Though Tim is normally the scribe for our family, this time he asked if I would write this special “Year-in-Review” update letter and give you some insight into what the Lord has been doing in the life of our family during our first year of deputation.
2008 in Review
It truly is hard to believe that an entire year has passed since we left our post at Cleveland Park Bible Church of Spartanburg and hit the
road. I have reflected many times recently on how often it seemed the world was advancing and changing all around us during those first seven years of our married life while we sat stationary in our little house in Taylors, wondering what the world looked like outside of South Carolina. And, boy, have we gotten a crash course! Since we began traveling in January of last year, we have covered 33,311 miles of highway in 25 different states while ministering in a grand total of 70 churches so far. We are very grateful to the many churches and individuals who have opened their doors, prophets’ chambers and pocket books to help us along the way during 2008. The Lord has used you to sustain and encourage us in our beginning efforts to take the hope of the Gospel to France.Family Life
Naturally, as the wife and mother of this missionary family, my greatest fear when beginning our fast-paced year of travel was how we would be able to function as a family and consistently train our children with such a varied “routine”. Though our changing circumstances have at times produced many new challenges in regard to our family, I can confidently state that God has also given additional grace (and many merciful and patient hosts!) to meet those challenges.
Last June, we began homeschooling Micaiah in K-5 through the use of BJU’s HomeSat DVDs. We’ve been very grateful for the excellent resource these DVDs have proven to be, and while we have had to be flexible, the daily class work has actually provided a good outlet for the kids’ time and energy as we have many days in prophets’ chambers and hosts’ homes in between our church-day meetings. Micaiah was a little overwhelmed when he realized that learning to read takes longer than a single class period, but the whole process has been a great tool for building endurance and character (in both him and his parents!). It has been so much fun to see him making progress.
Miriam, who will be turning 4 in February, often watches Micaiah’s school DVDs with him and is picking up some things here and there as well. She will get to spend yet another birthday in snowy New England, as we will be returning there for meetings next month. Her pleasant disposition and affectionate tenderness are a bright spot to us wherever we are. We long for your continued prayers for our family, that as a couple we would learn more and more how to defer to one another in love, that as parents we would be consistent and increasingly more Biblical in our child-rearing, and that our children would continue to grow in their understanding of and desire for spiritual things. Tim frequently reminds our children as we travel, that while we are going around to other churches telling you all about our desire to make disciples in France, we must first be diligent in making genuine disciples of them.
Support and Future Plans
We are happy to report that we now have eight churches and 10 families who have committed to supporting us on a regular basis, bringing our present support level to 35%. In addition, there are several others who have informed us that they are prayerfully considering what their role should be in our ministry for the coming year. Please pray with us that God would direct in each of these instances, and that He would give us the provision we need to be able to go to France in June of this year. We believe we ought to have at least 50% of our ultimate support goal in order to make that 6-month trip. We are even now beginning to wade through the various documents and applications we must complete in preparation for a trip to the French consulate in mid-March to apply for our visas.
Jesus Christ, Our Greatest Treasure
As I reflect on the spiritual lessons we have learned during this year of travel, the one that stands out to me the most is from Romans 8:28-29. Many times now I have sat in a church service and heard Tim explain the process those verses describe: how God is giving glory to His Son Jesus Christ by making all of us to be His imitators, and how our efforts to imitate Him through the circumstances He arranges say to the world around us that Jesus Christ must really be a special treasure if so many Christians (a.k.a. “little Christs”) want so badly to be like Him! During these months of unsettled dwelling, being a constant guest, having those same introductory conversations with so many different people, longing for my own kitchen and dresser drawers instead of a suitcase, I have been learning that all of those things are secondary. That, while the ultimate goal of our travels is to get to France and sometimes it seems we are taking a circuitous route, even these days of a pilgrim existence are days that God has designed specifically for our family as an opportunity for us to learn to be like Him and to testify through those efforts that He is our greatest treasure. Would you pray that we would continue to grow in this perspective? And may He be your greatest treasure, too.
In Him,
Ruth for the family
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Itinerary
January 4 — Brevard, NC
January 11 (am) — Ramseur, NC
January 11 (pm) — Conover, NC
January 18 (am) — Midlothian, VA
January 18 (pm) — Richmond, VA
January 25 — Asheville, NC
February 1-4 — West Chester, PA
February 8 — Grand Rapids ,OH
February 11 — Palmer, MA
February 15 — Concord, NH
February 19 — Manchester, NH
February 22 (am)— Colchester, CT
February 22 (pm)— Merrimack, NH
February 25 — Dublin, NH
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