Here and Now, There and Later.

Did you know that the average couple raising support to move to the mission field takes 18 months?

Jordan and I were trying to raise support and move to France in 6 months. It was ambitious, but we knew that God was able. He still is able. It's evident that He is continuing to open the door for us to go to France, but it's also evident that we won't be moving there in June, as we had originally hoped. God's plans are better than ours though, so we will continue to share our story with people and trust Him to bring more partners for His ministry in Aix-les-Bains.  

Off and on over the last few weeks, I have felt a little discouraged. It feels like we've been at 37% of our monthly support goal for a long time (though that's not true). After our long trip of focused support-raising where we met several new people and reconnected with a lot of old friends and many family members, we returned to PA exhausted and didn't know what to do next. Who else can we talk to? What else do we say?

We were informed by a church that the support they'd verbally committed to us several months ago was under the contingent that we have a departure date.  But to have a departure date we have to have the money; it's a catch 22.  To us, this says that the church hesitates to commit because they are unsure of if we'll actually make it. But it's not a matter of IF we move to France, it's a matter of WHEN.  Our fear is that there are individuals who believe this, too.  Pray with us that we would be content with God's timing and not our own.

Last Friday (May 11), I cried out to God, "Lord, encourage me today. Remind me of Your purpose, not my own.  Show us Your power.  Move in peoples' hearts to partner with us generously and whole-heartedly...God, provide a miracle. Move us to France."  Ten minutes after closing my journal, Jordan ran up the stairs with his computer staring at our support account.  $1000 had been added to our account (from several different people - some of which we don't even know)! "Thank You, Lord. That is the encouragement we needed!"

This week we saw another generous donation from a couple who continues to give and give and give, above and beyond what we'd ever anticipated.  We have been blessed, and we praise God for these partners in ministry!

And then we received an email that reminded us that God is using us to minister to people now:

"...I just get so amazed (even though I know I shouldn't) when God is so evident in things!  I still think about that morning when I thought about missionaries to Europe (or at least that part of the world) wondering why we never hear about people going there...then low and behold y'all show up at our small group lol!! 

Thank you so much for praying over [my husband] the way you did.  [He] had a physical that next week that I had made b/c of his aches and pains but when we sat down with the doctor [he] told him that you had prayed over him and he has not hurt since....and to this day he has not complained about his elbow, knees, neck, back...nothing!  Praise God for not only answering your prayer but for sending you when he did and you hearing him!"

I share this email and the news about our generous ministry partners so that you will join us in praising God.  I do not share this for our glory, or for the glory of those I'm writing about, but for God's glory and His alone!

Sometimes this process of support raising feels like a waiting game.  When will we have enough support to go to pre-field training?  When will we have enough support to move to France?  When will we move?  When will we learn French and start ministry?  We wait and wait and wait.  But we were reminded that God has us exactly where He wants us;  He is using us here and now...and we trust that He will also use us there and later.

"I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful.  I know it with all my heart."  - Psalm 139:14 GNT


If you would like to join us in the ministry that God has us doing now, please follow the instructions here.

Sowing Seeds of Peace

Hosea 10:12

"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers righteousness on you."

If you're like me, when you see a big project, you sometimes sit paralyzed, wondering where to start.  When my room is a mess, and it needs to be cleaned, the hardest part for me is starting.  When it comes to sharing our faith, we sometimes feel like it's a big project.  We don't know where or how to start: so we don't.

What if, today, we can just sow a seed of peace?  Sharing our faith doesn't always involve long, deep, intellectual conversations or brilliant thought-provoking questions.  Sometimes our job is just to sow the seed.

"Plant a word of love heartdeep in a person's life.  Nurture it with a smile and a prayer, and watch what happens.  An employee gets a compliment.  A wife received a bouquet of flowers.  A cake is baked and carried next door.  A widow is hugged.  A gas-station attendant is honored.  A preacher is praised. ("Grace for the Moment", Max Lucado).

