Agency or No Agency? That is the question.

Yesterday we ended our relationship with one of our prospective agencies. It was a very good ending, kind of like just cancelling a coffee date with a friend. No big deal. The folks at TEAM.org are absolutely amazing. They have such a heart to evangelize the world with the Gospel message, being like Jesus in every aspect of their lives. Yet, they weren't a good fit for us. I'd highly recommend them for others though.

This agency search process is rather tedious. For the past two weeks, I've been thinking about nixing an agency and just taking the entire family to a language school to study for a year or two. Master the language then start out on the missions field. We had an excellent Skype meeting with the district administrator for TEAM in Ukraine yesterday. Their process is similar to this, they send you to language school for two years before you get involved in daily ministry life. It's absolutely necessary to be fluent in the local language in order to build relationships with people.

I never realized how good I had it being an independent missionary with our home church. We are toying with this idea again. There is a cost to going with agencies - about 10%-15% of your total income from donors goes for them to administrate your being overseas. It lightens your plate significantly, for a cost. Is it worth the cost? I don't think we've decided it's not yet. But we are considering the independent route too.

On the other side of the coin, we have now started to investigate languages schools. Doing that route first.
So now that's something more to consider.

But first, and always first, we ask God for His wisdom on where we should go next!

Lunch Meeting

Today we met with a missions agency, Team.org in regards to possibly partnering with them in Ukraine. The area is in Odessa, which is a beautiful port city in Crimea (the southern portion of Ukraine).

I always appreciate meeting with mission mobilizers, as they have such a passion for people. This connection was no different. They are inspiring and motivating.

Next steps will be reviewing some of their policy materials and application, meeting with the Ukrainian team administrator and seeing if we fit and they fit. We are still looking to head out in late 2014, but they seem a lot more flexible in timing on fundraising if it takes longer. I really liked their laid back attitude but heart for getting folks mobilized and working directly with your sending church and local in-country churches.

Funny enough, Odessa was one of the places I had tried to sell Eric on before we ever started looking at mission agencies. It has the seaside and beach and sub-tropical warm summer weather that I crave. It also gets the snow and cold that Eric loves.

We will see...Our only desire is to be obedient to where God would place us.

On a financial side note: We paid off our first credit card two weeks ago. We just put a huge payment down on our other credit card. That leaves us with $5500 in debt on the CC. Baby steps to be debt free! 

Exploring Opportunities

As the story continues, we are still in the working to be debt-free mode. Yesterday we paid off our smaller credit card balance. It was a milestone. One step closer to being on the mission field, wherever that may be.

We have also started exploring missions opportunities with other groups, besides OM. I don't know who we will end up with, but we've had some good conversations with various mission directors of organizations. It's been productive to learn about several agencies, along with their focus and ministries. We were asked if we wanted to stay in the US and basically head their conference department for a group out on the East Coast this week, but we turned it down. They are a great organization and very gracious when we declined their offer. We honestly have no desire to live any longer in the USA. Our hearts are for foreign lands.

So in two weeks we are meeting face to face with one organization over lunch, and then have a phone call with the Christan Missionary Alliance (which helps to place you within missionary organizations) in early November.

We are still moving forward, but as of right now, we don't know yet where we will be or with who. I have a sense that things are being put together even now as I type this post, but it's timing will be perfect for us and our family. God is sensational about connecting people together and I wait contently in His precense in the meantime.

On a side note, I had a nice time reconnecting with a woman who traveled with me when I was the tour director for ICCL Ukraine. She has continued her trips to Ukraine and even has become good friends with my former office administrator (my boss in Kiev). So through the grapevine, I was able to say hello and receive a hello from her. Makes me miss Ukraine even more today.

What else in life is going on? Well, I have been busy with making preparations for CBN's Orphan's Promise group coming over in December. They will be bringing a tour group of orphans to perform the Christmas musical "The Old Russian Shoemaker" in Colorado. I've been making bookings at churches, which is a new thing for me. I have never played "agent" before, but thus I find myself learning a new skill set. So come late November and through the month of December, life will be a bit hectic with transporting the tour group, hosting them and generally playing mother hen for 14 more individuals. Fun!

Well, I think I'll sign off now. Thanks for reading, we will update as we have more information.

Kelly