The Seasons are Changing

The weather and trees in Richmond this time of year are beautiful, but we are daily reminded that the seasons are changing. It seems like we are in a mixture of faint glimpses of summer, the colors of fall, and starting to experience some of the cold of winter. All of these are also daily reminders for us that the seasons of our lives are also changing. We are on the brim of entering a new season in our lives, a very different one like no other that we have experienced before. And although we feel that we are ready to embrace this season, we also sense the difficulty of entering it.

We have three weeks left in our orientation/training in Richmond before we start the packing process. We then will spend Christmas and New Years with family before officially stepping foot on the plane only to return at an undetermined time. Just as we have learned to embrace all of the seasons of weather we ask that you would pray with us that the same would be true for our lives. The new season is full of questions and uncertainty, but we rest and lie in the arms of our Father's love who we know that is sovereign over all of the plans of our lives.

We do want to briefly express our thankfulness during this time of year for all of our partnering churches and for those individuals that have committed to pray and interceded on our behalf in the midst of the darkness on the battlefield. Without the prayer support of all of you this would not be possible nor would we go.

As John Piper says, "Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need."  

Training

Today marks the end of the second week of training in Richmond, VA. Reflecting on the first two weeks, we are thankful for all the many individuals and churches that have made this training possible for us. It is amazing that we could come up here and virtually live for eight weeks without having to spend a dime if we wanted to, but of course we like to get off campus every now and then to get a taste of some goodness such as Chick-fil-a.

Our training seminars have been full of practical, logisitc stuff, but also packed full of spiritual stuff, showing us our deep need for our Savior. It has also been refreshing to network with like minded individuals and families who are all preparing to go and plant churches all over the globe. Thus far this two weeks have given us an opportunity to leave the crazyness of the last three months behind us and push forward into deeper intimacy with our Father.

The highlight of week one for both of us was an opportunity to take a three hour spiritual retreat. This allowed us the opportunity to get away in a quiet and secret place to commun with God. The highlight of week two was our seminar on prayer and the importance of it in our lives. This has convicted us both as we noticed that in many ways we were depending on our own strength for preparation, which is both sinful and stupid.

We still have six and half weeks of training ahead of us so we have some prayer needs that we would like to leave you with:

• Strength and Energy
• Marital Growth
• Protection from distraction of the enemy
• Complete healing of Elliot as he has been with a cough
• Completion of our many "to do" lists

El dia a llegado

Por fin la espera a llegado a una conclusion y hoy estoy escribiendo estas lineas con un auto nuevamente empacado hasta el techo (por ultima vez) y ya terminando nuestros ultimos detalles aqui en Carolina del Norte. Maniana luego del desayuno partiremos hacia Virginia, donde estaremos internados por 8 semanas en un entrenamiento intensivo para nuestra preparacion hacia Asia del Sur.

A lo largo de estos 3 meses de espera, hemos vivido un sin numero de historias y aventuras; hemos hecho amigos y afianzamos otras amistades; hemos disfrutado de nuestro bebe; pero por sobretodo, hemos visto la mano de Dios y su provision diaria sobre nuestras vidas.

Queremos agradecer infinitamente a las familias que nos hospedaron en Raleigh: Los Chaneys (nuestros amigos y tios de Elliot ahora), Los Parkens y los Simmons. A los amigos argentinos en USA y a los amigos de argentina (Gracias Marcelo Avalos por la ofrenda!). Tampoco nos olvidamos de la familia, que nos sostuvo en oracion y alento constantemente: los suegros que ayudaron en todo lo posible, mis padres que ofrendaron, mi hermano que nos hizo asados y viajo hasta Raleigh para ayudar con la mudanza, la ofrenda de la flia Odom y de extensa familia en Virginia Beach. GRACIAS A TODOS!

Tambien estamos agradecidos por nuestra iglesia The Summit por enviarnos como iglesia y apoyarnos en todo este proceso (especialmente nuestros mentores Hilary y Curt). Tambien a las iglesias de Northside y Western Avenue que nos estan apoyando en oracion, provision y mediante posibles grupos que iran a visitarnos a nuestro destino final en Asia.

Iglesia Western Avenue (Statesville, NC)

Iglesia The Summit (Raleigh, NC)

Hoy mas que nunca sabemos que las puertas de las naciones nos esperan. Que hay un mundo afuera con hambre y sed del evangelio y que hay millones que aun siguen muriendo diariamente sin conocer sobre Jesus y el sacrificio que el hizo en la cruz para nuestra salvacion y vida eterna. Hoy mas que nunca queremos alentar a todos a predicar a diestra y siniestra sobre el mensaje de la cruz, no para hacer "procelitismo" como muchos dicen, sino para que todos tengan la oportunidad de ser salvos. Y cuando esto sea una realidad, recien ahi diremos... ahora si Dios... que venga Tu Reino!!!