Take a small step of love.  Plant a seed of peace today.

The Month [of April] in Review...



A week in Nashville with Jared and Stasi!



We spent time with their small group -
sharing about Europe and the vision for Aix-les Bains,
and serving with them on a Both Hands project....

A quick trip to Murfreesboro, TN to hang out with Emily,
a friend from Muncy High School...



...and the Godbey family, in the same support-raising process as us,
planning to move to Ireland with GEM.
(To learn more of their story, click here.)



Back to Knoxville to celebrate Trevor's birthday...



...A stop in Asheville, NC for lunch with Allie, a YoungLife friend from Penn State...



...A visit with Amanda in Charlotte, NC...
(She works with GEM's mobilization department.)

  The Chin family was so kind and generous to let us stay with them for the night!

(It was truly a gift - we had never even met them!  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture.) 

Their hospitality allowed us to see more people in the Charlotte area than we had originally anticipated.  

....A coffee date with Kristen, a friend from Williamsport....



...And we can't forget our visit with Aaron, as mentioned in our previous post...

Our stop in Charlotte, NC was brief, but we made up for it in Raleigh, NC where we spent  

nearly 2 weeks (thanks to my sister, Erin, and my aunt and uncle)!

...Sister time....
(It's hard to believe she's lived in Raleigh for a year!)

 

....Cousin time....
(We taught the kids how to play croquet!)



...Lars, Connie, Luke, and Hannah blessed us abundantly...

...And the kids really love Jordan...
(Who doesn't?!)

We also shared at 4 Bible studies/small groups and met with other friends in the Raleigh area , too...

...Dinner with Emile (from Penn State) and her fiance, Aaron...

...Lunch with the Johnsons,
who are also raising support to move to Germany with GEM...

...An afternoon with Steph, one of my first friends at BCCS...

...And an afternoon and evening with the Wilkinson's...
(Shayne is another YoungLife friend from Penn State;
he and Suzanne opened the door for us to share with their small group,
and they also introduced us to another couple raising support to
move to the South Pacific to translate the Bible!)

We can't forget our evening with the Todd family in MD (who we forgot to take a photo with!) - another family we'd never met, yet they opened their home and shared a meal with us while we shared about France and heard about their experiences there, too!

After 8 whole weeks on the road, we are grateful to be back in PA.
We praise God for His provision, His faithfulness, for new ministry partners, safety in our travels, and Divine appointments!

God is Sovereign

Over the past few weeks God has really been reminding me of His sovereignty.  As I'm reading Scripture, the same theme has been in my mind: "He holds it all."

We went to Vintage 21 Church in Raleigh, and we heard about sovereignty and providence.  In simplicity: (1) God is sovereign: He is all-powerful, and He does whatever He wants to do in our lives whenever He wants to do it (and nothing can stop Him), and (2) God provides: He is graceful and gives us what we need (and sometimes even more).

Yesterday, we went to another Church (Church of the Apostles in Raleigh) and we heard about the Kingdom of God.  Again, we were reminded that God is sovereign.

Mark 4:26-29 - The Parable of the Growing Seed

He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like.  A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

Our job is to sow the seed.  God grows the seed. 

We can have peace in our lives, not because of what is happening (the circumstances), but because God is in control.  Nothing can happen that is outside of God's control.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  If God provides for even a sparrow, will He not care for us, His sons and daughters?

Here's the application for me: God will work out perfect timing in our lives.  "If" and "when" we move to France is in His hands.  We still have to do our part, but we don't have to worry about it.

Here's a great song that goes with this post:

"You Hold it All" - Desperation Band

>Jordan

We are all Laborers

A year ago this week, I was in Lisboa (Lisbon), Portugal.

I think the reason I started thinking about Portugal was because I got to see one of my friends from that trip this week.  Aaron and I had a one-year reunion of sorts over brunch in South Carolina - wish the others could have been there, too! :) 



Lord willing, someday we will live in neighboring European countries!

