it's pitfalls, but the benefits of MF are really starting to show themselves in the lives of many who have participated in these types of programs.

Skip Li, the founder of Agros International, spoke at the conference. Perhaps one of my favorite pearls of wisdom that he passed on, was that when people get involved in helping the poor, the distinction between "giver" and "receiver" eventually becomes blurred. In America, we think of ourselves as the "givers". But truly, when we connect with people who have such joy and thankfulness in the midst of their struggle to simply survive, we become the "receivers" as their joy and thankfulness changes our hearts for the better. We get excited when we watch them succeed. We are internally satisfied when we watch our dollars change a life, rather than get swallowed with a fast-food meal.

MF is an area Jason and I are drawn to, because of it's potential for helping the poor long-term, and because of it's sustainability. Somewhere I read a quote from Bono regarding MF. I may not have the wording exactly right, but you'll get the idea:

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a woman a micro-loan and
she, her husband, her children, and her extended family will eat for a
lifetime."

So, MF is an area we are trying to learn more about. We feel this may be part of God's calling as we think about moving to Kenya. But Jason is an architect. Amy is a speech therapist. Neither of us has background in financial training. In fact, we are just now making progress at sticking to our monthly family budget after 13 years of marriage! So we wonder...how can God use us in the area of MF? Someone reminded us of several Bible stories that show that "God doesn't always call the equipped, but He does equip those He calls." Hebrews 13:20-21 promises,

"And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He
produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to
Him."

So if God can raise Jesus from the dead, can He not allow Jason and I the opportunities and brain power to learn how to work in the area of MF? If this is His call for us, we have complete confidence that He will equip us.

If you want to have a first hand look at the power of MF in action, I recommend visiting the
website: kiva.org. KIVA is an on-line non-profit agency where you can review profiles of thousands of entrepeneurial borrowers around the globe, choose someone who you relate to on a personal level, then loan them as little as $25 towards their business. Over time, you can watch on-line the direct impact that your sacrifice of one fast-food meal has on that
person's life. One of the co-founders of KIVA, Matt Flannery, also spoke at the conference. He is a 20-something year old "kid" with an amazing passion for helping the poor. His passion is catching and people all over the world are battling a new addiction of helping others!

Praise God!

Faith as Your Shield

Whew! When you decide to seek God's will for your life--be prepared!! The Bible isn't joking when it warns, "Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him and be strong in your faith." (I Peter 5:8-9).

It seems that ever since saying, "Yes!" to God, Jason and I have been saying, "No!" to each other. We have gone through several weeks of not communicating very well, leading to all kinds of tension in our household and in our marriage.

But take heart, for God is faithful! He has shown us that the attacks will come as an attempt to distract us away from doing His will and building His kingdom. But He also promises that during the attacks, He will protect and provide. "A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the the devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms....In every battle, you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by [naughty, mean, fierce] Satan." (Ephesians 6:10-12, 16) [italicized insert added by Ellie]

Not only have Jason and I begun to communicate better, but we have become aware and starting working out some differences of opinion that will help us to be more effective in our ministries. So we have experienced God's promise that "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." (Romans 8:28) So take that, you naughty, mean, fierce Satan! Ha!

...He is able to accomplish infinitely more...

When one embarks on a prayer vigil about a decision of such magnitude, many questions, doubts, and fears come to mind. The most recent one for us has been questioning, "What in the world could God possibly use us for, that would warrant the financial outpouring necessary to send our family to Kenya??" It is extremely humbling to feel called by God to do something that you know is totally beyond you: beyond your means, your planning, and your control.

Thank God for His word! I Corinthians 4:20 reminds us that, "the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk. It is living by God's power." How do we live by God's power? Galations 5:22 and 23 tell us, "When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. here there is no conflict with the law." The fruit of the Spirit is not the love we have for those easy to love, nor the joy we have when all is right in the world. It is not having peace when we are comfortable, or patience when we have time. The fruit Paul speaks of is the supernatural outpouring of God's power when our external circumstances warrant anything but love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

We do not know God's specific plan for our family, and what of His work He will call us to join. We do, however, claim Paul's words in Ephesians 3:14-21: "When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May He be given the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages."

