March 2019 Prayer Update

Hey everyone, happy spring!  Well I know I shouldn’t be too optimistic but with all the sunshine we’ve had and nicer temps it sure is nice to know that the worst of the winter is behind us.  We are so thankful for all of you and your prayers, and also for your support in other ways.  We hope that this update finds you well and remember that if there is anything that you need prayer for please let us know, we’d love to reciprocate.

Health Update:  Raelyn’s teeth seem to finally be in!  She slept well for a few nights before she caught a cold and then wasn’t sleeping again because of that.  Rebecca caught it at the same time.  I thought I’d escaped it but came down with it about a week and a half ago, right after they were done with it.  It’s still hanging on to me but I’m feeling better each day.  We’ve enjoyed some full nights of sleep and WOW, what a difference that makes!  Praise Jesus!  Raelyn seems now to be struggling with another cold or allergies, we’re not sure which, but it’s not too bad thankfully.  Thanks for all of your prayers, we are hoping that this continues now for a long time.

Church Position Transition:  I’ve always had a heart for outreach and when we came to Gold Ave Church we knew that the harvest was ripe here in this neighborhood.  We started off working mainly with the children and youth, hence my title of Director of Children and Youth Ministries.  These ministries have been very fruitful and blessed over the years.  I have enjoyed also doing some neighborhood outreach and prayer for the neighbors, and over the last year have been feeling a shift in my calling more towards this.  I also have been feeling drawn to improve how we connect with visitors and how we help people become a part of our church family, from serving to finding opportunities to grow spiritually.  I’ve been discerning this with the pastors and we have really sensed the Lord leading.  Therefore I will soon be transitioning to be the Director of Outreach and Enfolding.  We have two others who have been in a similar discernment process, and they will both also be coming on as Urban Missionaries, one as Pastor of Care and Connection and the other as Director of Spiritual Growth and Communication.  Together we three will form the Worship and Care Team, under which the children and youth ministries will be.  We are laying the foundations for being an equipping church and we feel like we are on the verge of an amazing harvest, so we want to be ready!  I am excited for this shift and where the Lord is leading, and ask for your prayers for continued wisdom and discernment as we go in this direction.  (we are working on our job descriptions, already discerning new ministries, etc so we do need lots of wisdom!)

CYM:  As I make this transition I am praying for more help with our children and youth ministries, they need some administrative leadership so that I can focus on my new initiatives.  I have been working with the teams for a while now to empower them to function without much intervention from myself, so that is great.  I also plan to continue in our Middle/High School youth group as it still encompasses both areas of my ministry of outreach and enfolding.  Would you please continue to pray for more workers in these ministries, and specifically a few people who would like to and are able to help administratively?

Youth group continues to go well, we have seen the youth open up so much lately, we’re going through the book of Mark and asking some very deep questions.  We’ve prayed for healing and for their spiritual growth in the last few weeks and they’ve been experiencing answered prayers!  We continue to face difficulties too with their schedules and with different challenges, including clear enemy interference, so we ask that you pray for protection, wisdom and love in this ministry.

Leadership Development Retreat:  We had asked for prayers for this special weekend that took place about a month ago.  Raelyn had a great time with grandparents and slept well, praise Jesus.  We enjoyed the retreat, we were also very challenged to grow by what we learned.  The topic was the Eneagram, which is a “personality type” tool which focuses on how we are each created in the image of God and how we can invite him to work in our areas of brokenness.  It was very helpful to identify and understand why we act and react how we do, what areas we need healing, and how to invite the Lord into that.  We have both been growing much since then, we are thankful that Jesus continues his healing work to this day!  We pray for more healing to happen, as we move towards wholeness in our relationship as a married couple, our relationships with Jesus, and with others.

