It's Moving Day!

Right now I’m sitting in my living room looking around at the sheer amount of stuff that I have yet to get packed up. We’re on the move again.


We’re in the midst of Phase 1 of our “transitory move” (I totally just made that up...I’m not so sure that transitory is even a word). Tomorrow we will say goodbye to the little apartment that has become our haven of rest over the past 8-9 months and move in with my parents as we prepare to make the move to Florida (Phase 2). We have only $235 left to raise before we’re at 100%(!!!) so we are moving forward with the beginning stages of moving, trusting that the Lord will provide the remaining amount that we need.

As with each place we’ve lived, I’ll store up another set of memories that we’ll take with us from this home. While in this house we have: had our second child, Eliana Carina; celebrated our first daughter, Acacia’s, second birthday; celebrated my 25th birthday; celebrated Trevor and my 3rd anniversary (has it already been 3 years?!); and watched God work in ways we never would have dreamed of as He’s brought this team of believers together to join us in the task of Bible translation.

Are we cleared to start yet? No. God is still waiting for a few of you to respond to His call to join us in this ministry. We thank and PRAISE GOD for how He has moved in the hearts of so many of you to team up with us in serving to translate the Bible. We have been so encouraged by your response to pray and to give.

This is a step of faith. Could it be months before we start yet? Well, I suppose it could. Depends how quickly you respond if you’ve been thinking about joining with us but haven’t yet taken the plunge:) In all honesty, for any of you who have been considering and contemplating whether or not you want to get involved, we pray that God would direct you clearly to act on it...whether that means shooting us an email to let us know that you can’t right now, or that you’re praying about it, OR that you’ve made a decision and you want to sign up. Whatever it is, our hope is that communication would happen.

There’s your challenge for today.

Mine is sitting right in front of me. I’ve got stacks of toys, puzzles, clothes, etc. that need to get boxed up as a step of faith that God is going to finish up bringing the rest of the finances in. Is there a step of faith that God is asking you to take?

Sarah

The goofy girls in their glamorous get-ups.

I'm so big! Just waiting for these teeth to come in.

Almost There!

Reality Check

We’ve had a lot of people lately asking us how we’re doing. Basically, “What is your emotional and spiritual state?”

I truly wish I could say that I have been totally at peace, resting in the Father 100% of the time (there’s that silly percent sign again...). That all is well, God is in control, and I’m standing steadfast in faith. Don’t get me wrong, that is in fact where I have been on many an occasion during this journey of faith so far.

But I’ll be honest.

There are days when it’s a struggle. There are days when I want to shout, “God, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???” There are days when I want to know what the future holds, that my attitude just plain stinks, and my faith is weaker than I want to admit.

Here’s a glimpse into what God spoke to my heart last night.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who set its measurements?
Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place...” (Job 38)

Let’s just say that I got a little reality check.

How easy it is to get into the mindset that I somehow know what’s best for me and my family. How selfish and prideful I am when I want to weep or scream about the fact that we aren’t where I think we should be right now. How ungrateful I am when I think that I somehow need more of this or that (stability, control, whatever it is that’s got me reeling) in order to make me satisfied.

God knows what He’s doing.

He’s got it under control.

We’ve cried out to the Lord, we’ve talked to people, we’ve tried to make this thing happen.

And so far, He’s said, “Not yet.”

Doesn’t mean things won’t come through tomorrow and we’ll be cleared to start. Doesn’t mean we sit idly by.

But it does mean that we can rest. It does mean that I can be at peace.

Sometimes I “get it”. Sometimes I so quickly forget God’s faithfulness.

So that’s where I’m at. If you’re wondering, that’s how you can pray for us. We are learning to rest in our Great God who commands the morning and causes the dawn to know its place.

May we all learn to trust Him more. Praise God for His patience and His lovingkindness.

Sarah

Blogging Withdrawals

Hey everyone~

Since I'm having withdrawals, I thought I'd post something today. I was going to make a video, but I'm not motivated enough for that this afternoon.

Okay, so if you look on the right side of the blog, you'll see that the number has changed. And it's changed in a good way. Check it out, we only need that much more financial partnership in order to begin our assignment in Orlando! That's it!

Want to join with us? What are you waiting for? Let us know!

I thought of something yesterday that was interesting (to me at least). It's Tuesday, so this will be my instinctive Frequently Asked Questions blog of yesteryear. Here are a few questions that I've heard all of the time and have come across pretty defensive about in the past.

So how long are you doing this whole Wycliffe thing? What is your commitment? Where does Orlando fit into this?

My answer to these questions would be "does it really matter?" I know...who likes to have a question answered with a question, especially something that sounds so apathetic?

