The Butler Family

Would you pray for and/or offer advise on the following situation:

Around AD 2000 we bought a new Kenmore front-load washer, model #417.41042000. Until very recently, it has served us quite well.

But now we have an unsolved problem:
The washer runs through the full cycle, but in the spin cycle it only tumbles (no spin). This leaves a soggy, dripping mass to transfer to the dryer for an extended drying time. And of course laundry stacked up through Christmas.

So far I have considered these theories:

• Washer Pump Plugged or Bad
I checked first and verified that the washer drains swiftly. No apparent issue there. So I moved to the next point below. When that didn’t fix things I opened the pump and found nothing significant jamming it. Probably not the issue.

• Door Latch Mechanism Failure
I read that failure of the secondary door lock or related sensor could cause our exact symptoms. I took the part out, hooked it up to AC and tested it. Everything seemed OK, but I still thought this must be the problem, and the one tech I spoke with supported this theory. So I replaced this part for $90 from a “local” store an hour away. But the washer still is not working, so after opening the pump I moved to the next item.

• Broken Left Lower Shock Absorber
I considered that some sensor register the broken shock and not allow the spin cycle. But I tested this by reversing the shock absorber and holding it to the washer frame through a spin cycle. The spin never attempted and the shock never flinched. This doesn’t appear to be the problem.

• Faulty Water Pressure Sensor
I pulled this sensor, blew through the tube and heard light gurgling. There is no obvious blockage in the line. I’m not ready to replace this sensor yet.

• Motor Speed Board
We are probably ready to buy a new washer before trying this item with no certainty of repair ($160 from Amazon).

• Repair Service Options
Sears schedule appointments about 10 days out, and won’t quote an hourly rate. It costs $80 (non-refundable) to get them to your door, but this can apply to the service. Another service in town was scheduling just a few days out and starts at $140.

Is it time to get a new washer?

Thanks for your prayers!

A new chapter began in our life when our oldest daughter Joelle began college classes in the Fall of 2012. This past February we moved to Mount Vernon to be closer to the college.

Since our kids were born, Jackie’s primary ministry has been in our home. The fruit of her prayer and effort is most evident in the lives of our daughters: Joelle (17) and Dana (15).

Their lives reflect the application of insights we gleaned in 2011from Jeff Schadt’s extraordinary seminar: Crossing Thin Ice: Secrets of Influential Parenting.
(See my separate assessment of Jeff’s insights on our ministry site.)

In addition to coordinating home life and changing schedules, Jackie also plans and manages the continuing renovation of the home (and yard) we bought in February.

Baptism in the Skagit River

Joelle skipped her last two years of high school (through “Running Start”) and has been taking courses toward a nursing degree at Skagit Valley College. Last year she was taking a full course load at the college plus half-time at the Northwest Career and Technical Academy (NWCTA), where she trained to become a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA).

She passed her CNA test last month. She has been heavily involved in the Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF) since she started taking college classes, and is now a worship leader and vice president of CCF. Joelle is too young for most nursing jobs, but landed her first part-time job in early November at Michaels, and is enjoying both the work and the reduction in her financial stress.

Dana is too young for the CNA program, but would like to attend next year. In the meantime she is taking two other NWCTA programs—Culinary Arts and Veterinary Assistant.

She is also involved with a local youth group, and earning and saving toward joining them on an outreach to Mexico in February. And she is preparing for a speech competition in which she plans to demonstrate a simple and enjoyable approach to talking with Muslims about Jesus. (We learned and used this approach during seven weeks in Madrid and Morocco this past summer.) Dana also landed her first part-time job in early November, at Dairy Queen.

Our family finances have been very tight for the past four months, and our daughter’s jobs will help us tremendously by reducing their dependence on us.

(In recent years I have been researching and exploring solutions to the limitations of “donation-only” missionary funding, and realized the importance of imparting an entrepreneurial spirit to our kids, and learning together how collaboration and teamwork can produce value for everyone involved.)

