It is hard to believe that it is already 2011. When I look back at all that happened in 2010, I am amazed at how God took care of us, and all that he brought us through.
Since my last post in June...sorry it's been so long...so much has happened. Aaron and I went to our first church camp as counselors and leaders. WE HAD A BLAST!!! But we were exhausted. Before we even left for camp, we had some challenges to overcome. The cost of camp was expensive, so we needed to raise money to help students be able to go. We raised enough to pay for all the students who needed partial and full scholarships. God so graciously provided. We are so grateful to all those who helped.
Another challenge we had was that we only had two male counselors and one female counselor going. We had 14 boys and 21 girls signed up to go, so we needed three more female counselors and one more male counselor. The week before camp we still didn't have enough counselors. We were a little stressed, but we knew God would provide...and he did!!! The Wednesday night before we left on Sunday, we had a single lady come to us and tell us that she and her two sisters would come. PRAISE THE LORD!!! God took care of us once again.
Camp came and we saw decisions made for Jesus Christ. Students got saved; they rededicated their life for the Lord; they realized some changes they needed to make in their lives. It was an awesome time, and God showed up. We are so grateful for the opportunity to be able to go.
The next chapter in our lives is our schooling. I have already had some college, but Aaron has not had any. So we both enrolled at Baptist Bible College. Aaron enrolled as a full-time student and I enrolled as a part-time student. Because Aaron would be in school, he was going to have to go part-time at work. That caused some fear because he is the financial provider of our family. But once again, we knew we were doing what God wanted us to do, so we knew He would provide. After much prayer, we decided that we needed to sell our house in Strafford and rent someplace in Springfield, close to the school. After having our house on the market for six months, God sold our house, with no closing expenses on our part. We were clean and clear of the title on our house. That was such a financial relief. We moved into our new apartment on December 10. Moving in the month of December is not the best time, not only because of the weather, but also because it is so close to Christmas, and there is expense involved in apartment leasing. We didn't have any money to buy Christmas gifts for the kids. We prayed about it, and God used Aaron's mom to give us the money. We had a great Christmas, and we give God the praise and glory. He continues to provide for us, and we are so blessed.
The next step in our lives is another semester at BBC. Next Wednesday the spring semester begins. We know that it will be very busy, but we are looking forward to what God has for us. We continue to covet your prayers.
January 10, 2011
June 4, 2010
Aaron's Class
Aaron has been taking a class (Life of Paul) since the middle of March. It is his first class since high school. He was really nervous about being able to keep up, and if he was going to be able to retain the information. Well...he got his grade for his first exam...and...(drumroll, please)...HE GOT 100%. You can never be too old to do the work of the Lord. I am so proud of him. We appreciate your continued support and prayers.
May 12, 2010
Update...what we've been up to!
A lot has happened since the last time I posted. On April 11, we had the privilege of watching Trey and Kiley get baptized. They have been saved for some time now, but they had never taken the next step. It was very a very rewarding moment as a mother to witness. My mother was also able to be a part of this special event.
March 16, 2010
First Day of College
Today was Aaron's first day of school after being out of the schooling mode for 18 years. He was very nervous when he left at 5:30 this evening. Please be in prayer for him as this is just the beginning of a long four years or more of school. I am very proud of him and I know he will do a great job. I am waiting impatiently for his safe return home.
March 10, 2010
The Journey...God's Calling
In October of 2009, Aaron and I sat through one of the many Missions Conferences that we have taking part in since we were young. We did not know what kind of impact this particular conference would have on us.
Sam and Carita Masters were on the platform of High Street Baptist Church, presenting their field of Argentina. We heard their heart and their passion for the people of Argentina. The showed us a video of teen children, and the struggles they are facing: drugs (side note: it is legal to have drugs in your possession as long as it is not a lot, in which the police can accuse you for selling and you could be arrested), alcohol, no godly influence, or any parental influence at all, in the home, peer pressure, you name it, they deal with it. God really pricked our hearts for these teens. As many of you may or may not know, Aaron grew up in an alcoholic and abusive (both verbal and physical) home. His father died of alcohol poisoning, which deteriorated his liver. We believe that God is going to use that experience to bring Him glory, by allowing us to be able to share that experience with the people of Argentina.
