We just got the news today that we were unanimously accepted by the JEMS board of directors as long term missionaries! We are praising God for this final bit of confirmation as the culmination of a Summer which has been both exciting and a little stressful, as we’ve been seeing God lead each step of the way and reveal a little more about what He has in store for us in Japan. We are looking forward with great anticipation to serving with JEMS in Japan, and it continues to look as though god will indeed move us over there by March of next year, as we have been praying for since the beginning of this year.
Upon hearing that we were accepted with JEMS, I submitted our official resignation from SEND. We will miss being a part of SEND, and our frequent interactions with SEND staff and missionaries. Our time with them was wonderful, and God used that time to teach us many things and to prepare us for serving in Japan. We hope that we’ll have many opportunities to fellowship and even partner with SEND missionaries in Japan, many of whom we now count as dear friends.
This is still very fresh, so JEMS is still in the process of setting things up on their end, and we’ve got some logistical things to sort out as far as how people can transfer their support from SEND to JEMS, and when exactly SEND will stop receiving funds on our behalf and transfer the funds that our partners have sent in so far to cover outgoing expenses. As soon as we figure all this out we’ll be sending out a letter, and a new packet in the mail including instructions on how to send in support to JEMS, and also a new prayer card that we just ordered. If you signed up to receive our prayer updates online, we may not have your mailing address, so if you would like to get this packet, just reply and let us know where to send it.
If any of you just can’t wait to start supporting us through JEMS, you can mail checks on our behalf to:
JEMS
948 East Second Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Just be sure to include a note explaining that you’re sending it on our behalf. For information about setting up a regular EFT, email info@jems.org. Again, once we get more details about how this all works with JEMS we’ll be sure to let everyone know.
Here are a few prayer requests:
1. That the transition will go smoothly and that funds will be transferred in a timely manner. It is our hope for me to be able to cut back my hours at my current job in order to start a six month period of full time support raising in preparation for a departure sometime in March of 2013. However the timing of when this can begin depends on when the funds that have been given on our behalf can be transferred to JEMS.
2. That all our financial partners will transfer to JEMS with us, and that we will not lose ground. We anticipate reducing our support requirements to around $6,500 a month, which means that if all our supporters transfer with us we will go form being 40% supported to 60% supported!
3. That we will keep our faith in God and not upon the finances. This is one of the hardest parts of becoming a missionary, and now it is especially difficult as we are apprehensive about people possibly seeing this transition as an opportunity to cease supporting us, and also worrying about the timing of transferring the funds in our account. We know that all this is God’s, and that ultimately it is His provision that will allow us to go, and yet it is so easy to stress out and take our eyes off of trusting in His ability to provide for our needs and to focus simply on serving Him well and giving others the tremendous opportunity to be involved in missions to Japan through partnering with us to accomplish God’s goals.
4. That God will provide the remaining monthly support needed for us to depart for Japan by March of 2013.
5. For strength over the next few weeks. Things are going to get really busy as we switch back into support raising mode, sending out packets to all our prayer and financial partners, setting up opportunities to meet with many of you to explain about the transition and the exciting direction God has been revealing, and at least for a few weeks trying to do all this while I’m still working full time at the JESUS Film Project.