Around October as we were preparing to start telling people of our plans to go on a mission trip I became a little fearful of what the responses would be. We knew that some/most people would think we were crazy, and many would discourage us from going. However we honestly felt like this is what we were called to do. Then during my regular reading I came across a somewhat obscure passage that encouraged me to continue to move forward with our plans
Ezekiel 3:20-21:
“Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
I am still not sure if that passage means anything to anybody else, but it means a lot to me. It says that since we were called to tell people about the love of Christ, if we go and do what we have been called to do and nobody listens then it is their fault, but at least they were told. But if we just sit back in our comfortable lives with our fingers in our ears pretending that we have never been called in the first place, then we will be held accountable for the people we should have told. Scary stuff.
After being told that we would not be able to go and complete the route that we had planned for in July it was tempting to say, “the blood is no longer on us, it's on them now, we tried”. We were tempted to go out and buy a new car, go on a fancy vacation, remodel the house, and start a family. But in the end we knew that we were still called to go and make disciples. We are called to tell the world about the love of Christ. And we know that this is a question of eternal life or death. Suddenly we seemed like a couple of spoiled brats that didn't get their way so we are going to go pout and let people go to hell because of it… Not exactly the people we want to be.
So, we are excited to let you know that it doesn't look like God is done with us yet. Our current plan is to leave in January on a new route that is similar to the original with a couple changes:
South Africa – Many wealthy with many more poor, struggling with HIV/AIDS, without true hope
Mozambique – Impoverished people, excited to learn and grow in faith
Swaziland – May not exist by 2050 due to the devastation of the AIDS virus. Urgent need for Christ.
India – Many different religions with “untouchables” that have never known true love
Nepal – Belief system is mostly Hindu, and in great need to learn of Christ.
Malaysia – Primarily Islamic nation where people have no concept of God's grace
Vietnam – Limited human rights, hoping for a better in the next life, but don't know how to get there.
Cambodia – Human trafficking a problem and there is not knowledge of the true source of freedom
Ireland – Known for Catholic roots, but has very little real faith leading to alcoholism and suicide
Ukraine – Many orphans here that have a great need to be loved by us and by God
Romania – Known for gypsies that can make a huge impact for Christ if they only knew Him.
We are so excited to see what God has in store for us. We know that God has a plan for us and wants to use us to further His kingdom. We aren't sure at all what that means. As of right now this is our plan, but there is always a chance that we may be asked to move to a different group or that the countries that we are going to will be changed slightly. There is even a possibility that another road block will be put in our way. However we know that we serve a sovereign God that knows what he is doing. And will trust HIM to guide our path. It is our prayer that you will continue to support us and follow us in this journey so we can see the amazing things God can do.
