Our Work. His Work. Wanted to blab a bit on the work we’ve put our hands to over the last several weeks. Renee has found gainful employment (once again) freelancing as a hip-to-you stylist. She’s casually been easing back into the racket and is really enjoying the personal time with clients (not to mention adding to the family income). My work has been… well, interesting. There were more folks let go today from our dept. Some had been there as long as eight years. I haven’t been there even eight months! Some were far more qualified than I, others were more seasoned in the biz. I can’t explain it, but for whatever reason – I’m still there.
In fact, I’ve just been reassigned a bigger desk, a new title, a bigger budget and more responsibility. Indeed, the adage applies here, “mysterious ways His wonders to perform”. I’m grateful for the gainful employment, a steady income with which to serve my family as we prepare again for service. Thanks to many of you for your prayers and support during this season. We’re happy to report that thanks to your partnership, a significant sum is going into a savings account (aka Mission Launch Fund) each month. We’re actually taking great strides forward in this season and it is ALL due to God’s grace on us. We are blessed.
New Song Christian Fellowship in Nashville, TN
We met with leaders from our local church this week to discuss our progress and re-integration, as well we considered strategies for the coming year. Coming back to the states after a year and half in northern Europe didn’t present the challenges of culture shock that we anticipated, rather a kind of church shock that was completely off our radar.
In Estonia, we recollected with much fondness the processes we had undergone that did much to strengthen and renew our family. Processes such as small-groups, bible school classes, mentors, etc. And while those processes are still core values at New Song, we had changed and those processes had changed in our absence. Re-integration was not easy.
In this most recent meeting, we collectively brought to light a few areas where we have yet to become properly reconnected to our church family. We discussed small groups, serving, spiritual parents and mentors, and ended our discussion with the first sense of strategy that we’ve felt in a while here. Our leaders were gracious and caring, our hearts were encouraged and strengthened, our hope renewed.
United World Mission in Charlotte, NC
Spent one of my Saturdays this month talking with UWM as a potential mission-sending organization for our family to Italy. Talks included a wide range of people: everyone from a peer-level observer, folks just signing on board with UWM, a potential supervisor in Europe, the executive VP of UWM and even the president of the organization. All the way around, I felt like we would be very accepted as a mission-family and our heart for the Italian people was well-received. I had ample opportunity to share my vision for Italy with the entire chain-of-command and there was a grand sense of resulting affirmation.
Currently, the UWM executive team is devising a potential budget for our family in Northern Italy, after which we will take a scouting trip to Rome and Mantua to dialogue with some national contacts they already have on the ground there. While there are no current UWM missionaries in Italy, potential partner ministries may include Campus Crusade for Christ (http://www.ccci.org/) and a national Italian called Italy for Christ (http://www.italyforchrist.it/). Both organizations have a strong presence throughout Italy and would be very collaborative partners for us – giving us access to a wide range of resources, personnel and initiatives already underway.
An interesting side note is that our own Italian teacher and missionary-mentor, Patrizia Franklin Nelson of Italian For Fun here in Nashville (http://www.italianforfun.com/) is a former associate of Italy for Christ and good friends with their founder and president. So, the connections we’ve made this month appear to be both providential and foundational to our progress towards Italy. We solicit your prayers along this line as well: the connections as well as the partnerships that we’re forming now will become the foundation upon which we’ll conduct ourselves as missionaries later on. We need additional supporters, the right Italian contacts and a very clear, precise vision.