Wahi joined our family unexpectedly for the current school year. He is a Muslim high school exchange student from Yemen, and attends a local high school where his courses included advanced Math and AP Physics. We celebrated his 16th birthday last month. He is a joy to be around, and a great help in landscaping our new back yard. God is also guiding us in learning how to talk together about Jesus.

Wesley (12 with Down Syndrome) is a bit more challenging. Jackie has found home schooling him unexpectedly difficult, as he often resists the educational assignments she gives him. But his speech has improved significantly since we took him out of public school. And he can be very cooperative and helpful at times. We are trusting God to help us lead him to realize his full potential, and especially to know, trust and obey Jesus fully. Since his speech has improved so much, we decided to explore whether some public schooling would be helpful for him. We found a situation we are very happy about, and he is too. He has trouble getting out of bed in the morning, but eagerly runs to the bus when it arrives and comes home excited to read books with us, etc.

Robby is always thinking in bigger terms, both about how to advance Christ’s global cause and how to impart skills and perspective to our kids.

Since its founding eight years ago our ministry has mostly involved researching and reporting on paradigm shifts which have resulted in fruitful breakthroughs in “difficult” fields. The resulting insights have been shared with friends who lead a wide variety of mission agencies, and led to significant roles with Mission Frontiers as guest editor, assistant editor and contributing editor.

Recently Robby has observed that collaborative learning and action appear to be the greatest catalyst for such paradigm shifts. He has begun exploring how current and developing technology could be applied to accelerate the pace at which missionaries decide to learn and act together.

This has led to considering “What would it take to develop a growing on-line community dedicated to learning and acting together to finish discipling all nations?” He is now researching appropriate on-line tools and looking for others interested in working together toward this end.

Robby has also been exploring how to facilitate more constructive interaction over issues which divide the mission community, and envisioning this as another aspect of this on-line community.

The result of our season of research and reporting is that we are constantly challenged with how to steward “too many” significant opportunities and insights.

Out of this we sense God’s leading toward a transition

• from Robby’s focus of the last eight years—on research, reporting and consulting,
• to working with others to build a growing, collaborative on-line community.

We count on your prayers, collaboration and donations to empower us in “the good works God prepared in advance for us to walk in” (Eph 2:10).

If you resonate with our vision and calling, please email or call me: 360 420-5634.

We also count it a privilege to pray for you.
Email us, let us know how you are doing, and tell us how you would like us to pray for you.

Thanks!

Waiting for lunch in the medina (city center) of Fes.

Thank you for your prayers for our ministry in Europe and Africa.

Following is an abbreviated report.

— Answered Prayer

The day we flew to Spain we requested urgent prayer for a missed FedEx delivery of training materials we were to bring with us. That morning FedEx agreed to hold the box for our pickup at their office, which would have involved an hour detour for us. Then they said the books accidentally got on the truck with no way for us to get them. We finally left  this in God’s hands and headed for the airport.

Then moments after we left home FedEx reached us, and a 5-minute detour connected us with the driver and the box! (The friend we carried these books to in Spain is the same one who brought my computer to Greece last year after I left it in a rental car at the Denver airport!)

Praise God with us for His faithful answers to prayer!

— First Leg in Spain

Our first three weeks in Spain was a whirlwind as we worked with two short-term teams from the U.S. (one Hispanic U.S. immigrants). On the ground long-term are already several expatriates collaborating to launch disciple-making movements in Spain, representing Greater Europe Mission (GEM) and Wheaton Bible Church, a non-denominational church, and the Assemblies of God. Should God ever open the door, we would love to be part of a well-informed front-line effort such as this.

We also had a great week interacting with Fouad Masri, founder of Crescent Project, which provides excellent orientation for sharing the Gospel with Muslims in a respectful and loving way. Fouad came to provide training for more than a dozen ministries working in Spain, and the second team came with him.

