We had 2 very productive garage sells the last 2 weekends and we have been selling a lot of our big items through forums, word of mouth, and Craigslist. We are getting the remainder of the items boxed up and out by this Thursday so we can have the home cleaned on Friday. Then we will move in to our new temporary duplex by the end of the day Thursday. Please pray that we make it through this chaotic week.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
More News
Just wanted to share that we now have a temporary place to stay after we move out our house by the end of Jan. We had a couple offer for us to stay in their duplex that's for sale and it's rent free! This is a huge a blessing to us. We appreciate all the prayers all of you have said on our behalf for this part of our journey.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
We Have NEWS to Share
After 9 months of trying to sell our house - God has answered our prayer to release us from our home so we can leave for Bolivia soon.
We have some friends who want to rent our home beginning Feb. 1st! We are trying to get everything out of the house by the end of this month. Gonna be crazy!
We have a prayer request - that we can find somewhere in the area to stay for a month or two until we determine our official departure date. We still need to get as much support in as possible before we leave- our goal is that we need $1600 more each month to be at our goal.
**If you live in the League City/Clear Lake/Galveston area let us know if you know anyone who has a place we can stay for very little rent or possibly for free for a short time. Feel free to contact us if you have any leads on anything.
Thank you so much to all of you who have prayed for us and we continue to welcome your prayers as we enter a chaotic yet long awaited season.
More to come later,
Lowell
Friday, December 10, 2010
December 2010 Update
Family Update
During the week Lowell is helping with home schooling the kids and teaches music lessons every afternoon. He has about 15 students per week. On Sundays Lowell stays busy leading worship on Sunday mornings at a local church and playing guitar in the worship band at another church every Sunday evening. Shay continues to concentrate on keeping meals on the table and upkeep of the house, home educating our 4 children, and when she has time she loves to work on her art journal, read, or craft. Our 3 boys Aidan (12), Liam (10), and Jude (9) all love to play music, build legos, skateboard, and have sleep overs with their friends - oh yeah, they love playing their Xbox too! Olivia is 4 and goes to a homeschool pre-K class on Wednesdays. She loves to play with kids in the neighborhood, sing, dance, and play pretend with her dolls.
HomeA lot of our focus and energy the past 9 months has been on trying to sell our home- but, alas, it's still for sale and there are no hopes of any offers yet. However, even if it sold or leased within the next few weeks, we'd still need a place to live temporarily until all of our support money comes in. So... we are not as stressed about it selling and realize it's been a blessing in disguise for us to still be in our home since Lowell teaches music lessons here in our front study/music room. We realize that if we had to move into a temporary living situation, this would make teaching lessons a lot more difficult! We are now turning more of our attention to raising the remainder of our support.
Financial Support Update
It has been just over 1 year ago that we sent out our initial mission support letter asking folks to consider what they could give to help make our vision to move to Bolivia as missionaries a reality. We are officially past the half-way mark in our support with 62% of monthly pledges in. We received many one-time financial gifts in the last year which has been wonderful. This up front money has gone in our savings account and will help us with our initial move to Bolivia with things such as plane tickets, visas, etc. So far we have had to use very little of our mission support money and hope to not have to use any more until we purchase plane tickets to leave. We realize many of you who will read this update have already either given us a one-time gift or made a monthly pledge and we are so thankful for the sacrifice you are making toward our vision to serve in Bolivia. Since WE STILL NEED 38% WORTH OF MONTHLY PLEDGES we are humbly asking the rest of you to pray and ask what amount you might be able to pledge monthly to get us closer to our goal. We want you to know that we are trying to plan on leaving in 6 mos. or sooner but this is contingent on selling our home and how close we are to our financial goal. We can't leave until we have 100% of our monthly pledges given. Our remaining need is $1700 in pledges per month to reach our goal.
Here is one way to think about how we can get to our goal:
136 people giving $12.50 per month = $1700
68 people giving $25 per month = $1700
34 people giving $50 per month = $1700
17 people giving $100 per month = $1700
8.5 people giving $200 per month = $1700
4.25 people giving $400 per month = $1700
*Reminder our total monthly goal is more than $1700 - this is just the remainder of what needs to be raised to meet our monthly goal.
If you decide to make a monthly pledge, feel free to begin giving now or defer your giving until we are on the field. We will keep you informed of our progress by future newsletters.
How To Give
There are 3 ways you can contribute financially to us.
