Increases and Tough Decisions

Gillian, here. We've just updated our totals on our website (www.brickeys.net) to 45.7% received in our monthly budget and 59.7% of the outbound. We are just plain amazed at what God can do through His people. THANK YOU! We shouldn't be amazed, of course, because God has been working miracles literally forever. We even met a man on Sunday that had been healed from paralysis. Our own children were healed of asthma and reflux...these are huge things! And yet we still stand in awe of how God is bringing people into this ministry and making things move. I hope that God's miracles NEVER STOP AMAZING ME!

This Sunday we enjoyed worshipping with Bethesda Bible Church in South Congaree. They're a small church with a big heart, and we were blessed by their worship service. After worship, we fellowshipped with the pastor and his family, and our boys made quick friends with their 2 year-old grandson. Thank you, Bethesda, for making us yours! After lunch, we went home and rested, and then went back to evening church service at our home church (Ebenezer PH Church of West Columbia). We spoke with our pastor and secretary who updated us on the progress of getting endorsed by the denomination and about the new pledge amounts from our congregation. Let me just say it was an awesome day of increases, capped off with a timely sermon on worshipping in the Spirit every day. Thank you, church!

After we got home from our day of church, we put the boys to bed, settled the house for the night, and then I returned a call home. There are big and exciting things happening back at my childhood home in Minnesota. You may not know this, but just over five years ago, my mom took her own life. After that, it was a long time before getting out of the bed in the morning was something enjoyable for me, and you could not have told me then that God would bring me through so quickly and lovingly. It's amazing to see what God has done in that short amount of time. Here I stand, 5.5 years of marriage and two children later, about to become a missionary. And now my sister is getting married, my brother is moving out on his own, and my dad has found new love. I am now faced with a familiar difficulty of living far from home...I'm missing out on a lot. The toughest part is that we can't afford to jump 1200 miles very often. Now that we're moving to Peru, our ability to be home (both South Carolina and Minnesota) for big events will be even more difficult...and sometimes impossible. We are extremely thankful for families that are loving us through this, and who are also making sacrifices in this new life God has put before us.

I stand in a great place today...a place of deepening faith and growth. Justin and I feel the challenges of relying on God to supply the means to get to the field, but held in perspective to the path we have already walked and the healing that He is working in our family, we see that we are richly blessed. Only God knows when we will set foot in Peru at last, but it will be soon...very soon. And I can be patient because I can now see that God has blessed the process.

In <><,
Gillian

Visions of Movement

My husband and I have this God-Given confidence and vision that we will be starting a new life in Peru one of these days. All logic would look at the percentages for support and say, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket just yet." And yet, our life with God has such an amazing track record for His faithfulness, that we have no spiritual reason to limit God to dollar signs.
Our ministry in Peru will be deep and intermingled with life, I can already sense that. I also expect the language to be a tough transition for me (I'm not as gifted as my husband), so I'm thankful for three months of language school when we get there. Having two awesome little guys, we expect childhood illnesses and the worry that comes with them, and then the added layer of learning how to help them in Peru. We also know that we will be surprised when some things are harder to transition into than we expected. And we will also be surprised at how easy some things will be. But the greatest thing is that we can just plain envision our life in minsitry there...and we are now busy waiting for God.
I say "busy waiting" because we're busy building relationships for this coming ministry. We're visiting churches and enjoying diverse worship styles. I think the diversity has been my favorite part so far. God has an incredible body of believers, and we feel so honored to get this opportunity to meet so many. I am also impressed with how adaptable our children are to these worship styles. It's such a blessing! Aside from the occasional Hot Wheels car hitting a hardwood floor, or a child announcing their need to visit the restroom, they've been quiet and well behaved. They've also thoroughly enjoyed different children's ministries...thank God for friendly little guys!!
Justin recently said he had a vision of God whisking us off on a wind to Peru. We've had other friends give similar encouragement...so I think we're on the brink of movement. Please help us pray for the coming changes because all indications are that they are going to be swift. I am just so thankful for our growing team of supporters who have hearts for foreign missions. And "I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now" (Maya Angelou).
In Christ,
Gillian