But really, we are working with an organization that is all about Bible Translation. EVERYWHERE we end up in the whole organization is guaranteed to be supporting Bible Translation. If we are working in Orlando, we're supporting Bible Translation. If we're in Brazil, we're supporting Bible Translation. If we are working as dorm parents, we are supporting Bible Translation. If we are linguists/translators, we are supporting Bible Translation. We are in this for as long as God leads us to be in it. Just like our partners.

I cannot tell you exactly where God will lead us in the next 50 years. What I can tell you is that we are passionate about Bible Translation, and wherever we are serving within Wycliffe, we will be Bible Translators! That's all that you need to know, I guess. If God tells us to move to Nigeria tomorrow, that absolutely does not change anything about us or the team that we have surrounding our ministry (that's YOU in case you didn't know). If God tells us to work in Orlando for 50 years, that doesn't change ANYTHING!

Here's the picture:

Our ministry with Wycliffe is a boat. Imagine the Noah's ark flann-o-graph boat. Right now, our family is on the boat making everything ready for our trip. The boat is grounded, stuck, unable to leave the port. The water is rising up all around the boat, and the water represents our financial and prayer team. Our ministry's "support", if you will. Each new partner dumps a big tank of water into the sea to see the level rise.

Okay, when our finances are squared away, when that number on the right is down to $0, and our prayer team is set, we will be floating. From this point on, God is the wind in our sails (okay, Noah didn't have sails...but we do). Where the wind blows, we go. It's not a random wind, however, it's God's moving in our family and ministry.

So you are the water that keeps us afloat. I know it's not a perfect illustration, but I actually think it's pretty good. When we have a strong team, a fluid team of God's people praying for and giving toward our ministry, we are free to move where God leads. Essentially, we can float anywhere in the world when the water is deep enough.

We are literally waiting on the Lord right now. I can call every one of you on the phone or send you an email or facebook message and God can still say "wait." But if you think that you'd like to support our ministry, please let us know. We are on the boat, literally packing our belongings into boxes so that we'll be ready to leave Ohio.

I know it's hard to fathom, but we are ready to leave.

We can't.

Maybe you don't know this, but almost all of our belongings have been sitting in a storage unit in Orlando for over a year.

We've been ready for an entire year. That's a long time! It's been a good year, but we are ready to go.

Will you help get us to Orlando?

8.6.09

“All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your Name.” Psalm 86:9

August 6, 2009. 8.6.09. Well folks, it’s here. Our 40 days has come to an end.

Trevor and I, over the past couple of days have been reflecting on what has happened during Connect 8.6.09.

We’ve been asking God to breakthrough in our ministry. The big question is “So did He??”

Did He bring us new partners? Yep. Did He raise our percentage? Yep. Are we closer to beginning our assignment? Yep. We praise God for all these things.

Mostly, though, if we were completely honest, God has broken through to our hearts. He’s revolutionized the way we pray. He’s revolutionized the way we understand our purpose in life. He’s revolutionized the way we depend on Him. There are things that we could attempt to put to words, but our words would do no justice to the magnificent ways God has spoken to our hearts and changed the way we walk with Him. We praise God for His faithfulness and pray that the work that He has done in us would multiply, not for our sake, but for the sake of His kingdom.

So where do we go from here?

We press on. We are so close. We cannot and will not stop here. The end of these 40 days is in no way an “end” of ANYTHING. Rather, it has spurred us on to greater things. We will continue to invite people to partner with us because we KNOW that God is waiting to release the funds that we still lack. And He will choose to use us and He will choose to use you.

If you haven’t signed up, don’t worry....there’s no deadline. God is still at work. I could tell you stories to prove it. Maybe you are even one of them.

We will continue to keep up this blog to let you know what we’re up to. Will we blog every day? Probably not :) BUT, we will be faithful to keep you in the loop with this ministry that so many of you are a part of.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who have joined us in prayer, to those who have joined us financially, to those who have joined us in carrying burdens and giving encouragement. You have blessed us beyond words.

Praise God for His faithfulness and for how He has moved in these 40 days. Our hearts are filled with praise and thanksgiving. AND anticipation. :)

“All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your Name.” Psalm 86:9

Sarah

Day 40 - 40 Reasons to Partner

Wow. It's day 40 already. To those of you who have been praying with us on this journey, it's not over yet. Thanks for praying! But let's keep going, okay?

Tomorrow is 8.6.09. We are already so much more connected to you all than before we started on this endeavor, and for that we thank our God! BUT WE'RE STILL IN OHIO! Look to the right of the page. That's the number left. It's not enormous. But that's what's keeping us here for now.

Today, we want to focus on 40 reasons to partner with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Some of them you already know. Some of them might be new to you. Go ahead and read away!

Ready?

Here we go.

