We Made It!!

THANK YOU for being part of our sending team!! We made it! And we are soooo grateful. We are settling in, thankfully have jet lag behind us, and are gearing up for the new school year. Students arrive in less than a week and we are so excited to meet them. God is so faithful and has walked by our side through this whole process. To be on the ground, finally jumping into the ministry we have been dreaming about for months now is amazing.

We appreciate your continued prayers! As wonderful as it is to be here, transition has its not-so-pretty moments and we are weary emotionally some days. We love you!

Back to the Future...

In life, it is utterly impossible to know the future before us; but when we take some time, it is so encouraging to turn and look at the pathway behind us and where we’ve come. In a little over a year and a half, Betsy and I have gone from seeking the Lord’s plan for our involvement in global missions to preparing to leave for Germany in less than three weeks!! We constantly wrestle with how we are going to get everything done in the time we have left. Each night as I put Sophia to bed we sing the same two songs together. Amazing Grace and a great song by Kelly Willard called, Cares Chorus. Here are the lyrics: “I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all of my burdens down at your feet. And anytime I don’t know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon you.” I love the line that talks about not knowing what to do! It reminds me with child-like simplicity, that I don’t have to have all of the answers! WHEW!! INSTEAD, I must be willing to rely on God’s strength to sustain me.  In Philipians 4:6 it says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” How incredible is it that the Lord is willing to take all of my anxiety. Anxiety in regards to monthly support, renting the house, moving overseas…He is willing and able to bare all of our stressful, unseen, unknown circumstances; we just have to be willing to trust!!
 
We are down to ONE MORE WEEK to get all of our pledges in! Would you pray about committing to $50 or $100 per month to help us reach our goal? This can be made in monthly, quarterly, or annual donations. If you have questions about our ministry, please do not hesitate to email or call. We love sharing about what the Lord is doing at Black Forest Academy and how we can partner together!
 
Prayer/Praise:
-       pray for renters for our house! 3BR/2B in Lake Jeannette area for $1200/month
-       pray for our needed monthly support – PRAISE GOD for His provision! We are encouraged DAILY by the amazing team God is raising up! Thank you!
-       pray for peace over our hearts, our marriage, and our family as we transition 

Support Update

We have been so encouraged this past month....and are excited about having moved from 0% support to 20% of our monthly needs committed and 25% of our one-time amount (in order to get onto the field) received! We are so humbled and privileged to have a "front row seat" as we watch God work and provide for our needs! It is certainly a faith journey for us each day and we pray that our belief and trust in God's faithfulness would be strengthened as we witness Him being true to His Word.

Thank you all for your prayers for us! God is certainly answering them! May we continue to be diligent and bold in sharing so that we can continue closer to being able to buy tickets and make the big move this July! Praise the Lord!

Next Steps with Prayer, Praise & Financial Giving

~~We would love to mail you a prayer card with our info on it! Please email bshilling@teachbeyond.org and include your address to receive one. It is a tremendous gift and blessing to have you in prayer for us! THANK YOU! ~~

Leap of Faith

Partnering with us prayerfully & financially

This year we have been overjoyed to introduce Sophia to the season of Advent and our family's tradition of celebrating our Savior, Jesus Christ's coming. She has caught on so quickly to our special time each evening spent opening the next Advent "door" and discovering a little treat as well as reading Scripture as a family. We often have little activities to do together as well; last night Daddy made up a bedtime story using puppets, one night Mama & Sophia made and hung a paper chain counting down the days until Christmas, one night was a Christmas music dance party in the living room, etc. Her eyes LIGHT UP after dinner, knowing it is "that time of the day!" We hope and pray that you and your family have found ways especially this month to cherish the special gift God gave us in the birth of His precious Son.

Matthew 1:20b-21 tells us, "An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home to be your wife, for what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'" Joseph took a BIG leap of faith, trusting God against "common sense."

As we take the leap of faith into full-time support raising mode, we are encouraged by God's promises found in Scripture. We know He goes before us, preparing the path for which we have been called to walk, and because of that we are to be strong and courageous as we forge ahead into uncharted waters for our family!

We are so humbled to share our prayer requests, feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude that you are in prayer for our family! What a gift! We have some amazing praises to celebrate together as well!

Prayer Requests & Praises:

• Financial needs - since BFA keeps their tuition costs down for the sake of the missionaries who are sending their kids to attend the school, each staff member is not paid salary and is responsible to raise 100% support. Pray for our energy & stamina as we raise our support. Praise to our God, who provides all that we need!

• Pray that we would be BOLD and seize every opportunity to share from our hearts what God is doing at BFA! Pray that people would see God's vision of the ministry He has chosen for us

• Praise for health of our family! Sophia is healthy, growing, and smart as a whip! :) Praise for Betsy's pregnancy being healthy and smooth so far! Pray for baby boy to be growing strong as we await his arrival

• Pray for protection from the enemy - he loves to discourage and dishearten. Pray that we would deflect his flaming arrows with our shield of faith (Gal. 6:16) and cling to God's truth

We thank God for you and your involvement in His ministry. 

We would love to hear from you - may you be blessed as we celebrate the month of Advent! Frohliches Weihnachten~ Merry Christmas!

Serving at BFA - here we go!

Eric and I are excited to announce that God is calling us to serve at Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany! We have made a two-year commitment with TeachBeyond (our sending mission board) which will prayerfully begin August 2013! We are so thrilled about this new direction in our lives for the next couple of years and pray that God will use us as his vessels to minister to MKs (missionary kids) at BFA. We are also so humbled and thankful to have our home church, Westover, sending us under the umbrella of their mid-term missionary family! We will be posting praises, prayer requests, challenges, and joys along the way. We appreciate your prayers for us as we embark on this new adventure and move for our family!
The verse that has resonated with our hearts as we go is Isaiah 6:8, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”