New Member to the Family

I said in the last post that a new member had been added to the family and left it at that. I have been waiting aproval from my boss to give you any further details because of security issues and safety for the man. Fortunately he did give me the go ahead to post more details so here you go! The following is the student's recap and video tesimonial of the experience. Praise Jesus!

Dreams and Visions

Often times in life the task that is most difficult and challenges us most, proves to be most worthwhile or rewarding in the end. This past week I received what was to me a difficult and challenging task; I was to travel to another city and live with a local family for a week to practice my language.

When I first heard that I was going to do this, I immediately knew that it was going to be challenging for me but I felt ready for it. My readiness suddenly changed once I got on the train. As I sat silently on the train, I became very homesick and many thoughts began to run through my head. I felt inadequate, weak, helpless, and like a failure, wishing that the train would take me to my home instead of to a foreign home.

My attitude was very much wrong and I knew it, so I had to confess before the Son right there on that train. I laid everything at His feet and asked that He would give me strength to be faithful to Him, to be a light in a dark place, and that this week would be something for me to write home about. He heard and here I am writing home about my week.

Staying with the host family was still difficult and uncomfortable at times but I had a peace that surpasses all understanding. Midway through the week I had an opportunity to share the truth with the man of the house in depth and it went well. After much discussion, we came to a point where he understood some but didn’t agree with who the Son is. The next day went by and we didn’t talk much about it and I was going to be leaving early the next morning, so that night I asked that the Son would reveal himself. When I woke up in the morning the man I was staying with looked like something had changed inside of him. He proceeded to tell me about a dream that He had last night. Although it was difficult to understand every part of the story because of the language bearer, he said the Son came to him proclaiming “follow me” and after telling me of his dream all he could say was “I must follow this man”.

Although the task of staying with a host family was very difficult and very challenging for me, it proved to be worthwhile and rewarding. In fact, I stand silent trying to think of anything better!

Ministry Update

In the past few months Cafe 1040 has been extremely busy and some amazing things have happened. There have now been over 40 students that have gone through the program, we have been to many different conferences, college campuses, had a fundraising cruise, sent 11 students for the current semester and this just in, a new member has been added to God's family. (See 11 students and their luggage above)

Currently I am working with 3 students to get them prepared to leave for North Africa, on the 14th of August. I have completed all the screening process, which involves a phone interview with the student, a phone interview with the parent's, a phone interview with the pastor and an employer reference check. Once the screening process has been completed and the student looks like a good candidate, we move to the Pre-Go training process.

This process consists of making sure that all the logistics are taken care of, from immunizations to passports. The main part of this training is support raising. This is where I walk the student step by step through their support raising, from writing the support letter, to having one on one support meetings, all the while training them for their future in missions. All this is done through random phone calls at any hour of the day and the structured conference calls that we have to make sure that the entire team is on the same page and that we are building the team and team unity through this process.

Some of you may not know this, but the number one reason that missionaries will leave the field to return home is other missionaries. So, as you can see, this team building is key for the success of their time overseas.

Last but not least, I am putting together my schedule for the months of August and September. I am planning on visiting many colleges and universities in the South East, attending a few conferences, and meeting up with a couple ministries that we have partnerships with to help keep up relations. I'll keep you posted when plans are more concrete.

Until then....

-Mike