As you are probably aware, the Lord is doing a mighty work in our ministry in Kosovo. Doors are opening, opportunities are being created, and a vision for impacting thousands of people is becoming clearer and clearer.
Good things are happening in ministry...and yet, we are struggling mightily in our family and marriage. Life in Kosovo is HARD.
Over the months we have avoided sharing many of the challenges because the "good" was far outweighing the "bad". And really, who wants to hear about our struggles. People on our mailing list are dealing with severe illness, death in their families, and family crises that are far more challenging than ours...
But really, we have been remiss in not sharing these things with you. We know that you all are genuinely committed to sharing in our troubles as much as you are in rejoicing in our celebrations.
Long story short, our time in Kosovo has exposed many things in our relational life that we have never properly dealt with. And, without a team on the ground with us in Kosovo, we don't have the on the ground support to help us through these things. After a couple weeks of really hard times, we decided that we needed to get off the field in order to confront these issues before things got any worse.
We are blessed to have a very supportive sending church in West Cypress Church. They immediately responded in order to make it possible for us to return to California and to develop a care plan and lead us through a time of healing and restoration.
We are excited to report that the Lord is already doing a mighty work in our family, especially in our marriage. We are already growing closer to the Lord and each other.
We have been incredibly encouraged by (and have come to a greater understanding) of James 1:2-3. We are in the middle of one of the 'various trials' that will produce perseverance! And we need perseverance cause God has great plans to make the name of Jesus know in Kosovo.
We ask for your prayers as we struggle through this time. Our main focus while here is to work on these issues, so we probably won't be doing too much in terms of meeting with people or hanging out.
That being said...if you are interested in hanging out or feel specifically called to encourage us, please send an email. Unfortunately, our time here is limited so we might not be able to hang out...but we are definitely open.
We plan to travel back on March 8...but will update you on our process and other ministry praises.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
Hi everyone... The first week and a half of school has been absolutely amazing! We have had some great opportunities to begin building lasting relationships with the students that God has brought to Vienna to be educated at the International Christian School of Vienna. Rebecca has been adjusting well to her role as secondary secretary. She is learning quickly the many demands of her new role and is doing quite well in supporting us teachers and the rest of the staff. Rebecca hard at work I have been really enjoying my classes. I have a total of 43 students spread out over 4 periods. The students I have represent 14 different home nations, with many of the students who are "Austrian" are first generation, so they are of other nationalities as well. I have also had the opportunity to begin working with the soccer team...again, many nationalities are represented on the field, truly an international squad. Here are some pictures of the team training at the local club...
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