When Aaron and I were members of Cherry Street Baptist Church, we had the opportunity to work with the children ages kindergarten through fifth grade every Friday night during the Reformers Unanimous (RU) program, which is a faith-based addictions program. We got to witness children who are living with problems of their own because they have to deal with the effects that these addictions have on their parents', and the grief that it causes them as well.
After hearing Sam and Carita's story, we thought that we could take the RU program to the field of Argentina, which neither one of us knew the other one was thinking. After we got home from this service, I noticed that Aaron was unusually quiet. As we walked into our bedroom, Aaron pulled me into the closet, which is rather large and seems to be the place we do a lot of talking (any of you with children know what I mean). He looked at me and said, "I'm scared." I said to him, "God is calling you to the mission field, isn't he." He said, "YES! How did you know," to which I replied, "God is calling me, too." As we stood there holding each other and with tears rolling down our cheeks, we knew this was not a coincidence, there are no coincidences with God, everything happens for a reason. With excitement, fear, and every emotion you can imagine, we decided it was time to talk to the kids. As we all sat together on our bed, we wanted to get a feel of what the kids were thinking about through all the events that we all had been a part of throughout the Missions Conference, so we didn't come out and say what we had decided. We asked them what they felt about the conference and if God had spoken to them in anything they had heard. They both said how they enjoyed the conference, but that there wasn't any certain feeling they had. Then we told them that we felt God was calling us to Argentina, and we wanted to know what they thought about it. They were both very excited about it, and then Trey said something that I will never forget. He said, "God told me to prepare for missions." God not only works in the lives of his adult children, but also in the lives of young children.
Before we publicly made our decision to our church, we had a chance to talk with Sam Masters. We told him that we felt that God was calling us to Argentina, but we weren't sure of the next steps to take. He asked us a little about ourselves and our family, and if we had anything that we felt could be useful in Argentina. We told him about the RU program, and that we felt God wanted to use it in some way. With excitement in his voice, he told us that The program would definitely be beneficial in Argentina. We felt that this was another way of God affirming our decision. We also made an appointment with our Pastor. After our talk with him, God reaffirmed once again that this was His will for our lives. Our Pastor told us that when we decided to go before the church, he was going to hand the microphone over to Aaron and have him speak. For those of you who know Aaron, public speaking is not his forte. In fact, any time he had to speak in front of the class at school, he chose to get a "zero" on his assignment, than to speak.
The time had come. It was Sunday morning and we had decided this was the day to make it public. As we sat in the service waiting for the end of Pastor Eddie's message, Aaron sat in his seat with chest pain and shaking uncontrollably, which is what he does when he is nervous. I looked over at him and said, "If this is going to kill you, (literally) you don't have to do it." His reply was, "Yes I do." So, at the invitation we went forward and prayed together as a family, and then Pastor Eddie said that we had come forward and had an announcement to make. With trembling and tears, Aaron said that we were surrendering for full-time service as missionaries to the country of Argentina. Cheers and applause rang throughout the auditorium. It was the most exciting, most scariest thing we have ever done, but the most rewarding thing we have ever done. We can see God's hand in every step that we have taken.
The next step in this journey is Aaron attending Baptist Bible College. He begins March 16th taking one evening class, and then he will be attending full-time in August. In order to get a full pell grant, we had to wait until August for him to start full-time instead of starting full-time in January.
We are very excited about what God is doing in our lives, and we would covet your prayers as we continue to seek God's continued direction.