Pray with us for lasting fruit

– in Spain through the team on the ground,
– in Spain and the U.S. through those who came to learn and help, and
– throughout the world through Crescent Project.

— Morocco before and during Ramadan

This past Friday our family flew to Marrakech for 3 nights, where the temperature rose to 50C (122F) before we left. From there we traveled by train for 2 nights in Fes and two more in Tangier, where we are now. Throughout Morocco we have found friendly, helpful people, a rich history, and a few Muslims with enough English to enjoy “Any-3 conversation” (including a clear gospel presentation without tension or awkwardness).

Pray with us for the continuing work of God’s Spirit in those we have shared the Gospel with here: Rashid and Ali, Balil, Sala, Muhammad, and Omar. (Omar is Muslim, but his wife is a Southern Baptist from Savanna, GA who works as a translator for the U.N. He requested 10,000 copies of the Bible to give out in Berber villages. Sala is a city planner who had tried reading Arabic and French versions of the Bible but found them both too difficult to understand. He was delighted to learn about Bible.is, which offers free access to 100s of languages. Hopefully one of them will speak his heart language adequately.)

A few years ago the government expelled all registered missionaries, but some are still finding creative opportunities to be here through tourism, business or study. The sight from our train travels of 1,000 minarets stretching across the horizon has stirred additional thoughts about how contemporary mission insights and experiences can be adapted to accelerate the spread of the Gospel throughout the house of Islam. Yesterday was the first of 30 days of Muslim day-time fasting called Ramadan.

Pray with us and many others (especially this month) for Muslims to have dreams and visions of Jesus, for Muslims to read what they consider to be “the rest of God’s word,” and for God to raise up laborers to share the good news with them.

— Second Leg in Spain

Next week we head to the coast of Spain for some overdue relaxation and debriefing as a family. Then on 7/20 we return for another whirlwind time time of ministry, joined this time by leaders from GEM’s ministry throughout Europe and three church teams with up to 50 total participants.

Pray for God to refresh and prepare us for more fruitful interaction with leaders and learners in this next period in Spain.

— Mission Frontiers (MF) on Movements and Translation

Before coming to Spain I gathered and edited the main content for the MF which went on-line July 1st. This issue was aimed at motivating and equipping local Christians to start disciple-making movements among their Muslim neighbors. This has sensitized me to the attack on Wycliffe over the past couple of years, through which nearly 2,000 translations have suffered, and the variety of barriers which remain to making accurate and readable translations available to a number of large language groups. I am now in conversation with leaders of Wycliffe and other translation efforts about producing an issue of MF aimed at stimulating global collaboration for more rapid progress in translation to aid in bringing new movements to maturity in Christ.

Pray for God to accelerate the availability of accurate and readable translations for everyone, especially in major language groups and religious blocs.

— More Any-3 Impact

Just before this trip I gave copies of Any-3 to a variety of friends and mission leaders. One wrote back: “I was very encouraged by the book, and had an excellent conversation about Jesus with Hussain, the Kurdish owner of the pizzeria in my town. He listened very carefully when I spoke about salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice. The book was incredibly encouraging.”

Step one in Any-3 is “Get Connected” by building rapport.

Step two is “Get to God” by asking a person about their religion.

Step three is “Get to Lostness” by asking questions about how they atone for the wrongs they do, leading them to express their lack of assurance about what will happen when they die. (This creates a non-confrontational, conversational context for Step Four.)

Step four: “Get to the Gospel.” We lead into this by asking, “Can I tell you why I know what will happen to me when I die?,” then present the Gospel in a culturally relevant way, concluding with our testimony of how God has changed our own life. (Visit our ministry site for more about Any-3 and the Muslim-relevant Gospel presentation we are adapting.)

Step five is “Get to a Decision” by asking “Does this make sense?” and “Do you believe this?” This provides helpful information about how the Lord is working in a person’s life, leading often to either immediate fruit or Bible study together.

Pray for Any-3 to spread widely, and help many believers learn to enjoy guiding conversations to a clear Gospel presentation.