Prayer Ministry:  Things have been going well with prayer ministry, but it seems like since the Polar Vortex, things have really picked up!  Rebecca has been scheduling all of our healing prayer appointments and our prayer partners, and it is a lot!  There are lots of moving pieces with so many people’s schedules and challenges of finding the time.  We are thankful that we have a great prayer team and that they are excited to see more people receive healing and deliverance.  Please pray for wisdom and perseverance for Rebecca as she continues to be busy doing this, and also for all those who are waiting a while for their appointments because we have so many in waiting.

Thank you so much for praying.  We desperately need prayer coverage and as we continue to step out onto the front lines we need the armor and protection from the enemy’s attacks.  Our church seeks this too as many area churches are looking to us as an example of how the Lord can and does work today.  Thank you for being a part of this awesome work!

February Prayer Update

Hi All, coming at you with another prayer update… we survived the polar vortex and have been enjoying temps that aren’t dangerous to go outside.  It’s been an interesting few weeks, with having to cancel youth group a couple times due to weather and trying to work out who goes out when because one of our cars has winter tires and the other one has not great all seasons.  

Besides the weather our main battle has been one of fatigue due to continued bad sleeping for us all.  Rebecca bears the brunt of this though because when Raelyn wakes up in the middle of the night (medicine or not, even with lots of prayers) she only will go back to sleep if Rebecca takes her into another room to sleep on a different bed.  Her last tooth is coming in but it’s been moving so slow I think that glaciers move faster!  Also some of the time Raelyn is refusing to nap, we’ve had to remove all of the furniture from her room so she doesn’t climb on things and take everything out of her dressers.  The situation is stressful for us, we know we’re not the only ones who have gone through this, it’s just really difficult!  We desire prayers for rest, peace and unity, and for good sleep to finally come!

Speaking of sleep, we are going on a retreat soon for a leadership development class that we’ve been taking at our church.  Raelyn will be staying with Grandparents for the weekend, so we ask for prayer for her sleeping at their house without us.  Please Lord!  We’d also love great sleep, even in a different place which usually makes it harder.  Please pray for a nice time as we deepen relationships and Raelyn enjoys staying with Meme and Grandpa.

Going back a bit, my preaching went really well a couple weeks ago.  The night before we had a big leak in our roof as snow was melting, thankfully we were able to get into the attic and remove the icicles and clear out soaked insulation, so that the damage to our living room ceiling wasn’t too bad.  We felt it was a distraction from what I was doing the next day so we tried to not make too big of a deal of it.  I think that the Lord did wonderful things through the sermon and am glad he gave me the words.  One person afterwards told me that the sermon and some scriptures read by others during prayer time wove together a theme that she had been sensing from the Lord that week.  She said she could see that I had a bright light shining through me while I was preaching, and thats really awesome.  A few others were challenged to make some changes in order to deepen their relationship with Jesus.  If you didn’t get a chance to hear it, you can listen to it here: Acts 19:8-20  Thanks so much for praying!

After that we went to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple days to try to relax after a busy start to the year.  We really enjoyed it, it was our first time and Raelyn loved it a lot.  I’ve attached some pictures at the end.  It was relaxing except for bedtime and no naps of course, but it was fun enough to distract from that.  

Looking ahead, not much is different from last time, it seems like a season of catching up and resting is needed though.  Still trying to discern things for summer ministry and ministry direction in general, as well as if/when we might want to adopt another child, spring house projects, etc… lots on our minds.  We’d appreciate prayer for all this, as well as for protection from the enemy’s attacks, for unity and the joy and peace of the Lord to reign in our hearts.  Thanks so much!

Love,

Mark, Rebecca & Raelyn

January Prayer Update

Hi all, it’s barely January anymore, but I’ll still call this the January prayer update!  As I write this we’re finally experiencing winter in all it’s glory, all I see is white out of every window, and still negative temps!  January has flown by at what feels like a breakneck pace, which has probably been exaggerated by a constant lack of sleep!  Yes, Raelyn has been having trouble sleeping all month save for a few days here and there, she has been getting her 2 year old molars, one at a time and each seems to take about a month to come in!  So we’ve felt like we’re in a fog quite often, yet still having to live life and work and serve the Lord.  

