Changes in the wind

Sunday, April 19
Well, much has happened in the past few weeks. We know for sure you are praying when we are at peace when making decisions in a limited time frame. I’ll explain. (Thus, the longer than usual update!)
Last month when I attended a conference with 50 other missionaries I discovered that I am not entirely in line with all the regulations concerning Social Security and the agreements between the US and France. I’ve tried several times over the past six years to get into the system here (which I’m required to do if I’m here longer than 5 years, and that certainly is the case.) yet haven’t found a way through all the complexities of the system. I learned last month that in order to do things correctly I need to return to the US for a year and a day so basically start anew and be able to do all the necessary paperwork correctly.
That being the case the obvious question is when? In discussing with our director at The Mission Society and prayerfully discussing it here we decided that the sooner, the better. Since we were planning a trip for a month this coming July to visit a few churches and family, we’ve decided to let that be the beginning of a year of home assignment. We haven’t done that long of a stay in the US since our return to France in 1998. We are beginning now to plan our itineration schedule to see as many of you as we possibly can from August ’09 through June 2010. I’ll send some rough ideas of the time frame for various areas of the country in the next update.
Our next biggest question was, of course, what about the house church? We only had one man in place to help lead and he isn’t ready to go solo, so what do we do? Interesting how the Lord goes before us in all things. Starting with the departure of our friends (the couple who left over an unresolved conflict in Feb.) and another lady who moved last year, our newer convert from the first year shared with us in Feb. as well, her desire to experience a larger church setting. We’ve been still meeting with a core group of seven the past two months. Two weeks ago two of the single folks told me that would like to return to the church we were all a part of before starting the house church. That only left three other single men. Last week after our Easter sunrise meeting we were ending with breakfast together. Margaret and I had decided we didn’t want to wait about sharing our plans so at the close of the meal we shared with the group. They were incredibly understanding. One of the single men even shared that the Lord had impressed upon him that we would be going to the states for a period of time soon!
So… after praying and sharing together last week, we jointly decided that we would stop the church meeting until we return. We looked at everyone’s calendars and decided that today would be the last meeting officially at our house on Sunday mornings. ( work, vacations, trips, etc. determined the date) We called those who had attended or visited over the past year and shared our plans, as well as the desire to celebrate all the Lord has done for us together these past two and a half years. Sixteen of us gathered for worship this morning and fourteen were able to stay for the meal we shared afterwards.
We shared a wonderful time in the Lord’s presence and with each other. I closed with a short message from the Psalms about remembering and our need to encourage and fortify each other with regular testimonies of God’s faithfulness. Then, I opened it up for sharing their encouraging memories from these months together. When everyone finally left at 5:30 this afternoon, Margaret and I were overwhelmed with gratitude and peace at how good the Lord is… all the time. Even when our plans change in a way we haven’t thought they would, he is still faithful. One of our friends this morning had an image as we were in worship. He saw a large room with many doors. Through each door was a hallway leading to another room. We were all looking at these doors and needing to choose the right one, which would be different for each of us. The Lord seemed to be saying to have no fear because he was still leading, even if the appearance was in different directions.
Prayer needs at this time:
- Renters for our house this next year
- A place for ourselves in the Atlanta area
- Wrapping up things here these next two months
- At the same time starting the planning process for the year ahead: scheduling, etc.
Thanks so very much for your faithfulness before the throne of grace.
Andrew