Who Would Have Thought

So like I said last week... (If you didn't catch that, check it out here: Once Night at a Concert)

I was surprised when my indoorsy, not-handyman jumped at the idea to go to Mexico to build houses and do street ministry. Who would have thought that God had already been doing a work in his heart and all he needed was the right opportunity?

God did. God knew. Time and time again it amazes me that God knows it all before I ever act upon the opportunities in my life. So...Needless to say we were both excited, but we figured we should slow our roll and pray and make sure this was God, and that's exactly what we did. We took about five days to dedicate ourselves to prayer and to discerning whether or not THIS opportunity was the one God had been placing in Jimmy's heart.

The more we prayed and the more times we pestered Sharon Agee (Adam Agee's wife and fellow mission trip coordinator), the more it was confirmed that THIS was it! God willing, we were going to Baja, Mexico in 2018!

The first step was to pay our down payment/registrations. Again, we saw the hand of God in the timing. As many of you may or may not know, Jimmy has been contracting with the Gem Theatre here in Claude, Texas, to direct the 2017-2018 play season. We received the check we needed from them just when we needed to pay our registrations. Now it is official. We have reserved spaces on the God's Not Dead Missions trip to Baja. Next time, I plan on sharing a bit about some of our wonderful local teammates. Now on to Duolingo...but more on that later ;)

I will do my best to post weekly updates that will share more of our story and where we are in the process of fundraising and preparation. Visit our Mustion Mission Trip to Mexico GoFundMe Page to donate toward our total expenses for the trip.

One Night at a Concert

If you've ever been in high school then you have probably heard the "One night at Band Camp..." joke. Usually the punch line is cheesy and moderately inappropriate. However, this story really does start "One night at a concert...", and it's not a joke at all.

I don't know if you have ever heard of the Big Church Night Out concert tour or not, but it came through Amarillo, Texas, at the beginning of October. If you know anything about us, you probably know that we are almost always relying on the grace of God to pay our bills. So although I had planned to go, the funds were low...again...and it didn't look like it was going to happen. That's when my friend called and asked if I would like to go with her because she had received two tickets for er birthday and didn't want to go alone. That was the first act of God.

So the big night came. We enjoyed an amazing dinner at the local Indian place and headed off to enjoy Blanca, Seventh Time Down, Adam Agee, Sidewalk Prophets, Derek Minor, and the Newsboys (of course). The night also encompassed a fair amount of praise and worship and was truly an amazing experience. Toward the end of the night, Adam Agee introduced the mission trip which God had called him to start three years ago called God's Not Dead Missions (GNDM).They specialize in taking teams to the Baja region of Mexico and building houses.

My friend (Tiffany) and I were both excited by Adam's presentation of the trip, and we talked about it throughout the rest of the night and on the ride home. Once I got out of her car and bid her goodnight, I didn't really think much more of the trip until I casually mentioned it to Jimmy. Surprisingly, he was all about it! Evidently, Jimmy had been praying about the desire to go on an international mission trip next summer, and he either hadn't told me about it or I had forgotten (both being equally possible).

So we started praying...

Long story short-er, we decided that after about a week of prayer that God was calling us to take part in the 2018 GNDM trip. So stay tuned for more information, and in the meantime, check out our FUNDRAISING PAGE on GoFundMe.

FOCUS #2 Pt 1: Building Relationships and Learning the Culture

Building relationships.  The core to any ministry whether is pastoring, music, missions, students is building relationships.  Which happens to be one of my best (and sometimes worse) strengths.  I "dont know a stranger" I "am friends with everyone" I "am too trusting".  Christiana on the other hand is "takes longer to open up".  So its no surprise that we have been able to build some close relationships already while here in Taichung.

Acts 8 tells the story of Phillip. Who God used to meet with and talk to a Ethiopian.  Never more in my life has this story been more real or meant more to me.  Verse 27 starts with Phillip got up and went.  He had no clue why The Lord sent him south.  He just went. There he was at the perfect place at the perfect time. The Lord used him for a purpose. It was no accident.

The people that The Lord have brought into our lives. The relationships we have built (which locals and foreigners) are of no accident.  It cant be. A year ago I never thought I would ever even leave the country.  So we are taking it very serious and very purposeful the people that God brings into our path.  Everyone from the guy we buy tea from (Jon) to the security guard at our building (Mr. Wan!). There are no accident.

So as we continue to get to know people.  We continue to pray for them.  We love them and they return to the love.  We love going to LAX Burger not just because the burgers are great because they are! But because we love and adore Jamie, Linus and Lily.  We are there as their friends and we love them. It goes both ways. When I was in the ER, Jamie came up and took care of us.  We desperately needed someone who spoke Chinese. Call me Phillip.

- Jimmy -

FOCUS #1: Getting settled and finding work

As I type focus number 1 is going good. Christiana and I have both found jobs that fit our schedule and its going good.  I know that a lot of people were nervous because we came over with no jobs.  Just to stress again. All the people that we talked about this venture stated that is way better and easier to find job (at a good school) once you are here.  The alternative is signing a contract with a big school and being stuck in a bad situation. It was a leap of faith. God provided.  It is still an adjustment to be a english teacher but the kids are great.

