Today, we are thankful

Today, Jeremy and I had a new Thanksgiving experience. We were not with our biological families, instead we are 4,000 miles away in Spain. Instead of everyone around us celebrating a holiday, today was just a normal day for the Spaniards we met on the street. People were at work, going to the store and school. It was a little sad, but it was another reminder of all we are thankful for, today and everyday. 

Today we are thankful for the past week. We arrived safely in Spain last Wednesday. We have somewhat adjusted to the time change, even a new eating schedule- I am not AS starving by our 2pm lunch. A couple of days we have felt absolutely exhausted. Not just by the time change but also by the new sights, sounds and smells all around us. It is hard to slow down and not try to take it all in at once. But, we have found an apartment to rent! We have successfully taken the train into Madrid with the help of team-member Colleen and purchased a monthly bus pass. We are enrolled in language school to start on Monday. A packed week!

Today we are thankful for God's calling. This move to Spain is fulfillment of a promise given to me 6 years ago. As overwhelming as it all is, I am thankful for His provision that has brought us to Spain. From almost anywhere in the town you can see snow covered mountain tops a reminder of my favorite scripture- "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:11

Today we are thankful for the Sierra Oeste Team. These are the people who first prayed for our calling to Spain. They have been faithful to the Lord and begun an incredible work in this area. We are blessed to be working alongside them. They have been incredibly accommodating and welcoming to us as we get adjusted and begin language school. We are excited to begin working more with this wonderful team in the coming months.

Today, I am thankful for my husband. Not only does he love me when I am not so nice, but he answered God's call on his life to this new journey. He answered without hesitation and has been an encouragement to me all along the way. Every step, sacrifice and leap of faith, he has been a solid rock and picture of Jesus' love. He is my forever friend.

Lastly, today I am thankful for YOU. I am thankful that you have taken a moment to read this (long and mushy-gushy post) simply because you care. I am thankful for you who have prayed for us. I am thankful for you who have invested your wisdom into our lives. I am thankful for you who have invested financially into the Kingdom of God by supporting us. We could not be here without you. Thank you, thank you for loving us and loving our Savior. 

Here we are.

It seems like everyone went back to school today. But of course it seems that way, it's the first day of school. My brother started high school today. One of my best friends went back to school as a teacher this year. Even my dad is in school.

We are not in school. We are not working. Instead, Jeremy and I are sleeping on a mattress in the floor of my old room. Pink carpet, yellow and blue walls, and purple curtains. The room now doubles as mom's office. We're sharing a bathroom with Joe. Not exactly where I thought we would be right now.

I thought we would be on our way to Spain. I thought we would be saying our final goodbyes.
Instead, we have 30% left of our budget to raise.

We have completed our required training and then some. We are continuing to meet with our funding coach. We are still booking churches until mid-October. At this time I refuse to schedule churches for any later. If you ask me, I'll tell you that we are going to be in Spain by October 31st.

I have faith. I have faith that we'll be fully funded in the next month. I have faith that as God has called us to this, He will provide for us. Not only will He provide for us, but He will provide for those who send us. 

We went to Friedberg yesterday, and were incredibly encouraged by the support we received. It is good to be home. But, I would be lying if I said this is where I want to be. I want to be in Spain.

Each presentation we give, we end with this passage from Romans 10 (the Message):
But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? 

The people of Spain need to hear the Good News. We are called to go, but we must be sent.

A New Season- A New Love

This past week has been one of many, many blessings, both small and large.
Together, Jeremy and I celebrated a huge milestone in our lives and preparation for ministry- We graduated! I walked across the stage to receive with a Bachelors in Intercultural Studies and Jeremy graduated with a Masters in Ministry. Now, after-the-fact, it does seem a little surreal.

Our time at Laurel University is quickly coming to a close. Jeremy has been a student at the school for six years. Five of those years he has worked full-time in the Admissions Department. The last three of those years he has held the title of "Director of  Enrollment Management"- a title so long they had to abbreviate to fit on the door. Two years ago this past weekend, Jeremy received a B.A. in Pastoral Ministry.