— Engaging National Churches in Spain

The Any-3 step of “Getting to God” has helped open other doors. In Spain we met a born-again Filipino Christian whose pastor wants help to train his 80 members to share effectively with Muslims. He has invited us to provide two hours of training for his English-speaking Filipino congregation on July 21st: one hour before the service and another during the 3-hour service (that will be 7:00am and 8:30am Pacific Time on 7/21). Rather than do this training myself, I am involving long-term workers here who can provide continuing coaching after I am gone.

Pray for God’s spirit to empower those who receive this training, and those who provide it. Pray also that this will be just the first of many local Spanish churches to catch a vision for launching disciple-making movements among their Muslim neighbors.

— Other Matters for Prayer

– Jackie’s mom: We had a wonderful time with Jackie’s mom the day we flew to Spain. She was interactive and in good spirits. However in the past few days she has stopped eating on her own and is unresponsive in conversation. Pray for God’s grace for Jackie, her sister Joanne, and their mom Eva.

– Our Health: Jackie developed a sore throat on our flight to Spain, but recovered swiftly. Joelle had a mild lung infection after our flight to Morocco, but also recovered quickly. I had an intense but brief bout of food poisoning in Fes, but am almost fully recovered. Thank you for your continued prayers for our health.

– Our Faith: Before we left, God provided just enough funds to cover our planned expenses by draining all our normal reserves. Two generous electronic gifts since our departure encouraged us and relieved some of our temptation to worry, but unplanned expenses have more than consumed these. Please pray that God will increase our faith and give us victory over the temptation to worry, and for God’s provision in whatever way and timing will bring Him the greatest glory.

Thanks again for your prayers. Let us know how we can pray for you!

Thanks for your prayers!

After running through the funding we had set aside from the sale of our last house working with a contractor and his team to get the walls in place (including power, water, gas, insulation, etc.), we switched to working on our own on evenings and weekends, with power tools loaned by our new contractor friend Russ, to do nearly everything else ourselves.

With his great coaching we had a great result.

Here are a few photos (click any one to zoom):

Living area with kitchenette

Living area

bathroom entrance

bathroom sink

Dana’s room

Joelle’s room

Looking ahead to the day when our daughters would be in college, we began in 2010 to explore alternate home locations to facilitate God’s purposes in and through our family. As Joelle skipped out of high school to began college last Fall through “Running Start,” we found open doors to work with local ministry leaders at our community college to build disciple-making movements among international and other college students.

Since receiving an offer on our house on January 4th, our life has been a kayak ride through swift rapids. In the five weeks following this offer, we researched and settled on a smaller, 3-bedroom home with an unfinished basement. This leaves our family one bedroom short, with Wesley sleeping on a mattress on our bedroom floor. So we began checking into building bedrooms for Joelle and Dana in our unfinished basement.

A couple we worked with to run the first Perspectives class in Mount Vernon introduced us to Russ Rehm of Doulos Construction, who teaches a Sunday School class at Bethany Covenant Church (which hosted the second Perspectives class in Mount Vernon).

We felt led to involve Russ in our basement project for several reasons:

• He lives just ten minutes from our home.
• He invited us to work with and learn from his team so that we could later borrow his tools and finish the rest of the basement on our own.
• He and his two Pentecostal Russian laborers do all their own work (no subcontractors).
• He had room for us in his schedule right away.

Russ and his crew started framing at 7:30am on Tuesday, March 19th, and we worked with Russ’ team each day and carried the work forward on our own into the night. Ten days later  we helped Russ’ crew finish applying the first coat of mud on the freshly hung drywall.

Along the way we learned and involved our daughters in framing, electrical switches and outlets, installing ceiling can lights, hanging insulation, carrying and hanging drywall, and taping and “mudding.” I accompanied Russ for most of the lumber purchases, and Jackie drove Russ’ old manual transmission pickup to Home Depot for drywall and other supplies.