40 Reasons for you to partner with our ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators:

1. 200 million people don't have a Bible translation started in their heart language.
2. You probably have AT LEAST one Bible in your home.
3. Paul says that you will be blessed by giving as well as those receiving your blessings. (Philippians 4:17)
4. If nobody gives, then nobody goes.
5. If nobody prays, then nobody knows. (Go with me on this one)
6. There are between 200 and 400 sign languages represented worldwide, and NONE of them have the whole Bible translated into their heart language. American Sign Language is the ONLY one that has the full New Testament.
7. You have access to not only ONE Bible in your heart language, but SEVERAL different versions in that language!
8. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16:15
9. Your language has an alphabet.
10. You can read.
11. You can write.
12. You are among the wealthiest people in the world. (So are we)
13. It's a way to be a Bible Translator without having to leave your own home.
14. Somewhere around 4400 language communities still have no Scripture PUBLISHED in their heart language.
15. Of those, 2300 languages don't even have a translation project STARTED.
16. You can help bring truth to an entire community.
17. The need is just plain great!
18. Bible Translation is foundational to all kinds of evangelistic and missions efforts worldwide.
19. This generation may be the one to see God's Word being translated into EVERY person's heart language still needing one!
20. It takes a massive amount of resources to even get one translation project started.
21. It takes a massive amount of resources to get one translation project FINISHED.
22. If you want to read the Bible in another language other than your own, you can order it online at the touch of a button.
23. Bible Translation is TRANSFORMATIONAL within communities.
24. You are passionate about missions, but aren't called to go overseas.
25. There are thousands of positions URGENTLY NEEDED to be filled somewhere in the world through Wycliffe USA.
26. Two of those positions are the ones that are waiting for us in Orlando.
27. You are passionate about God's Word yourself.
28. You have FAITH that God will multiply the offerings of His people in the work of Bible Translation.
29. God has blessed you immensely, and you desire to use His blessings to bless others.
30. You didn't realize how great the need for Bible Translation was until now.
40. You sense our passion for this ministry and want to encourage it!
31. You love Brazil (or any other country that still has Bible translation needs!)
32. You love our kids and want to make sure they can eat while we're doing this great ministry! (that's not really a good reason, but it's still a true statement for grandparents especially)
33. You love different cultures and want to help preserve minority language groups and cultures and enrich it through Bible Translation efforts (this is actually a really good reason)!
34. You want to see people in poverty given the opportunity to have good education and access to healthcare through literacy.
35. You have always wanted to support a missionary/missionary family that you know personally.
36. You recognize that there is a difference between your heart language and another similar language.
37. You've been praying for one/both of us since we were little kids, and now you are excited to be a part of God's work in our lives.
38. You were waiting until day 40 to partner with us, just for fun!
39. You want to be a key part of the greatest acceleration of Bible Translation in HISTORY!
40. God may be telling you to.

Sorry this post is so late...but 40 is a lot! And I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and, well...you get the picture.

Please let us know if you'd like more info, or if you'd like to partner with us in any way!

We WILL be blogging tomorrow, too!

Trevor

Day 39 - FAQ

Probably the most frequently asked question that we get right now is this: "Why are you here still?"

Or, phrased differently, "Why aren't you in Orlando yet?"

There is a very quick and simple answer to this. We are waiting for God to bring our team together.

Again (and again, and again), we cannot begin our first assignment in Orlando with Wycliffe Bible Translators USA until we have reached 100% of our ministry's monthly funding amount. There is a job (with a desk and everything) waiting for us in the Offices of the President, and many people are also waiting for us to fill in the gap that has not been filled in our absence.

I need to emphasize this, as always. We are not focusing on money. We are not just blogging daily in order to ask you for money. We're looking for PARTNERS. We're looking for our TEAM. And actually, WE'RE not the ones looking.

We have confidence that God is CALLING His people to the task of Bible Translation and to our specific ministry, and we can rest in that.

But if YOU have seen our blog (which at this point I am confident that you have!), we need YOU to pray about joining our team in some way. That's not a tough thing, and I'm not pressuring anyone to do anything but pray. I'm pretty sure you can't be angry with me for that!

The big thing that I hope to happen in the next two or three days is that everyone who has come here or knows us personally will seek after the Lord and search His will for a leading ONE WAY OR ANOTHER concerning our ministry with Wycliffe and then TELL US about it.

So this is my question to you.

Will you pray about joining our team (through financial partnership and prayer partnership) and then LET US KNOW if and how you'd like to be involved?

That's my struggle right now. I only have a limited view and limited time and energy to get in touch with everyone that God is working in. I know from my past week that many of you may be WAITING for us to call you, email you, write you, and that you may be excited and interested in partnering with us, but you're just waiting for us to bring it up. I will do my best to connect with you, I really will. But I'm not omniscient. God can lead me directly to you, but He can be leading you directly to me, too.