Getting settled? I pose the question: What does settled mean?  We have a place to live, to work, made some friends, have cell phones.  So if that is the case then yes, we are settled.  If settled is feeling comfortable, relaxed, knowledgable, and routine? Then No way are we "settled".  When you rely on taxis, walking and buses to go everywhere you never really know how you got there. Right now i am typing this in one of our favorite new places, L.A.X Burger, and i couldnt even tell you how to get here or get back to our house. LOL.  But we like it here. We are friends with the owners and we feel comfortable here. Oh and the burgers are flippin awesome.

So as far as FOCUS 1 goes. We have jobs. We are on the way to being settled.  This is one of the main reasons we committed to staying 2 yrs.  I feel we wont even really feel settled until the first year is done! So continue to pray for us.  We are trying hard to adjust (i am having trouble with the local food, surprise i know) and trying to find our place in this lovely, hot, crazy, busy, noisy, fun, interesting, place.  For someone who has never been out of the country its like jumping into the deep end of the pool having just learn to swim.  But its a great adventure!

Covered in Prayer

We have been truly blessed by all the support we have received since we decided to follow God to Taiwan. It has been truly amazing the number of people who have given money, bought stuff, or said prayers for us. It was truly awesome to receive a tangible demonstration of all the support we have had. This week Jimmy went to help another church with their youth ministry and came home with a very special gift. This gift was a special prayer quilt made for us by Ebenezer United Methodist Church of St. Joseph Missouri. It was quilted and knotted it by the members of the church. Each and every knot tied on the quilt represents a prayer said over Jimmy and me and our trip to Taiwan. It was amazing to be able to see and touch all the prayers said over us. So we send a HUGE thank you to Ebenezer. You are all truly amazing and we thank you for your prayers and support!

Grace and peace,

Christiana

Here's another picture of the Prayer Quilt made for us by Ebenezer United Methodist.

One Third of the Way to Taiwan

Today we have reached approximately 1/3 of our goal funds! It's exciting! Thank you to everyone who has bought stuff (our house is starting to look empty!) and/or given donations to see this ministry opportunity through. We will be accepting donations until July 17th which is our deadline for having all of our funds raised. By July 17th, it's our goal to have three months of Taiwan expenses set aside.

This will allow us to travel to Taiwan, reside in temporary housing (a combo of hostels and hotels), get around (by bus, taxi, or subway), and eat while we find a job and wait until our first paycheck. Although we hope to find employment quickly--we even have a few interviews set up already--it can still take up to a month after our first day of work before receiving a paycheck since 99% of all people working in Taiwan are paid on a monthly basis.

Pray for us as we seek God's will about where to live and where to work. Pray that our phone interviews go well too.

We still have a couple of "big ticket" items we need to sell to help push closer to our financial goal. They are: a 2002 Ford Windstar Minivan, a washer and dryer set, the desktop computer (can be viewed on the for sale page), a Queen Mattress set, and one couch. If you or anyone you know are interested in these items you can email us at iwantthemustions[at]yahoo.com or private message us on Facebook.

Don't forget our Garage Sale starting on Friday, June 28th at 8:00 AM!

Why Taiwan?

Ok, so you have heard our big news (or if you haven't you can learn about it here). If you are like most of the other people we have talked to the first question which might pop into your mind is "Why Taiwan?" Let's talk about it.

There are 3 basic reasons why we are moving to Taiwan:

#1 It's what God is calling us to do right now.
Since our time at McCarthy has closed we have been praying and seeking advice of our Christian mentors and other Godly people in our lives we trust. It has been clearly confirmed that even though we don't have a place to live or a place to work (yet), we are supposed to move to Taiwan at the end of July. As my (Christiana's) mother has told me numerous times in my life--including when I called to talk to her about this, "If that's what God is telling you to do then you better do it!"

#2 It's an opportunity to do ministry differently.
Christiana has a real heart for students and for missions, and I have been working with students for more than 15 years but I have always been on staff at a church. This is a chance not only to get out of our comfort zones and explore a new culture, but it is also a chance to be able to focus on ministry without the pressure of being "on staff". Not being on staff will also allow us the opportunity to parent with multiple local churches and ministries. Also, teaching English will allow us to stay in Taiwan and to meet a multitude of students, parents, and others who will want to talk to us and build relationships with us (allowing us to share Jesus) just because we are native English speakers. It is a WIDE open opportunity.

#3 It will be good for us.
Moving to Taiwan will be good for us. It will broaden our world view and help us to see outside of our Western mindset. In addition, when we talked to Jimmy's surgeon (Find out more about Jimmy's surgery) he brought up a valid point...it will be easier to eat healthier, be more active, and lose additional weight anywhere that's not America. If for no other reason but the increased amount of walking we will be doing to transport ourselves from one place to another it will be good for us.

As I am sure you have figured out, there are many reasons why we decided to move to Taiwan. However, these are the big 3. So please pray for us. This is going to be a challenge even though it's what we believe God is calling us to do. If you want to find out how you can help, please visit our FOR SALE page or our GoFundMe page.

Grace and Peace,

Jimmy & Christiana