Tasty Tidbits of Life on the Field

Every once in a while, I stumble upon some interesting blogs from the field that I think just exemplify the good work MAF is doing around the world. Here are some tasty tidbits of life as an MAF missionary ...

From Lesotho:

In Lesotho, MAF staff had the opportunity to participate in a "Letsema"--a partnership to complete a project for the good of the community. In a very remote village called Lebakeng, the airstrip had become unsafe due to deep ruts. This airstrip is an important lifeline to the people in the village to receive medical care. At best, without MAF and the use of an airstrip for quick medical evacuation, it takes a minimum of 16 HOURS to get to a hospital--lots of walking and if you're lucky, you'll catch the once-a-day taxi/bus, followed by at least 10 hours of public transportation to Maseru, the capital city! But with MAF, it's just a short 40 minute flight! WOW!

In April, the community invited MAF to come help them fix the airstrip, recognizing the vital importance it had in the community. 80 people gathered together to fix the airstrip and work shoulder to shoulder. The cost? Two flights and enough food to feed everyone. And the other cool part ... after everyone was fed, the Gospel was shared and Sesotho bibles handed out--one for each village represented! Some people even heard the good news of the Gospel for the first time. Now that ... that is good news! See full story here: http://www.mafblog.com/stories/it-takes-a-village-part-1

Working shoulder to shoulder to fix the airstrip ... looks nothing like a Canadian airstrip though, eh?
Photo by Kimberly Baker

From Mozambique:

I recently read the blog of MAF'er Jill Holmes. She recounted some of the work MAF flights had made possible over the past year or so. Take a look at some of God work that is going on:

• MAF flies a missionary along with some much needed supplies to a village, where two missionary families are teaching the Bible chronologically. 
• MAF flies doctors and workers to a titanium mine. When one worker got a serious head injury, MAF flew the man to a hospital--a journey that would normally take hours on very bumpy roads (not exactly preferable travel for someone with a head injury!).
• MAF staff, along with Mozambique pastors/evangelists often get the chance to show the JESUS film in different villages. This is an important ministry in sharing the gospel.
• See Jill's blog here: http://holmeslogbook.blogspot.ca

Delivering an injured mine worker to safety ... Photo by Jill Holmes.

BIG MILESTONE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

We won't keep you in suspense any more ... our big exciting milestone announcement is ...

Drum roll ...

Are you ready?!?! ...

We've reached 100% of our OUTGOING, ONE-TIME FUNDS!!!

Hurray! That's $35,000!!!! This is the fund that gets us overseas, gets us through language school, covers things like visas, immigration, moving our life overseas, initial training and Marcel's maintenance standardization, and LAUNCHES our long-term ministry!!

Crazy right? 6 months ago we started on this "Impossible to man, but possible to God" journey, knowing that it would take a miracle (or many small, every day miracles and acts of obedience) to raise the funds we need. And now, we've completed Part 1 of the journey.

All that being said ... we're not close to leaving yet. Don't worry, we're still here for a while. Because as awesome as it is that we have raised our ONE TIME funds, we still have LOTS to raise in our MONTHLY support before we can go. We're almost at 40% of our monthly support. Will you help us SOAR in this next stage of our ministry by praying for us ... specifically for our upcoming London Dessert Night, for God to reveal new supporters and opportunities to us, and for us to trust Him with everything we need?

Thank you friends and family. Because really--this BIG ANNOUNCEMENT would not have happened without you. Your financial blessings have brought us to our knees in thankfulness many times. You are all truly a blessing!!!!

Long Weekend Update!

Guten morgen! (Good morning, in German!)

Thought I would post a little update on life, support-raising, and some praise/prayer points.

We are very excited (and by excited I mean thrilled, exhilarated, humbled, and all around in awe) to announce that our current support levels are sitting at ...

Drumroll please ...

37% of our monthly support AND ...

99% of our one-time, outgoing support!!!!!!!!

So what does that mean?!

It means we could move overseas now, but we'd have to move right back to Canada, LOL. 

So what does it mean for you ... friends, family, supporters, and potential financial supporters?

It means from here on in we're going to put a big push on finding monthly supporters. We want to have all of our support raised by AUGUST. 

But, we know a lot of people do not feel "financially equipped" to commit to being a monthly supporter. So we want to introduce you to a couple of options:

1) Become an annual giver! Maybe you prefer to see one withdrawal a year, as opposed to twelve, and you have a favourite time of year (like post income tax return?). You can commit to give once a year as an annual giver. Will you consider becoming an annual giver of $50, 100, or 200? Your commitment is our peace of mind.

2) You can still give a one-time donation. What will happen to your one-time donation, once we reach 100% of our outgoing fund? It will be counted in our "monthly support" and split up over 48 months. As you can imagine, this still helps us out a lot. We just want to encourage people that if you know you can commit to a similar or smaller amount per month or year, that your commitment helps bring more stability and predictability to our funds!

Now ... on to some praise and prayer points ...

1) Obviously, a huge praise point for us is that number--99%--of our outgoing funds! Wow! And not only that, but God has just richly blessed us with amazing people as our monthly supporters. We are consistently loved, encouraged, and blessed by them!