If you are waiting for us, please consider just calling us up. Or emailing. Or commenting on the blog. Or sending a facebook message. Or tweeting. You get the idea.

If you don't know us very well yet, we would love to get to know you better for the next, oh, 80 years or so as we are all on this journey together. It's a great way to form deep friendships and to encourage one another for years.

It's day 39. Of 40. Not that 40 is some special, magical number. But we are trusting in God to BREAK THROUGH.

Are you a part of it?

Trevor

Day 38 - Mugshots

Well, this is the last Monday Mugshots of our 40 day focus. For today, I thought I'd let you get to know the leader of Wycliffe USA, Bob Creson. We'll be working in the Offices of the President when the Lord brings the rest of our team together (hoping and praying for SOON!), so it might be nice for you to know more about the man that God has placed in the position of President/CEO.

We've been able to spend a little time with Bob over the past year, and have really enjoyed watching him lead in both public ways and behind the scenes. We can't wait to be working alongside of him in the headquarters and learning from him throughout the time of our assignment there. Please be keeping Bob and his family in your prayers!

Here's more about him:

Quick facts:
 
Name: Bob Creson
Wife: Dallas
Kids: All Adults: Emily (33), married to Paul; Scott (31), married to Sarah; Jeff (27) married to Katrina; Tim (26)
Hometown: Ventura, California
Job Title: President and CEO of Wycliffe USA
 
Favorites:
 
Color:  Blue or Green
Food:  Thai
Ice Cream flavor:  If I eat any, Bluebell Cookies and Cream
Sport:  Golf
Place you have lived: California, Texas, Florida, France, and Cameroon
Piece of technology:  iPhone :)
 
How long have you been involved with Wycliffe? 26 years.
 
What is the best thing about your job as President of Wycliffe USA?  Sharing the vision that this generation could see the remaining Bible translation needs started.
 
If there was only one thing people "got" about Wycliffe, what would you hope it to be? Our work is transformational within communities.
 
Anything else you'd like to add?
Check out our blog at: http://wycliffeusa.wordpress.com
Check our website at: www.wycliffe.org
Check our YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=WycliffeUSA&view=videos

Thanks for the interview, Bob! Hope to see you soon!

Trevor

Day 37 - Selah

I ran five miles this morning. If any of you know me well, pick your jaw up off of the floor...I'm telling the truth. I promise.

While I was running, I was listening to a lecture on spiritual warfare by Mark Driscoll and I really had my "Selah" for the day. I reflected, learned, paused, rested (I know, while RUNNING even), and drew closer to God through learning about His character.

One of the things that stuck out to me was about bitterness. As Pastor Driscoll was talking about the various forms of demonic activity, he hung out on bitterness for awhile, and I was convicted to search my own heart for any stored up bitterness that the enemy could use as a foothold in my life.

Here's a quote from Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India, from her poem, "If":

"If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted."

Have you ever had someone bitter at you for something? It can be something that you did to them or even something that they perceived you to have done, but actually didn't do. Has someone let an impatient, unloving word out in response to you? Have YOU ever let an impatient, unloving word come out towards someone else in bitterness?

If you have sweet water in your cup, then when it's "bumped" by someone, only sweet water will be able to spill out. But if your cup is ALREADY full of bitter water, when it's bumped, only bitter water can come out.

What I'm trying to say is that we have no excuse as followers of Christ to let bitterness flow from our cup. It won't spill out if we haven't been allowing it to sit and fester in our rotten cup. Look, people are going to bother you. I will probably get on your nerves. You may bump into me or rub me the wrong way. Hard to believe, right?

I've been trying to get my cup cleaned today so that I can replace the bitter junk with the sweet water of forgiveness and Christ's love.

What about yours?

Trevor

Day 36 - A GREAT new resource!

I'm going to keep this one brief. (I know what you're thinking...can he BE brief?!)

There is a new resource online that brings the world to your fingertips. It's unbelievable what we have available to us in the age of the internet, isn't it? This new website is called TheWordIsLife.net and it was just launched by Wycliffe International as well as several other partner organizations.

I HIGHLY recommend that you peruse this website. It has (among many other things) current information on THOUSANDS of languages and communities in the world (I don't know for sure, but it seems to be pretty exhaustive). Just click on a world map, choose a country, find a language, and see all of the known stats about the region, number of speakers, religion, access to Bible translations, etc.

Seriously, this is COOL.

You don't even have to be a linguistic geek to appreciate it. Also, there are hundreds of prayer requests from around the world and great stories of how God is using Bible Translation to transform cultures and people with God's Word.

Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Oh, and if you haven't played around with the audio Bible clips on the right side of this blog, it's really neat. My newest cousin, Annie, speaks Tagalog, which is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL language.

It was relatively brief, right?

Trevor