{"id":458,"date":"2012-10-21T17:08:43","date_gmt":"2012-10-21T22:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/?p=458"},"modified":"2015-06-19T17:09:28","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T22:09:28","slug":"reflections-on-gods-leading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/2012\/10\/21\/reflections-on-gods-leading\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on God’s Leading"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we look back at our time since leaving Brazil, we marvel at how quickly our time of home assignment, from June\u00a02011 through July 2012, went by. It was a beneficial year of healing, rest, recuperation, and reconnecting with family\u00a0and friends, for which we are thankful. Our physical and emotional state, and unforeseen circumstances (like the\u00a0passing of John’s mom in March), did not allow us to reconnect with as many people as we wanted to, but we plan to\u00a0continue doing that in the months to come. Our readjustment to the American culture and life in the States is ongoing and we recognize the fact that we may never feel totally \u201cat home\u201d here again after over 20 years of calling\u00a0Brazil our home. This reminds us of where our citizenship truly lies and we look forward to our forever home in\u00a0Heaven!<\/span><\/p>\n

We are excited as we settle into the new ministry God has led us to here. We are fitting in with the staff here at New\u00a0Tribes Mission’s Missionary Training Center at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where we are helping train\u00a0missionary candidates for serving overseas. The department we are working with is called Families in Ministry\u00a0whose mission is \u201cTo equip families within their unique dynamics to be effective in ministry wherever that location may\u00a0<\/i>be.\u201d <\/i>We help prepare the missionary candidate families for many varied situations they may face overseas. Due to the\u00a0many challenges of living overseas and dealing cross-culturally, missionary families encounter numerous extra\u00a0stresses on a daily basis. When difficulties do arise, often the lack of help, resources, and being properly equipped\u00a0simply become too overwhelming and can force them to leave the mission field. Our desire is to do all we can in\u00a0equipping and providing help so these families can be healthy and succeed in the ministry that God has led them to.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a more day-to-day basis, John has been assisting the department’s coordinator with things like class grades and\u00a0next year’s budget, representing the department in meetings, setting up some online information, and it looks like he\u00a0will be fitting into teaching some classes as well. Melanie is learning how to handle the finances for the department, which is\u00a0new for her, but her love for math makes it kind of fun. She will also be finding other ways to fit in and help as needs\u00a0arise. Please pray that we will be quick learners and ready and able to fit in to the niches God has for us here, and at\u00a0the same time not become over committed to the many needs that arise.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have another significant prayer request related to our new ministry. In order to be officially accepted on staff at\u00a0the training center, we have been asked to have at least 60% of our recommended support. Having a minimum\u00a0support level is something new that the mission is requesting. Currently we have about 55%, which is actually an\u00a0increase from last year. As the semester began, we were told that we could go ahead and start functioning in our\u00a0roles here on staff, but we have until December to meet this requirement of a 60% minimum. We are confident that\u00a0God knows our every need and that He will be faithful to supply what we lack, just as He has been faithful to clearly\u00a0lead us to this present ministry. Please pray with us that God would raise up more interested partners and that we\u00a0will rest in His provision and plan for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

We sure do appreciate your part in our ministry that God has given us. We couldn’t be involved in this work for all\u00a0these years without you standing with us on the team. It is exciting to be a part of God’s work together to reach the\u00a0unreached with the Gospel!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we look back at our time since leaving Brazil, we marvel at how quickly our time of home assignment, from June\u00a02011 through July 2012, went by. It was a beneficial year of healing, rest, recuperation, and reconnecting with family\u00a0and friends, for which we are thankful. Our physical and emotional state, and unforeseen circumstances (like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[448,56,637],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-ministry","tag-ethnos360","tag-mtc","tag-new-tribes-mission","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/john-kerstetter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}