1: ONE-TIME GIFT
Mail check to:
The Ballews
3023 Manor Bay Court
League City, TX 77573
OR - Send money to our PayPal account: *Instructions: Send to: lballew73@gmail.com then click on the tab that says PERSONAL then click GIFT.
2: MONTHLY PLEDGE
RIPE FOR HARVEST
PO BOX 487
MONUMENT, CO 80132-0487
*Note Accnt. #304 on check.
-Click on Monlthy Bank Draft Form below and mail in with a voided check:
MONTHLY BANK DRAFT FORM
3: GIVE ONLINE - click on the link below to go to website to give.
GIVE ONLINE
*NOTE - once you get to the website please click the drop-down tab at the top "please select one" and select Ballew Lowell - #304
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us this past year. We can't do this without your continued prayer support. We look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible in the days to come!
In His Time & By His Grace,
The Ballews
Lowell, Shay, Aidan, Liam, Jude, and Olivia
Friday, November 12, 2010
Waiting Quietly
Shay and I, this past week, have been feeling some unrest with what we are to do. We're sort of feeling like our reality of going to Bolivia is slowly fading. We have felt stuck with not being able to do anything about our situation as we still wait on our home to sell. The following quote from a book I've been reading called "Humility" by CJ Mahaney really encouraged me. "Please don't misunderstand this. Waiting is not resignation; waiting is an active trust in God to provide fulfillment in His perfect timing, according to His ultimate purpose of glorifying His Son.
So we are actively waiting in trust of God to sell our home even in this slow housing market so we can be freed up to be able to GO.
So we are actively waiting in trust of God to sell our home even in this slow housing market so we can be freed up to be able to GO.
Friday, October 29, 2010
September/October 2010 Update
"They will be reached only if someone from outside their culture is willing to sacrifice his or her own comfortable community to reach them with the Gospel of Christ. And to go and do so, that person needs believers at home who will stand behind him with prayers and finances."
K.P. Yohannan Revolution in World Missions
I begin with this quote from the latest book I've been reading because I want those of you who are "standing behind" us to know how immensely thankful and grateful we are for you. We can not do what God is calling us to do without your help. We remain here, in our "comfortable community", for now but are longing to be on the field, in Bolivia. For whatever reason(s), God has not allowed us to GO yet. Our home has now been on the market for over 7 months, with not one single offer. As you all well know, it is the worst housing/real estate market in many, many years (some have said 30 or more...). None of this is a surprise to God. He knew very well that this is what we would be facing. He has a divine purpose for us, still, during this seemingly hopeless season. He wants us to continue to prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for the journey ahead. He wants us to continue to trust in Him and seek Him and know his mind. We are {trying} to live life as normal as possible as we wait. WAIT. God is simply telling us to wait. To be STILL and know that He is God. We must be patient, as this journey we are going to embark upon is not light. It is very,very heavy. We face many challenges that we can not even comprehend yet and God is whispering to us, "Wait. Prepare. Pray. Seek Me. " We will need much strength to go on this journey. It takes time to muster it up, and be ready. Really ready. God knows when our time is right. When it is a part of His perfect plan. We do not doubt {although we've struggled to keep that emotion at bay} that He called us. We KNOW that this is still something He wants us to do. We, in our limitless minds, think that our home is the only thing holding us back. But, if God is in ultimate control, then he is apparently holding us back and will send us at just the perfect moment and not a moment too soon.
In the meantime, we continue to educate the kids at home and try to stay in continual learning mode. It has been a neat blessing to have Lowell home to help with the schooling. We are having some amazing family devotional moments each morning, struggling through math problems together, quizzing each other on Spanish vocabulary, reading about ancient history - Greece, Rome, India, China (which is immensely interesting to me!), making messes with crazy Science experiments, and reading the classics (we read The Hobbit in September and are currently reading Farmer Boy). The boys continue their love of LEGO building, playing music, and skateboarding. Olivia is soaking up every single moment of life and just started attending a homeschool "kindergarten" class for an hour 1/2 one day a week. We chose not to sign up for any activities this semester, assuming that we could "pack up and leave at any moment". This awkward season of waiting has been a little difficult on the kids, because of the uncertainty of things. We have already sold so many of their material possessions and sold our suburban. We are blessed to be able to borrow my Mom's car, but it is so small that our entire family can not fit! As we enter the holiday season, they are anticipating "decorating" for Christmas, and it was quite sad to tell them that all of our decorations had been sold or given away! We had every reason to believe last Spring that we would be in Bolivia by now, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas in a new culture, with many new traditions (and during the summer!).