Not only have we have had our ups and downs throughout the month, last week felt like we were under spiritual attack, which was pretty cleverly disguised so we only discern it after it’s been going on for a while.  I’ve been working on writing a sermon and we’ve been continuing to try to listen to the next steps that God has for us in many areas.  We’ve also seen the Lord working in amazing ways, like healing my back and blessing conversations with people who need to hear the good news.  So it makes sense that the enemy wants to take us out and bring us down.  Most of our church staff have been experiencing this to some extent or another, so I ask for prayer for protection and relief, and for the Holy Spirit to empower us to stand firm.

We have continued to enjoy watching Raelyn grow though, so it’s not all bad!  She is really funny and likes to goof around and roughhouse, she like so ride horsey and play hide and seek.  We’ve enjoyed going to the public museum although the Dinosaurs moved and roared so they were scary, but she loves the carousel.  Raelyn is really into counting: 1, 7, 8, 5, 9… she has the numbers but just needs to get the order down.  She also loves to repeat things and sing too, she’s learned songs that we sing before bed and the other night I taught her to say “Jesus is Lord.”  It is a really fun time and minus the sleep deprivation, things are going really well.

I will be preaching this week Sunday so I’d like to ask for prayer coverage for that also.  I am preaching on Acts 19:8-20 and focusing on remaining in Jesus as the source of life and the power of the Holy Spirit.  I am contrasting that to those who were not connected to Jesus and had bad results.  I will be giving a challenge to commit or recommit lives to the Lord, and this is coming on the heels of last week’s sermon where we were encouraged to be prayed over to receive the empowering of the Spirit, as did the believers in Ephesus.  I am excited about the sermon, and am still working on it after having given it to the pastors and staff yesterday as practice.  Anyone who wants to come is invited as well, church starts at 10am on Sunday at 49 Gold Avenue NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504.  Pray also for the weather to cooperate!

Ministry here at Gold continues to go well and as I mentioned we are seeing great fruit as we pray for revival in our church, neighborhood and world.  This month Rebecca is working on scheduling a record number of Healing Prayer Appointments, I’ve been involved in some recently where we saw Jesus bring healing and freedom to deep inner wounds.  It is so exciting to see Him set captives free, bind up broken hearts, and bring the kingdom to earth.  Our Prayer Partner ministry has been busy lately as well, praying for people after the church services.  In addition to praying for strengthening and encouragement we’ve seen healings and freedom com in those short times as well.

The Children’s Worship team has also met a few times to work on improving our ministry to the 3-5 year olds, even as we still need more people to help so that we can re-open our 1-4th grade class.  We’ve had some newcomers in our GoldRush middle/high school youth group and have seen amazing fruit as leaders are learning to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and students are meeting the Lord and confessing sins.  We’ve had a couple older students express interest in continuing to help after they graduate so we are encouraging them to attend church more regularly and focus on their relationships with Jesus.  

With all that is going on we are still fervently praying for more workers, as there is a huge harvest here but we need more workers!  We already have many people who are very involved but we don’t want to burn people out so we need more help.  As we continue to seek the Lord’s will and try to keep up with where he is bringing us, we continue to invite more people to support us in prayer and join us in ministry.  If you know of anyone who might be interested, would you please let us know?

Thanks so much for standing with us in prayer and for lifting us up to the Father, in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We really appreciate you and all that you do for us!

Love,

Mark, Rebecca & Raelyn

Church Christmas Celebration

Merry Christmas! We recently had a Christmas Celebration at our church (Gold Avenue Church) and I wanted to share with you some fun pictures and the story. I wrote in the script we used - our children and youth acted out the story of Jesus' birth and we celebrated with joyous singing of carols. Everyone who came was very blessed and the presence of God was there, reminding us of his love for each and every one of us!