Amen!

God's Call Revealed

We are writing to share the encouraging work the Lord has been doing in our family, and to ask for your prayers and support as we step out in obedience to His call.

Two years ago, we heard about Northwest Church's first mission trip to Kenya, led by Milton and Barbie Jones. Amy, who had dreamed of serving in Africa for as long as she could remember, asked Jason if she could go. His response was, “Honey, this just isn’t the time.” Rather than her usual tactic of nagging, Amy kept her mouth shut and prayed. Over the next two weeks, Amy continued to get what she believed were confirmations from God that she would be going on the trip. However, she did not mention any of these to Jason. Instead, she kept praying that if God wanted her to go, He would change Jason’s heart. About two weeks after the beginning of her prayer vigil, Jason called Amy from work and said, “I don’t know why, but I feel like you are supposed to go on this Africa trip.” Wow.

The next “obstacles” were money and Amy’s anxiety over telling her parents. We had no extra money to put towards this trip. In addition, Amy was worried that her parents would be rightly concerned about her safety, how we would pay for the trip, and who would take care of the kids while she was away. Another confirmation was seen when Amy’s parents not only offered to take the kids while she was gone, but also paid for half of her trip! The rest of Amy’s trip money was raised within several more weeks by selling household items on Craigslist, and through other family and friends who donated funds. Wow.

After tickets were purchased, Amy was at a planning meeting for the trip. Jason stopped by the meeting after work to pick up the kids. He quickly became engaged in a conversation the group was having about building issues at the Ring Road Orphan Day School. Someone in the group asked why Jason wasn’t going on the trip. He didn’t know how to answer. After the meeting, Amy asked Jason if he would consider going. His response was, “Even if I had the money and the time, I don’t think that is what I would do with it.” So Amy began her next prayer vigil (seeing as the first one had worked out so well!). A few days later, Jason said, “I don’t know why, but I feel like maybe I am supposed to go on this trip with you. Will you call the travel agent?” Amy called and all four flights Jason needed to be on were booked solid. For the next two weeks, we prayed that if Jason was supposed to go on this trip, he would get the needed seats on the various flights we were to take. After two weeks, the travel agent called us back and said she had reserved seats on all the flights for Jason… “Did we want to book his ticket?” Again, we did not know how we would pay for Jason’s trip, but this seemed like a clear sign from God that he was supposed to go. So, in faith, we booked the trip. Two days later, Jason got an unexpected bonus at work for $5000. Wow.

We knew, heading into that trip, that God had a plan and a purpose for both of us to be in Kenya that summer. We didn’t know why, and still didn’t even after the trip was over. We’d had a wonderful time, made many new friends, but didn’t feel like we had contributed anything special that someone else didn’t also bring to the group. We did, however, have a middle-of-the-night conversation one night in Kenya, where we decided that if God ever called our family to move to Kenya, we would go.

In hind sight, it is clear to us that God used that trip to develop a passion in Jason for the orphans in Africa. God brought us together in unity and purpose, in preparation for His future calling. Admittedly, our desire to be obedient to God’s calling was quickly clouded by our return to the United States and our quest for the perfect American life. God would periodically remind us of our passion for Africa, but it was easily ignored in favor of our comfortable lives… until one Sunday morning, nearly a year later. Jeff Berryman asked us to write down on a slip of paper the one thing that was keeping us from following Jesus. After symbolically crumpling up the paper and throwing it away, Jason and I shared what we had each written. Without discussion, we had each chosen the exact same two words to throw away: Comfortable Living.

