Coming Together

It seems like everything that we have been planning is finally coming together. Maybe it is what God wants as well? That would be nice!
We are members of NTM, and we are heading down to Florida to have an interview with the communications team there.
During and after Anarazell when I was writing a lot on this blog, people said that I should write full time. I seemed to have a knack I was told, why don't I do that full time?
So I contacted the communications dept. of NTM to find out what classes/degrees they would want someone to have to be able to work for them. It turns out that some of the people down there, writers and such, have been keeping up on my blog, and they know to what extent I can, and can't write, and they were interested in my desire to work with them.
After many weeks of e-mails and meetings we are finally heading down to Florida to have an interview with the team.
Florida, hmmm. Never been there, should be fun.
It happens that our 6th year anniversary is July 15th, and we are going to be in FL from the 11th to the 19th! Sweet! We won't have a car, since we are flying, but I am sure that there will be plenty of things to do with-in walking distance.
So we will get a little mini vacation right before we start our crazy cross-country-journey-that-will-last-for-3-months!!!
But more on that later.
We have about 10 days to clean/pack/move out of our house here on campus, then we are off to Florida!!!

Get me off of this Roller-coaster...

This past year has been an amazing one. To explain to everyone the spectrum of emotions that we have experienced would be almost an impossibility.
From the very first week here in Missouri things started getting crazy and then through out the rest of the year...
Jobs didn't work out, friendships dissolved, our daughter died, and because of some rumors we were almost asked to leave the mission.
I know things work together for good, and I know that God is using these circumstances to make us more in the image of His Son, but man, has it been rough.
We are so thankful for the people that have made it their mission to keep us before the Lord in prayer. It would be difficult to acknowledge everyone that has helped us during this time, and there are probably a good many people that we still don't know about yet, but you know who you are and we thank you.
We had some one come up to us and tell us that, because of our attitudes in all this, they could tell how strong we are.
I want to dispel that rumor right now! Jen and I are NOT strong. We have been crushed, discouraged, on the verge of quitting, but our God is incredibly strong and because of Him we can smile. Please don't mistake His strength for ours!
Thankfully there are good emotions throughout this trip as well. Ups as well as downs.
The joy of holding our Anarazell and getting pictures of both her and Isabella, seeing God move in amazing ways, and now finally finishing the training and becoming official members with NTM.
In many ways it has felt like a roller-coaster. Agonizingly slow trips to the top where we can see a clearer view of what God is doing in our lives, to the sickening drops to the bottom where all you can really do is hold on and trust in the Creator of the ride!
Of course the "bottoms" help you to appreciate the "tops" a lot more, but for me right now...we would be content with just a super flat ride for a while.
We'll see what God has planned!

Prayer Request...

We just received an e-mail from a family friend from our home church. They know a missionary family that is with Jews for Jesus.
This family had a baby in April that was born with a Cleft Lip and Palate.
Here is their e-mail:
Tomorrow (Thursday, June 22) morning, our daughter Tikvah is going in for the first of 3 surgeries to close up her cleft lip & palate. The first surgery will close up her lip and reconstruct her nostril. The second surgery, when she turns 5 months or so, will connect her gums together, and the third surgery, at 9 months to a year, will close up her palate. Please pray that the surgeons have steady hands and skill in their work, and that Tikvah will be protected from any complications. Thanks!

- Micha & Leah Cohen

And here is their blog.
I know nothing about this issue, but I can imagine having your child go through 3 major surgeries before she is one would be a strain on the family. So we are praying for safety for Tikvah and peace for Micha and Leah.

More Pictures of Tennessee

Here is Isabella and four of Pastor Jeff's children. There were plenty of little ones for her to play with. She really had a good time.

Every night after the conference we had international food, and in keeping with this theme someone brought a pinata for the kids to beat on. You can see on my face that I am not to sure about the direction the stick is going to swing.

Isabella with her good friend Daren. We had to keep an eye on these two. They were inseparable. They were even talking of "Marriage" some day. I had to have a talk with the lad and figure out what his intentions were with my daughter. He didn't know...We'll give them a few more years yet...

This was part of the international food. I was thinking that it was a Tennessee dish, part of the local culture, but I was assured that it wasn't. Still...You never know...

This guy was found on the front porch of the church. (The snake, not Jesse.) I guess he was the third one that day that the found there! He didn't end up on the international food table...I wonder why?

