The end...

There are a lot of "end"s that have taken place this summer. Some expected and others not anticipated in the least bit. The end: Micah has ended his journey in the national school and will begin homeschooling September 1st. We have always prayed that God would show us exactly when this transition would need to take place and we believe that the time is now. Micah is excited on some days about the idea of homeschooling and on other days he complains about missing the friends he has made. I feel that with this transition Micah will discover that God supplies our needs when He changes our direction. Already we have seen answers to the prayers regarding friends and activities Micah can enjoy while homeschooling. Many of these organized sports and activities will not begin until October 1st so it will take a little bit of patience on Micah's part but we think he'll be pleasantly surprised. Over the summer Micah became a very strong swimmer and one activity we know he will enjoy this fall is joining a weekly swimming lesson to improve the skills that he has developed. The end: Summer is waving his last goodbye in our direction this month. We know September may hold warm days but August is the last hot temperature party to bid the heat farewell. We will welcome cooler temperatures as the heat has been unkind this year. Our fans blow at full blast daily, but an air conditioner and a swimming pool is what one needs on the hot days =) Luckily, swimming has been an option and we have found days to enjoy the river or swimming pool. Benjamin has enjoyed hunting for sea shells and rocks this summer so I know he will be sad with the end of summer as his treasures will be covered in snow in a matter of months. The end: All of our friends who signed up to do short term, 2 year mission commitments, headed back to America this summer. It was completely expected but has been completely strange to think so many of our friends who started this journey with us are back at home and posting pictures of isles of candy at Wal-Mart =) We are so happy to know such wonderful friends who invested so much for the last two years and with their "end" we rejoice that God's Word does not return to Him void and the fruit of their time will produce a glorious reaping for the Kingdom of heaven! The end: The most unexpected end hit us straight in the heart about 4 weeks ago. We have poured our heart, time and investment into a group of Roma that God introduced us to a year and a half ago. We have had the pleasure of walking beside this group and seeing God do amazing things during our time studying the Bible with them. The children who Jennifer had the opportunity to love and study with are precious boys and girls who will always be special to her heart and to the hearts of our boys. The men and women who met with Cameron asked wonderful questions and dug deeper into the Gospel as we saw God transform their hearts. The goal of any group we work with is to stand beside them as they mature into a body of believers who will gather to study the Word on their own and then turn around and reproduce the same model of small groups to unbelievers. About 4 weeks ago the leader of the group whom Cameron was mentoring to become a pastor shared with Cameron a financial need that was not handled correctly. He sought to secretly obtain a large sum of money from Cameron and others who we associate with. After many discussions regarding this sin issue and what our stance would be on it, the leader held anger, bitterness and a foolish spirit towards us, thus forcing a decision to be made to continue our work in the field. Our desire is for the unity of believers to be maintained and we believe that as the leader of this group it would only cause division should we maintain weekly commitments to study the Word together. On August 7th we returned to the field to return the group's tithe money and other belongings for the group. After a group discussion everyone understood that we would not return on a weekly basis but would be available to return if and when questions arose during their weekly Bible reading times. We will also return to attend a baby shower for one of our friends and sweet sister. The group discussion went well and we feel a healthy closure happened today. Tears, prayer and encouragement marked the end of a journey we didn't foresee for ourselves but we rejoice that God wastes nothing. It is His ministry and His alone and He invited us to be a part of a wonderful season with a wonderful group of Roma which we will always cherish. Please pray for this group and for the leader to release his sin to God and to trust in His provisions alone. The saddest part of today was seeing how sin hidden in his heart had caused visible misery on his face. A face that once held the joy of the Lord and seemed young and vibrant was missing that joy today and instead the pain of bearing unforgiven sin in his heart was written on his aching face. Please pray for his freedom in Christ to be yearned for more than his bondage to a secret sin. How can you pray for our "beginnings": Pray that God will be the only voice behind us saying "this is the way, walk in it." May we follow His call alone and not the voice of ourselves or any other. May we be faithful to continue to walk with the Lord and seek His next steps for us. Praise be to the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord our God!