For those of you who know me and are reading this, you know I am just learning how to "blog" and the end result could be disastrous as a post. For those of you who do not know me, you will. I have been going over in my mind where I wanted to start on my first entry. Do I start with my most recent experience or do I start from the beginning?
I thought since this could be the beginning of entries, it would be better to give a summary of what has stirred my desire to start this site. Four years ago, I was at a point in my life where things just seemed meaningless. I was in a realtionship with Ira and things seemd pretty normal in reference to how we got along with each other. We worked at Seastar Seafoods together and just did activities as we desired. So basically it was work, home, sleep, occasional activities, etc. Then my daughter was preparing to leave for college and without realizing it, I found myself losing my purpose. I was going to miss her and wasn't sure who I was without her. Also, had I instilled in her qualities to live "in the world?" I starting questioning everything about who I was.
That spring, God really started tugging at my heart. At first I wasn't sure what I was experiencing. You must know that I was a person who had seeked happiness from people, activities, places(some pretty dark ones at that) and things. One Sunday morning I woke up and got ready for church. I am not exactly sure what Ira and Nicki thought at the first mention of it, but for those of you who know me, I am an adventuress, so sometimes nothing with me is a surprise. I went to the local community church and it just so happened to be a Sunday that a potluck was planned. I stayed for it and enjoyed the fellowship. I started attending church on a regular basis and started to feel a sense of belonging. Ira occasionally came with me.
Through the home Bible Studies and group discussions, God starting working on me through His Word. I started experiencing a feeling I can't describe except to say IT IS REAL! One day as I mowed the yard the feeling really started to speak to me. It was hot, and the yard was full of rocks, dips,and bumps. I always dreaded having to mow but this day was different. I found myself in thoughts of real soul searching. After I finished mowing, I went into the living room and sat in the recliner waiting to cool off so I could get a shower. Well, the voice wasn't audible but it was the next thing to it. As I looked at the fresh mowed lawn through the window and had that "rewarding it is done" feeling, God told me my life was like that lawn. All the rocks, dips and bumps were like the obstacles in my life. They are challenging as we go around them and through them but when we do, it is rewarding when it is done. It was at this time that I decided to make a commitment to God and believe His word that Jesus Christ is my Saviour. As I said earlier, I know what I felt and IT IS REAL!
In the meantime, Ira was having experiences of his own. He had been going to church with me occasionally. Then one Saturday he attended a men's breakfast at a cottage, "camp" they call it around here. When the breakfast was planned, it was supposed to be several men going, as it ended up, it was Ira, Shaun (the Pastor), Steve Goreham Sr. (the Deacon) and Stevie Jr.(his son). Ira testifies that this is when God spoke to him. He saw something in these men and their relationship that he had desired. For those who know Ira, he was a very heavy alcoholic. On July 14th that year God freed Ira from that bondage. It was a miracle and there is no doubt about it!
That July of 2002, Ira and I were both Baptized. From that moment on, we knew we were going to seek our purpose in serving God. After hearing a missionary share his testimony, Ira had a desire to do missions. As I mentioned earlier, I am an adventuress, so I was open to it. We both continued to attend South Side Church and do things within the fellowship there and the community. Then one day I was at the local bank and bumped into Pastor Shaun. I asked him if he had any ideas to how I could get information about missions abroad. Well, to both our amazement, Pastor Shaun said he had just spent the weekend with his wife and sister- in- law researching mission opportunities with the idea that the church could plan a trip. This would be the beginning of several trips for Ira and me.
