A New Year!

It’s a New Year!  A new year for new challenges, new opportunities, and new blessings! 

We have had a really good break from school and we praise the Lord for the wonderful family time we’ve had with Charity and BJ here!  It has been good to catch up on their lives and we’ve made some more special memories.  As nice as our break has been, though, ready or not, classes resume on January 10^th and this semester looks like it will be challenging with a decrease in staff.  Please pray for us all as we figure out how to cover all our responsibilities with fewer people.

We also praise the Lord for His provision financially.  We were given some Christmas money that allowed us to do some special things as a family.  God has also provided several one-time gifts for us recently which have been a huge help towards some outstanding bills.  He also provided money for BJ for the remainder of his school bill in December and also a portion of his initial fees for the new semester.  Please pray for the Lord’s provision for the remainder of BJ’s  initial fees and our outstanding bills.

Some of you may remember us asking for prayer at various times over this past year for some stressful issues we were facing.  These things culminated in recent months and we believe God is redirecting us at this time.  After a lot of prayer and deliberation, we have decided that we will not be returning to Brazil after our upcoming home assignment.  We have sensed the Lord leading us in this direction for a while, and He has recently confirmed this.  We plan to still serve the Lord with New Tribes Mission, but we will be looking into a Stateside ministry.  We would really appreciate your prayers as we deal with all the details involved in this major change.  We have a truck, a house, and furnishings to sell, and then all of our belongings to sort through, getting rid of most of them.  We also need to say good-bye to a country, culture, language, and people that have been our life for the past 20 years.  We all, as a family, need to have closure to this part of our lives.  We praise the Lord that He worked it out for Charity and BJ to be here these weeks to help them during this time of transition.  We don’t have many answers for the future at this point.  We are taking these first steps, and trusting God to continue to lead us in the ones to come.  We know it won’t be easy, but we have a peace about how God is directing us at this time, and we would really appreciate your prayers as we continue to follow the Lord as He leads us each step.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

(Proverbs 3:5-6)

Thank you for being a blessing to us by partnering with us!  We appreciate so much your support through prayers, financial gifts, and encouragement.  We pray that God will bless you as much as He blesses us through you!

Following God’s leading,

John & Melanie and family