Elijah is Going Home

Yay! Elijah is home. Such a blessing! Thank-you all for praying. Todd and Julie are still in need of prayer though, things are still going to be rough for a while. Here is their latest e-mail:

Dear Praying Friends,
We could not be more thankful for our Father’s faithfulness! Our hearts are so grateful to know that we have YOU asking the Lord to help us – because He really has.
Elijah left Neo-Natal Intensive Care on Monday (June 12^th)!!! God answered your prayers to get him off the last bit of oxygen, and to better regulate his own temperature. We’re still having to feed him through a tube into his stomach, but at least we’re home!
We also asked you to pray that he would sleep, since his last three nights in the NICU he cried and fussed for many hours at a time. I can hardly believe this, but Elijah slept this morning until 10:45 (getting up every two or three hours to eat)!!! I keep saying to Todd how amazed I am, and he keeps reminding me that I shouldn’t be so surprised…we have such great prayer support.
Last Thursday, the neurologist reviewed his MRI results with us. They believe that Elijah had a “severe, global injury” to his brain sometime shortly before birth, and told us that every part of his brain has been damaged. If his results are typical, he will probably have serious physical and cognitive problems. We can’t begin to put our feelings down on paper. I felt like a drowning person, with wave after wave of grief suffocating the life out of me…so burdened. However, God is beginning to give us hope again, and whatever the outcome, Elijah’s little life is a true BLESSING. We absolutely know God’s going to heal him; it just might be in heaven! Keep prayin’!!

Some specific things to pray about:

• For Elijah to learn how to suck so he can bottle feed / nurse
• For him to sleep, and to have alert, quiet times
• Our patience and emotional strength
• Healing for his little brain
  

We love you and thank you, thank you for praying. We use up your prayers daily.
In the strength of our Lord,
Todd and Julie Harkins

THANK-YOU GOD!!!

Elijah Update

Got a new e-mail from Todd and Julie. I was thinking that the people who went to B.I. around the same time we did would know Julie. Her last name was Kruit (or something like that) back then.
Here is their latest e-mail:

Thank you all so much for your prayers!!! The Lord has answered and we thank Him for that.
Elijah is off all oxygen and the heater, we can carry him around and we hope today or Tue to take him home!!!
Even though he has taken a few bottles he is not consistent and we are having to feed him through a tube in his nose.
Please keep us in your prayers
--bottle feeding or nursing
--sleeping, Elijah is very uneasy and easily agitated (he did not sleep for 5 hours strait last nite)
-- neurological issues (we don't know at this time how severe his brain injuries are)
Thank you again for your prayers. God is faithfull and full of grace we see it every day and are thankfull.
God speed, Todd

He sure is a cutie...

Prayer Request...

Four years ago Jen and I were in class with a single guy. His name is Todd. He graduated...moved on with the training, and we lost contact with him. We heard that he had gotten married to a lady we kinda knew, but that was it.
Yesterday we got this e-mail from a mutual friend...

Our dear friends, family, and prayer supporters,

Early in the morning on Tuesday, May 30th, my labor started...and at 6:50 on Wednesday, May 31st, Elijah Lee Harkins made his way into our world-- 9 lbs., 23 1/2 inches, with lots of dark hair. He looks a lot like his Daddy!

Our hearts are breaking with the news we are about to tell you. We are asking you to lift up our little son to the Father for us, because Elijah is not doing very well as of this time. He wasn't breathing at birth, and he was life-flighted to a different hospital soon after. The day he was born, our only glimpse of him was for ten minutes while they prepared him for transport. We are staying with him now, and at four days old, his respiratory system has stabilized somewhat, but there are some pretty serious neurological concerns. He is the most beautiful baby, and it is so hard to grasp that there is anything "wrong".

We ache so much ... yet we have hope in our God, and we know He can do anything He chooses. Our prayer is that God would heal Elijah - we would love a healthy little boy, but we will cherish his life however God sovereignly unfolds it. We are also praying that God is glorified in our lives and in our son's life. He belongs to God, and his name means "Under the protection of Jehovah God". We trust in that.

Thank you to those of you who have already been praying for us - we are truly grateful.

