We go WEST!

Sunday afternoon, June 14^th

 

I wrote my last post as I caught the last few available minutes of solitude before we left Uganda on April 20^th.  So, in keeping with that tradition, I am writing this post in my last few available minutes before we begin our next journey to Phoenix, AZ.   Technically, we’ve already began our journey west, but this is my last opportunity to sit with my lap top open.  I’m riding shot –gun on I-40 somewhere west of Nashville.  The boys have discovered the Hardy Boys on audio books, which is a GREAT discovery!  I’ve not heard a peep out of them for two hours, and the high-action narrative has put Reynah to sleep.  Hopefully, this will continue to make our long, westward road trip more tolerable.   

Tomorrow, we pick up our moving truck in Memphis, take it back to Jackson and load it with our junk.  Tuesday am, we hit I-40 again, Thomas driving the truck and me in the mini-van with the kids (and the Hardy boys!).  After pushing through Arkansas and Oklahoma (bc what is there really to see there??) and making a few kitschy stops along Route 66 in Texas and New Mexico, we hope to be in Flagstaff, AZ by Fri. pm.  We will finish our trip Sat. morning by rolling into Phoenix, and will begin an adventure that we have been talking and praying about for months!  

In case we’ve not been able to personally catch you up to speed… 

A couple of posts back, I talked about our desire to live and minister in the Southwest.  We’ve now narrowed down that desire to say that we want to plant a church in Phoenix, AZ.  The reasons in a nutshell are #1 - There are lots of ppl and not so many churches.   #2 – The climate and culture seem to be a good fit for our family.  Of course, there are more layers of reasoning than that, but I’m trying to keep this brief.  Thomas and I spent a week in Phoenix last month, and God confirmed to us that planting a church on the west side of Phoenix is not just a crazy idea in our head, but it is what our hearts most desire to do in this season.   I refrain from saying, “It is the only thing we are called to do right now!” because the call of God can often be so ambiguous and open to personal interpretation.   However, we can confidently say that we have seen a spiritual need, and we are very eager to volunteer to help meet it.  (side note: Thomas is ordained in the Assemblies of God, and this is the denomination under which we are church planting.)

We know very little about planting churches.  We are making ourselves students through books and conversations, but, still, there are more questions than answers in our heads right now.  Church planting is a slow process, and has a statistically low margin of success.   Woohoo!  We love doing things the hard way!  Honestly, our faith is being tested on a daily basis.  There are more convenient (and financially stable) options that we could pursue in familiar venues of ministry, but we can’t think of anything else that so stirs our hearts right now.  And I also think this is a beautiful season where we can show God how much we trust Him.  We trust HIM, not ourselves.  Thomas and I keep reminding each other that we are really moving to Phoenix to plant JESUS.  The truth of the gospel is fool-proof, and it is not contingent upon statistics or expertise – thank goodness!  

Oh, dear, Frank and Joe Hardy AND their dad have now been captured by the smugglers and are being threatened to be shanghaied to the Far East!!  This is really a terribly distracting situation while I’m trying peck out this update.   Focus, focus…

There are lots of details that I would love to elaborate on, but we really don’t know all those details yet.  We do know that the kids will be starting 6^th grade, 5^th grade, and Kindergarten on July 30^th at a great charter school.  Crazy, I know!  We do know that we have a temporary apartment to stay in when we arrive later this week.  (Otherwise, please pray that God will lead us to a home, preferably SOON.  The housing market is simply insane in Phoenix right now… as in, houses are staying on the market for only a matter of hours!)  We do know that God has been so faithful to us so far, and He will continue to prove Himself to be ALL that we need.  More details will follow as we discover them…

                                                                                

                                                                         Love from the lush, green hills of Tennessee,

                                                                                                                        Mika