For anyone we missed.....

Dear friends, July 28, 2009
We write this newsletter with heavy hearts as we want to share with you how God has led us to alter our course from going to Senegal. The past few months have been a very painful process as we have prayerfully agonized over this decision.

In March, Tim and I felt the Lord prompting us to lay everything down on the altar. At first it seemed to us that we would lay down our ministry and then be able to pick it right back up, like Abraham did with the sacrifice of his son, Isaac. But after a couple months of diligently seeking God on this we experienced a shift and felt God nudging us to be willing to face the possibility that we might not pick it up again.

Upon returning to Minnesota after our training in Colorado, we diverted our attention from fundraising and began to press into God more forcefully. We sought godly council and spent hours praying and weeping over this potential loss. In the end, both Tim and I felt we had clearly heard from God that we needed to be obedient and heed the Lord’s instruction to stay. We were no longer hearing a “yes” from God. So we have taken this position of painful obedience and we are no longer going.

This has been a lonely and difficult process, to say the least, and may continue to be so as it’s a challenge for us to thoroughly express just how broken we feel. We had truly adopted the Wolof people into our hearts and were eagerly anticipating serving alongside our teammates. But God’s ways are higher than man’s and we know that we can’t step into a ministry unless we are 200% confident that it’s where God wants us. So although we are feeling like the bottom has dropped out underneath us, we both have perfect peace with our decision. We don’t know what God has in store for us, and right now it is taking more faith and trust for us to stay rather than to go. But we are stepping out in faith that we will stay and He will provide.

Please know that we have processed this decision with The Navigators extensively and they have graciously walked us through it. We have just returned from traveling out to Colorado again to personally bring some closure to our partnership. Tim and I wanted to honor them with a personal visit to show our deep respect for all they have done for us and the high esteem we still hold them in. They have been honoring of us by affirming our gifting, whole-heartedly supporting us in our ability to hear from God in this matter, and spending time debriefing us.

On a practical note, we are still living with my parents in Rogers, MN and Tim will start looking for employment. Because we are leaving Nav staff effective August 31st, you can discontinue your support of our ministry immediately by calling 1-866-568-7827. We are so thankful and have been so humbled by the faithful financial support you have generously given over the past 2+ years. Your investment in the Kingdom has not been wasted and all remaining funds in our account will go to other Nav missionaries. If you wish to continue supporting the ministry in Senegal you can designate your donation to account #23741333. Once again, thank you for your faithful support of our family in this endeavor.

Our desire is to make ourselves available to you to answer any questions you may have or to explain anything in greater detail. We are transparent in this that God would ultimately be glorified. His plans are perfect and though we don’t understand them completely right now, we know He is good and we rejoice in that. Throughout this process He has continued to confirm our calling to minister in the nations in some capacity in His perfect timing. We have no idea what that will look like, but we trust His timing.

The Lord has certainly sustained us on this journey and we know that the past 3+ years have not been in vain. For many years our lives have belonged to the Lord and therefore, He is able to use them as He pleases. He has made his nearness extremely evident to us as He’s walked with us through this crossroads. As we make the transition fully back into life here, both physically and emotionally, Tim and I still covet your prayers as we are desperately grieving this loss on a daily basis.

Trusting in Him,
Tim and Heidi

dear friends and random mountain cars

I am still playing catch-up from blogging about our time out in Colorado, so here's another one:

Tim and I were out there for 5 weeks of training, a 2 week session and a 3 week session. There were 2 families and 1 single guy that were there with us all 5 weeks and they really became dear friends to us. (Sorry James, I don't actually have a pic of you! But we love you!)

Steve and Julie, aka "grandpa" Steve and "auntie" Julie :) They are headed to Mozambique and we had a wonderful time getting to know them!

This family was another favorite. Here are Angie and Tom, but we couldn't wrangle their 4 beautiful kids for the picture. We had a blast with these guys. Angie and I decided we were best friends that hadn't met yet....or was that me and Kate...? I can't remember. Either way, I love 'em all! Praise God for new friends, you can't ever get enough in my book.

Now the problem with going through an intense training session with missionaries, and this goes for everyone we met at MTI, is that you get to know these incredible people and then they scatter to the nations. By the end, we wanted to be on the same team as everyone we met!!! We definitely made some life-long friends.
Here's our random mountain car.

While hiking Queen's Canyon at The Glen, we came across this random car near the top of the mountain and no one at the facility (that we asked) has any idea where it came from. Super weird. There was no trail from the top indicating that it came crashing down and it was evident that it had been there awhile, but not through a winter. Weird.....random mountain car.

Jackson's time at MTI

At MTI we needed to utilize the on-site childcare for Jackson so that Tim and I could get the most out of the training. I was a little dubious, but it ended up being a great opportunity. So here are some pics of the great time Baby Jack had ad the great friends he made!"Grandpa" Steve was a special favorite of Jackson's, I think it was the Oklahoma accent! He just LOVED listening to Steve talk or sing to him.

Miss Kate was also a special friend to Jackson, they spent many a mealtime together while Tim and I ate :) Thanks again, Kate!!

Little Andrew was Jackson's buddy in daycare, they would lay and look at each other. haha

And last but certainly not least, is Michelle, who took GREAT care of our little guy for 5 weeks straights. She set us at ease and did a fabulous job.