With Russ’ orientation, I did most of the duct work and trained our girls to install electrical outlets and switches while Jackie put in ceiling lights, and Jackie and our girls installed all the insulation. We left Russ’ team to install a window, break into the sewer line, install water lines, add gas for a fireplace, and reroute our hot water line (so that the heat it loses goes into the basement instead of underground).

When the shower we bought wouldn’t fit through the basement door, we realized the window we were putting in would be just big enough to bring the shower in that way. (This gives new meaning to the popular saying, “When God closes a door, he opens a window.”)

To Russ’ amazement, our involvement kept the cost to date down to $12/sq ft, and we now have the skills and confidence to bring the rest of the basement to the same point in coming years.

We already have some prior experience in painting, installing cabinets, and other aspects of finish work, and plan to do most of the rest of the work on our own at a more sustainable pace as additional funds become available. Please pray with us for God’s timing and provision for finishing the first half of our basement.

See pictures of the project unfolding over ten days.

A 40 sec panorama of the bare basement prior to construction.

A 1 min 40 sec walkthrough after the first mud on the drywall.

(6/13 update: See Basement Completed)

Our 2012 ministry among refugees

What a gateway this country is to the nations! In just over two weeks here, we have met people from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Egypt, Eritrea, Comoros Islands, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Some had been here for ten years, others for only a few days. But the religious freedom in Greece meant open doors to tell everyone about Jesus, whereas in many of their countries we would not have such opportunity of find such openness among the people.

Our main role here was to gather information on the Afghan community there, but we had plenty of opportunity to interact with many wonderful people, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover how God is bringing the unreached peoples into places where we can reach them for His kingdom and glory. There are roughly 400 Afghan refugees entering Greece each day, more than 100,000 each year. Many hope to get to another country in the EU, but one source said that only 30-40% of them are able to leave Greece.

Before we left for Europe, I knew there were a lot of Afghans in the city we’d be in. But it’s a big city, could we find them?

Yet God put His people Israel in the perfect place to interact with the peoples from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. And He had no problem bringing Afghans and many other refugees and immigrants from closed nations to a country where His people are free to share His love for them. Although some may be scattered, many congregate in public places with an openness to learn and make new friends.

These are people in need. Some might have some money, but most have left their homes and everything they knew in search of a new life.

And what a great opportunity this creates for God’s people to walk them into the new life God has planned for them!

They need to learn about Jesus and be discipled. Ninety-nine percent of the Afghans are Muslim, but most seemed more culturally Muslim than religiously committed.

They need teachers. They want a future and hope for their children, but many don’t have the proper papers to attend Greek schools.

They would love to learn English. Most of them are hoping to leave Greece, and English can be used all over Europe.

They are eager to work. But the unemployment rate is 25% for Greeks, and over 60% for the refugees/immigrants here.

They need food, clothing, and shelter, as they were only able to bring what they could carry.

They need faith in Christ as they lose hope. Some have lost their life savings to dishonest smugglers, and Greek citizens generally resent them, the Greek government can’t help them and other European countries don’t want them.

I am so grateful for the Afghans I met; they are wonderful people facing an incredibly difficult time.

Most walked to Greece from Afghanistan, sometimes with long stays in Iran, although many now are being smuggled in by boat. This as far more dangerous, as boats designed for 5-6 people are often dangerously stuffed with up to 15 people and lives are lost in boating accidents as smugglers seek to evade detection.

I spoke to a lady who walked from Afghanistan with her 4 & 8 year old children—across three mountain ranges, one in Iran, one in Turkey and another to get into Greece.

I visited with a 16 year old girl who came  into Greece from Iran with only her younger brother. She said her dad was gone and her mom stayed in Iran. She is currently studying Greek in the mornings and English in the afternoons, she is very sharp and resourceful, but it is definitely sad to see her being forced to grow up quickly.

I enjoyed the company and warmth of so many of women that with could only communicate with by our smiles.

