“A man’s heart plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
How true we are finding these words to be. We’ve shared before from Elisabeth Elliot’s writings on a quiet heart. She spoke of how Jesus was peaceful in the boat, crossing the water in a storm because he knew they were going to make it to the other side. The disciples panicked because they forgot that Jesus had told them that they were going to the other side. He didn’t say they were going to the middle to drown. Wow!! We thought we understood that when we began this journey, but our understanding now is so different.
We got to speak to a pastor friend today who reminded us that we go through things so that when we are teaching we won’t be doing it in theory. We will really be able to say we’ve learned to be content in any situation, that we know what it is to wait upon the Lord. Our hearts want to be in Brazil now. We still believe that desire to be from God. But His plans aren’t for us to be there yet.
Our message at church today was about running the race with perseverance. We were chosen to run this race. It is a contest and a conflict (internal). It is our unique race, and there are no timeouts. It is full of obstacles, and to run it to win requires great endurance. Thanks for the reminder, Lord!
We want to serve Him however he wants us to, and walk through doors, as he opens them. We don’t want to get ahead, and try to force things.
As for day to day life, Don is doing maintenance at Turtle Creek Apartments, Jody is interpreting for the hospital, and they both do youth, and serve on the mission team at Faith. Maggie is finishing her associates’ degree at Taylor, doing a paper route, and serving the youth and kids at Faith. Emily is working at NHK and starting classes at Ivy Tech. Jacob is a freshman through Penn Foster, while Curt has started 7th grade at Clinton Central. Treyton will attend developmental preschool at Southside.
Renan at mission camp
This has been a summer of opportunities. We have been blessed to be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus in many different ways.
We began in late May by picking up our exchange student, Renan Carneiro. He will be with us until December, and plays soccer for Frankfort. He fits right in with our family-poor guy!!
Maggie and Jacob were able to get tourist visas to Brazil. They went with Truth Project on a two week trip to the Amazon region. They were able to help minister in Santarem, Obidos and villages along the river. They got to work with our good friends Scotty and Amanda. A pastor in Obidos told Maggie that he’d had a dream,and in it we were in Brazil with them.
Jacob, Maggie and Brazilian friends
Immediately following this trip, Jody, Maggie, Renan, Jacob, and Curt spent a week participating in a mission camp. We stayed at Crown of Thorns Christian Camp. We traveled to Indy every day to do VBS type program at the Edna Martin Christian Center. Youth were also pulled out to go serve meals at the Wheeler Mission, paint and repair an elderly lady’s house, and paint cabinets at the Center. Every evening we would return to camp to find out what country would be featured. We ate food typical of the country, and heard from missionaries who served there. We also had wonderful special music!
Curt at the Edna Martin Christian Center
Jody with a Mexican cutie
We left this camp one day early so that Jody, Maggie and Jacob could fly out to Mexico with a group from our church and Volunteers of Hope. This was a very different experience for us, as we served in a border town, Miguel Aleman, which was full of drug lords. We, in one week, built two houses, worked on the church and dorm, did 2 days VBS, visited the prison, distributed food and hygiene kits, just to name a few things!
It doesn’t stop yet. We arrived home on a Saturday, and one week later we helped a local church put on a VBS. They had contacted us early in the spring and said they’d like to do a VBS, but didn’t have the resources or the manpower. We joined with them to plan, and rounded up volunteers from Faith and then went to work.
Don and Renan at VBS
VBS fun
We praise God for providing us with the opportunities, resources and strength for this ministry marathon! A taste of what fulltime ministry is like?
Future Opportunities
We’d like to share with you several ways you can get involved. First and foremost, you can pray. We know you have been praying. We can see the results. Some current requests are:
• Opportunities to minister locally
• Guidance and strength for our family. Planning, preparing, and then waiting (three years total now) is stressful for adults, but especially for teens and children. God is seeing us through it, but it is not easy.
Second, you can contribute financially. Third, you can join us in traveling to Brazil, or in ministering locally. Right now we are planning a trip to Brazil, hopefully in July of 2009. We will have an organizational meeting in late September.
Please contact us if you feel led to go, or if you know of any local needs we can help meet.
This could be you on a boat on the Amazon! If only it were all this easy!
Emily and Treyton enjoy the summer
On the Move Again
While we love the house we are renting, it is for sale. If it should sell, it would be difficult to locate another rental for a family of our size, on short notice. For this reason, when we were made aware of a suitable house that will soon be available to rent, we decided to move.
If you would like to help, we will be cleaning and painting the new house beginning September 3rd. We hope to move things on the 6th and then will need to clean the house we are in now.
We are also looking to purchase some used items:
• 2 dressers
• 4 desks
• Washer and dryer
• Refrigerator
• 2 BMX bikes (the boys’ were stolen)
Our new contact info, as of September 3rd, will be 1355 Burlington Avenue, Frankfort, IN 46041. Jody’s cell phone number is 765-242-2684, and Don’s is 765-242-3729. Our email is still fields.jody@gmail.com, and the blog is www.casa1631.blogspot.com.
