Wednesday, May 28, 2014

How Are We Being Funded - You Ask??

Many have asked how we are going to be funded while in Africa.  Here’s our honest, transparent answer: WE DON’T KNOW!!  Living a life for/with the Lord is quite the adventure, and He has truly worked on our hearts when it comes to finances and trusting Him to provide - especially when He asks us to do something radical like this.  What kind of father would ask you to do something without providing you with the means to do it?  Not the Father we know and love!

On a more practical level, we aren’t going to just sit back and expect God to do a miracle for us, like grow money on trees!$!  When the Lord calls you to something, He expects you to do your part as well.  We are seeking Him in prayer and asking Him what our part looks like.  So far, this is what we know.

OUR BELONGINGS: We will be selling and/or giving all of our stuff away (except for personal belongings, of course).  Once we have a departure date in mind, we will get rid of our furniture, beds/dressers, dishes, appliances, home décor, toys, some clothes, vehicles, etc.  A family has already graciously offered to store our personal belongings at their place while we are away.  We will use the $ raised to go towards our travel/living expenses for Africa.  Our lease agreement for our rental home ends mid-August so we are also praying into what the Lord would have us do after that.  We can continue to pay month-to-month with a small $ increase or possibly live somewhere else.  Please pray for wisdom in that area.

GARAGE SALE: Currently, we plan to hold a garage sale in July to sell most of our smaller items.  Bigger items will probably be listed on Craigslist as well.  If you have any items you’d like to donate to our garage sale to help us raise funds, we’ll gladly take them off your hands!  Please call us, send us an e-mail/text or private message us on Facebook and we’ll discuss further.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY: An opportunity was presented to us about 8 months ago to partner with 4 others in opening a local coffee shop in the downtown Meridian area.  Josh is the business manager, and so long as God continues to open doors, Josh will manage the business (behind the scenes work) from overseas.  He will receive some income from that which will help partially fund us to live in Africa.  We don’t have a concrete answer yet on how much living expenses will be, but our guesstimate is around $1K/month.  This does not include additional expenses like visas, flights, etc.  Of course, our heart is to go with MORE THAN ENOUGH so that we can be a blessing to others and also pursue building new homes for abandoned teens across the world.  To build a basic home in Pemba, it costs around $20K.

We thank you for your prayers, support and any insight/wisdom you feel the Lord may be giving you on behalf of our family.  God is faithful, that’s all we know, and we’re excited to see how He’s going to provide this time around.  We’ve had people donate large amounts of money already, and we are truly grateful for their generous hearts!  Currently we have a little over $4,000 set aside for Africa.  Please visit our “Prayer” page for more specific prayer requests that we currently have.  We will continue to add to this list as the need arises.  Also, if you feel led to contribute financially, you can visit our “Contribute” page for more information on how to do so.

We are proud to say we are moving to Africa DEBT FREE!  A few years ago I told the Lord that I WOULD NOT move overseas with any debt hanging over our heads.  He has so faithfully honored that, but it took obedience on our part too.  He continues to teach us how to be wise stewards with His money, and I pray that we never stop learning.

Thank you for joining with us in prayer and declaring God’s faithfulness to provide!


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