Mission Time's A Comin'

Plans continue to firm up on several fronts.

First, the travel side.

We were able to get a van rental through Peter Barbarics and Melba Tours in Budapest.  This means yours truly will be driving the family across Hungary and Croatia.  No train rides this time.  As a side note, any similarities between the Griswolds and the Gardners are purely coincidental.

Next, soccer balls.

Daniel posing with his soccer ball collection

Daniel has been scrounging coins to buy soccer balls to give away while in Europe.  He has also gotten donations of balls and money from friends and classmates.  All told I'd say he has around 12 (current count is 19) soccer balls right now (and more would be welcome).  He and his sister have written scripture references on the soccer balls if the people donating them hadn't done that already.  His plan is to give them to kids who aren't fortunate enough to have a soccer ball.  However, we really don't have a venue for doing that.  I'm trusting that opportunities will come up while we're there if we can't arrange them ahead of time.  Actually we found out just this week that Kim Hecht has made contact with a Roma village in Croatia so this may be another way to minister to that group.

Finally, on to the singing front.

While in Oradea, Romania we have the opportunity to minister in song both Sunday morning (main church) and evening (at the university), as well as Wednesday evening in a smaller community church.  We are thrilled to have these ministry opportunities and are looking forward to learning more about them.

We are presently working on music for the concerts in Croatia.  With feedback from Kim Hecht we recently shifted our focus away from songs on tracks to doing all live music so we're working hard to learn songs with Kim (or Kim H) on the piano and me on bass.  We've also worked out a way to get a bass guitar so I won't have to ship mine.  Finally, Kim H. knows a great acoustic guitar musician who may play with us.  All we're missing now is a drummer...

Our set lists are slowly coming together, although at this point we have no idea what to expect in Romania.

Prayer requests:

• for the success of the Gospel in Romania and Croatia
• wisdom in song choices (yes, still)
• Ministry opportunities for Daniel and his soccer balls

Serving while Searching

This past weekend was a true test for us in many ways. We had the privilege of having a singing engagement at another local church. Anytime we have the opportunity to sing for another congregation, it's always a blessing to us. We love to sing and we love to serve the Lord with the gifts he has given us. However, as usual, there were many roadblocks and areas to stumble.

First, and foremost, we had very little time to practice and prepare for our engagement. This always stresses Randy out and me as well. For some odd reason, I was more stressed than normal this particular weekend. I had trouble sleeping Friday and Saturday nights leading up to our Sunday morning worship. It could have something to do with the fact that I was having difficulty remembering my part for a new song we were trying out on this congregation. Randy informed them all yesterday morning that they were our "Guinea pigs" for that one. Thankfully, the Lord was with us, we had time for a brief run through in the car before service, and things went pretty well all things considered. We've only been practicing it for about 2 weeks or so, and IT'S A CAPELLA with multiple key changes. Stressful!!! The service went well, the songs were well received and the people were so sweet, appreciative and kind to us.


Singing at Faith Fellowship Baptist



A big thank you to Mike and Angie Tyson and Brent and Pennie Terry for an awesome lunch following church, too. They make us feel very loved and special! Thanks guys!

A second, and probably biggest stress factor for me this past week has been the disappearance or non-appearance of Kelsie's passport. She used it in 2009 for her trip to Europe with the ETSU Chorale, but had not used it since. I ASSUMED it was in her room somewhere. Those who know us well will understand why it was assumed it was hiding there! :) Well, my sweet parents were here visiting with us for a few days. I asked my mom to see if she MIGHT be willing to help me look in the "room" for the passport. We spent several hours searching, cleaning, digging through drawers, bags, boxes, suitcases, closets, .....etc, etc., etc.,....you get the idea. All to NO avail. I even put my dad to looking through nightstand drawers, file cabinets. It was a family effort. We still fell short. No passport. It would be $100 to replace the passport plus the processing time.

I had been praying for God to help me KNOW where to look, help me find it Lord, direct my path so that I might know where else to look. Yesterday morning, Randy mentioned during our time of serving at Faith Fellowship Baptist that we were "searching" for a lost passport and for the congregation to pray for us for our trip.

I'm very pleased to report that God is faithful in all things. Even what seems to be the littlest detail, he is still faithful! I found the passport yesterday afternoon around 5:30. It was in the glove box of our Saturn. Apparently, I had the passport, and two birth certificates in an envelope to take to the safety deposit box and something came up and prevented me from going. So, for safe keeping, I placed the envelope in the glove compartment! it was a safe place, indeed. So safe, I completely forgot where I put it. But, thankfully, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is hidden from God.

Today, I'm GOING to the bank, getting that passport, my new passport, and some other important papers IN THE BOX!!!! Thank the Lord for His faithfulness!!!

We covet your prayers in our mission endeavor. Prayer needs specifically for this week:

• Kelsie's job situation-that God would continue to use her at Belk to be a shining light for him, that her boss will be understanding about the 16 days off she will need to go with us to Europe, and that her schedule will be that we can have some practice time.
• Travel while IN Europe....we are still weighing the pros/cons of train travel versus car rental. This includes price issues as well as logistical issues.
• Concert on April 10---pray that it will be successful, that people will come and support us.
• Pray for our fundraising efforts. We are debating sending letters as well as the fundraising concert event. 
• Peace, peace, peace, for me especially since we are taking all 3 children and the world is in turmoil all around Eastern Europe.
• A way to get the boys more involved in the planning and preparation so they feel more a part of the trip.

Thank you all for reading my long entry.....We covet your prayers and value our friends!
Kim