Sam and Carita Masters were on the platform of High Street Baptist Church, presenting their field of Argentina. We heard their heart and their passion for the people of Argentina. The showed us a video of teen children, and the struggles they are facing: drugs (side note: it is legal to have drugs in your possession as long as it is not a lot, in which the police can accuse you for selling and you could be arrested), alcohol, no godly influence, or any parental influence at all, in the home, peer pressure, you name it, they deal with it. God really pricked our hearts for these teens. As many of you may or may not know, Aaron grew up in an alcoholic and abusive (both verbal and physical) home. His father died of alcohol poisoning, which deteriorated his liver. We believe that God is going to use that experience to bring Him glory, by allowing us to be able to share that experience with the people of Argentina.
When Aaron and I were members of Cherry Street Baptist Church, we had the opportunity to work with the children ages kindergarten through fifth grade every Friday night during the Reformers Unanimous (RU) program, which is a faith-based addictions program. We got to witness children who are living with problems of their own because they have to deal with the effects that these addictions have on their parents', and the grief that it causes them as well.
After hearing Sam and Carita's story, we thought that we could take the RU program to the field of Argentina, which neither one of us knew the other one was thinking. After we got home from this service, I noticed that Aaron was unusually quiet. As we walked into our bedroom, Aaron pulled me into the closet, which is rather large and seems to be the place we do a lot of talking (any of you with children know what I mean). He looked at me and said, "I'm scared." I said to him, "God is calling you to the mission field, isn't he." He said, "YES! How did you know," to which I replied, "God is calling me, too." As we stood there holding each other and with tears rolling down our cheeks, we knew this was not a coincidence, there are no coincidences with God, everything happens for a reason. With excitement, fear, and every emotion you can imagine, we decided it was time to talk to the kids. As we all sat together on our bed, we wanted to get a feel of what the kids were thinking about through all the events that we all had been a part of throughout the Missions Conference, so we didn't come out and say what we had decided. We asked them what they felt about the conference and if God had spoken to them in anything they had heard. They both said how they enjoyed the conference, but that there wasn't any certain feeling they had. Then we told them that we felt God was calling us to Argentina, and we wanted to know what they thought about it. They were both very excited about it, and then Trey said something that I will never forget. He said, "God told me to prepare for missions." God not only works in the lives of his adult children, but also in the lives of young children.
Before we publicly made our decision to our church, we had a chance to talk with Sam Masters. We told him that we felt that God was calling us to Argentina, but we weren't sure of the next steps to take. He asked us a little about ourselves and our family, and if we had anything that we felt could be useful in Argentina. We told him about the RU program, and that we felt God wanted to use it in some way. With excitement in his voice, he told us that The program would definitely be beneficial in Argentina. We felt that this was another way of God affirming our decision. We also made an appointment with our Pastor. After our talk with him, God reaffirmed once again that this was His will for our lives. Our Pastor told us that when we decided to go before the church, he was going to hand the microphone over to Aaron and have him speak. For those of you who know Aaron, public speaking is not his forte. In fact, any time he had to speak in front of the class at school, he chose to get a "zero" on his assignment, than to speak.
The time had come. It was Sunday morning and we had decided this was the day to make it public. As we sat in the service waiting for the end of Pastor Eddie's message, Aaron sat in his seat with chest pain and shaking uncontrollably, which is what he does when he is nervous. I looked over at him and said, "If this is going to kill you, (literally) you don't have to do it." His reply was, "Yes I do." So, at the invitation we went forward and prayed together as a family, and then Pastor Eddie said that we had come forward and had an announcement to make. With trembling and tears, Aaron said that we were surrendering for full-time service as missionaries to the country of Argentina. Cheers and applause rang throughout the auditorium. It was the most exciting, most scariest thing we have ever done, but the most rewarding thing we have ever done. We can see God's hand in every step that we have taken.
The next step in this journey is Aaron attending Baptist Bible College. He begins March 16th taking one evening class, and then he will be attending full-time in August. In order to get a full pell grant, we had to wait until August for him to start full-time instead of starting full-time in January.
We are very excited about what God is doing in our lives, and we would covet your prayers as we continue to seek God's continued direction.
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