We pray you and your family had a very Merry Christmas and are ready to celebrate the new year! We enjoyed Christmas at a slower pace this year in North Carolina with family and friends, since Adeline was with her dad.
As we reflect on 2023, we have seen God’s hand at play throughout the year, but it did not go as we had expected. At the end of 2022, we had the expectation that 2023 would bring our family to completing the onboarding process with the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) as full time missionaries, completing our financial support raising and we would move our family to an active Crisis Response site to spread the Gospel to those in need after a crisis. While we may not have completed our full plan, we have made progress. We know that God is in control and he is not the least bit surprised. We can see how our year consisted of laying the foundations for a family rooted in Christ to do ministry together in His timing.
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
To follow are some of the 2023 highlights…
One of the expectations of 2023 that we did complete was the onboarding process with the EFCA as full time missionaries. Ellis finished the process to change from short term to long term, and Kristen completed the long term process. Our first trip to the EFCA national headquarters office in Minneapolis was in February for the interview process, which went very well. We learned so much about the ministry and felt like God was confirming our calling.
We then went as a family at the end of October for PreField Training. This was an 8 week training with many other missionaries, prior to our week in Minneapolis. This completed our onboarding process with the EFCA.
A lot of the year was spent doing paperwork, trainings, like the one mentioned above, classes and countless online meetings. We also completed the 16-week PerspectivesUSA online course. We stayed involved in Crisis Response as much as possible. Ellis attended an EFCA District Youth Conference in Green Bay, WI in January. We celebrated what God did in Morehead City at the Hurricane Florence site celebration with One Harbor Church. We attended and helped to plan the Crisis Response annual meeting in Covington, Louisiana in February. Ellis volunteered at OneHarbor’s Vacation Bible school. The family made support raising trips to the Midwest in September and November. Ellis worked as adjunct staff at our site in Florida in October and has continued to work on the planning committee for the 2024 annual meetings. Ellis also gave his first sermon at Waushara Community Church in Wisconsin.
On a more personal level, our family grew with the addition of Jacob in June and we have been adjusting to life as a family of 4. Jacob is such a joy and Adeline is an amazing big sister.
With our plan to move to an active Crisis Response site and to fit our lifestyle, we have transitioned to homeschooling. This has been a joy and challenging all at the same time. Kristen continues to reduce her hours at the Pregnancy Care Center and is working to transfer her responsibilities and onboard new staff in order to focus on the family and ministry. Our family has grown in Christ and we have grown in our knowledge of the ministry.
2023 has been an amazing year but it also had its struggles. Stress ran high with the many transitions. The move to homeschooling has pushed us in many ways. The amount of travel as a family or individually created its own pressure points. One of our saddest moments came when we had to say goodbye to our beloved family dog, Sky. Even in the tough, God has been good!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:15-18
This next year we are trusting God to help build our financial ministry partnership team to be fully supported! Once fully supported we will transition to an active Crisis Response site. We have seen our partnership team growing this year even with being pulled in many directions, but we are not at our required support amount that would allow us to deploy to an active site. If you were part of our support team this last year, Thank you! Thank you for your prayers and your financial support. We know God is at work and we know this is no surprise to Him. God has prepared us well in 2023 for the New Year. Now we need you to help prepare us well. We need you to continue to pray for us as we make decisions on where we will be doing ministry this coming year. We need your kind words and encouragement as the process has grown long and we desire to see how God can use us in this next season.
We are unable to move and get involved at a new site until our financial support needs are met. Would you prayerfully consider financially supporting us? This is God’s ministry that we feel called to and we want to partner with you in it. If you would like to make a tax deductible gift for the year of 2023, you can do that by Mail, postmarked by 11:59 pm, on 12/31/2023 or Online (link below) as long as Gift made/time stamped by 11:59 pm on 12/31/2023. You can also start partnering with us monthly in the New Year. If you have questions, do not hesitate to reach out by phone, email or text. We would be happy to talk with you.
We are asking you to partner with us as missionaries but ultimately partner with the vision we have for what God can do with us in His service.
Thank you for your partnership!
We hope to see many changes in 2023 but ultimately know God’s timing is perfect. Please stay tuned for more prayer points as we keep you updated on our support raising and our plans as they develop.