I have been a full-time student since 2009. In the fall of 2008, while Jeremy was a sophomore, I came to visit the school with my Mom. I had no idea that I had met my husband that day. Jeremy was currently working three part-time jobs and attending classes. He was a work-study student in the admissions office so he gave me a tour around the two-story, all-inclusive building that is John Wesley College/Laurel University.

At that time, I was dead-set on becoming a full-time missionary, with or without a husband. I had no intentions of being a local pastor's wife or even living in the U.S. past finishing my degree. About eight months into our relationship, my plans had begun to change right before my eyes. Or so I thought. You see, God sure has a funny way of doing things. I continued to jump on every opportunity I had to travel. I joined the school on trips to Mexico City (Jeremy's first trip outside the country), Kenya, and Colombia. 

Now, Jeremy is preparing to train the lady who will soon take his office. I am preparing to leave a family who has been so good to me as their babysitter/nanny over the past 5 years.


The next two months will be the end of a season in our life that has forever changed us. We are asked over and over again if we are ready for the move. At this point, we are as ready as we can be. I trust that God has prepared for this point and He will continue to prepare and guide us as we go. We still have a ways to go in our monthly budget requirement and we will have weeks of formal training ahead of us. But, at this point, we are as prepared as we can be.

I will say this to close- My heart is ready to see the hearts of Spanish people turn to Christ. It is hard to explain how you can love a people and a country you hardly know. But part of God's preparation has been to give me a love for these people. I desperately want to see them know Christ. As this season of life ends for us, I can sense the turning of my heart towards new things as God gives me a new love for His people.

Another (not so) Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!
Again, I'm not so great about posting actual weekly updates, but it has been a busy few weeks!

Jeremy and I are settled in our new temporary home thanks to some awesome friends!
We will be living here for the next few months until we head to Indiana for training in July. We are so very grateful for a place to stay and the great people God has put in our lives. God has continued to prove faithful in providing for all of our needs as we move forward towards His calling.

We just returned home from a quick trip to Washington D.C. on Tuesday. We celebrated my birthday and enjoyed time just to be together.

I may have also enjoyed a cupcake or two!

This weekend we are headed out again! This time up to headquarters with several Laurel University students for ONEWeekend, a retreat for those interested in missions. We will also be meeting with the head of Hope61 to discuss more details about how we will be involved in anti-human trafficking. We are excited to bring the desire to combat this evil to Spain.

Our support account is continuously growing. We are over half way to the amount we need in our account to depart. But, we are at 22% of our needed monthly pledges. We must have 100% of our monthly pledges in before we can depart for Spain in September. If we are not, then our goal date will have to be pushed back.

We continue to pray for God to show us the people who will join our team. We take every opportunity to share the need in Spain and how YOU can be a part of this calling. We thank God for each person who has supported us so far and those who will in the future.

We are thankful for your prayers and words of encouragement. We are thankful for your ears that listen as we share our calling and desire for the people of Spain to know Christ. Our responsibility is first to God to go as He has called us, but also to you as you will make our sending possible.

We do ask for you continued prayers. But, I will ask that you sincerely seek how God may lead you to reach the people of Spain as well.

Love and prayers,
Melissa

The Sent and The Senders

Not every Christian is called to meet every need. Not every Christian is called to be a missionary or a pastor or to any full time ministry. Most are called to fields outside the realm of ministry. But all are called to minister to their family, church family and seek how they can grow the Kingdom.

Two specific callings go hand in hand. Those who are called to be sent and those who are called to be senders. Not everyone is called to be sent, but anyone can be a sender. Anyone, in any job or ministry, part time or full-time. Anyone with any spiritual gifts or talents or abilities. Anyone can be a sender.

Maybe you have a job at home, or a family, or you know exactly the place God has called you to be. Maybe, for whatever reason, you know that you cannot physically go to another country. But God tells everyone to go. As you go to work, as you go to school, as you go to the store or the movies. Go and make disciples. But, I think we should all strive to do more than just the bare minimum.  We should strive to do all we can to spread the Gospel. Are you comfortable with where you are? Are you comfortable with what you are doing for the Gospel? Do you think you should be more uncomfortable? Have you considered being a sender?

As a sender, a person feeds into the lives of the sent. A sender makes it possible for the sent to be sent. Senders give encouragement, provide financial support and share in the reward of seeing those in other places come to know Christ. As a sender you fulfill the Great Commission. You send your prayers and your resources to the ends of the earth.