Our first trip was with YWAM, Youth with a Mission in March 2004. Several of the members of the church, community, and most of the youth of the church went to Vicente Guerrero Mexico of the Baja Peninsula to build 2 homes for homeless families. The well of desire for missions within Ira's heart stirred even more with this experience. Upon returning home, Ira found out that another team, "The Bluenosers" were planning a 2 week trip August 2004 to Bluefields, Nicaragua through Samaritan's Purse. At first he wasn't going to consider it because he had just returned from a trip. He questioned how we could afford it. After some discussion, I told him if he felt he wanted to do this then he should trust God. As I look back on this I realize that as new Christians, we look at God in relation to who He "was". The mission trips were teaching us who God "IS". Within 1 month of signing up with the team, Ira had done some fundraising and had exactly the amount needed to go on this mission. Then one month before the trip, God opened a door very unexpectedly for me to join the team. I used to be a licensed Optician but now worked at a fish plant. It turned out that the team would be doing one of the first eye clinics for Samaritan's Purse. Through much prayer and suggestion from SP, I ended up joining the team so that I could be trained on field in the eye clinic. This would provide me with the skills to lead future teams for SP.
Now we were really starting to Pray for God's direction on the international mission field. God was really showing us that He had a plan for us through these trips. July 2005 took us to an Orphanage in Mexico called Pan de Vida. It means Bread of Life in Spanish. Ira and I went as eye clinic leaders for a team from Chatham Ontario. This was the first time that Ira went on a mission trip and wasn't involved in the building project but it was also the first place he felt like he truly belonged. There was just something about the way the Spirit of God worked within us on this trip. We worked along side each other, as a couple, everyday and felt such compassion for the people of the Orphanage and the community. One day the eye clinic wasn't planned until late afternoon. Ira took it upon himself to go and repair a playhouse for the girls. As he fixed it, the kids started bringing him the missing boards and then worked to get it cleaned and even hung facecloths at the windows for cutains. Ira even made the comment, "I would just Love it if I could come to a place like this and serve God...I would get so much enjoyment out of it." Fulfillment is the only word I can think of to describe the feeling.
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Then that November of 2005, Samaritan's Purse called me and asked me if I would like to lead an eye clinic on the Operation Christmas Child team in December. It would consist of 100 teens from all over USA and Canada distributing shoeboxes in Belize in addition to holding medical and eye clinics as an outreach. As usual, I told them I would have to Pray about it. For me, I knew that I wanted to do it and I truly believe God has provided the eye clinics as a Ministry for me to serve Him through. However, the trip was planned for Dec 9-23. Nicki and my Mother had made plans to come to Canada for Christmas and would be arriving the 20th. As I talked to Nicki and told her about the opportunity to go, her first response was so encouraging. She told me that she thought I should do it because she knows how much I love doing for others. When she told me this, a sense of peace washed over me and I knew I would be going. I felt a little guilty because this would be the first trip that Ira and I would not be doing together. Without getting into a lot of detail of the trip itself, I will say that God taught me how huge He is and the family of Christ is so much broader than the walls of any Church building. I absolutely love working with the teens and meeting brothers and sisters in Christ.
Ira and I are now at a point that we feel we need to start moving in the direction of longer term service. We enjoy the short term trips, but it seems as soon as you seem to get settled a bit in the culture and people, it is time to leave. It has been 2 years of praying and we have both reached a point that now we feel we are resisting the call of servanthood on the mission field. After some research we came across an organization called AIM (African Inland Missions). The have a TIMO (Training International Ministry Opportunity) program. It places you with a community in a remote place in Africa where you live among unreached people and allow God to work in your weakness. It is a program that is not about what we have to teach but what we have to learn. Ira and I both felt this was something we really needed to do if we were going to ever get the necessary training to serve longer term. We contacted the Regional Director who Prayed with us and sent us the necessary applications. We met with Pastor Shaun and shared what God was doing in our hearts toward the International Mission field and he began praying for us. He wasn't surprised at all, he actually wondered when it was going to happen. Pastor Shaun has been one of God's biggest instruments in Ira's and my journey. We now begin the application process, which takes about 8 months.