Last year at this time, I was enjoying the warm weather, warm culture, and beautiful people and country of Portugal.  Jordan was watching the snow and working many hours in preparation for the 8+ Easter services that would soon take place at Woodmen Valley Chapel where 12,000+ people would attend.

I was learning to teach English and share the Gospel with a Catholic nation.  [If you are Portuguese, you are Catholic; you can't be one without the other.]  I continued to wrestle with the idea of making disciples and doing Church like the book of Acts while knowing my husband was working hard for a big production.  

  

Some of my students learning the parts of the body - so fun!

To learn more about what our team was doing/learning in Portugal,
you can click here for the blog we kept during those 10 days.

During the Sunday service there, I remember watching one of the missionaries lead worship and thinking, Jordan and I could do this.  Then the pastor began to preach.  I can't remember the exact message, but I do remember him speaking to the small Portuguese congregation and saying something along the lines of:  All followers of Jesus are disciples, not just a select few.  Why are these Americans and Canadians here?  This is our country.  Yes, we need people to come and work here, some of them for 30 years, but we need to take responsibility and share Jesus, too.

This is the lifestyle that Jordan and I want to live.  We are no different than you - working as a teacher, a truck driver, an accountant, a mom, an executive assistant.  We are striving to make disciples of Jesus who will make other disciples...it doesn't matter what context we are in.

Luke 10:2  "And he said to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'"

Are you living like a laborer for His harvest?  It's something I need to put in front of myself daily.



21 Days of Prayer to Change a Nation

Interested in going on a 21-day prayer journey for France with us?

We have been challenged in our prayer lives over the past few weeks.  We want to pray consistently and expectantly.  Would you join us in praying for France?

We just received an email with an opportunity to pray for France for 21 days with over 1,000 other people.  To join us, register at http://www.prayforfrance.org/ and you will receive a prayer guide that helps direct you in praying each day.  It's just one page for each day.  We would love to know you're praying with us--email us (jordankegli@gmail.com).

Their website: http://www.prayforfrance.org/

Their facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prayforfrance

Their twitter page: https://twitter.com/#!/prayforfrance

The Month [of March] in Review...

A week in Pennsdale, PA with the Eglis...

A celebration of Cohen's 1 year of life....
(It really was a celebration.  Promise.)

Our first ice cream of the season....

The Inner Harbor in Baltimore with Jared and dinner with the Horsts and Bauers....
(we hate when we forget to take pictures with people!)

Cheering on the Hershey Bears and attending The Refuge....
(Praise God for the partnership with this new church plant in Harrisburg, PA!)

Catching up with friends from ACF/Penn State in Philadelphia...

Rejoicing in the marriage of our friends, Vanessa and Andrew, in Long Island, NY....

Quality time with a dear friend, Steph, who is making disciples in Côte d'Ivoire....
(After a year and a half of ministry in Africa, it was SO good to see her face-to-face
and share about our excitement and challenges in ministry - in French speaking countries!
We praise God for our friendship and His working in our lives!)

Our first experience of the famouse Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C.....

While in the Washington, D.C. area we were busy! 

It was encouraging to see how God is working in the lives of our friends, 

and we praise Him for the way He's moving in this region of the country!    







We are grateful for the opportunity to see so many people and

 rejoice at how He is using some of them to partner with us in France!

 Now we are in Knoxville, TN visiting Trevor and Meagan. 

 Being here has allowed us time to rest, study French, and catch up with a few others.



  Visiting the Smokies....
(Rockies, you'll never come close to the vibrant greens of the Smokies, but we may like you best.)

A true southern Easter service with our friends Jenn (from Colorado!) and Brian....

Easter dinner with Big Mike....
(OK, so he's Trevor's friend, but we'll claim him as our own anyways.)

Tomorrow we will drive to Nashville, TN to visit Jared and Stasi. 

We hope to have many opened doors to share with people how God is leading us to France,

what the spiritual state of Europe is, and how they can be a part of this ministry.

God is good.