Settling In

We've been home for a month now and are settling in to "the process" as we now refer to it. We met with Steve and Jon and were given approval to submit our preliminary applications to Action International. We felt that they were the 1st choice mission board as they already have missionaries in Honduras, and the administrative costs were considerably less than the 2nd choice. If the preliminary app's are approved we will move into the formal application process.

21 people are signed up for the Honduras trip this June from GPCC, and 5 days of that will be spent at the Micah Project. If the pastoral staff then feels that this is a ministry they want to build a stronger relationship with they will make a recommendation to the Elder Board to formerly approve us to be sent out, contingent upon an approval by a mission board.

We were also given approval from the pastoral staff to begin raising support. We have formulated a tentative budget of $4500 a month. Brian is beginning to contact churches that he has known through Bridgetown, and you can all expect to receive something in the mail from us in the near future!

You may have read in an earlier post about the property we looked at for a home. Since we are not able to move ahead with any type of purchase at this time, we had to tell the owners that if they had other offers they should go with them. As much as we loved it we have to trust that the Lord will bring the right property to us when the time is right. The other night I kept being led to scripture that said, in one way or another, be patient and you will inherit the land. Patience...I'm told it is a virtue. We are learning.

Speaking of support, we received word from the Micah Project that their donations are down 75% for the 1st 4 months of this year, compared to last, mostly due to the financial downturn here in the US. Drew Smith, the financial guy that is going to work with us to get the vocational school off the ground, is offering to make a matching donation to Micah. You can send a check to the church office and we will forward them on to Drew who will match it. We are praying that the Lord will bring in $100,000 which will put them equal to last year in support. The work they do literally means the difference between life and death for some of these kids. Please pray about sending a contribution of any kind.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We will keep you posted as things progress.

Blessings,

Natasha