So again in July 2006, "The Bluenosers", were planning another trip. As much as I wanted to go just from being adventuress, I truly believed God had provided the eye clinics as a ministry for me and only wanted to go in service to Him. It turned out that the team would be doing an eye clinic so I was asked to go. This was exciting because I would now be going on a mission with people I already know. However, Ira would not be going along. I was starting to feel a bit insecure because it seemed he was the one who had the desire to do missions but I was the one who was getting called to the field. As it turned out, he and Nicki were provided with the opportunity to go do Hurricane Katrina work in Gretna Louisiana with Samaritan's Purse. This trip became a bonding time for Ira and Nicki. They were there June 6-12/2006 cleaning out houses that had been submerged in water for weeks. They were ridding them of mold, tearing out contaminated material and spraying them with necessary products. Ira had no sooner gotten home then I left for Aguascalientes Mexico to lead the eye clinics, July 1-15/2006, In addition to the eye clinics, the team worked on a building project for an Orpahange called Dulce Refugio. It means Sweet Refuge in Spanish.
Upon arriving in Mexico City, Brian Heppner of Pan de Vida, the orphanage we worked in July 2005, was there to pick us up. He was the Director of Pan de Vida who works with Samaritan's Purse to organize projects when teams come. He thought Ira would be along on the trip and had mentioned how Pan de Vida was going to be in need of someone to oversee maintenance at Pan de Vida. Brian and his wife Bety were going to be returning to Canada to start The Children of Hope foundation. I told him that I would have Ira contact him about it when I returned to Canada. At first Brian had mentioned the possiblity of having people rotate the position , serving 3-4 months each. As soon as I got home, I did just that and the communication between Ira and Brian began.
We both started Praying for God to make it evident what He wanted us to do. We had TIMO that we were considering appying to and then there was the need at Pan de Vida. In the beginning when Ira felt called to the Mission field, he starting taking a Lay Pastor's course in preparation. He had one year left of a three year course and knew that which ever he decided would have to come after he completed his course. This made us feel that TIMO was the project, since there is an 8 month application process. Then one day Ira came home and said God had really talked to him about what he needed to do. As much as we believe TIMO is a great program, it was something that we had sought where on the other hand, Pan de Vida was an opportunity that has been brought to us...by God. Ira was then reminded of what he felt while we served at Pan de Vida in July 2005. Ira then contacted Brian and in the conversation Ira told him that if they could work something out until he finished his Lay Pastor's course in June 2007, he would make arrangements to leave Canada and move to Pan de Vida for the position. Brian was very excited about Ira's willingness to commit long term and needed to talk to Dario, who actually lives at and manages Pan de Vida.
In the meantime while we are waiting to hear from Brian, Ira's boss approaches him about a job promotion. It would be a supervisor position that came with higher wages, and benefits. Ira had worked all his life in the plant to have an opportunity like this. However, Ira's heart belongs to God and His service. He explained to Adlai about the possibility of serving at Pan de Vida long term. Ira knew if he took the position, his opportunity to do missions would cease because with this position, it would require commitment to the fish plant. When Ira commits to something, he does it wholeheartedly. When I asked Ira if he doubted the decision he made, he said that when he talked to Adlai about it, a blanket a peace came over him confirming that he had made the right decision. It was that very night that we got the e-mail from Brian that Dario was as well excited about us commiting to longer term service and everyting was a go as far as they were concerned. Upon receiving the news, we have commited our decision to God, we placed our house for sale and have began working on the logistics necessary to start our service to God at Pan de Vida as a couple. As I reflect at our journey I see God's hand molding us through all the short term trips in preparation for this. We are both very excited about what God will teach us through this.
Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are the work of your hand.
I know that this is a very long summary but I knew when I started this Blog that it would become a place that I could post all the things God is doing in our lives. There are some who will read this that have been a part of our journey from the beginning. I also believe that there will be people who join us in this experience along the road. I want everyone to know how alive and active God is in our lives. Also, we cannot do this on our own. It will require teamwork for us to be able to serve on the mission field. Ira and I truly feel we are doing what we are supposed to be and know God will Bless us as we continue to seek his direction. Please Pray for us as we prepare and we will keep you posted!!
Romans 8:28 And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
