Friday, August 24, 2012

Resurrecting the blog!

Hey friends! :-)
I am blowing the dust off this blog  and  finally going to start this up again! Please, please, please hold me accountable! I am known for starting something and not finishing it, hey we all have our issues! ;)

I feel I need to start blogging again to just process all that is happening in my life. This summer has been  one (amazing) blur! God is so faithful to his word! How do I even begin to describe to you just how much God has shown his faithfulness to us this summer? Bare with me as I try! :)

After a year of praying, planning and trusting God for the finances, Chris and I went to Alaska on a missions trip for 2.5 weeks. A little history for you...Alaska has been on our hearts since the day we started dating and that continued on into our marriage. Chris had led a team of teenagers to Alaska before we met and then the month we started dating he was in Alaska pioneering a new trip, visiting different villages and establishing relationships with the tribal leaders there. Our first year of marriage, we continued to have Alaska very heavily on our hearts and we just prayed for the right timing to GO! In case you didn't know, God has definitely called us to be "goers" :)

At the airport leaving from Tampa! It was 4am and we were a little tired. hah!



 For years, I have felt called to the Nation(s) but Alaska has always been a common ground in both Chris and I's hearts. After much praying and preparing, we left this July for our missions trip there! Words cannot describe how excited we were. It wasn't just a common excitement but a deep, deep anticipation to see what God did in our hearts while we were there. We both knew that God was going to reveal some specific things regarding our future ministry and calling while we were in Alaska, and that is exactly what he did! Praise him! :)

Chris and I went to Alaska as "Global Partners" for our friends who have an established ministry there (check them out on facebook: Last Frontier Ministries). They were in need of some extra help while a large team of teenagers from Teen Mania Ministries came for a missions trip. We honestly didn't know exactly what our role looked like, we were just eager to be used and walking in the will of God.
For months we were told that we would be working in the village of Minto so that became our prayer focus. We even wrote about it on facebook and in our support letters. Well, isn't it just like God to turn your plans and ideas upside down?! :) When we landed in Fairbanks and our friends picked us up from the airport, they told us that they had decided to put us in the village of Nenana instead of Minto. Chris and I both felt it was right and we again, just wanted to be used and in the will of God! 



When you trust God fully and trust that he will put you right where you're supposed to be, it is such a wonderful feeling! So Nenana it was! We had a wonderful trip working along side of the team leaders and teenagers and being the Global Partners. One of our duties included meeting with the tribal leaders of the village each morning to see what ministry or work project needed to be done. We both really enjoyed that responsibility and it was fun to play a more "behind the scenes" role than we are used to playing. We basically just served the team leaders and team in any way we could and each day was different.

Our awesome team! We came to really love all of these teens so much!





 So even though the trip was meant for us to be there to help, God had so much more to reveal to us! 
Chris and I had a good amount of "down time" to really pray and seek God about our future ministry, and there was one word that kept popping up in our spirits continually: ALASKA.
God began to break our hearts more & more for the people and ministry there and we were starting to feel like Alaska was home. I did not want to leave. I have always loved my different missions trips but have always been excited to return home, until then. God began to open our hearts more and more to the idea of doing more ministry in Alaska and possibly even moving there one day. :) 
It was such a beautiful time, between Jesus, my husband and I. 

This is my favorite picture from our trip to Alaska, we got baptized together as husband & wife!!!! :) It was so symbolic in so many ways, and truly a moment I NEVER want to forget! :)



We don't know exactly what the future holds or what our missions in Alaska will look like but we are called and yes, we must GO! :) I haven't wanted to say this (my pride and flesh were getting in the way!) but we have a STRONG desire to go back for follow up ministry in the winter. Yes, this means raising the money to go and just being real, I don't "feel" like putting ourselves out there again to our family and friends and asking for financial help but guess what? It's not about me!!!!!! :) If God says GO, we MUST be obedient. So to be continued!! :) Please pray for us! Pray that God will provide the finances to go back in the winter and pray that God will continue to reveal exactly what our missions in Alaska will look like. We are so excited and ready! :) Thank you to everyone who has already loved and supported us, whether it be in prayer or finances. We couldn't do it without each and every one of 
you! :)

Love,
Jess

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