New Van!!

I picked up our new van yesterday and we are so excited! Every time I get in it I am filled with gratitude toward God and amazed at the support and encouragement we have received from the three churches that gave toward this incredible gift.

But all of you, whether you have are a part of the churches who gave the money to get this van or not, have provided this van for us. You all prayed! God provided through all of you.

There have been a few churches and individuals who have dropped their financial support of us because we do not fit their missions vision. I respect each everyone's desire to make their giving count toward God's mission in the earth, and to take the time to craft a vision that fits their goals, but sometimes we forget that the U.S. is a mission field. We are losing the next generation - fast (see Gene's blog "Faith 4 College"). If we fail to reach the next few generations in the U.S. we won't have missionaries to send overseas or money to support missions.

Gene and I are right where we are supposed to be as missionaries. The Northeast is the most unreached area of the U.S. (See my tab above "Why Boston?").

By providing a van for us - US Missionaries - you have encouraged us deeply and communicated your belief in what we do. Thank you so much for your prayers.

God's Great Provision

We had our first meeting this Tuesday and we had 22 students attend. There were a number of students who came for the first time, and all of our returning students showed up. Gene did a great job talking about science and faith. It was great to see so many students.

Gene and I have been without a car since July. Fortunately we live in Boston and transportation has not been a big problem. Yesterday I had our old van towed away. We had it since 2000 and put over 248,000 miles on it. I thanked God for the many hours of ministry that van helped us accomplish.

In the next week we will be purchasing another van. Three of our supporting churches from Washington state raised enough money to buy us a van. Wow, God is so good.

My core prayed for a van for us this last semester and when I told them that a church in Washington was buying a van for us they were amazed. They had never experienced God's provision like that before. Their faith was strengthened. I hope to have one of my core meetings in our new van so that they can celebrate with us!

The new van and 22 students at our first meeting are just two of the ways that God has been providing for us this year. We look forward to even more provision from him. Thank you for your prayers.

A New Year

This week we had our first staff meeting of 2011 and next Tuesday, the 18th, we will have our first Chi Alpha meeting at BU for 2011. We are all excited about the new year and about some of the great events we have planned, the students we will continue to meet with, and for any unexpected blessings that God has in store for us.

Over the Christmas break I got to take a trip out West for the wedding of my nephew and to spend time with my parents in Arizona, where they winter with their horses. The most relaxing part of the trip was in Arizona, riding in the desert and eating fantastic Mexican food with my parents. The family wedding in Washington state was very special and I also got to spend a day in Bellingham with a couple of very close friends.

I am rested and ready for this semester to begin. I notice that this semester tends to go very quickly, but is usually full of growth in the student's lives. I especially look forward to working with my core. I am going to be giving the women more leadership in planning our meetings together. I only have 14 core meetings this semester, so I ask you to pray that each meeting is full of God's presence, and that we would grow in vulnerability and love for each other.

I look forward to reporting next week on our first meeting of the year.

Updated Blog

I have updated my blog in a number of ways in the last few months. First, notice the pages tabs along the top. You will find 'Our Story' of how we decided to come to Boston and 'Why Boston?' that lists all the reasons we are in Boston. Hope both of those pages inspire you.

Also, I have added a subscription gadget so that you can subscribe with your email. Each time I make a post you will receive an email. This makes it so that you don't have to visit the blog if there is no new postings.

Thanks for reading my blog and especially for praying for us.