The Unintimated God

So, you may recall from our last newsletter, we set a goal to reach 90% of our monthly support by May 20.  Quite ambitious considering we only started support raising in February, so 3 months to get to 90% is fast.  Thankfully, God is not intimidated by big numbers or quick deadlines!  We are thrilled to report that we are at our goal!!!   Thanks to God's amazing provision through lots of generous friends and family, we are now at 90% of our month support!  This has truly been a faith journey for me as I've learned so much about trusting God.  He is always in control even when my faith is lacking.  Praise the Lord!  We are now on the 'home-stretch' of our support raising.  Just 10% to go, or roughly $650/month until we are fully funded.  If you'd like to help with the last bit, please let us know or you can donate online by going to www.teachbeyond.org and clicking the Donate button.  :)

I have been continually reminded of this verse lately:  Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

Mother's Day Sharing

Wanted to quickly inform everyone that we will be sharing about our ministry this Sunday, May 13 at St. John Mennonite Church in Pandora, OH at 9:45am.  Everyone is invited; if you need more details, please feel free to contact us!

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!  ;)

God is Good

Hello again!  We are currently enjoying March Break Week (Austin has no school), including some very beautiful weather!  What a wonderful blessing that God delivered nice weather and we can be outside enjoying the time off of school.

We wanted to write a few updates about our move and our ministry.  First, a bit of clarification about our support raising.  Black Forest Academy (the school where we will be serving) does not pay any of the staff.  All staff are considered missionaries and must raise 100% of their own funds.  This includes all basic needs such as housing (the school does not provide any living accomodations), food, utilities, insurance, transportation, schooling for the kids, etc, etc.  As we mentioned before, the cost of living in Europe is quite high.  The amount of support we need to raise often feels overwhelming to us, but we know that God is amazing and able.  We continue to ask all of you to pray about joining our ministry through supporting us financially on a monthly basis. 

We are thankful that we have had some families already commit to supporting us monthly as well as several one time gifts!  Our church is in the process of deciding how much financial support they can give us as well.  As we have looked over our finances again, the amount needed does seem a little lower than we initially anticipated (we’re now estimating $6500 instead of $7000).  There are still a lot of unknowns, especially since our housing is not finalized yet, which is why the amount needed is still being adjusted.

On another note, we are getting ready to sell our house here in Toronto!  It feels a little scary selling our house, when we’ve just begun support raising.  But this is another big step of faith and trusting God.  Please pray that the showing and selling of our house will go smoothly.

 Finally, we wanted to mention that the website listed on our newsletter was incorrect.  The correct website for Black Forest Academy is:  www.bfacademy.com.  Thank you again for your love and support.  Please send us an email and let us know how you’re doing! 

God bless,

Clarence and Anna

Ewwww......Sickies

Well it's been a little over a month since the Lord has called us to our new ministry.  This weekend I (Clarence) was at our annual winter retreat with our high school students called Sno-Camp and over the last 6.5 years, it has never failed that I would be sick before the retreat but usually I am better by the time the retreat comes, except this year.  Though the retreat was lots of fun and a really enjoyable time, I bet that it would have been 10x better had I not had my illness.    What I didn't know was that back home, Anna was battling with illnesses at home with Silas vomitting and having diarrhea and then Austin had a fever this morning and then Anna had a stomach bug.  I am still recovering and who knows how long this will last, but I believe that the Lord will take care of us.  Needless to say we need a lot of prayers for our family to recover so that we can continue preparing for the journey that lies ahead.  Thank you to all of you who have followed us so far and please continue to pray for us especially for healing but also that the Lord would raise up people to join our adventure through their financial partnership. 

Take care and We'll Catch you later :)

Where we're going

Of course the short version is:  we're going to Black Forest Academy in Germany!  However, I thought we should take a little time to explain this more thoroughly. 

First of all, what is Black Forest Academy (BFA)?  BFA is an international boarding school serving primarily Missionary Kids (MKs) whose parents are working as missionaries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.  It is located in the Black Forest region of Germany, also known as Schwarzwald, in the far southwest corner; just a quick jaunt from the France and Swiss borders.  BFA plays a huge role in supporting missionary families by helping to educate and care for the children.  BFA follows a North America curriculum and aims to help prepare the students to attend college or university in North America.  Some of the students also come from famlies where the parent(s) work in international businesses or even in the military.

As mentioned in my last post, Clarence will be working as the Middle School Chaplain.  This basically means pastoring/shepherding the students in the Middle School, grades 6-8.  It includes organizing small groups, coordinating chapel services, teaching Bible classes, organizing Friday night outings, caring, listening, and praying.  A lot of the job description seems fairly similar to what he's been doing here in Toronto for the last 6.5 years as a youth pastor.  It's neat to see how God is allowing Clarence to keep using his gifts and passion to serve Him in a different area.  Clarence is excited about the new position, but of course sad to leave our church, and especially sad to say goodbye to so many youth adn adults he has invested in over the years.

I (Anna) will not have a specific role at the school.  Since the kids are still fairly young, my job will be primarily to care for them.  Austin will be attending German kindergarten part time, and Silas will be at home full time with me!  I'm looking forward to also seeing other ways I might get involved such as helping to care for other staff members and getting to know the students at the Middle School with whom Clarence will be working.