April Update!

Hello again!  Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the spring weather.  We have some exciting updates to share with everyone! 

First, we sold our house!  Hooray!  I have to confess, it was a little stressful and I (Anna) often choose to worry about things instead of trusting God.  Thankfully God is gracious and continues to provide in spite of my doubts.  We will be closing on June 11, so now we’re working on packing up our stuff and getting rid of our furniture.

Another big praise item: our church here in Toronto has officially approved us as missionaries and will be helping to provide a significant portion of our financial support.  Although we’re sad to leave our church family here, it’s wonderful to have their blessing and support.  Also, this means our current support level is 70%!  It’s amazing to see how much God has provided via our friends and family in such a short amount of time.  The last 30% still seems overwhelming at times, but we continue praying and trusting.

That brings us to our timeline.  This summer will be an exciting adventure of traveling for us.  We will be leaving Toronto around June 12 (shortly after we close the house and finish up other details).  We are then planning a big 2-month road trip across North America, which will involve visiting around friends and family and also attending a one week Orientation with TeachBeyond (our sending mission).  Our travel plans look something like this:  Toronto, Ohio, Northern Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Winnipeg, Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan), and Calgary via car (4000km!).  We will leave our car in Calgary with Clarence’s parents, then fly to Ohio.  After a few weeks in Ohio with Anna’s family, we plan to fly from there to Germany.  For those who live in any of these areas, drop us a line and we’ll try to arrange a visit!

We are hoping to fly to Germany around August 8^th.  However, we need to have 90% of our monthly support pledged before we can purchase our plane tickets.  The sooner we can purchase our plane tickets, the better, so we have made a goal to be at 90% support by May 20.  This means we need another $1300 of monthly pledged support.  Thank you so much to the many who have already joined our support team both in prayer and financially.  For others who would still like to join, we have attached another pledge form in case you misplaced the first one. We are looking for another 20-25 monthly supporters; if you would like to join this vision, please let us know!

SOLD!

Yeah!  Our house is sold!  I have to confess, the process was a little stressful for me (Anna).  Keeping the house clean with two active little boys was quite the challenge.  But most difficult was the waiting process; the 'what if's' that constantly plague my mind.  I have been learning about faith and trusting God.  He keeps showing me over and over that He has and will take care of us, but I still struggle with doubt somedays.  But right now I will focus on praising Him for bringing the right buyer at the right time.  Praise the Lord - our house is sold!  As Clarence said: no turning back now!  Our move to Germany is really happening; we can't stay here anymore!  ;)