In May we attended our New Staff Orientation with Cru while our kids were safely cared for back home. We were so grateful because there was a ton to learn and absorb. We came away from that training officially commissioned as missionaries with Cru and feeling really encouraged and prepared for the season ahead.
Since then we have been working diligently to build our ministry partner team. This has been a great time of connecting with each of you and sharing specifically what the ministry is that the Lord has laid on our hearts. What an encouragement you have been to us. Our desire is to launch in early spring of 2020, and by the Lord’s grace and your generosity, we are already at just over 20% monthly support.
CONNECTING WITH OUR TEAM LEADER
Many of our conversations in preparation to move have been with our main team leader in Thailand, Jon Foltz. I, Traci, have known him my whole life, as we grew up as kids in the same mission organization. He and his wife Marisa (also a former missionary kid) have been with Cru for the past fifteen years, primarily in Thailand.
In the beginning of July they were in the States for a few weeks, and we had the chance to meet up with them both for a few hours in Indianapolis. Our missions director from Grace Fellowship, our home sending church, was also able to join us. It was so good to connect with them in person and hear more about the ministry taking place in Thailand, as well as getting a better idea of what transitioning our family of six will look like.
TIME WITH FAMILY
From that meetup we took the slow drive down to Florida for our big bi-annual family vacation with Traci’s side—twenty of us in total. While we had a really great time connecting with family, splashing in the pool, and dominating the euchre tournament—yes, we took the coveted dolphin trophy this year—it was also somewhat surreal to consider how different things will look less than a year from now. It seems like goodbyes are just around the corner.
The reality is that we cannot do this alone. It is because of your encouraging words, your prayers, and your faithful giving that we are even able to plan for the ministry that we have been called to. So thank you, for real.