Where we've Been and Where we're Going

As most of you know the last three months has been a whirlwind of unexpected occurrences in our lives, but we are continually being told that is the life of a missionary. So in some ways we feel legit now, although we have still yet to set foot where we will be planting churches.

In the last three months we have lived in six different houses, traveling with a car packed to the roof every time as we went from one house to the other. Definitely not what we would have ever chosen, but God has been faithful and allowed this time to prepare us in many ways. It has allowed us to see more friends and family before moving, it has allowed us more time together, and it has allowed us to do many things that we would not have been able to do otherwise.

We currently have five partnering churches and many others that are interested in sending short-term teams to work with us, which we are grateful for every one of them and what they are doing in their contexts to plant churches and spread the gospel. Our local church, The Summit, commissioned us to plant churches two weeks ago, which was a very special time in our lives as we value and love our local church.

Now as these three months are coming to a close, we are spending our last week in the Charlotte, NC area where I grew up. This is allowing us to see family, pack, repack, and connect with some more partners of the gospel.

In one week we will be driving north to Richmond, VA, where we will spend the next eight weeks for training and preparation for life in another country. We will then spend Christmas back in Charlotte and then start our new year and new lives in South Asia, arriving approximately January 3, 2012. We would really appreciate prayer during this huge transition in our lives.

Here are our current prayer needs:

• Our adjustments to so much traveling and moving (Specifically our 7 mo. old Elliot).
• For humility and open hearts to learning as we are in our training.
• For a smooth transition with the existing team members in S. Asia as we will be the newbies. 
• For our national partners in S. Asia that we will be equipping and training to send out.
• For the salvation of the people that we will encounter that have never heard the name of Jesus.

Finish the Mission

The below video is the missions video that was used to launch the 2011 DG National Conference "Finish the Mission." There really is no need for commentary as the video speaks for itself, but we would just like to say this is why we are going to South Asia in 2012.

Tears of the Saints from AsiaLink HistoryMaker on Vimeo.

Defining an Unreached People Group

On a daily basis we get questions from people wondering why we would move to South Asia to plant churches. Reasons people question us range from there being needs here as well as fear for our family. To be clear, we believe that there are needs everywhere for people to hear the gospel message, but at this time in our lives, God has placed the unreached people groups on our heart and called us to go to them. And most of these unreached people groups are found in South Asia. 

In July we answered the question, "Why Move to South Asia to Plant Churches?"http://t.co/OlC95aa, in which we quoted the statistic from Desiring God International that over 70% of Asian's have yet to hear of Jesus Christ, even for the first time. Today, we would like to take a moment to answer exactly what is an unreached people group so that you will sense the need that there is for these people to hear the gospel message for the very first time. In fact, on a regular basis we receive this exact question from people, "What is an unreached people group?"

What Is an Unreached People Group? from Pioneers-USA on Vimeo.

In order to answer that question today we are going to quote a Pioneer in Central Asia, from the video above, who says of unreached people groups, "We're not talking about people who are lost and don't know the Lord; we're talking about people who are lost and don't know the Lord and there's no one that speaks their language that can tell them. There is no church that exists... That's an unreached people group."

Philippians 4 - Desde la perspectiva de Matt

Be Content - God Is Enough

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:12-13

The point of these verses is obviously contentment in Christ in the midst of life's difficult circumstances. But until recently I was never truly faced with circumstances that required me to do a self-examination to see if I was really content in Christ. 

Now Philippians 4 speaks to me in a whole new light as I have been faced with a situation that required me to see where my contentment was truly found. And I can honestly say that I am not so sure that I am quite there yet; but I definitely believe that God is using my circumstance and this passage to help me discover that true contentment comes from and in Him.

Something else that stood out to me in this passage like never before when reading it is that just like the Philippians partnered with Paul in his ministry at both the spiritual and practical level(4:14-16), my local church has done the same with me and my family. 

As Paul pointed out in verse 17, we were not seeking this gift of support from the church, but it has been incredible to see the body of Christ surround us with both spiritual and practical support in this time. It has been both a testimony of their fruit to the body of Christ, but also to those that are not yet part of the family of God. 

One friend even commented, "I am starting to think that maybe the rest of us need to start going to church because it seems like it doesn't matter what type of situation you guys face, it always seems to work out."

The truth is that this is a testimony of the church being the church. And what our friend is seeing is that although we face difficult circumstances just as she does, we have an unexplainable provision and contentment that allows us to have joy at all times as seen in 4:4. 

So if you are struggling to find your contentment in Christ then start today. Embrace the truth that God is enough and that in Him you can do all things and face every kind of circumstance in life. Be content - God is enough.