I got to be the lead shepherd, because the sheep and other shepherds needed someone to lead them!

I opened with an introduction and a word of prayer, and then we began...

Scene One: The King Is Coming

Everything was ready. The moment God had been waiting for was here at last! God was coming to help his people, just as He promised in the beginning.

But how would He come? What would He be like? What would He do?

God sent an angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a girl named Mary who was engaged to marry a man named Joseph.

The angel went to Mary and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” You will give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

God was sending a baby into the world to be the King and the Rescuer, the one that God’s people were waiting for. And, for nine months, as the baby grew inside Mary, she and Joseph waited for their son to be born. God was coming to live among them. For this reason, He would be called, Emmanuel, God who came to live with us.

Scene Two: The King Is Born

When Mary was close to having her baby, she and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, the town where King David was from. But, when they arrived, every home, every room, and every bed was taken. The only place that was left for them to stay was a stable among the animals.

In the quiet of the night, God gave the world his wonderful gift. The baby that would change the world was born. It was God’s own son.

Mary and Joseph wrapped up the baby in clothes, they made a soft bed of straw, and laid him in a manger. They gazed in wonder at him, marveling into the night at their son who was tender and sweet, holy and meek.

Scene Three: The Angels & Shepherds Worship The King

The same night that the baby was born, God placed a star in the sky that shown brighter than all the rest. The star was placed right above the stable where the baby laid as a way to light up the darkness and to show people the way to him.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of angels appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” The shepherds quickly traveled to find the baby and just like Mary and Joseph, they marveled at the newborn king. It was a glorious night!

Scene Four: Three Wise Men Visit The King

Now there were three very wise and important men that lived far far away from Bethlehem. But they saw the same star that God put in the sky when Jesus was born. They knew it was a sign and that a baby king had been born.

They traveled on their camels across endless deserts, up steep mountains, and into deep valleys, constantly following the star that would point them to where the baby was. When they finally arrived to where the star was, they rejoiced with great joy! And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him as they knew He was the true King that God had sent.

Each wise men offered their most precious gifts to the baby. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But, the greatest gift of all was that the Prince of Heaven and Almighty God had become a helpless baby. This King hadn’t come to be the boss, but He came to serve and to love.

Song: Noel (Dance by Sarah) Link: Noel by Lauren Daigle

Scene Five: The King Came To Rescue

As Jesus grew up, everything He did shared God’s love. While nothing about him seemed like a king, with no riches, no royal robes, and no earthly crown, Jesus’s words and actions showed the true power and love of God.

Jesus came to the world to rescue, save, heal, and deliver. There was so much brokenness in the world and Jesus came to mend the brokenness with His grace and His peace.

Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead to life, brought freedom to the captive, and silenced the storm with one word. Jesus multiplied meals, became friends with sinners, and washed his own friends’ feet. King Jesus brought hope to a weary world and sweet hymns of joy to those who experienced His love.

Close: Receive The King

From that time until now, Jesus is continuing to make the world new. Now and for all eternity, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, receiving praise and worship with words that say, “This is our King! This is our Rescuer! All Honor and Glory forever and ever! And Jesus invites us today to open our hearts to receive Him as the Great and Loving King. As the song lyrics of “Joy To the World” says, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King and let every heart prepare Him room.” Let’s pray.

Bonus picture of me with two precious little lambs, at our one and only practice the Saturday before!  Merry Christmas!

Finland and Romania Trip 2018

Do you remember what you did two months ago? Maybe? Well we were on our big European vacation! We started out packing up and eating donuts to find our flight was cancelled! After getting that worked out and getting new train tickets, we were on our way. On the way to Finland Raelyn did really well. Those long flights make even us adults a little cranky. And then we almost didn't get into the right part of our train to Vaasa. Thankfully the man Mark was sitting by helped us realize we had to move because the train was going to separate and go into two different directions.  By that time our luggage seemed so heavy, but we made it! Rainer and the boys picked us up and we had a late dinner with the family, like 9pm which is 2pm here, so more than 24 hours after we left our house.

