What’s going on with us
Mostly up-to-date newsletter-ish information on what our plans are if the Lord wills. If you would like to receive e-mail or snail mail updates from us, just let us know. (leave a comment or send us an e-mail =)
April/May ‘07
God must have wanted me to get back in touch with many of you because right in the middle of what seemed like a never-ending cycle of busy life, He pressed pause. Just two Mondays ago Becc and I returned from a trip to Haiti ready to jump right back into the busyness… and by Sunday, I was almost dead.
Last Wednesday afternoon I started to get Malaria fevers, and by the time I received proper treatment for it on Saturday night, I was pretty far gone. (I’m told that there is a very real possibility that I could have been dead on Sunday… Wow, eh.)
Now I’m told that recovery could take a few weeks! I’m in bed with some pretty massive headaches with nothing for it but to be happy I’m alive. Since I’ve been meaning to get back in touch with you all for a while now, here is my chance.
I know that has got to be one heck of a weird intro for some of you? So I’ll try to “normalize” it some.
“Hi!”
“It’s Jared and Becca!” “How’s everything going with you!” “It’s been a while!” (or maybe not) I hope this letter finds you great and starting a great summer! If you are receiving this e-mail, you must first know it is because we (Jared and Becca) love you and yours and count ourselves blessed to know you. Many of you have been a great or small part of our lives, supported and loved us, have helped us and been our friends and more… We’ve discovered that life has a way of getting busy and important things like friendships and talks about what God is doing in our lives can get pushed to the back. Those whom we are very grateful to for being part of our lives can become separated from us by time and distance. I have no way of knowing how plastic or heartfelt this will sound to you when you read it. Just know that if I added your e-mail to this list we are saying “Thank-you for being the part of our lives that you are, and we want you to continue to be an increasing part of our lives.” Your love, prayers and friendship have blessed us along life already, and as we continue to follow God and go on into other countries (more time and distance), we would love nothing more than for you to continue to be a part of our lives.
http://jareandbecc. wordpress. com/ is our new (under construction) website, and if you would like to receive a semi-regular newsletter update on what God is doing in our lives, send us an e-mail with your real address and your e-mail.
We would love to hear from you!
Update: (Surgeon general warning: it’s a tad long-ish, but will be informative as well as entertaining =)
For some of you it’s been a few years (maybe not that much) and for some of you a few weeks. Either way, most of you know we’ve been pretty busy and we’re headed for missions somehow… Here is a little more!
(Past)
Married summer ’05! (Awesome!) We both graduated from Purdue in spring ’06 (Wahoo!) Becc with Nursing (BS), and me with Aeronautical Technology (BS) tagged onto my mechanics degree. I started working for our local church in a one year internship with the college ministry, and Becca got a job on the postpartum floor at the local hospital. The goal being for us to get to know and be known better by our church family!
(Present)
I’m still working for Kossuth St. Church for one more month, (searching for my next job now!) and Becc for the Hospital. A bit of cool news is that thanks to God’s blessing and Becc’s hard work… We are now debt free! (As of February) Praise God! That was one of our goals on the road to missions. We’ve been able to take a few extra classes, one systematic theology class through the church and a missions class called “Perspectives” at Purdue. Both were really good and have helped us think more about missions and our part in it.
Working with the college group has been busy! Over spring break, I was down in New Orleans doing relief work with the college group (great opportunity! ). We just returned from going back down to Haiti this May (taking college students) for a short 12 day trip. What a quality time it was to go back and serve there! (you always get more from those trips than you give, it seems, and the special bonus of Malaria has taught us even more! =)
This next part is hard to put together in nice explanation of past, present, and future plans so you’ll just have to read it to understand.
First, I guess, I have to tell you about “The VW”
We have been blessed vehicular-ly above and beyond what we could have asked for! Over this last Christmas, many of you know that both of our cars broke down within a week of each other… (bummer). Two days later I was driving our “new” ’87 VW Bus (full camper version) home from NJ! Exactly what we have been looking for, (‘cept it’s not a stick) but none the less a highly road trip worthy vehicle! Not long after that, a couple we know from church gave us a Toyota Corolla! Even though we told them we didn’t need it, they said, “we want you to have it anyway.” Even though it does not have a 3rd gear or an exhaust system, it is great for us b/c “The VW” is… temperamental, and we need another car to drive while I work on it. Is God good? God is Good!
Some of you may just be finding out now that we are planning on taking a road trip in the van… We are planning a 6 month road trip in the van! Why? or Where? And how does that work with our missions plan? Well… (We were hesitant to even think about it at first, but after a lot of prayer and seeking wise counsel, the Church is giving their full blessing, and God continues to bless.) One of the main reasons for the trip is that we have been “on the run” it seems since the day after the honeymoon, and it will, plain and simple, be good for Becc and I to learn more about one another and spend time together before going into the possibly and probably more stressful life of missions. (Deuteronomy 24:5 type of thing.) Plus it’s been a childhood dream of both of ours, and God has blessed us with a ‘87 VW bus! I also put out some wool, and it was wet with dew and the ground was dry. (jk) We plan on traveling the whole of USA ? Some of Mexico ! And visiting you! (If you’ll have us). Plans are also in the workings for people to join us for parts of interest on the trip! (the van sleeps 4… who wants to see the Grand Canyon ?) We also plan on visiting a few mission agencies, along with friends and family! Lord willing, we will start the road trip in March ’08.
Missions: (Attached are some documents stating more in depth how we feel God is guiding us in our walk with Him.)
The pastor and missions team at our church see the next steps toward missions as “survey” trips. We plan on visiting 2 or 3 “potential mission fields” for anywhere from 2weeks to 6months? (that is still very much up in the air.) One of the survey trips is to a mission in Papa New Guinea . Our church has a great relationship with some missionaries there. Not only could a mission agency evaluate us and give feedback on our strengths and weaknesses to the church, but our church could receive direct feedback from the missionary couple too. The other 2 fields are undetermined, and we are praying and working with mission agencies to determine them? (any ideas?) All of this with the goal of our church being able to appoint us to a mission agency sometime around spring/summer ’09. Then Lord willing, we would start the whole application and support process then. (pretty exciting ‘eh?)
And what you all really have been waiting to hear about is what our cats Batman and Mr. President are up to. Batman… sleeps all day, eats sometimes… Mr. President is generally excited about… something? In a sad tragedy this February, they accidentally killed Earl the NJ gerbil. Pretty much I get annoyed with them, and Becca adores them… it all evens out.
That’s about it? We love you all! And appreciate your prayers for us!
In His care,
~Jared and Becca
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