Paul's Missionary Journeys

I have been reading a book detailing the journeys of Paul from his conversion experience through the end of his ministry.  As a missionary with a young, developing ministry it is encouraging to see the way that his ministry developed and grew in complexity over the course of several years.  It is so easy to get caught up in the story when reading Acts and think that he did all of his work in a short amount of time.  When we read the accounts of Pauls missionary journeys in the various books of the New Testament you recognize the enormity of the task Paul was given, but you do not recognize the time that was required to complete this task.  He spent several years preparing, and then several more years during his missionary journeys.  Between his journeys, he spent several years planning/praying/growing. 

Paul was a rabbi that was very well trained in Old Testament theology and he also had a profound understanding of the people groups in the different regions in Asia Minor and Europe, be it Jews, Gentiles, Romans, or others.  He recognized that there were culturally relevant ways that each group would have to be taught to acurately understand the message he was bringing to them.  Studying the different strategies he used and why he used them has helped me tremendously to prepare the work in Honduras.  You see we live among three distinctly different people groups, the Miskito Indians, the Ladino's, and the Garifuna, a African tribal culture.  Paul recognized cultural issues with each group he came into contact with and used those issues to teach the message of Christ.  We too have to learn the cultural issues that are a hinderance/door to sharing the gospel with the individual groups we work amongst.  Please pray for us to recognize these barriers and doorways so that we may better teach the gospel in our region of the world. 

The task at hand here is truly enormous, but the reward is even greater.  We recognize that the time required to effectively reach the Rio Platano Biosphere Region is a long commitment, but with your prayers and Paul's church planting manual-The Bible, we know that no matter the size of the task, it is possible.

"I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me" Phillipians 4:13

Ryan

Seasons are changing

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven...

Ecclesiastes 3:1

We have been so blessed with 6 months of beautiful weather.   The seasons are changing and I am finding more of God's beauty as the rain refreshes the jungles.   It seems like things are coming alive in front of our eyes.   It is such an amazing experience.   The colors are so vivid and the wild life so prevelaint that you can't help, but be in awe of God's creation.

The people here have so many fears related to animals, rain, and the land.   It breaks my heart that they are living in fear of something that is so magnificantly created.

God saw all that he had made, 

and it was very good.   

Genesis 1:31

Even the Christians we work with, when asked will admitt to still being in bondage to these fears and falsehoods.   They have not truly found their freedom in Christ.  My heart breaks for these people.   I pray that their eyes will be opened and their hearts opened to the truth!

As the season changes here and rainy season begins to settle in the lagoon in front of our house at times turns a bright red/orange color.   We have heard so many reasons for this that are so far from the truth.   The children are terrified of it.   They fear birdhouses because they could house a dwarf that steals the children.   Owls are feared as well.   It is so sad to live in a fear based culture where they can not enjoy the pleasant things that God has given us.

Please join me in praying for these people held in a bondange that only true faith in Christ can save them from.   Pray that those that already have the knowledge of Christ will come to completly understand what a relationship with Christ means. 

  

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?  

The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread?

When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,

My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear;

Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

For in the day of trouble, He will hide me in His tabernacle;

In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;

He will lift me up on a rock.

And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,

And I will offer in His tent sacrafices with shouts of joy;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me.

When You said "Seek My face," my heart said to You 

"Your face, O Lord, I shall seek." ...

Psalms 27: 1-8

Some changes and an update

Okay, I (Natalie) have mostly been posting here, but Ryan and I have decided that we both want to contribute.   So, we are going to start each post with our name, so you will know who is writing.   This is going to be fun.

So, I am going to start by being honest, what's new?   Things are rough!   Yes, I knew this was coming and no, I was still not ready for it.   Ryan and I were fussy with each other and had to regroup today and get on the same page.   It has been several of days that have just been crazy weird and wild.   We had a family lunch with my parents and brother scheduled, but it had to be rescheduled and now they have the flu :(.   We had family coming in for Ryan's ordination service, but got snow instead and everything was rescheduled.   We packed our bags and were quickly overweight...onto plan b.  We sold our vehicles and had nothing to drive, Mari-Madeline had some weird virus.   You see what I mean, just a crazy week.   As, I sit here looking at it all, I can also see God at work.

Blessings during this all, I got to see a friends baby for the first time...what a gift from God.   A friend volunteered to drive us to Atlanta so we can fly out.   We sold our cars, and everything else we needed to sell.   We got to see one last snow.  More of Ryan's family is able to come to his ordination service.  We are learning what is really important when we pack.  We have our health.   This week I have learned to accept help from friends.   I am learning to let God be in control all the time!

So, even though it was a rough week, God was always there.  

We will be leaving Columbia on Tuesday February 15 and heading to Atlanta, we will overnight there and fly out early the next morning.  We have a layover in Florida and will get to Honduras just after lunch.   We will travel the rest of that day and overnight in a city.  On Thursday we finish our travel and get to our new home.

I will try and upload some pictures and update in Honduras.

The countdown begins

I am so excited. It seems like just a few days ago I was fearful and weary, but God has taken those things from me and replaced them with excitement and peace. God is good like that. We have been so blessed and humbled by the love and support of everyone. God has been doing some amazing things in our family and I just want to share some of it with you.

Each child has had their own moment of frustration and fear of the upcoming move. Each one's has manifested in a way unique to the child. A few weeks ago Mari-Madeline was upset and Walker was comforting her and this was all he said "Mar, we have to trust mom and dad, because dad knows what God wants for our family." This settled her and she was fine after that. I was brought to tears and felt God wrapping me in His arms and saying I have taken care of it all, trust me. I fully trust God and to see my son trusting us and God just takes my breath away.

We got to spend a wonderful few hours with another couple that will be living with us in Honduras. Ryan and Chuck got to spend some guy time talking and Katie and I got to spend girl time talking. God has taken care of the details of personalities and friendship. We love Chuck and Katie and could not be more blessed than to be working with them in the field. Chuck and Katie volunteered to come to Tennessee and get all our things for the shipping crate; again this is God's provision alone.

Something that I will never be able to fully put into words is how humbled I am by all of our partners. We have had so many people join our prayer team and our financial team. God alone is in control of this and I am so grateful that our partners are with us. It is such a blessing to know that someone is praying for your family and ministry daily. We also could not be fulfilling our call to international missions without our financial partners. Thank you to all of you. We are at 31% of our monthly budget and have almost all of our one-time expenses covered.

I know this was long and thank you for reading it. God is good.....