Both the sent and the sender are required. Both are equally important. Thankfully, we have been able to experience both aspects, and are continuing to send others, while God is calling us to go. But before we can be sent, we must find our senders. We are asking God to show us the people who will send us. We are seeking out those we can feed into spiritually. We want to be a blessing to our senders as they are fulfilling their call to send. We want to encourage them as they encourage us.
This truly is a team effort. This is a job that cannot be done alone.
Would you join our team?

Update-Praises and Requests

This update is long overdue! But, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I returned from Spain nearly a month ago and since then we have visited three churches and will be at our fourth presentation tonight. At each service we have been blessed with the encouragement and support of everyone in attendance. Several people have made faith promises and become partners with us in this calling. 

We cannot say thank you enough to those who have already partnered with us. But, we do want to say that we have confidence that God will use your gifts to bless the work He is doing in Spain. This journey is just beginning for us but we know that God has already gone before us and prepared the way. We are trusting in His timing and provision for all of our needs. Now, we do pray that you may do the same.

This weekend we will be sharing with Salem Evangelical Methodist Church in Virginia and from there we will make the drive to headquarters for orientation. Because of the timing of our interview and acceptance, we missed the last orientation so we are going a little later in the process than most. Our good friend Mark will be joining us on the drive as he is going for his interview! 

Jeremy and I are nearing the end of school this semester! In a couple of weeks I will finish my final undergrad class leaving only one project and one CLEP test to cover my last credit hours. Jeremy is completing his master's degree with independent study classes in the next couple weeks as well. It is exciting to think about a time when neither of us will be in school!

We have all of this to thank God for but we also look to Him with some requests. Please pray for-

-Safe travels as we drive tonight and this weekend.
-The hearts of those we will share with to be open to God's leading.
-Us to trust in God's timing and sovereignty. 
-More opportunities to share with churches in group settings and also individuals.
-(as always) for the hearts of those in Spain to be softened and prepared for God's word.

We are a Patchwork.

Three weeks from today I will be in Madrid with a group of eleven other women. Together, with several others Spanish ladies, we will be doing a conference for many unchurched women at Peña de Horeb. The conference will use the pieces of a quilt to depict our relationship with God.

The front of the quilt displays the patchwork of our lives. The experiences and times that have made us who we are today. God uses these experiences, as chaotic and as unplanned as they may seem, to mold our hearts into what He needs them to be.

The batting of the quilt is what we fill our lives with. Do we seek God each day or do we fill our lives with junk? Do we desire things that will be good for us (keep us warm like the batting of a quilt) or bad things that in the end will do us no good (imagine if a quilt was filled with rocks or glass)?

The back of the quilt is Christ and our Christian fellowship. Christ gives us support, covers our sins and makes us complete. The Christian friends we surround ourselves with are the ones who will be there to hold us up and encourage us. They will help us grow and encourage us in our walk with Christ. The back of the quilt is important because without it, the batting would be exposed to the world and ultimately be destroyed.

Lastly, the binding of the quilt is the Holy Spirit working in our lives. He weaves all things together so that we can see how God has worked. Although the binding may be difficult to see, we know it's there because when a quilt is folded, unfolded, thrown around it remains in one piece. The Holy Spirit is the binding is our binding that is stronger than any wind or rain and will keep us together.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?" Psalm 139:7

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

I am so excited to have the chance to get  a small taste of the work Jeremy and I will be a part of. As we prepare to begin fundraising (our class ends this week) the reality of our calling is becoming clearer and clearer. I have no doubt we are doing what we need to do and we are going where we need to go. 

I can clearly see the hand of God working in our lives as we look forward. 

I am setting my mind on good things. I am claiming Ephesians 3:14-21 as my prayer for Jeremy and I as well the team already working in Spain. 

"For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." 

Ephesians 3:14-21

I am learning to pray big. As we look at the next 9-12 months, we have a big task before us. But it is nothing bigger than anything that has already been done. I have faith that we will accomplish all that must be accomplished in the right timing. Our God is faithful and He is punctual. 

