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!
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