Lowell has been in full blown music lesson mode for the past two months. We prayed that God would send more students for him, and He certainly came through! He has about 20 students to whom he teaches guitar, bass, piano, and drum lessons each afternoon at our home. The Lord also provided an interim Worship Leader position at another church here in the Clear Lake area for him. He leads music for a contemporary service at a traditional Baptist church each Sunday morning, helps rehearse their student band, and plays lead electric in the worship band at a different church on Sunday evenings. These are all ways God has provided for us financially during this season of preparation and waiting! Amazingly, we have not had to touch the funds that we have been raising (and continue to raise) for living and doing ministry on the field in Bolivia! We continue to be humbled at all of the financial support we have received for our mission journey. We are very close to 100% of our financial goal! Our prayer is for God to raise up 10 more families/individuals to support us with a monthly gift of $100, or 5 at $100 and 10 at $50, or 20 at $50....well, you get the idea! We need $1,000 more of monthly commitments basically.
Please continue to join us in prayer, Oh faithful friends, family, and fellow servants!
*For the remainder of our financial support to come in
*For our continued perseverance and preparation during this season of waiting
*For our home to sell or lease asap!
*That we would be united as a family and that our love and support for one another would not grow weak. To die to self daily, living in HIS spirit.
*For the vision that God has given us for the people of Bolivia to not die, but grow ever stronger in our hearts and minds!
K.P. Yohannan Revolution in World Missions
I begin with this quote from the latest book I've been reading because I want those of you who are "standing behind" us to know how immensely thankful and grateful we are for you. We can not do what God is calling us to do without your help. We remain here, in our "comfortable community", for now but are longing to be on the field, in Bolivia. For whatever reason(s), God has not allowed us to GO yet. Our home has now been on the market for over 7 months, with not one single offer. As you all well know, it is the worst housing/real estate market in many, many years (some have said 30 or more...). None of this is a surprise to God. He knew very well that this is what we would be facing. He has a divine purpose for us, still, during this seemingly hopeless season. He wants us to continue to prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for the journey ahead. He wants us to continue to trust in Him and seek Him and know his mind. We are {trying} to live life as normal as possible as we wait. WAIT. God is simply telling us to wait. To be STILL and know that He is God. We must be patient, as this journey we are going to embark upon is not light. It is very,very heavy. We face many challenges that we can not even comprehend yet and God is whispering to us, "Wait. Prepare. Pray. Seek Me. " We will need much strength to go on this journey. It takes time to muster it up, and be ready. Really ready. God knows when our time is right. When it is a part of His perfect plan. We do not doubt {although we've struggled to keep that emotion at bay} that He called us. We KNOW that this is still something He wants us to do. We, in our limitless minds, think that our home is the only thing holding us back. But, if God is in ultimate control, then he is apparently holding us back and will send us at just the perfect moment and not a moment too soon.
In the meantime, we continue to educate the kids at home and try to stay in continual learning mode. It has been a neat blessing to have Lowell home to help with the schooling. We are having some amazing family devotional moments each morning, struggling through math problems together, quizzing each other on Spanish vocabulary, reading about ancient history - Greece, Rome, India, China (which is immensely interesting to me!), making messes with crazy Science experiments, and reading the classics (we read The Hobbit in September and are currently reading Farmer Boy). The boys continue their love of LEGO building, playing music, and skateboarding. Olivia is soaking up every single moment of life and just started attending a homeschool "kindergarten" class for an hour 1/2 one day a week. We chose not to sign up for any activities this semester, assuming that we could "pack up and leave at any moment". This awkward season of waiting has been a little difficult on the kids, because of the uncertainty of things. We have already sold so many of their material possessions and sold our suburban. We are blessed to be able to borrow my Mom's car, but it is so small that our entire family can not fit! As we enter the holiday season, they are anticipating "decorating" for Christmas, and it was quite sad to tell them that all of our decorations had been sold or given away! We had every reason to believe last Spring that we would be in Bolivia by now, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas in a new culture, with many new traditions (and during the summer!).