I was surprised to hear from a nineteen year old girl that her husband is an alcoholic and she was forced to raise her kids without him. She live with her parents, and has their help and support.

I enjoyed listening to some of the older Afghani ladies tell Joelle she is at an age where she should be married. One of them kept bringing a young man around, but he didn’t speak much English and Joelle doesn’t speak Dari, so it didn’t work out too well. (Joelle thinks she wants to get married young, so she enjoyed the encouragement.)

And what a joy and surprise it was to see Dana so comfortable being with the Afghan people. She made many friends and continues to email a young Afghan girl about her same age who speaks very good English (as well as Dari, Greek and Urdu). She told me she loves watching Indian movies on TV, and that’s how she learned Urdu.

The Afghans are very appreciative of the handful of churches and ministries here which are helping them with food and clothing, and in whatever other ways they can. And these Afghans are open to relationships with believers and with Jesus. God has led them to a place where they can be reached for His kingdom and glory, but there are so many of them and so few workers. Please pray with us for the Afghans, for those working among them, and for those God is raising up to go and work among them.

Our 2012 ministry among Afghans refugees in One of Europe’s “gateway” cities

When I found out we were going to Europe I was really excited about going sightseeing. As time drew closer for us to head to Greece all I wanted was for that time in Greece to be done with.

The first few days in Greece were better than I expected but I really changed my attitude after my first time of going out with some of the interns. After that all I wanted to do was spend time with the interns.

During this time I spent with these interns God taught me a number of things. One of the things that God showed me was the interns’ passion to serve him which made me want to have that same passion. I also discovered what it meant to be in an actual relationship with him instead of just knowing him, and what it meant to trust him with every aspect of your life.

When the time was nearing for us to go my attitude had changed significantly and I was not ready to leave.

I am very grateful for everything that I have learned while I was there. I also got to figure out and refine my testimony.

If you ask me what my favorite part was about this trip I would say London but this was the place that I had a big Spiritual growth and I hope that we can to to Spain or Germany next year cause of this amazing trip and the way that God worked things out.

Our 2012 ministry among Afghans refugees

When I first heard my parents talk about going to Europe, I really didn’t want to go. But, once we were there, particularly in Greece, I didn’t want to come back. I had such a great time with all the Afghans and the interns that I met.

The first day there I went out with some interns to meet Afghans ad share about Jesus; after that I was excited to go out with them every day. I really enjoyed getting to know them, learning about why they were here, and learning from them how to share my testimony. They inspired and encouraged me to come closer to God and pray a lot more.

It was fun to get to know some Afghans and learn about them and how they live. In the two weeks we were there I met a lot of them and really enjoyed their openness to talk to anyone that comes up to them. I was able to help serve Afghans tea at a local ministry and it was so interesting to see how they interacted with each other and how happy they were to get tea.

One of the nights, I met a 13 year old Afghan girl named Behishta, she could speak English quite well. Her and her family had been in Greece for about a month when I met her, they were on their way to Germany. I have stayed in touch with her by email and she and her family are now in Germany. They have been given a place to live, but they are still there illegally, so waiting to find out if they can stay there or not.

I am glad I had the opportunity to go because I loved meeting new people. I learned how privileged I am to live in the USA and how difficult life is for people in other countries. I hope I have more opportunities to meet, help and share about Jesus with people around the world.

September 17th, 2012

Ten years ago, God provided a reliable van for our family in a wonderful way.

Through prayer and counsel we determined back then that a minivan was the most fitting vehicle for our growing family.
We researched the reliability and resale values of various models and listed exactly the features we were looking for.
And through a combination of savings and donations we determined that we could spend $13,000 on a van.

After some weeks of searching, Jackie told the Lord one morning how tired she was of shopping for a car and asked if He would just lead us to the right van that day. Within the hour, one of the dealers we had contacted asked us to come see a vehicle he thought we might be interested in. We went down to see it, but it didn’t appear to us to be the van God had for us.

