Never Underestimate the Power of a Little Girl.....

Never underestimate the power of a little girl.....and her great big GOD. 
We recently heard the story of a second grade girl who approached her children's minister at church with a request to send money to orphans.  She hadn't run this by her parents and she had no plan as to how to do it, but she had the desire.  Because of her persistence, her children's minister contacted an orphan care missionary family she'd met at a booth at the Tulsa Workshop.  The goal was to see if a connection could be established to fulfill the little girl's desire to help orphans.  In the Lord's amazing timing, the missionary family (that would be us!) was scheduled to visit another church in the little girl's town just three weeks later.  Thanks to this little girl sharing her heart with Beverly (her children's minister) and Beverly's faithfulness in following a child's heart for God, the elders invited the missionary family to share their missions story with this church. 

The Lord had obviously already prepared the hearts of his people as we heard them exclaim after sharing our story, "I am so fired up for God!" and "I am convicted after this morning's class."  The church was moved to provide a special offering to advance the mission of our family to Burkina Faso.  As children passed the hats, $10,000 was offered and a partnership of love and service was formed through which there are overflowing expressions of thanks to God.  As we sit in awe of brothers and sisters we just met who support us so generously, we are even more in awe of how it came about - through the faithfulness of a second grade girl. 

Let us be faithful, faithful, faithful, Lord
Let us be faithful, faithful, Lord
Though we cannot see, we still believe
Let us be faithful, faithful, Lord

-Zoe Group

Have Passports, Will Travel

All the kids received new passports, so the next step is to send them off for visa approval.  It's so fun/terrifying to watch the checklist whittle itself away!

Children Talking to Children about Children

During a visit with Geoffrey and Suzanne Richter, missionaries in Burkina Faso who are home on furlough,  God granted us a rather spontaneous opportunity to participate in the missions focus of the Oak Hills VBS.  It was the coolest thing, as this is a church who has poured into Burkina for the last ten years.  The interest and the passion for Burkina Faso are high.  

Mainly what the Lord asked of us was to let Emily and Titus's video about Africa ignite an interest in a couple hundred other little kids.  The VBS kids really connected with Emily and Titus's stories about Africa and the orphans with lots of oooohs and aaaaahs at the pictures.  Nothing us grown-ups could have said would have been as delightful as children hearing children!  Once again, God is demonstrating we are not a couple of missionaries dragging our three kids around the world.  We are a family of FIVE missionaries.

Our kids had a blast being "behind the scenes" in the VBS extravaganza. Philip and I were so encouraged by the seeds of missions planted in the hearts of the youth.  As the missionary from Brazil told the kids: You don't have to go far away to be a missionary.  You don't have to grow up to be a missionary.  In fact, if you're not a missionary right where you are, going overseas won't make you one!

Let me introduce you.....

As a reader of this post, you are a part of the team pouring God's love and enthusiasm into missions, and we thank God for you.  It's fun to hear that some of you have encountered each other in unexpected places and discovered your mutual interest in God's work in West Africa! 

 

We thought it'd be fun to introduce you to some of the other members of this team.  First, let me introduce you to the Warning, Colburn, and Perez families.  Several years ago, this family adopted us into their large and loving extended family.  Now these girls have the uncanny ability to know when Sara is needing encouragement, even from states away and when she hasn't said a word.

What we love about these families is they are serving God's children anywhere and everywhere.  When we were in Kentucky in June, they took us to a CASA (foster care advocacy) banquet and in July they had us walking across the dam in support of children with autism.  If you have a Front Row t-shirt or a West African bracelet, chances are you've already been in contact with this family because they are behind the scenes in all of that.  We are talking generations of support here.......

 How awesome is that?!

 

Another family we'd love for you to meet is the Williams family.  These friends are serving as our mouthpiece to our church family in Kentucky.  The day they agreed to be our official communication partners, they started getting questions about our family's plans.....before we'd even left town for the first time!  Seems to us they are PERFECT for this role.  On top of this, they are attentive friends and supporters of missions in many places.

So many people are a part of this Front Row Burkina team, and this work wouldn't happen if God were not pulling us all together!  Again, we are the blessed ones to know each and every one of you and how God is weaving West Africa into the stories of your lives.  Thank you!

Front Row Right Here

One aspect of being Front Row is we are front row right now for what God is doing among His people in the States. 

