The God Of Open Doors

-

 


The God Of Open Doors

The devil is alive and well, and if we are being honest, we have never realized this as much as we have these last twelve months of pre-field ministry. This week marks one year since our commissioning at ABWE headquarters in Pennsylvania, and as we look back over all that has taken place since, we are both abundantly aware of the devil's desire to keep us from pursuing God's will, and desperately in awe of God's ability to fill us with the perseverance to go on.
This month has been no exception. While we have been extremely busy taking part in multiple ministries at our sending church, including a discipleship program, youth group, and worship ministry, we have also been meeting with pastors over zoom as far south as Tennessee and Georgia, all while dealing with some pretty drastic health concerns. Toward the beginning of the month, Trenton had to be taken to the emergency room where they put him through an extensive round of tests. While they believe the issue is Chron's Disease, they have not ruled out more serious ailments, and plan to follow up with more procedures and tests over the course of the upcoming month.  
However, the Lord has been faithful, giving us the strength to continue on in the ministry regardless. On March 2nd, we had a blessed meeting over lunch with the Pastor of Harbour Church of East Tawas and his wife. This being our most recent supporting church, we look forward to sharing with them again this upcoming fall.
We also had the wonderful opportunity of sharing our ministry at the York Baptist Church Mission Conference in Milan, Michigan this past weekend alongside BMM missionaries Benjamin and Jenn Stilwell preparing to serve in Peru. While there, we were also able to meet up with our good colleagues and friends Jordan and Jessica Bird of ABWE, preparing to serve in Benin, West Africa with their adorable young daughter Josephine in church planting, evangelism, and discipleship endeavors.
While we arrived at this four-day mission conference unsure of what to expect, we left on Sunday afternoon in awe of the blessings and sheer passion of this church. As the only church that has ever called us without us having to reach out first, the congregation did not disappoint and we left feeling nothing less than family. We had the blessing of staying with John and Abby McTaggart who were extremely welcoming, and we praise God for the wonderful discussions we had over our time there.
The visit was also memorable as it was Trenton's very first time preaching an entire series, which he entitled the Christian's mission. You can find the records of these messages on the York Baptist Church Website, as well as on our YouTube channel in the near future.
We were also blessed to meet with Iosco County news reporter Jenny Haglund again, and you can read the article she wrote on our recent survey trip here. 
https://www.iosconews.com/news/article_ebc862ca-c80c-11ed-b09b-839e58691662.html
Hanna was also able to finish the second draft as well as half of the third draft of her upcoming novel entitled "What I Call Home". She has six chapters left to finish as well as some formatting before she sends it into the editor and hopes to have it ready to send in for publishing by the time we leave for Pennsylvania in May. To get a sneak peak of the cover and what the book is about, feel free to visit her author page on our website at siministry.org/authorpage. 
Life as a missionary on pre-field is by no means easy, and we covet your prayers daily. But we are confident that the Lord is forever in control of every minute detail and knows what timing is best. It is because of this that we can continue to pursue, regardless of the uncertainties,His calling on our lives - because through the lens of faith, hardships are nothing but a stepping stone - a challenge meant to further prepare us for the future. 

Website
Hanna turned 25 years old on the 13th of March, and she was surprised at discipleship with a wonderful cake and some beautiful flowers from our sending church family. It was enough to make her cry! She was also taken to get her first pedicure by her good friend from one of our other supporting churches. 
We were able to have a good lunch with Hanna's grandparents this month after not seeing them for quite some time. 
Praise:
  1. That God provided good insurance just in time for Trenton to start experiencing health issues. 
  2. For a wonderful visit to York Baptist Church in Milan and for life-long relationships that were built there.
  3. For the blessing of Hanna finally being able to get a computer after a year of not having one (It's not the easiest thing in the world to work everything off an iPad...)
  4. For safe travels to and from churches and doctors appointments. 
Prayers:
 
  1. For Trenton's procedures and tests coming up this month. His first is scheduled in Saginaw on April 10th. 
  2. For the last few chapters of Hanna's book process. Pray for direction in regards to words and formatting. This will be her first time trying to figure out how to do it. 
  3. Pray for upcoming ministry appointments as always! We have a meeting with a church in Grand Rapids the 11th of April that we are super excited about! As well as our many appointments in May. 
  4. Pray for safe travels to Ann Arbor, Saginaw, Grand Rapids in April, and Pennsylvania and New York in May. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Training, Change, and the Blessings of a Home Church

-
Image
We were able to meet up with a few members of our team at the missionary enrichment conference in Pittsburgh this past week. In the middle are Matt and Barb Douglas, whom Hanna lived and worked with during a portion of her internship back in 2019.  July proved to be a month full of challenge and blessing. The challenge came in the form of time, as we are still at the early stages of support raising where it proves necessary for us to continue with our full-time secular work while balancing the ministry. In order to leave for the field, it is necessary for us to pay off a good portion of our outstanding debt, the majority of which was accrued as a result of the multiple surgeries and treatments Hanna has had to have in order to keep her recurring autoimmune disease at bay. This has slowed the support raising process more than we would have hoped, but we are confident that the Lord is continuing to work regardless. And the blessings we have experienced this month alone are proof. We ...
Read more

Mission Training, Church Visits, and a College Graduation

-
Image
     The month of May proved to be a very busy and productive month in regards to our journey to the mission field. It began early on May 1st with a visit to the First Baptist Church of Durand, Michigan where Trenton preached his first sermon to an audience of about fifty people. This church was our first at which we had no personal connections previously established. However, we were very encouraged by their desire to accept us with open arms and hear about the Lord's work in Australia.    Following on May 6th, Hanna was able to attend her college graduation ceremony online. She officially graduated from Colorado Christian University with a bachelor degree in Communication and graduated at the very top of her class which consisted of over sixty college of adult and graduate study students. To celebrate, we had a small gathering at our home church on May 29th. It was a blessed time with good friends, family, and food. And it was also a wonderful day to reminisce...
Read more

Early Mornings and Late Nights- Taking Strides Forward

-
Image
  It’s no secret that the past few months have been incredibly difficult. Between managing secular jobs and striving forward with the ministry, it seems that our past and future lives are at constant odds with each other. Each day I wake up, I am reminded of the passage of Scripture found in Philippians 3:12-14, which reminds us to consistently “forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Unfortunately, the journey often feels long, and each day we move closer to the goal while still trying to manage our secular jobs, gets harder. But we know that God is in ultimate control and that this too shall soon pass.  The month of August proved to be another very eventful month, with ministry opportunities taking root even before we arrived home from our training at Headquarters the end of last month.                  Our first two w...
Read more