2) Some personal prayer points. Marcel and I signed up to be soccer coaches this summer. We wanted to do this to meet new people in our community, so please pray for relationships to be made, bridges to be built and team unity! Additionally, it's been on our hearts for a while now to start a "Christianity Explored" Bible study for non-Christians and friends, so please pray for this to come to fruition!

3) Please pray for our upcoming dessert night at West London Alliance Church on June 1st. We want this to be our biggest event. Please pray for at least 50-80 people to come, and for us to see a dramatic increase in our monthly financial support.

4) Finally, please pray for our staff team at MAF Canada. They are currently in the discernment stage of determining where we would serve best overseas, and no doubt, they could use a lot of prayer for this! We're hoping to find out soon where God will lead us!

God bless friends! Have an amazing long weekend!

Six Reasons to Support a Missionary

1) The early Christians did it. There are many instances in the Bible where the early church worked together--partnered together--by sharing their resources and supporting one another. Take a look at Acts 2:44-45, "And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need." In Paul's letter to the Philippian church, he commends them for partnering with him in the spread of the gospel. How did they help him in his travels, without leaving their own city? Take a look at Philippians 4:10-19. The gifts the Philippian church supplied to Paul were a "sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God." 

2) It allows "their" ministry to become "our ministry". One of the biggest things "we missionaries" learn in training, but have trouble conveying to our supporters, friends, families, and congregations is the idea that a supporter is NO LESS IMPORTANT than the missionary themselves. We are a team ... and when you support a missionary, you literally join them in the ministry, making it "your ministry." How cool is that? You don't even need to leave your home town (or your house for that matter) to be a part of God's ministering work all over the world!

3) The Bible commands us. Not only does the Bible say, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ..." (Matthew 28:19), but it also contains an abundance of verses about sharing, giving, and helping those in need (see for example, 1 Timothy 6:18-19, Luke 12:33, and Matthew 25). One of the easiest ways to "go therefore" is to support your local missionary and by providing for them, you are extending your ministry to the nations! 

4) God blesses the cheerful, generous giver. Proverbs 11:24-25 says, "One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered." See also 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. God loves a cheerful giver and a cheerful giver gives great glory to God! God is the provider of all things, and though our giving may not result in long term financial rewards here on earth, God most certainly will bless our giving with earthly grace and heavenly rewards.

5) It promotes Christian unity. Is there a better display of Christian unity than when Christians across all age groups, genders, socio-economic divides, denominations, and geographic locations work together to make something happen? Romans 15:6 says, "May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."

6) It broadens your view of "the church". I cannot describe how much my view of the global church has changed since joining with MAF. I had no idea that a church here in Canada looks drastically different than one in Bangladesh! And at the same time, I am constantly in awe that we all worship the same God--we may have different languages and cultures, yet Jesus Christ died for us all and is the head of all our different, many-cultured churches!

7) Their (Our) work can't happen without you! I'm gonna talk shop here. I'm not the mechanic in the family, but I think a plane is a perfect example of how important missions supporters are. Every plane is held together by a number of rivets. They are small, and seemingly insignificant all by themselves, but you certainly wouldn't want to fly a plane if you knew even a few were missing! Those small rivets, working together as a team, are what keep a plane together. Likewise, every single supporter, working together as a team, are what keeps a ministry together, functioning, growing and expanding!

Finally ...

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Renewed Passion

Yesterday, God refreshed my heart in an unexpected way. Yesterday was Compassion Sunday at our church, and I was a bit sad, because I was really just hoping for a "regular ole Sunday"--you know, sermon with a good message and some application.

Well--thankfully, I got a good message and application anyway. Message: there is a lot of poverty, a lot of hurt, and a huge mission field out there. Application: do something about it. Application to my life: although I can't adopt another Compassion child right now :(, our work through MAF is going to help so many organizations and people (like Compassion) do their work more effectively and reach the poor and needy! Not only that, but soon (oh so soon!) Marcel and I will be on the front lines of the mission field ourselves, coming face to face with many children, many of the poor, and Lord willing, offering our time and energy to them.

It might seem weird that seeing all the hurt and poverty still out there in the world refreshed my heart. But it did! Because sometimes I forget that we're going out to do something about it! Sometimes I forget that what we're doing is meaningful! Please don't mistake this as pride in what we're doing--rather, a renewed passion for our work. And I hope this inspires you to find a renewed passion in your life--that YOU, wherever you are, are needed there! There are hurt, lonely, hungry, poor, and lost people in your life, in your community, and you ARE needed!

April Showers bring MAY Challenges, Newsletters, and Presentations!

Happy 1st of May!

With the end of April and the start of May comes our newest newsletter.

It's also the start of our super simple MAF May Challenge for kids! What is the May Challenge you ask? It's a calendar, with a different challenge each day to encourage kids to collect spare change for our ministry with MAF! There's prizes at the end of the month, opportunities for parents to pray with their kids about missions, and educational material about what MAF does and who they serve! So check out our website and download a calendar for a kid in your life!

May also brings a more relaxed month of presentations (thankfully!) that gives us time to ramp up to what we hope will be our biggest presentation yet: June 1st, Dessert Night in London!!!!! FINALLY! It feels like we've been waiting and waiting to present in front of our church and our London friends and family, but the day is coming! Would you consider coming out to support us, hear our story, and consider partnering with us? The dessert night is June 1st, 7:30 pm, at West London Alliance Church.

Hurray for May!