Spring Update
Dear Friends,As the Winter Olympics have come to a close I have been thinking quite a bit about the events, the awards, and of course the athletes. I personally cannot fathom the stress and pressure that many of the Olympians have experienced—and I don’t even want to! In the events where it is just one athlete competing—carrying the weight of personal dreams, the sacrifice made by families, and not to mention the whole country watching and anticipating...two words come to mind: nerve-racking!
Some of you may not know that growing up I have always played team sports, my
favorite being volleyball. During college I had the opportunity to play for two years under a great coach and teammates. One huge lesson I learned was how important each person on the team is. Being short, I was able to quickly move around the court to pass balls while the 6’4" player was able to block and hit balls that I could never reach. I could never play her position well—as hard as I tried, she was just better suited for that position. In a team sport, the demands of each athlete is divided—you don’t have to carry all the weight by yourself, there are other people who can help. Ahhh...the beauty of teamwork!A benefit of being a spouse of a Wheaton student is that I am eligible to audit one class per semester. This semester we are taking "Mission in the book of Acts" together. It is so exciting to read about the first church, being reminded of the works of the Holy Spirit, and the struggles of the early believers. As we read through Acts the concept of TEAMWORK is repeated. Jesus developed a team of 12 apostles to pour his life into, to teach, and to have fellowship with. As Rob and I think about our future as missionaries one concept keeps coming to the forefront of our minds—TEAMWORK. We are social people. We love being with people, playing games, eating together, and just spending time with others—we’re really good at it and enjoy it too!
Last summer Rob took a trip to Kosovo with 2 guys from Dallas who were/are interested in possibly serving over there. These guys and their families have become close friends of ours and we have been dreaming about working with them overseas. This May another exciting opportunity is developing! Chris and Leslie Linebarger (Rob’s sister) along with a long time family friend and missionary, Carlee Layne, are seriously praying about working together in the Balkans. Leslie and Carlee have never been to Europe and want to see the Balkans before making any decisions. The plan, as of now, is to take a 2 week vision/ministry trip, visiting different ministries and churches in Kosovo, Sarajevo, Zagreb, and Osijek. The Holy Spirit has put this concept and design of a team on our heart and slowly He is moving in each of these peoples lives, isn’t that exciting?!
As I write this I also want you to know that YOU are part of our team. The Lord has brought each of you into our lives and we are so blessed by the notes of encouragement, prayers, and the cheering on from the sidelines. Now we call upon YOU, our teammates, to ask for prayer about this. One thing that we learned while in Croatia is that we need other people in ministry. We are just not gifted in all the areas needed overseas and we do not want to go out "solo" again. Rob graduates from Wheaton in August and shortly after that we need to head back overseas. While opportunities to serve exist in all 4 of the places mentioned above, we admit that our hearts are drawn to Kosovo. We feel that the time is ripe for us to disciple the young people there—they are so open to the Gospel. Many of the believers in Kosovo are "baby Christians" and are in need of older Christians to come along side of them and mentor and guide them—especially the youth.
We desire to follow Christ’s example of team building and believe that God has placed different people in our lives that are gifted in areas where we are weak. We believe that the Lord is planning something so dynamic and we just want to go along with the Spirit's leading. Would you pray that He would work all the necessary details and circumstances for us and the others to be able to minister together?
With Love,
Janet (for all of us)
posted by mezgermemo @ 2:04 PM
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