It is June already -- my favorite month, at least before I lived in Mississippi. In the north, with the arrival of June, we didn't worry about cold spells any longer; it was sunny, things were green and growing, and of course school was out! In Mississippi, all that happens a little earlier, but I still love June; for one thing, it's not yet miserably hot and humid. And, like in the north, school is out!
This year, however, June also means that there is SO much work to accomplish in reaching my calling from God to be a missionary in Japan! I desperately covet your prayers for these things:
- Financial Support: God has called me, and it has been amazing to see the means by which He has made that calling abundantly clear. As He has called, I know He will supply the means for me to follow that calling. My task is to be faithful in writing and calling people, and to be watchful for how God has already been working to supply my needs! Pray that I will be diligent in this work!
- Training: I will be traveling this weekend to Ridge Haven Conference Center near Ashville, NC for a weeklong "Living in Grace" retreat put on by Mission to the World, my sending agency. Pray for safety on the roads. Pray for a sweet time with God while driving (I'm usually singing along with my CDs!). Pray that this retreat will grow me and challenge me beyond my comfort level or anything I could imagine, and that it will have a lasting impact on me and the ministry to which God has called me.
- Protection From Financial Complications: As I am no longer employed at Belhaven College, I do not have any income coming in. Pray that God will spare me from unplanned financial burdens of any kind (medical, automotive, etc.). Pray that I will be able to live off my savings for just a few short months until departing for Japan. Rent is my most significant expense, but there are also monthly car payments, student loan payments, etc.
- New York City: I purchased airline tickets last night for New York City where I will spend the entire month of July for MTW training. One of the goals is to immerse the missionaries in an ethnic neighborhood and in ministry with a neighborhood church -- similar to being in a foreign culture. We also will have language acquisition training and training in cross-cultural ministry.
- Family: From NYC, I will be flying to Washington state for my neice's wedding! Thank God with me for providing a godly husband (whom I still need to meet!) for Naomi Kooi! Pray that this will be a sweet time with my family before my departure to Japan.
"Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me! Bless His holy name!" (Psalm 103:1)
This is what each of us is called to do in our every day lives. Bless the Lord! I pray that you will be equipped to do this more faithfully in all things, and that we all will be able to praise Him for His grace upon each of us, and in our various callings that He has for us!
