We were silent on this blog while we sought God's direction for the coming school year. We have now been fundraising for about 2 years and find ourselves moving slowly at around 35% of support raised. We are still as certain as ever that God has led us to Eastern Germany and our latest trip to Leipzig with the Millers was only a confirmation. As the Millers have 80% of their support raised and plan on moving to Leipzig in the early fall of 2014 (after seeing their youngest son off to College), we are more eager than ever to make this our last year of fundraising in the US!
Over the last two years, we have especially focused on churches and friends around the Chicagoland area and are getting close to exhausting our resources here. Time and time again, we have considered moving up to Michigan for a while to become a part of Joel's former home church, First Baptist of St Johns. We love this church and have already experienced their support both financially and in various other encouraging ways. As we move up to Michigan to reacquaint ourselves with this church, we are asking them to consider becoming our home church as we move to Germany. The church leadership is welcoming us back and we are looking forward to God opening more doors for fundraising in MI.
Unfortunately, we are locked into our lease here until mid-October - and breaking it would be very pricey. We plan on staying in Illinois until that time, and Joel will continue on staff at Village Bible Church at least until the end of the summer.
We would appreciate your prayers as we seek to follow-up with potential supporters in Illinois while we still live here. Two churches are still on the fence and considering financially supporting us and we have made a list of individuals we would still like to ask to consider joining the support team.
Please, also pray for adequate housing to become available in or near St Johns, MI. We are especially hoping not to have to sign a full-year lease again. If you know anyone in the St Johns area who may be able to let us rent a property lease-free, we would appreciate a referral!
Finally, pray for us as we are expecting a new member of the family any day now. My due date is a week from Friday but baby girl may decide to come early. Pray for all members of our family as we transition to a household of four. We are very excited!
