Lincoln and Jenny - Missionary Associates to South Africa

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

We're not home yet:

Hey guys, this is Lincoln. Lately I've been training for a marathon, so I've spent quite a bit of time of solitude running on our beautiful Colorado trails. As I was running the other day I was spending some reflective time in prayer and I began to think how this earth is not our home. As much as I love our breathtaking mountains, as much as I feel comfortable climbing in my own bed at night; it's not home. Many people seem amazed that I would take my family to South Africa, so far from "home." The truth is, Denver's not home. This earth isn't home. Yes, I know we'll feel "homesick" in South Africa, missing our friends, family, and familiar surroundings; but all of us should realize that we are not on this earth for our own comfort and good feelings. I don't want to spend my life making this earth feel more like home, because I'm afraid I'll get too comfortable here and forget the real purpose for life- to know God, love God, and serve God. (Not that I've figured out the meaning of life; I'm still working on that one. I'll let you know when I figure it out.) Anyways, that's what's rolling around in my head, I hope it encourages and challenges you. Love you guys.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Jenny's 1st post

This is the first time I have ever done this. Hopefully what I have to say is not boring! And, I can't figure out how to spell check, so I apologize ahead of time for any spelling errors. This is long, so if you give up and stop reading, I don't really blame you! I am just going to give highlights of everything that has happened up until now from my point of view. From now on, my posts will be much shorter!
I have felt a calling to be a missionary, working with children in poverty and extreme need, since I was very young. As I grew up, the passion and desire to work on the mission field just grew and grew.
When Lincoln and I got married in 1996, he was going to Colorado Christian University and working as a part time junior high pastor. So, I figured that I was going to be in ministry as a pastor's wife. Shortly after getting married, Lincoln quit his youth pastor job because we needed more money to live on and we needed health insurance. He started working as an apprentice electrician. I was upset because I did not understand how this fit into my dream of being in the ministry or on the mission field. So, for 8 years, I just waited and prayed and trusted that God was in control. (Okay, that's putting it very simply! I also really questioned God, got angry with Lincoln that he was working so many hours doing something other then what I wanted him to be doing, spent time wondering if our lives were always going to be like this etc!) The problem is that I was telling God how I wanted Him to use Lincoln and I and what I thought we should be doing, instead of surrendering my life fully to Him and asking Him where He wanted me and what He wanted me to be doing. Now I can see that God has been working in our lives, giving us some of the skills that we will need overseas and directing our lives so that we have grown so much. I have learned and grown so much in the past few years! (This post is getting kind of long, so I will share in later posts what God has taught me.)
So, about 2 years ago, Lincoln started to question if what he was doing was God's will for his life. He has had a wonderful, well paying job, where he has learned a lot about the construction business, but he started wondering if God had more for him and our family. We started looking into missions opportunities in the end of 2003 and found out about the Assemblies of God Missionary Associate program. We prayed a lot, and got a lot of godly input and decided to apply. I was so excited! Finally we would be going to the mission field. We did not really understand the application, acceptance, training, fund raising process, so we thought that we would be on the mission field within 1 year! It has taken a bit longer than that, but we have had a great time living a life completely different than anything we have ever done before!
Okay, if you are still reading, you deserve an award or a cookie or something! This has gotten really long, so I will finish my long, rambling story another day! Thanks for reading.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Pre-Field Orientation:


Wow, what a whirlwind everything has been. We just returned from our pre-field orientation in Springfield, Missouri. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot. The best part was the people that we met and all of the new friends that we made. Madison and Kyler found some new best friends, two little girls from South Africa. Tolu and Rejoice are adopted daughters to Wayne and Delight, a couple that helped start Lighthouse Childrens Shelter in Rustenburg. They are returning to South Africa and will be about 4 hours from us. It's good that the kids know that they will already have friends in South Africa. That should take away some of the apprehension the kids will have about leaving friends and family here. Pre-Field Orientation has made everything seem more real, and we are very anxious to leave for South Africa.