Time with Tate #4: What's Your Biggest Fear and How Can We Pray for You?

Today Tate and Jimmy talk about our biggest fears (it should be interesting to see what Jimmy thinks I would say) and how you can pray for us.

Grace and Peace,

Christiana




For the most up to date prayer requests visit our About page where you can find specific requests for Jimmy, Christiana, or both.

We Did It!!!

Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27

It seems impossible but WE ARE FULLY FUNDED! YES!!! We just have to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has become part of our team through financial support and/or prayer. You have made the difference. Thank you for helping us to be ready for Taiwan. We really couldn't have done this without you.

I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to focus the next two weeks on getting rid of the rest of our stuff, cleaning the house, studying language and culture, and packing to leave instead of stressing about whether we will have enough money to live on until are fully established in Taiwan.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's leading in finding jobs and a place to live. Things are coming together nicely so far but we still have so many details to hammer out. This is really hard for my "ducks in a row" personality. Jimmy is struggling with the unknown of foreign travel as this is his first time outside the United States. We appreciate your prayers and thoughts more than you know!

Grace and Peace,

Christiana

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.

Taiwan Update

Here we are at just under a month until we leave the United States. Can you believe it?! I know that I am still not sure that I do. So many things are happening right now that it is really, really hard to keep track of everything. I thought I would help you and me both out by giving an update on all the things we have going.

#1 Passports and Paperwork...DONE
Jimmy and I have both received all our passports and paperwork. *whew* We are ready to board the plane on July 29th and head into our new future.

#2 Job Interview with Giraffe...
A little over a week ago we had a job interview with Giraffe English School. They are a great franchise and we had a good time interviewing with Emily (their corporate recruiter). Our interview went very well. However, before Emily could recommend us for the open positions one of the schools filled their placement on their own. The other school was uncomfortable offering a position to one of us without the other having a position in the company as originally promised so both opportunities fell through. Emily will keep our names and data on file, but at this time we do not have a position with Giraffe.

#3 Selling Stuff...Woohoo!
Sales are going well! We have sold almost all of the big ticket items. Plus the garage sale we had last weekend went amazing! The Dixon girls came and helped out and served up some tasty lemonade (Thank you!) and we sold knick knacks and other household items until we were exhausted and couldn't see straight! All in all we were able to add a profit of $500+ to our Taiwan fund from the garage sale alone. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported.

#4 Other Opportunities...
We have also had a few other opportunities to share about Taiwan.

• On Sunday, Jimmy spoke at Ebenezer United Methodist Church here in St. Joseph. They were a great group of people and were gracious to pray over us and give toward God's calling in our lives.
• We also have a friend who is doing an online 31 Party to help us out. We are receiving 25% of all the proceeds from this online party and we encourage you to purchase products to support both us and our friend who was kind enough to do this for us. Click here to order by visiting the 31 Products website.
• Some of you may have heard that we would be speaking at Villebrook Baptist Church (one of our former churches) in St. Louis on July 14th. We want to let you know that although we were super excited about seeing everyone there again; the opportunity has fallen through and we will no longer be making a trip to St. Louis. Sorry to disappoint those of you who were planning to meet up with us then.

I hope this update has helped you to catch up. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to serve God full time in Taiwan. Also, if you have given yet and you feel like it is something God is leading  you to do then please give by our fundraising deadline (July 17th).

Grace and Peace,

Jimmy and Christiana

Skype Interview with Giraffe

Waiting for our interview with Giraffe to start.

This past weekend Jimmy and I went to Fulton to visit my family and to celebrate my sister Mary's birthday. We knew it was going to be a fun weekend anyway, but then we got an email saying that Giraffe English School would like to have a Skype interview with us on Friday night! Well, no problem. We cancelled some of our plans and re-arranged others so that we could be sitting on my parents' couch at 8 P.M. on Friday night to Skype with the school's recruiter.

Although we were told that it was only going to be a voice interview we decided that we would still dress up--just in case. You want to make a good impression and since Skype does have video options it's way better to be safe than sorry. In the end, we ended up being on video while our interviewer was voice only (I don't blame her since it was 9 A.M. Saturday morning her time!).

The interview lasted approximately one hour and fifteen minutes (according to the call timer). It seemed to go well, and this week we hope to hear whether or not we will officially be offered the two positions in Taichung. Until then I guess we will just have to continue to wait and pray.

Grace and Peace,

Jimmy & Christiana

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