Rainer and Mark, a friendship forged more than 15 years ago!

Our jet lag wasn't too bad, but Raelyn had a hard time adjusting to the time change and often woke up at night needing to play a bit before going back to bed. She did really well though, once we accepted her inability to sleep. The Lorenz family helped us feel right at home and on vacation! They did everything for us except chew our food ;) It had been 4 years since we saw them last, but besides the obvious growth in the "children," we reconnected so fast and it was like only a few months had passed.

They left their trampoline up for Raelyn, and she loved it so much! It was great to have an activity for her when she just needed to get out some energy or crankiness. She loved playing with everyone, but especially Kalle. He has braces and she loved his teeth jewelry. Almost as much as she loved going up the stairs. It was so nice that we didn't have to chase her every single moment!

We took a couple of nice long walks around their house in Finland. Finland is the same latitude as Alaska so it is very beautiful and has many forests. We were able to have many good conversations as well. It was nice to slow down, enjoy tea, conversations and try the licorice ice cream!

Lea, Katri, Rainer, Mia. 15 years ago when we got married, the two then young girls were so excited to come and see my dress. They still remember our wedding! 

The whole family L-R (bottom): Lea, Mark, Raelyn, Rebecca, Katri, Rainer 

top: Silas, Lasse, Mia, Kalle

We are thankful that we were all able to be together! Lasse goes to school out of town and Lea is away at college, but they were both able to come home for the weekend. We enjoyed our stay with them immensely.

After our long weekend in Finland, we flew to Romania. We arrived in Romania already adjusted to the time, so that was a nice bonus! We were able to be very flexible with our schedule and join h2h activities when it worked for us. We stayed at an airbnb in the city. This was nice because it allowed us to invite guests to our place and have it feel private. 

Raelyn the acrobat! She did well, and we even managed at least a little nap every day!

Our first full day we went to the orphanage which we had worked in since our first trip in 2007. Things have changed a lot since then, mostly the kids. Those who were young then are now about ready to age out and leave. Also the foster care system has grown a lot and many of the kids are now in families or back with their own families. So there were less kids and different kids there on this trip. It kind of felt like starting over, save a few kids we know really well. One of the reasons we really wanted to make it there this year is that our sweet little Alina is now 17! She finished school at 10th grade and is just waiting. We don't know where she will end up, so we really wanted to see her.

Raelyn had a blast with the kids who wanted to play with her.

 These girls kept calling her Cadence. Cadence was there with her family in the summer :)

The second full day we were able to see two of the young adults who made a big impact on us. Elena, who wrote us the letter in 2008 that made us prayerfully consider coming full time to Romania. And Marius. And if you know us at all, you know who he is! He was able to stay with us part of the time and it was so good! We felt like we were able to regain that close feeling of friendship and he got to meet and be loved by Raelyn. She had seen Marius on video chat before and she just attached to him from the start. It was like she understood that he is a part of our family.

 She loved to sit on his lap and feed him. Well, she loved anything and everything with him.

 Elena. We saw her a couple times and had a nice time having desserts and walking through the city. She is very dear to us and we were thankful for the conversations we had.

We went to another orphanage we had worked a little at. We also went down to the boy's transition house for the opening of the girls & boys transition programs. We went a saw very briefly an older lady from that town who was always telling us we had to have children. She was so happy to meet Raelyn. She depends on her grown children for financial support. We may complain here about social security, but we are really fortunate and have much to be thankful for. 

We also saw Florin & Ramona and were able to here about their active involvement in their church. It was refreshing to hear about young adults eager to cooperate with the Holy Spirit! 

We also spent time with Jen & Jenny, Cristi & Amy, Tom & Gila and others we know well from the five years we served in Romania. We have many, many more pictures and stories. In short, Romania still has that home feeling. We still love seeing our kids, although most are in their 20's now! 

