{"id":234,"date":"2011-11-28T13:31:42","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T19:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/?p=234"},"modified":"2011-11-28T13:36:08","modified_gmt":"2011-11-28T19:36:08","slug":"234","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/2011\/11\/28\/234\/","title":{"rendered":"Thankful Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Giving<\/strong>
Giving thanks for the Feast before us...dig in... Pass the Collards please!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thankful Thoughts…<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just thought I’d share a few thoughts about what I’m thankful for this year. \u00a0First, I’m thankful that God has allowed us to serve Him. \u00a0Melody and I are constantly blown away by the Lord’s graciousness towards us. \u00a0We have been extremely blessed this year as we have prepared for our journey to Papua New Guinea. \u00a0The Lord has taken us through some deep valleys, for example when He closed the door on the ministry in Aviation that we had been striving for. \u00a0He has also guided us up to some mountaintop experiences, as when He surrounded us with the body of believers which encouraged us and nudged us forward through another open door leading to a Tech ministry. \u00a0It’s incredible to see all the details and decisions that lead to our current situation perched on the edge of a new chapter in our lives. \u00a0All of this was made possible by the Lord’s love, compassion, and chastisement I might add. \u00a0He knew that we needed to take the road we did to prepare for the future ahead — and for that I’m thankful.<\/p>\n

Gaining Partners at every turn<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the support raising front, the Lord is building a fabulous team of partners around our family that will play a crucial role in our ministry to the tribal missionaries serving in New Guinea. \u00a0Just this week, two more families have decided to jump on board as financial supporters, and there are more that the Lord is working on. \u00a0We are currently hovering around 65% of NTM’s recommended support level for our family of $8112.00 per month. \u00a0(This is the new figure for 2012, up $1000\/month from our original figure due to inflation and the American dollar’s value decreasing in New Guinea. \u00a0Ah! \u00a0But we refuse to be discouraged, and are continuing to trust the Lord to put HIS money where HE wants it.) \u00a0 I’m thankful that Melody and I have the priviliege of representing our friends and family as their missionaries. \u00a0Sometimes we feel inadequate, under-qualified, and not worthy for the task, but it seems our Lord is determined to use us, as imperfect and flawed as we are to do His will. \u00a0It’s a humbling and daunting task, but we are confident that the Lord knows what He is doing in sending us to do His work.<\/p>\n

VISA’s and Stuff!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some exciting news on the VISA applications. \u00a0Our work permits have been approved and we have the green light to send our Passports and a myriad of 0ther applications, reports and forms to the New Guinea emabassy in D.C. — PRAY! \u00a0Once they have reviewed our paperwork and ensured all is in order, they will stamp our Passports and mail them back to us and that’s it! \u00a0We can then buy our tickets and head off to New Guinea anytime we feel like it…hahaha. \u00a0Melody still needs a chest X-ray to ensure she doesn’t have TB, and we both need to get our HIV tests, but that’s all that’s left to do before we can send off that mountain of paperwork. \u00a0Other exciting news is that we’ve just received the last of the funds to purchase our plane tickets!!! \u00a0THANK YOU for you sacrificial giving towards this! \u00a0$12,500 is no small figure!<\/p>\n

Prayer Requests:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • Making our relationship with the Lord our first priority…and make it important to our girls as well. \u00a0Satan is trying to get his foot in, and we want to be strong fighters and have a tight relationship with our girls. \u00a0Pray for God’s love to pour out of us to them. \u00a0Pray that our character will be a good example to them and that we will teach them well about how to be more and more like Christ.<\/li>\n
  • Our girls will continue to adapt well to all the changes…we’re noticing goodbyes becoming difficult for Sarah. \u00a0She’s sensing all the changes and the BIG CHANGE coming so quickly.<\/li>\n
  • Opportunities to share our ministry with others, specifically if Josh should consider one more big trip on his own back to the Missouri area to take opportunities to share more in that area.<\/li>\n
  • That we would continue to trust the Lord to bring us to 100% of our monthly support need<\/li>\n
  • That our desired airline, Qantas, would go OFF strike so that we can buy tickets when God shows us the time is right<\/li>\n
  • We would be sensitive to the needs of others and not overlook opportunities to serve HERE & NOW<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Thankful Thoughts… Just thought I’d share a few thoughts about what I’m thankful for this year. \u00a0First, I’m thankful that God has allowed us to serve Him. \u00a0Melody and I are constantly blown away by the Lord’s graciousness towards us. \u00a0We have been extremely blessed this year as we have prepared for our journey to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":543,"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":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/josh-simmons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}