How He Spoke...

I finally have a moment to sit down and write now that we are here so, I will go back to the very beginning.  We were here in Guatemala in December of 2010 and one of the first nights Brock and Kerrie invited us over to talk. When we were there they told us that they felt God wanting them to share with us about a possible move here for a year. They both felt it separately and talked about it the night before. A few years ago Anthony told God that there are three things that he loves and would love to do with the rest of his life: basketball, personal training, and sharing Jesus with others. So, here we are sitting in the Johnson's kitchen and Brock rolls out the blue prints to the Buena Vista Sports Academy for Boys and asks Ant if he would fly over here when it gets finished to teach the boys how to work out. On those blue prints Anthony sees basketball, personal training, and sharing Christ with others! He looks at Brock and says "did my wife put you up to this?" I smile and say "I had nothing to do with this." Considering that I wanted to move here since the first time I visited he thought that I had something to do with it, but I didn't. So immediately we bring up what Anthony calls our "white knuckle fears": what about my diabetes? I need insulin, test strips, and pump supplies which all costs between six and ten thousand dollars a year. What about our cats? They are like our children and we won't just give them away? What about our house? We own and would have to find someone to rent or buy it. And what about Converge, our college campus ministry, who will lead it? We left there house and said "we will pray that God with confirm it multiple times with our "white knuckle fears" if we were supposed to come. We left excited, nervous, and unsure of God's will.

When we arrived back in the states we were unsure but we both had this large desire to do it. One night we were skyping with Brock and Kerrie and discussing our needs and the biggest and most important was my medical supplies. Brock mentioned that he had a friend in Lake City that worked for a Pharmacist who might have some connections. The next day I sat in tears as I read the email that said that he not only wanted to help with my insulin but also ALL of my medical supplies. As the months past I continued to receive emails that blew my mind and revealed how sweet and intimate Jesus is and how much He cares about the little things in our lives. So, the biggest of our needs was met exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we could ask or imagine. As I sit here in Guatemala I have ALL of my insulin, test strips, and pump supplies for a year or more!!! The theme for me for this whole situation is that the Lord WILL provide. If you have radical trust and faith He will come through.

The second of our fears was our cats. As we have not been able to have children to this point we love them like they were our kids. We were completely unwilling to give them away! So as we were sharing with Anthony's parents about what we were feeling God calling us to, they said that they would keep our cats... Another confirmation! They are amazing with cats and we felt completely comfortable leaving them with them.

The last of our fears was Converge, who was going to lead it? We really felt that God had birthed something special and we didn't want to see it fall apart. When we shared with the students they were ready and willing to do whatever it took to see Converge continue. So, Converge will be lead by Jesus and a team of student leaders. We are very excited to see how much each one of them grows through this experience!

As for our last fear, our house being rented, we left Jacksonville without that one being confirmed, but God had already worked so many miracles that we believe with all of our hearts that He is going to work that one out too. We will keep you posted on when that is taken care of :).

We are here now and we still are a little unsure as to everything that God has us here for. We know that we are going to be a big part of the Buena Vista Sports Academy for Boys. However, we are open to the Holy Spirit's leading and guiding us into whatever He has planned for our lives here. Thank you for everyone who has been apart of us getting here! You have been answers to prayers, and confirmation to the call of God to move to Guatemala. Whatever we do here we pray that it would be all for His glory and that our friends and family would see how truly AMAZING is this Jesus whom we serve! We will continue to keep you posted...