Grafted In

Over the past week and a half, we have enjoyed each interesting day of Ministry Partnership (MP) training.  Though we haven’t run across anything brand new (which is actually a good sign, we think), we are refreshed about this process, or really, this ministry.

You see, we are being refreshed in that MP is a ministry.  We are ministering to those around us, whether they feel led to support our ministry, through prayer or finances, or not.  I am not always able to see our ministry’s impact, through myself, or the sharing of our lives in Africa, so sometimes I don’t feel like I’m being effective, but I’m sure God is still using me, even when I’m being a bit of a blob.

I wish I’ve had time each day to write the things we’ve learned – mostly about the way we think about the MP process.  I wish I had a blog post for each *aha* moment.  I wish I could take the space to write about how I feel I’ve failed to properly thank or involve those who have supported us for the past three years (THANK YOU!!).  I really really wish I could delve into how God works in the lives of those who follow the call to support missionaries, such as us.  I mean, I could, but training is full time and with three sick kids and two sick adults, our time is precious and my memory is terrible.

So, I’ll leave you with this: THANK YOU to anyone who has ever prayed for us, for our ministry, or given to us in any way (stuff, money, time).  We hope that God has richly blessed you in unexpected ways because you gave, because I know that we cannot repay you directly, nor would that be the expectation.

If you’re still on the fence about supporting our ministry, we would encourage you to pray about it.  Where do you invest your finances and resources?  Is God calling you to something different?  Is this ministry part of that?

Meanwhile, in class, we are getting to know three amazing couples (plus one neat lady who is auditing the class to learn more for her own organization).  Practicing what we will be sharing with individuals, churches and the like, we are hearing each other’s stories and sharing our hopes and fears about this process.  Matthew and I are learning through these sweet families.

The Naces, Vanas, and Bells – yes, all four families in the class have four-letter last names. It’s kind of awesome.

Tonight, we were privileged to have all of them over for dinner.  It was a great night – and with nine adults, five kids and two babies under our roof, it was more than lively!  Please pray for these families as they embark on their MP journey (I realize that sounds a little cliche…tough).  Can you guess which family is going with BOTH husband and wife as MAF pilots, which has a published children’s book on amazon, and which ones are the newlyweds?

Next week begins the last module (which is really three modules in one) of training for Matthew.  I am done at the end of the week.  Then, once we have raised 100% of our ministry partnership, we look at language school and Africa once again.  Whoa.

*Grafted In, the title of this blog, is from one of the couple’s prepared remarks for their church presentation – they called themselves grafted in to the MAF family.  But it could also apply to those who are grafted in to our ministry as part of our team.