As in The Chronicles of Narnia:

"Look!  Look!  Look!" cried Lucy.

"Where? What?" asked everyone.

"The Lion," said Lucy.  "Aslan himself.  Did you see?" Her face had changed completely and her eyes shone.

We have seen Jesus in the Cracker Barrel waitress who gave us this envelope of change, in a friend in a wheelchair who thanked us for letting him be a part of something so glorious, in a recent immigrant who handed Philip cash saying, "I read your brochure and I want to be on your team," in a youth group in Texas initiating their own fundraisers on our behalf, in the couple considering changing their anniversary trip destination to West Africa.  Each of these interactions leave us with the lingering awareness we just saw Jesus.  Isn't it great to be front row?!

The Giving Birthdays

Birthday parties are always fun, but our friends are finding a way to make them even more fun: let the kids learn that Jesus wasn't kidding when he said it is better to give than to receive.  The idea is that instead of bringing a gift for the birthday child, the guests are invited to bring a donation to bless children who are truly in need.  Our kids' friends have given to children's homes, orphans, and local children's programs through their birthday parties.  A few have used their birthday parties to send our family to Africa!

Noah and Colin had a swimming party last week for their ninth birthday.  Titus informed me, "They are not little kids anymore!"  It seems nine is the age to be these days.

 

Back in April, Baby Avie turned one with a "Jesus Loves the Little Children" themed party and her guests donated to From Daniel's Tears.  Such a cute idea!

 

There was another birthday in which the guests donated to our missions fund, but I don't have any pictures because we don't even know the family who hosted it.  How amazing is that?  For a child to give up presents at his party to send a family he has never met to Africa! 

 

We praise God for parents teaching generosity at such a young age.



A Night to Remember

One thing I (Sara) am not is a city driver.  Not. Not. Not.  So, the idea of driving to the University of Little Rock campus for the very first time through rush hour traffic for an 8:00 am orientation Monday morning from 86 miles away (where we are staying at Philip's sister's house) was pretty much terrifying.  It made sense to make the drive the day before so I could find the school and the route under no pressure.  What I really wanted to do was go Sunday afternoon to find the school and then stay somewhere nearby that night so that on the first day I wouldn't have to deal with traffic and commuting.  The trouble with this plan was it involved the cost of a hotel room.  If you thought I was frugal before, you should see what goes through my mind now that much of our money is someone's gift to God.  Talk about stewardship motivation! 

 

I said a prayer Saturday night that I would only do the Little Rock hotel room idea if I knew He intended the money to be spent that way.  Since I couldn't say that about any of the money we had already received, He would have to provide money for a hotel room on Sunday (the next day).  This was highly unlikely, so I really dismissed the whole idea.  But He did not.  After church a sweet friend, without asking any questions, opened her wallet and handed me everything inside.  She said, "I don't know how much this is, but it's for you."  This is a friend who is moving with her family of seven to Russia this fall and "I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more."  I was dumbfounded.  I knew exactly what this was for, but considering the source, was all the more hesitant to spend it on a silly hotel room just because of my fear of city traffic! 

 

I felt like the Lord said, "Did you ask for it?"

"Yes." 

"Did I give it to you as you asked?"

"Yes." 

"Then what is your problem?" 

After lunch I booked a Priceline hotel for that very evening, packed a bag and the family and off we went into the city to find the school. 

 

Then we found our hotel.  Keep in mind we had used Priceline, which means we chose the price but did not know what hotel it was until it was booked.  We were feeling abundantly blessed just because God answered my prayer to be spending the night in the city, so when we walked into the fancy Embassy Suites lobby with fish swimming through a stream and fountains on every side, we were drop dead in awe of the Lord's provision.  We had not asked for THIS!  They were serving a "manager's  reception" (which became dinner for our family!) and we had time to play our new yard sale find "Missionary Conquest" in our room after  swimming in the indoor pool.  The next morning we all enjoyed a huge hotel breakfast and, while I was in class, Philip took the kids swimming again where another family prayed over ours.  I mean, seriously, how much more perfect can it get?

 

I hope to forever remember this night when we see a glass elevator as the kids reaction to riding in their first one was priceless.  I don't think this night was intended just to make my transition into summer school easy, but as a transformative moment for our family to understand the power of open-handed generosity.  If we ever encounter a glass elevator again, it will remind me to tell the story of this night, ending with "Our Father is SO generous.  Now let us go and be likewise."