Please continue to pray for us. We are so thankful for all of the support and prayers we have already received.

...I go to Spain.

Learning and growing in our calling has been a process. It has been a process of learning to sacrifice, learning to trust God and each other, and learning to stop and listen. It has also been a process of growing as a couple, growing as students, and growing in Christ. 

As we reached the point where we knew God had called us into overseas missionary service, that was where the real seeking began. We had to wait for God to present the place. We looked at Great Britain, Colombia, and Ireland, but the doors continued to close. God laid a burden on our heart for Spain, but, as we have learned, we have been burdened for the lost in other places as well, so we could not take this as confirmation, but as another avenue to seek an opening.

Through the next couple of months, we received confirming moments and began to set our hearts on this place. The confirmation that I truly needed came through a desire to read God's Word while I was at work on September 14, 2012. I was flipping through the Bible, not really sure what I was seeking, but just knowing that God had prepared something for me. In my turning, I stopped and began to read.


"But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain." Romans 15:23-24 


There it was, simply laid before me. I have read through the Bible cover to cover several times, and generally a passage like this would be one I would read and move on. I know this little bit of Scripture doesn't seem like much, but it was to me. I have been involved in some form of ministry for a few years now (although as Christians, we are all in ministry). For a few years, I was a youth pastor. Since then, I have served as an Admissions Director for a Christian University, giving me more opportunities to reach out to people than I could have asked for. 

I have loved the time I have served in ministry here, and I have met so many amazing people who have been of great encouragement in this calling pursuit. Now, God has called my wife and I to a new ministry - a ministry to a population that is starving for, while also resisting, the Gospel. Check out this article to see just how resistant Spain truly is. A population where most consider themselves Catholic, yet only 10% regularly attend a worship service. As I've mentioned before, 47 million people live in Spain, yet less than 1% claim to be evangelical Christians. Spain has some tough soil to plant on.

Anyways, back to the passage. While there is much work left to do here, God is revealing that this is not where He wants us to stay. So here we go, we're moving on to Spain. 

Sadly, I know that we have not seen many of you who read this blog in some time. We hope to do that as we continue through the process. We want to visit you, we want to talk with you, we want your prayers and support, and we want to build our relationships here. I am learning, as I speak with veteran missionaries, that our relationships with you will be more and more important while we are on the field.

If you have not already, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. We'll start sending out regular newsletters soon, and we want to make sure we are sending information to the right address and email. Also, our OMS profile page is now live, so check that out. 

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. Mel and I are trying to open ourselves up as much as possible for God to use us freely. We'll both be finishing school a semester early, so that is requiring more work in a shorter amount of time. We'll be starting Spanish language training soon and scheduling appointments to develop partners for ministry. It's going to be a busy year as we hope to be on the field early fall 2013, but God is faithful. 

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of a small baptism service that just happened Tuesday where a lady named Veronika wanted to profess her faith through baptism after a Sunday morning invitation. This happened as a result of one of the house churches that were planted by the team in Spain. As Mel said in her last post, it is great knowing our assignment (Vision Sierra Oeste church planting team), and knowing that efforts already established are working.

Weekly Update #2- Funding Class Cont.

The past week of OMS training/prep in list form:

1) Week two of funding class. Everything is great!
2) We have officially received our assignment to Spain!
3) Our status has been changed from Extreme Walk missionaries to career missionaries.
4) Our profile is up on the OMS website.
5) I have had one meeting with the Spain team for the trip in October and have one this Friday.

Prayer Requests:

1) Time management as we balance work, school and OMS work.
2) That the preparation for October's trip continues to go well.

We Are Not Our Own

It was no coincidence that this morning’s reading from My Utmost for His Highest began with this quote, “A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” While the context of this verse is actually talking about sexual immorality, it can pretty easily be applied to every area of our lives.

The control we believe we have in our own lives is so very deceiving. If our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, they can serve only that singular purpose. If the Holy Spirit is to inhabit our bodies, then we must relinquish all control over what they do. We must forfeit all say in our own lives because even the life we live is not really our own. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

My lack of control over my own life has manifested itself in many ways over the past several years. The first significant time was when I was 15. I had plans to be part of a three week mission trip to Curitiba, Brazil. Thanks to several setbacks along the way, the trip fell through. Instead, I ended up in Nicaragua with a youth group from a different church, an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Since that year I have been on several other short term trips and begun a degree in Intercultural Studies and Global Missions.