Our animal lover

Oh yeah, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in Romania. We did go out to a nice restaurant and had a very romantic time...with our toddler :) It really wasn't an after thought, being with the kids we love and miss deeply was very special.

 Until next time...praying for all of these precious kids!

November Prayer Update

Wow, October is over just like that… it might have something to do with us being in Europe for half of it and then trying to play catch up after that, it’s been really busy! So we’d like to take a moment to update you all on how things are going, how are trip was, and all things that can help inform the wonderful prayers that you offer up on our behalf. We hope to soon have a blog post up about our trip as well, so check back soon!

To summarize, our trip went really well. We traveled for 24 hours to get to our friends’ place in Finland. We spent a long weekend with them and it was so nice, relaxing, and fun. It was cold but beautiful fall weather so we were able to take walks and our time was really enjoyable. We were spoiled by the Lorenz family who we know from when I worked with Rainer in college! It is amazing that we’ve been able to keep in touch and even go to visit a couple times. From there we flew to Romania and had a wonderful time there, a little faster pace because we had lots to figure out and lots of visits to fit in. We were able to see many of the young adults we know that we worked with when we lived in Romania. Marius, one of our closest, stayed with us much of the time in the nice little apartment we rented from AirBNB. We were able to work with the missionaries there from our former organization H2H to go to the orphanages a few times. Honestly those times were the hardest, and the easiest to see how much time has passed since we were there. Most of the kids we know and love are gone now, and those that are there were really too young to remember us much. We did still enjoy seeing the few kids that we still know but it wasn’t the same anymore there. Our visits with the older kids that we know who are living on their own were really nice and it’s really nice to keep those connections alive. Traveling went pretty well all things considered, we had some hiccups along the way like a canceled flight and almost being on the wrong train, but everything worked out. We are thankful that Raelyn did well adjusting and she just loved meeting everyone and playing with everyone. She misses them a lot now, as do we. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to take this trip and we thank you for all you prayers along the way!

At church I was very busy trying to figure out how to finally move our Nursery back to its normal location near the sanctuary, so I had to do some rearranging of the team and thankfully training some new people to join that and the Children’s Worship team. It is a blessing that people have been willing to step into new roles in order to make these ministries have sustainable teams that aren’t on so much that people get burned out. Soon we will need a few more workers due to some transitions forthcoming, but the blessing is that nearly everyone who attends our church is involved in many different ways to serve. There is just so much need for service that we still need more workers! So this is an ongoing prayer request, even as we’d like to increase our capacity to serve the schools and to have a college ministry (since there are so many moving into the neighborhood).

Our youth group has been going well, though it’s been a hard fall due to so many of the youth being so busy at school and with extra activities like sports and plays. We’ve been really down in numbers, but the depth that we are going to with those that are there is amazing. Studying through the book of Mark has been great, we aren’t even done with the first chapter because we’ve encountered so many questions and thoughts! This week even I was leading the study and we were talking about how Jesus silenced the demons he was driving out because they knew who he was (Mark 1:34). As we looked into why he wouldn’t let them speak, we looked at parallel passages and one girl had a revelation: she was shocked that ”Jesus is God and the Messiah!” She has accepted Christ previously but said she now more fully understands who He is. This wasn’t even a question/revelation I was anticipating because I take this for granted, but God was at work and showing that his word is alive! It has been great to be studying the Bible with the youth, and also has been a learning experience, we as leaders are having to practice much self control to not just give the answers that we know, but to help the youth find the answers in the Bible, thus teaching them how to study on their own. Please pray for our group as we continue to seek transformed lives and freedom from what the world is putting on them, which are part of their discipleship.

We had a really fun end of the month event - a bonfire at one of the leader's houses. We roasted hot dogs, had chili and salads, fresh pressed cider, and s'mores. One of the youth brought their ukulele and spontaneously led us in some praise songs, and I shared about the origins of Halloween and how we as Christians can let our light shine on a very dark holiday. The feeling of the night was joyous and the fellowship was wonderful, we love our youth here!