Lovingly in our wonderful Father,

Todd and Julie Harkins

We are asking that everyone who still reads this blog, please lift this family to the Lord. Many people who were reading this when we were going through our trial know what this couple is feeling, and even if you don't you know how to pray...
Pray for healing, pray for comfort, pray for God's will, what ever that may be.
Lord we pray this in your name,
Amen

Tennessee

What can I say about Tennessee?
I was trying to think of a few simple words that would describe our trip there, but I couldn't seem to think of any that would encapsulate everything we felt.
Pretty much you have to go into it like you would any other foreign country. You first have to learn the language and culture, and then you can start understanding the natives!
HEHE
I'm just joking.
It was our first experience in the "south", and for the first time being a "Yankee" did put us in a minority category, but for all that, we had an incredible time.
We fellowshiped with Grace Baptist Church of Dickson, Ten. and the people of that church were a blessing.
Different, but a blessing
We drove down there last Saturday (the 3rd) and got back in last night. So almost a week we were there. We were given a three bedroom, two bath trailer to stay in. It was amazing. And for us...huge! We were given more food then we could possibly eat, and then invited to someones house for most of the meals!
This church is a very missions minded church!
The couple who owned the trailer have a daughter who is a missionary and is training in Spain, so they could relate to what we are going through.
Another couple have three kids in college and one in highschool, and they are selling everything they have and are planning on serving in China.
A young couple we met just got married in Feburary and they are planning on starting deputation very soon to go to Morocco.
These were just a few that we meet. There are a few more from the church as well who are heading out or already on the field. These are just the ones supported by the church....who are from the church. They support many, many more missionaries. They have a whole wall full of news letters from missionaries they support!
I was duly impressed! And I told them so. The two churches that Jen and I are involved in on the west coast are missions minded as well, but sadly these types of churches are the exception rather then the rule here in America. So it was a blessing to be part of a missions conference that a very missions minded church was putting on!
And I would have to say, that if all missions conferences were as enjoyable as this one, I am going to love going to them!
I have much more to say about our trip, as well as pictures to show, but I don't want this post to get too long, so I will save them for another day...

The Growth of a Display Board

Well, after many hours of work our display board was up and ready. It actually turned out really nice. There were four display boards at the conference, and they all looked really good. You could tell that many hours were put into all of them.

These two pictures are of Jen cutting out all the laminated pictures and signs that we made. We figured that if we had them laminated that they will last for a bit longer.


Here we are in the fellowship hall and Jen is now putting the finishing touches on the board. I was amazed at how much time went into these things!

The final product. The poster hanging above our board was designed by our friend Jeff. It is a little hard to read the words on everything, so I will post a close-up soon. OR you caould have us come share in your church and you you can see it first hand.

Another Trip

Well, it feels like we are just recuperating from our last big trip, and we are starting another one! Crazy. This one is only 6 days long, as opposed to a month, but this one we will be with people we don't know. And this one is only 8.5 hours away... not days of traveling!
It should be good, but we are a bit nervous. I think that we are as ready as we can be. Well almost. We just heard today that the pastor might ask me to take a whole evening to preach. Every night a person preaches a full sermon. And I MIGHT be one of them...but I won't find out until Sunday night. This whole time I have been planning on at most half an hour of sharing about who we are and what our plans are, but we only get about 10 minutes to share that. So everything I have been planning on in that aspect just got thrown out, and a whole new SCARY dimension just got shown to me!!!
So a lot of prayer would be good! I guess for clarity on what to say and flexibility! Just for us to be open for anything!
I don't now what the internet options are like there, so I might not be able to update this until we get back. We'll see.
Well, have to go finish packing. A lot left to do in that area...

Missions Conference

We are leaving this Saturday for a missions conference in Tennessee. I've been to plenty of these throughout my life, but I have never been an active speaker in one before. We are pretty excited. It is a lot of work to get ready for these things! Specially since all of our "missionary stuff" is all out of date! We have had to make a new display board, a new prayer card, a new News letter...Phew.
Even though it has been a lot of work it has also been fun as well.
Here is a picture of the ladies working on the display board. I'll try to post a picture of the final product.


The conference starts this coming Sunday night, and goes until Wednesday night. So from the 4th - 7th. There are a total of two couples and a single guy that will all be sharing about New Tribes. I think that we get one evening to split up among us. I hope that the other nights we get to share with different age groups, but I haven't heard that yet.
It is almost like it is our first step as "real missionaries"! I know we have been serving for a few years now...but now that we are getting official and everything!
Please keep us in your prayers during this time. Prayer for safety and to have the right words to say! We were told that it is a pretty small church...only about 150 people...
Yikes, that is bigger then both our churches on the west coast, put together! So I guess pray for me as well!