New Year
After our last update, our family was able to enjoy a bit of a break for a few weeks. It is often difficult to book meetings in December, but we are thankfrul that we were able to enjoy time with family in Iowa and Kansas. We are very grateful that God has given us this time with family prior to leaving for the field.
Our kids have enjoyed the cold weather, as you can see!
In January, we have been back on the road with a pretty full schedule. We were able to present at Temple Baptist Church in Omaha, NE, and we had a great time with Pastor Witt and his family. The following week we were in Dover, Delaware, at Maranatha Baptist Church. This was the first time any of us had been to Delaware! We enjoyed our time there with Pastor Wager and the church family. After that, we were able to present at Faith Baptist Church in Carroll, IA. We got to catch up with some old friends and felt very loved and cared for by everyone. We are always so encouraged when a church seems to really engage with our ministry and get excited about what is happening in the UK. This was the case with each of these churches!
We have a couple praises to share with you all this month. First of all, we have been asking for prayer over the past several months that we would hear back from the UK government regarding our kids’ applications for British Citizenship. We just got an email a few days ago asking us to set up biometric testing for them. This means that they have received everything and are in the process of processing it, so that is a huge praise! Please keep praying that we will hear back in favor of their citizenship, so that we can apply for their British passports. The second praise is that we were advised by missionaries on the field as well as Baptist Mid Missions that we should consider raising our support estimate due to inflation. Inflation in the UK is almost twice as high as in the US and the cost of living has risen sharply since we created our estimate a couple of years ago. We decided to raise it, but God has already provided the support to make up the difference. So we are still at 88%, but that does include our increased estimate!
Coming up on the horizon, we have an opportunity to minister to about 40 college students who share some interest in foreign missions. Pray that we are able to share our burden effectively, and that God may work in some of their hearts towards full time service. We also have meetings coming up in Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina. Pray for our safety traveling, and especially for our commissioning service and Tim’s ordination, which will be in March. We are so grateful for all of your prayers and love for our family.