God continued to work on us in subtle ways about Africa, but we actively fought it--sometimes to the point of straight out rebellion (“No God, we really need this new car instead.”). Then Amy attended the Women’s Seminar at church about a month ago with Lysa TerKeurst. Lysa shared her experience of saying “yes” to God in the most unlikely of situations. Throughout the seminar, Amy was convicted by the Holy Spirit that she needed to say “yes, Lord”, even if it meant selling everything and moving her whole family to Africa. After the seminar, William Lawrence approached Amy and asked if she was going to adopt a couple of kids from Africa (that’s what Lysa had said “yes, Lord” to). Amy thought to herself, “No, it’s much worse than that. Bringing a couple African kids home to my cushy house would be too easy. God is calling us to step out in a much bigger demonstration of faith.” Amy raced home, excited and sick to her stomach about telling Jason what she felt they needed to say “yes, Lord” to. Jason’s simple reply was, “I’ve been feeling the same way.” Wow.

That day, we started a new faith journey that began with those two simple words, “yes, Lord”. In four short weeks, God has confirmed time and time again that when we obey His call, He will work in God-sized ways. Immediately after praying and pledging to follow God’s call for our family, wherever it may lead us, doors began opening towards Africa. Confirming scriptures about caring for orphans have come up in our Bible study with the kids. Inspiring sermons have been preached about Feeding the hungry, being Empowered by the Holy Spirit, and allowing God to Send us out. Worship songs have been sung about standing beside the broken, being filled up, and sent out. Prayers have been answered in much bigger ways than we’ve even hoped for. We and our children are truly experiencing the ways in which God speaks to us when we finally open our ears to His calling.

A week and a half ago, someone approached us at church and gave us $1500 “to send one of us to Kenya to further discern God’s plan for our family”. Wow. So when Jeff asked last Sunday, “Where is the one place you would want someone to send you?”, we had already answered that question: Kenya!

We prayed that our tax refund would be big enough to cover the rest of Jason’s costs to Kenya. The next day, we got news that our refund would cover the remainder of Jason’s trip, pay off our credit card, AND leave us with about $3000 more to start our BEAF (that would be the Beagle Epic Adventure Fund). Wow. It all started with a simple, “yes, Lord.”

Forgive us for being so lengthy in our testimony…but we are excited and there is much to tell! Sometimes we feel that what God is asking us to do is so big. Too big, in fact. But we are learning that all we have to do is take one tiny step towards Him by saying, “yes, Lord”, and He rushes to meet us the rest of the way.

We don’t know the details of this journey. We are praying for God to reveal the where, what, when and how’s of His calling. We are working with the Northwest Africa Ministry Team and Christian Relief Fund to try and discern where God might have us go, and what exactly He would have us do when we get there. Jason is arranging meetings with both Francis Bii in Eldoret and Jared Odhiambo in Kisumu when he is in Kenya this July. Some potential projects suggested by the Africa Ministry Team include:

• Overseeing a new microloan program in one or both sites,
• Expanding the new bulk-buying food program in Eldoret,
• Overseeing child sponsorships through CRF,
• Bringing water to the slums in one or both sites,
• Helping to rebuild Mt. Elgon facilities near Eldoret,
• Teaching in the Ring Road School or the Milton Jones Eagles Academy,
• Starting a library in one or both sites.

We were reminded by Jeff on Sunday, that aside from whatever physical tasks we may try and accomplish in Africa, our true mission is to know and share with others the deep love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

While we feel God is calling us to physically and spiritually serve the orphans in Africa, we do not selfishly “own” this call for just ourselves. We believe that God is calling our entire spiritual family to say “yes” to our true mission, in Seattle, Africa, and around the world. We may physically move to Kenya, but we are part of the Northwest Family and the family of God. It is our prayer that others in our family will respond to His call, in the unique ways He is calling each of you to participate in His true mission.

We are asking you to pray with us over the details of this mission:

• Where is God leading us to live and serve?·
• What does God want us to accomplish while we are there, both spiritually and physically?
• When does God want us to leave, and how long should our initial commitment be for?·
• How will God provide the financial resources for us to go?
  
  We will continue to share with you as God reveals His purpose and calling to us. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we step out in this Epic Adventure of Faith!