January update

For those interested, I thought I'd post a quick update on our journey. We have been hard at work raising the necessary funds to move to Bolivia. It has been an interesting season for fundraising - during the holidays and now with the urgent needs at hand for the people of Haiti. In spite of these circumstances, God has been good and folks have been committing to support us. Many have committed to a monthly monetary amount and even more have sent in one time gifts to help us get to where we need to be to follow God's call. We are so very humbled and grateful by these gifts and commitments, considering the current economical state so many are in. We are now at approximately 36% of our financial goal - so we still are in need of much financial support before we can make hard plans to return to Bolivia. We are preparing to put our house on the market, hoping that the sell of it will allow us to save more and have less material responsibility as we prepare ourselves spiritually for the field. Obviously, if the house sells quickly, we will be looking for a place to live temporarily until we leave. This is a little nerve wracking, but again, just one other way we can put all of our hope and faith in the Lord to provide for us. Our goal is to be able to return to Bolivia by the summer - June or July preferably. In order for us to realize this goal, we will be meeting with individuals and hosting "Dessert and Coffee" meetings for groups to share more in depth about our journey, our needs, and our goals. We are praying for those folks who are able to commit to help us financially to be raised up between now and then. If you have received a letter from us or read our letter online, please continue to pray about whether or not God would have you help us. EVERY GIFT, NO MATTER WHAT AMOUNT, WILL HELP US GET TO BOLIVIA SOONER TO BEGIN CULTURE ADAPTATION, LANGUAGE LEARNING, AND MINISTRY!! We determined that we have contacted approximately 900 people, through letters, email, and facebook. My wonderful Mother-in-law who loves math, figured that if all 900 contacts could commit to giving us just $5.00 a month, we would be at or over our monthly goal!! Wow! So cool. And hey..if just 450 of those contacts could commit $10 a month, voila! Done!
We could even take it farther and say 225 of our contacts giving $20/month, or 112 giving $40/month. That is VERY doable! We are just so excited to see what God is going to do with this journey. He has already shown himself true and real. We are trying to remain faithful to a very clear calling on our lives, and He will remain faithful - no matter what. "For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies." Psalm 57:10

With much anticipation -

Shay