Charlotte!

As you all probably know I went to Charlotte last week to go through the support training seminar again. I am really glad I went. I think that with the knowledge and momentum that I gained from the trip I will have absolutely no excuse for not having all of my support raised within the next few months, thus putting me on schedule to go to CIT training in February and then leave for Estonia in the late spring or early summer. All I need to do is keep on pluggin’ away!

I also need to note that this trip was good for me because I am so isolated here in Douglas. I hadn’t seen the people I am working with/for for almost exactly a year. So, it was good to feel more like part of the team again.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Joshua

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

One Church

Last week was an interesting week for my community. Many of the local churches met together that Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights in what was called the “Send the Rain Revival.” It was very neat to be a part of because it was the first time I have seen the actual Church in a single community (most of it al least) come together as the one thing that it is. In other words I thought it was fantastic that the Church in Douglas GA met together for the first time last week. I hope that it continues to happen.

As for my support raising, I need more contacts! I am working with some pastors and missions committees right now in order to speak to some groups of people. However, if any of you know of anyone who is interested in Missions and would possibly like to support a missionary through prayer and/or finance, please send them my way! I have $550 in monthly pledges left to raise. I know that God will provide for this and I thank you all for your prayers and thoughts on my behalf!

Joshua

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

A Very Brief History Lesson

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

I have wanted to write a blog about the history and spiritual attitude of Estonia for a while now. This has been a much bigger project than I had thought it would be and have now spent at least a month in light research with not much to show for it. It has been difficult to find resources that agree with each other. One big thing is that many official statistics give the country a much higher Christian percentage than the arguably more reliable unofficial statistics. I think I have enough info for you guys now to write this blog, so here we go.

Estonia has had a rough time in the past. In 1227 it was conquered by the Danes and Germans. This led to 700 years of foreign occupation spread out between the Danes, Germans, Roman Empire, Swedes, and eventually Russians. Estonia finally gained their independence in 1918, only to lose it again to the Soviets in 1940. They gained independence once again in 1991 and have been a sovereign country ever since. Needless to say so many years of foreign rule followed by the pretty extreme oppression of the Soviets has taken a toll on Estonian culture.

The spiritual side of Estonia has been interesting to research, as I have already mentioned. Estonia has a very strong Lutheran presence due to German influence. Many official resources say that between 30%-40% of the population is Christian. A closer look, however, gives a much lower number. One website puts the percentage of Estonia’s Church goers at 4% of the population (The U.S.A has 44%). So what I will be working with seemed to be an outwardly Christian nation that is inwardly very secular. Some specific implications of this are that divorce, abortion, and materialism is common place here. Here is a great video about this that was put out by Kevin Mason who I will be working under in Estonia.

There is much more to say about this, but for shortness’ sake I will save it for another day. I can say that after learning all that I have about the country in which I minister has made me very excited to get there, and I hope that this blog will make you all the more excited to partner with me when I get there!

Good week, but gas is high

Hello all! I hope that the past week has treated you well. My week has been pretty productive. Since I lost my substituting job I have been working loosely with a business named One Stop Promo Shop. The owners are friends of mine and have actually helped me in the past be printing out my brochures. So, I am financially better than I was a week ago thanks to them.

Now that I know that I will be in Douglas for a while longer I can start planning some new things to help me raise support. One neat idea that my friend Deek came up with is to make a short video about what I will be doing in Estonia. (Deek also has a featured article on youthministry.com, which I thought was pretty neat) It probably won’t take very long if we start making it within the next few days, so I will probably be putting it into my repertoire in the next few weeks.

Gas prices are going up, the economy doesn’t look very good. Many people are distressing over their financial situation. As an end to this blog I just feel compelled to comment on my feelings towards this. I have heard many times that we should be good stewards with our money, and I agree, but I think my definition of “good steward” is different that several of my friends’ who use this phrase.It seems that to be a “good steward” in the conventional way is to save my money wisely so I don’t need to rely on the money of others to survive. It seems to me, however, that being a “good steward” has more to do with the usefulness of the money given to you than in the saving of it. What I mean by this is that the money we have should be used for our own benefit, but if we are to be “good stewards” then it is also to be used just as much for the benefit of others. I say this because the temptation right now is to take money that would normally be spent on someone else (I’m not talking about gifts to friends or loved ones, but of giving to people who need it more than you like the poor) and keeping it for yourself. Fight this temptation. Be good stewards with your money by making sure that those people who are not able to have their needs met are taken care of. What do you guys think about this?

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

The marathon

This past week has felt a little like a marathon. As many of you know I have been working towards going to the CIT training session on Sep. 10^th. You may also know that I am the kind of person who has some trouble putting days and dates together. In other words I am fully capable of wanting to do something the day after it happens without realizing any sort of discrepancy. So, I did not realize just how close I was to my deadline until I was pushed into it (I’ll go into that in a bit). To make a long story short my late submission made everyone’s life a bit hustled and awkward and in the end I wound up not having as much money in my account as I had originally thought. My goal, therefore, has changed from hoping to go to training on Sep. 10^th to hoping to go in February. My highest of hopes in this is that I will be able to raise ALL of my support by that time.

The major setback to this is the thing I referred to as “pushing” me earlier. I had been working as a substitute teacher for money to survive on (paying bills, buying gas and whatnot). Apparently the Coffee County School System is running low on money in their budget. To fix this they decided that the best move was to stop using outside substitute teachers in lieu of actual teachers who apparently have quite a bit of free time on their hands (That’s a joke, by the way). So, I need to find some way of getting money now.

So, this has been an interesting week to be sure. The passage that keeps popping up is Matthew 6:25-34 in that through not meeting my goal to go to training and losing my job so suddenly with no real replacement I still have no reason to worry. God provides for his creation and all the more for his children.

FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com

Valdosta!

I had a fairly productive week this week. Tuesday I went to the great city of Valdosta with my friend Deek. I went to see two of my old friends who live there and to talk with one of them about supporting me. I only got to see one of them due to a family emergency for the other friend. After that I got to spend the night with three other friends of mine who had recently moved to Valdosta to go to school there. So, it was a pretty reminiscent night.

My update for the week is that I now need $225 to go to training (I still have a week to raise this if I want to go to the next session) and $1,114 overall.

Been a while

It has been several weeks since I have lasted posted anything and I apologize for that. The reason for this has been a mix between the fact that I have been expecting several more subscribers (hello to you who are new!) and the fact that I simply don't have all that much to report.
The biggest news is that I am $200 a month closer than what I was when I last posted anything. So, I now only $300 more monthly pledges until I am able to go to training. The next session begins on Sept. 10th, so the next few weeks will be the deciding factors.
Other than that, nothing spectacular has been going on. I have started substituting again since the school semester has begun, which is a good thing.
I will end the post with some prayer concerns. Firstly, I would ask you all to pray for my support raising (obviously). Specifically that I would be more assertive in it, but also that I would do better at keeping up with you guys! I want to be closer to you guys than I am, and this requires more time calling and emailing you than I am spending. You can also pray for me while I am learning Estonian. I am able right now to learn grammar, but I won't be able to actually practice speaking the language unless someone comes around to help me with it.

Joshua