I Really Just Want to be a Farmer

(Mike) As promised, I wanted to tell my story of how I came to the realization that serving as a missionary was the call upon my life.  The process was not ideal, but since when does God work the way we think He should?
I really feel like my whole life has pieces that fit into the broad picture of the puzzle, but for the sake of telling my story, I have to begin rather recently.  When I was working away from home for Ahern in the winter of 2012, I had a tough schedule that had me gone for 3 weeks and home for one week each month.  I was making a lot of money compared to what I had previously made and things looked really good from a worldly standpoint.  We were getting out of debt, and Carolynn was able to stay home with the kids.  It soon became difficult to have a relationship with my family though.  I felt like it was getting easier and easier to be away working, where I only had one person to think about and concentrate on.  When I was home, I tried to make up for all the time I was away and I never succeeded.  I felt like an ineffective dad, husband, friend, and person. 
Different thoughts plagued my mind each evening after the routine of work had been finished.  I was battling between trying to stick it out and trying to figure out a way out.  Nothing seemed to make the circumstances any better.  I searched my faith, my fleshly desires, and also felt like just giving up.  Answers were far and few in between.  One thing was certain, the world was not satisfying my thirst.
I believe God let me wrestle with this for a while to make sure I was certain when the answer finally came.  It was just a whisper at first.  Just the beginnings of a thought... I wondered if my life really had been designed with a purpose in mind, if so, what could it be?  I had always been really interested in gardening, farming, sustainability lifestyles, building and fixing things.  I felt like I knew a little about a lot.  I loved learning how to do new things. I also knew that I wanted, needed to be closer to God.  I wanted to know Him more. 
I started filling my evenings with podcasts from different speakers, and searching the Bible more on my own.  Slowly, I thought I began to hear from Him.  A picture of serving God as a missionary shaped itself into my mind and heart.  I didn't know if there was even a need for the missionary that I had in mind to be.  Through serving this way, I thought I could help desperate people with the most basic and essential aspects of life.  I would also get to be witness to God doing amazing and miraculous works of renewal and transformation of hearts through the Gospel.  The picture brought together past experiences, current skills and interests, my God-given talents. I also envisioned Carolynn using her love for children and teaching gifts to serve. A compassion for the most needy people developed in my heart.  Hope was renewed. I didn't really mention this revelation to Carolynn right away though because I hadn't really thought I/we could do it.  I had all sorts of excuses in my mind that said so.
Before too long, Carolynn and I talked about this new hope I had and to my delight, she had been going through her own journey and had ended up in the same camp as me!  The fact that both of us were on the same page without collusion spoke clearly to me.  We talked about what it looked like and how we could possibly become missionaries.  We had heard that God equips the called, so we believed that would happen.  It began with Faith.  We prayed about when I should come home.  The answer was "very soon". I didn't have a job to come home to, but we trusted that God would take care of us and we were willing to give up everything in order to follow God in this new journey.  I told my boss I had to go home and would not return on the next plane.  It was done.  Now what?  The very next day, I received a phone call from an employer back home who had some work for me if I wanted it!  As the weeks and months unfolded, we saw many, many examples of God answering prayers that confirmed His agreement with the path we saw.
Carolynn and I will post more stories of confirmation periodically.  Thank you all for continuing your support of us!   

Will You Pray For Us?

Carolynn here!
Another mile marker has been reached! Yesterday afternoon we finished and sent in our application to the Iris Global 'Harvest School of Missions'!  We hope to be notified about our acceptance in 2-3 weeks.  
While we wait, we are beginning to raise prayer support.  In the book Serving As Senders, author Neal Pirolo says "The effectiveness of those who 'go' is contingent on those who serve as senders"  A friend told us an analogy that has been helpful in understanding this. "The relationship between missionary and senders is similar to the relationship between bees and flowers when you think about it. Bees are always on the go and the flowers never move.  The bee can't do it's job without all the flowers and the flowers need the bees to take their pollen and spread it.  The success of each one is dependent on the other."  
We need, and want, all the people we can get who are willing to commit to praying for our family one day a month, every month.  In return, our family will also pray for you on the same day.  If this is something that the Lord lays on your heart to do, we will send you a calendar magnet with our family picture on it so you can circle the day you are praying and place it on your fridge.  
Some of you have already made that commitment and we are SO grateful! Our hope is that we can fill a monthly calendar with at least one person/family who will pray for us on the same day each month. You can let us know of your interest in supporting us through prayer by leaving your name and email in the comment section or by contacting us personally (if you already know us).  If you have already told us you would pray but don't see your initials on the calendar below, please remind us!  And if you have already received a magnet but have forgotten to let us know of your commitment, please tell us! 

For our specific prayer requests, we will try to update the blog at the beginning of each month with the needs for that month.  That being said, here are the requests for the month of June:

• That the Lord would give us the right words to speak to friends and family members who don't understand what we are doing and why.
• We have 3 children who will need prayer for adjustment to a new country. Lucas is seven, Amelia is almost three, and James is ten months. We can always use prayer about parenting in a way that glorifies God.
• That the Lord would provide us with exactly what we need, when we need it, financially.  That we would trust Him completely in this area.
• That we would wait well.  We want to make the most out of our "limbo" time.  God has been using it to provide opportunities for us to grow in various ministry related way which is awesome. So we just want to continue having eyes that recognize and say "yes" to these opportunities even (or especially) if they are uncomfortable.
• Pray against fear, doubt, and insecurity.  It is easy for me (Carolynn) to feel highly inadequate and unprepared for this journey as well as fearful about all the unknowns. 
• That we wouldn't try to run ahead of God.  We know that His timing is perfect in all things but we can often be impatient.
• That we would take the time to be still and listen for His guidance in all areas of our life. We want the Lord's voice to be the loudest and clearest, and we want the enemy to be silenced.
• And finally, that the Lord would open the doors that no man can close, and close the the doors no man can open so that we may walk with confidence the path He has laid out for us.