Over the last one to two years, I have wondered if my call to missions had been misread or misunderstood. I have been frustrated and confused. Maybe full-time missions was never my call. Maybe I had missed a sign along the way. Surely God wouldn’t have changed His mind on me. No, that wasn’t it. Our time had not yet come. It wasn’t until March of this year that Jeremy finally told me he was ready to pursue our calling. As soon as I was ready to be content with a life of short term trips and American living, my husband was on board to sell our possessions and dive headfirst into a new culture.

This August we interviewed with One Mission Society in Indiana. We received the call confirming our acceptance and now we will begin the process of preparation. Together we were called and together we will journey to minister to the hearts of Spain. 

Our Purpose and Our Passion

“I set myself on fire, and people come to see me burn.” – John Wesley

This quote has come to my mind a lot recently. When I think about it, my immediate mental interpretation is that I would certainly run to the person on fire, but I would probably bring a hose. It’s not a statement that you generally hear someone say, but this was Wesley’s response to a question about why such large crowds of people would travel for miles to hear him preach.

Wesley had lived much of his life clinging to an outward Christianity - the Christianity where the works you did were the focus. He said that he hoped to be considered a good Christian by following three basic principles: “(1) Not being so bad as other people, (2) Having still a kindness for religion, and (3) Reading the Bible, going to church, and saying my prayers.” To have an enthusiastic passion for Christ was a distant concept, because salvation came largely from the works you did.

Mel and I came together with two separate thoughts of how our lives would go, but through the process of becoming one flesh, we have spent time with God trying to find our combined purpose. This quote comes to mind because at times it has been difficult for me to find the burning passion of following Christ. I have been in ministry for a few years, and in that time, I have had highs and lows, but I don’t feel that anyone ever rushed to watch me burn. Until recently, I still had this feeling that the spark was missing from my relationship with God.

On a recent trip to Medellin, Colombia, I found my passion. In an individual prayer time, I had to break away from my wife so that God could speak to me individually. As many of you know, Mel has had a passion for missionary work since she was 15 years old, and our marriage had left both of us confused about the calling on our lives. I was resisting the combining of our gifts and abilities and Mel had times where she wondered if her calling was lost or misunderstood.

I realized during this prayer time that I need to quit being resistant and just be open to His leading, so I asked – “God, what do you want for us to do?” And then the answer came – “Go.” I’ll be the first to say that God doesn't speak audibly much, but I think sometimes it takes a life changing moment for Him to clear His throat. In that moment, I found my passion. In that moment, I found the burning desire to follow Christ with all that I have. In that moment, I found hope and a purpose.

After much prayer and conversation, Mel and I took this message and redirected our path. Questions began to surface – Where? When? What organization should we go with? How long? What about our friends and family? – but these questions seemed minor in light of God’s plan. If He has told us to go, then he’ll reveal the path to get there.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

A couple of weeks ago, Mel and I went to Indiana to interview with One Mission Society. We had been working through the application process for several months and had finally reached this pivotal point. We spent a day getting to know the inner workings of OMS and the expectations placed on us as missionaries. We met people from different offices and learned more about the philosophy of ministry that One Mission Society has had for over 100 years. Today, we received a phone call notifying us that we were approved as Missionaries with One Mission Society!

Over the last few months, God has laid Spain upon our hearts. This is the country where we feel that God is calling us to serve. 1% of the population of Spain consider themselves Evangelical Christians. 1% of 46 million people… and this is where faith comes into play. How exactly does around 500 thousand people reach out to over 45 million others with the Gospel of Christ? “I set myself on fire, and people come to see me burn.” The Gospel of Christ is attractive if there are followers that are serving Him passionately. I want to be one of those followers, and I believe that passion comes from purpose. With Christ, we all have a purpose, and I’m excited that Mel and I have reached the point of understanding that purpose.

More updates will follow, and I believe Mel will be posting something really soon. If you have any questions about the process or any questions for us, feel free to post a comment or to email me at reese.jdr@gmail.com.