Johnstein!

It's amazing to think that we are only 6 months away from leaving Vienna to return to California. Recently I have been looking back at blog posts from the beginning of our journey. It has been a very encouraging exercise in remembering how God has provided for us and how he has been involved in every step of our lives. Praise God for His faithfulness! While there are still many things for us to do and decisions to be made, we are beginning to get a clearer picture of what the next year or so will look like. Next year will be a "Home Assignment" year. One where we are able to re-charge, spend time with family and supporters, and share the vision for the Kosovo ministry. I (Michael) will also be working on my MA in Leadership during this time. As it is, even though we are in the states, we will continue to trust God for our finances as provided through the faithful giving of our supporters. If you are currently a supporter we will let you know soon about our new sending a

The past month has been hard...we've been sick, we've been overwhelmed, we've been discouraged. But why? Today I was encouraged by a reminder of the promise we have in Scripture. The story of humanity is one of separation from God. The Good News found in scripture is that God has promised to redeem us to Him. Since Abraham this has been His promise to us. He fulfilled His promise to us through Christ. But then he calls us to serve Him. He calls us to go and He does the work. There is a very encouraging and empowering theme in the way God fulfills His promises. The promise to Abraham was all about what God would do. All Abraham had to do was go to where the Lord God commanded him to go. This call was definitely about what He wanted Abraham to do...but it was so much more. It was about the salvation of generations...the fulfillment of a Holy promise. (I might be simplifying a bit. Maybe not, though). It's been way too easy for us to get caught up in all the things we