One last thing that we’d like to invite you to pray about with us, as we come to the end of the year, is for provision of the rest of our support for the year and even a head start on next year. We have been really blessed with many supporters who are committed to our ministry and also many who have generously given at other times. So far we have amazingly started each year in the positive which is really great because we still only have about 80% of our support pledged for each year. So we pray for a bountiful year end, for God to move on hearts of people who value the ministry that God has called us to and who heed his call to generously support our ministry. We can’t overstate our thankfulness to all of you for your prayers and for all those who give. 

We hope that you all are doing well and we pray God’s blessings on you all!

Love,

Mark, Rebecca and Raelyn

September Prayer Update

Hi again!  It has admittedly been far too long since we've used our blog, much in part to not being able to post pictures of Raelyn while she was in foster care, and due to the rise of easier things like Instagram.  However we realize that staying connected is really important and this blog is a good way to communicate.  We've been thinking about using the blog to give more prayer requests and ministry updates, so here is our start.

I write this to you on the eve of our going on our big trip, first to spend time with friends in Finland and then on to Romania to see our kiddos (who mostly aren’t little kids anymore).  We enjoyed our trip to San Diego a few weeks ago to see our friends who we worked with in Romania, and Raelyn really hit it off with their daughter who is her age.  Raelyn did well flying so we are praying that is the case for this trip as well.  We will drive to Chicago and fly 9 hours straight to Finland, then take a 4 hour train ride to our friend’s place.  It will be a long day of traveling, so we ask for prayers that all will go well and that we’ll be able to rest on the way.  Also for Raelyn to be able to travel well and maybe sleep a lot, since normally she is very active and wants to run around, which won’t be possible on the plane!

Raelyn got a cold after we came back from San Diego and is still recovering from that so we’ve been low on sleep.  Also Rebecca’s jaw (mainly left side) has been hurting her pretty badly at times.  We’ve been praying a lot for healing and we invite you to join us as well.  We were blessed by some help from friends to buy a new bike to replace my old one which was stolen last month.  It has been nice to have a bike again to commute to church whenever I can, and I was able to upgrade some of my safety/security equipment.  Then a couple of weeks ago Rebeccas computer died and we had to have the motherboard replaced, which was very expensive, but she uses it for scheduling prayer ministry so we felt it was necessary.  Still, we are thankful for all that God has done for us and continues to do and we praise his name for all of his blessings in our lives.

Things have been going well at church, I have spent a lot of effort getting everything ready for us being gone.  It has been like a jigsaw puzzle with many moving parts but it seems like everything is in place now.  We are still praying for more workers in our children and youth areas.  God has given some guidance on how to restructure a little and shift people around, also asking a few new people to help, and it seems like when we get back we will be able to do some building up and strengthening of our teams.  

In our youth group we have started studying the book of Mark, with a vision of teaching the youth how to study the Bible for themselves.  Last week there was a lot of excitement around figuring some things out and we hope that continues.  We also desire to continue to be led by the Holy Spirit and to be open to times of spending time listening to the Lord, journalling, and/or asking for inner healing.  The leadership team is also rotating leading responsibilities which is how we are keeping it going while I am gone.  We sense that the enemy will ramp up attacks and ask for prayer for our youth and us leaders.  We ask for protection for their housing situations and for more friends to come.  

An answer to prayer has come in that a family from church was facing eviction and it was looking like moving in with some friends in Florida was the only option.  We prayed for something to open up and as they were packing to go something did.  It is not too far away in Wyoming.  We are praying that this family, which has two youth in the youth group and other children in our children’s ministries, will stay with us as we really enjoy having them as a part of our church family.

It is so hard to believe that fall is here, and we’re finally getting some fall weather.  Thanks again for all of your prayers, we appreciate it so much!

Love you all!

Mark, Rebecca and Raelyn