Then across the street, we noticed a two year old Nissan Quest with 40,000 miles on Jeep dealer’s lot. We took the Quest for a test drive and it had everything we were looking for. But it was listed at $18,000 and the dealer wasn’t about to knock $5,000 off the price. And we didn’t feel led to go into debt for a car.

However as we tried repeatedly to excuse ourselves, the dealer kept coming down on his price until he finally let us have the van for what we had felt led to spend!

With regular maintenance and normal repairs, this van served us well through a number of cross-country trips as we added 180,000 miles to it over the past ten years. Then two weeks ago the transmission went out (as described below), launching us on a new round of prayer, research and seeking counsel.

Through this round of car searching we have already received four great blessings:

• Contact with the leader of a local church-base ministry to help people with their car needs.
• Rediscovery of MATS – Missionary Automotive & Transportation Service.
• A donated 1994 Volvo station wagon suitable for Joelle’s new transportation needs.
• And an unexpected large gift toward what we are hoping to be able to spend on a van!

God has certainly proven faithful as we have put our faith in Him and followed His leading!
We expect Him to provide just as faithfully now, whether through a similar deal or something totally unexpected.

At present, it appears to us that the best value for our needs will be a 2010 or 2011 Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey with about 40,000 miles on it.

We invite you to pray about helping us with this purchase in these ways:

1. Pray for God’s guidance and provision for us as we acquire our next family vehicle.
2. If you know someone preparing to buy new who might like to sell us their used van for cash rather than trade it in, put us in touch with them.
3. And ask God if He would have you give a tax-deductible monetary gift toward our purchase, using any of the avenues listed at the right.

Thank you!

September 5th, 2012

Monday morning our van’s transmission failed at the end of three movies at the Whidbey Island drive-in.

It was a long night.

Even though the maintenance is all up to date, at 220,000 miles we question the wisdom of investing another $2,500 to $3,000 in a van we no longer have confidence in for interstate travel.

Do you know of anyone near Mount Vernon, WA with good use for the old van as is?

We have been on the lookout for a newer van for more than a year, but now with Joelle on the verge of driving to college every day, we need a second car in the family sooner rather than later.

The funds we had been setting aside for a replacement van largely went to self-funding our ministry this summer. So we spent Tuesday looking at vans we can’t yet afford, and praying for God’s guidance and provision.

As an interim measure we are now considering a low cost older sedan which our girls could eventually take over.
We would want something inexpensive and reliable for local travel.
This could carry us until we can afford a van suitable for longer road trips.

So here are the range of options we have thought of within our means:

•    $500 to check whether a simple outer part has failed.
• $1,000 to fix just an outer part if that might get it going.
• $2,500 to $3,000 for a full transmission rebuild with a 24,000 mile warranty.
• $2–3,000 for a used sedan which could be shared with our daughters as they are starting to drive.
• $5,000 for a 2002 Toyota Prius with 84,000 miles.

All of these only provide temporary patches against our longer-term need for something suitable for long, cross-country drives.

Tuesday and Wednesday we also looked at a variety of other options, all outside our immediate resources:

• $14,000 at a Honda dealership for a nicely kept, higher end 2005 Toyota Sienna with 107,000 miles.
• $25,000 for a new low-end Dodge Caravan.
• $30,000 through Costco for a new low-end Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna.

We welcome your prayers, advice and leads.

Thanks!

Belated thanks to those who prayed and gave for our time in Greece!

Just in the last few days I have received a great report of continuing impact from our time among Afghan refugees in Europe. Unfortunately I can’t share details because of the security issues.

Just know that God is multiplying disciples in new ways there, both among the Afghans and Europeans we worked with.

Thanks again for your prayers!

Keep praying for this troubled land, and for the upcoming Nov/Dec issue of Mission Frontiers which will draw attention to the tremendous opportunities among the immigrants that surround most of us.

It is truly an exciting time to be watching and participating in God’s work among the nations!