Lowell has been in full blown music lesson mode for the past two months. We prayed that God would send more students for him, and He certainly came through! He has about 20 students to whom he teaches guitar, bass, piano, and drum lessons each afternoon at our home. The Lord also provided an interim Worship Leader position at another church here in the Clear Lake area for him. He leads music for a contemporary service at a traditional Baptist church each Sunday morning, helps rehearse their student band, and plays lead electric in the worship band at a different church on Sunday evenings. These are all ways God has provided for us financially during this season of preparation and waiting! Amazingly, we have not had to touch the funds that we have been raising (and continue to raise) for living and doing ministry on the field in Bolivia! We continue to be humbled at all of the financial support we have received for our mission journey. We are very close to 100% of our financial goal! Our prayer is for God to raise up 10 more families/individuals to support us with a monthly gift of $100, or 5 at $100 and 10 at $50, or 20 at $50....well, you get the idea! We need $1,000 more of monthly commitments basically.
Please continue to join us in prayer, Oh faithful friends, family, and fellow servants!
*For the remainder of our financial support to come in
*For our continued perseverance and preparation during this season of waiting
*For our home to sell or lease asap!
*That we would be united as a family and that our love and support for one another would not grow weak. To die to self daily, living in HIS spirit.
*For the vision that God has given us for the people of Bolivia to not die, but grow ever stronger in our hearts and minds!
 |
| Saying goodbye to the 'ole suburban :o( |
 |
| We were the featured missionaries for a friend's son for his Awanas class! |
 |
| Olivia and Daddy are "morning buddies" |
 |
| Our "Roman Meal" we reenacted when studying ancient Roman history |
 |
| Lowell got to play a gig at Ethos Place Live - a coffee house located inside a church |
 |
| Celebrating Lowell's 36th birthday! |
 |
| A nature walk with Dad - the boys in their element |
 |
| Olivia at Zoo Boo at The Houston Zoo |
 |
| The kiddos at the Pumpkin Patch! |
 |
| The whole fam at the Pumpkin Patch |
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
God is Faithful - July/August Update
We decided to list our home for lease in addition to it being for sale back at the beginning of July in hopes that we might find someone to lease sooner than buy. We have had some interest, but no contracts have materialized. We have had at least three open houses this summer and a few showings, but again, no success. We have reduced the sell price of our home several times and are considering reducing the rent price as well to hopefully heighten interest in this difficult market. God is still in control and His timing is still perfect. He is never late in providing, but always right on time!
SUPPORT
We have been praying for God to bring in the last $1000 of monthly support as we get close to leaving. We have had a couple of people join our monthly financial support team recently but need more. We have been asking God to prompt those who have given us a verbal commitment to begin giving now. We are trying hard not to use any of the money given thus far toward's our mission support but may need to in order to get through the next two months. On that note Lowell has been praying for more music students (guitar, bass, drums) to help provide for our needs while we wait. He's also been able to lead worship for some local churches which has helped provide money to pay our bills and put food on the table for the past few weeks. Praise God for this provision! Click here to know how to give: http://ballewmissionjourney.blogspot.com/p/give.html
DOWNSIZING
We continue to downsize and simplify our life by selling household items, musical equipment, and toys. We recently put our 1998 GMC Suburban up for sale and have been looking for ways to cut back on our bills - cutting cable down to the bare minimum, cutting back cell phone service, living with AC on higher settings, keeping our blinds shut during the day, and not eating out just to name a few. With all these changes we hope to decrease our current living expenses several hundred dollars a month.
HOW YOU CAN PRAY
-For Lowell to obtain more music students for the remainder of our time here.
-For the rest of our support to come in as we try to get to 100% of our goal.
-For our home to sale or lease
-For our Suburban to sell quickly
-For our continued preparation while we wait patiently (spiritually, emotionally, mentally)
PRAISES
-God's provision financially
-An offer to borrow a friend's minivan once we sell suburban
-Continued confirmation that we are in God's Will
-A fun, memory filled summer with lots of travel, swimming, and summer camps!
 |
| We swam so much the kids started to groan when we said we were going! |
 |
| This car has served us well for 9+ years! |
 |
| We were blessed to visit San Antonio with Lowell's parents while Aidan was at Jr. High Camp |
 |
| Boys leaving for YMCA Camp Cullen |
 |
| Boys coming home from YMCA Camp Cullen |
 |
| The now 4 yr. old beauty |
 |
| Moody Gardens - Galveston with Shay's sister and her family |
 |
| enjoying a week at the YMCA pool - League City |
 |
| fun at Discovery Green Spray Park - downtown Houston |
 |
| Jude's 9th bday cake! |
 |
| the morning after Jude's sleepover |
 |
| ice-skating at Moody Gardens - Galveston |
 |
| Shay's 20 yr. high school reunion |
 |
| Creek Kids' Camp |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)