Summer update

Hello everyone.
It has been a busy summer and we are looking forward to school starting again.

Last week we had what we call HMW (Home Ministry Welcome). It is a ministry to our missionaries, a week where we meet there spiritual and emotional needs, encourage them and give them Soul rest. During this time the Missionary Kids are also tended to, loved on and given the tools to deal with transition back to the US. For some of the MK’s it is their first real connection back to the US in 4 years and a lot has changed as they’ve grow older.

Tim was able to serve as the leader for the 8-12 year old group of MK’s. Connor served as Tim’s assistant and it was a great time for father and son to work together.

We had 5 youth who kept us on our toes all week. While we did some activities and had some outings, we were able to get down to some root level concerns, such as saying good bye to friends, preparing for a new school, dealing with cultural faux pas and some saying good bye to their adopted country. Tim also had opportunity to connect with some of the teenagers during the week and saw how at least one of the young men went from being very angry to finding a place of safety where he could share and feel accepted.

Jennifer and girls were able to stay on the campus with Tim and Connor where the week was being held. It was a nice change of pace and we all thoroughly enjoyed the Colorado scenery.

Net week we are planning to go on staycation (it’s where you STAY home for vaCATION). We plan to enjoy our own part of Colorado with day trips to places we have not visited yet. This will fit better into our budget than going somewhere this year.

Thank you for your continued prayers.:

Jennifer’s leg and knee are healing well and she should be out of her brace soon.
The children have been having a vacation.
Tim continues to be very involved in many aspects of GEM home office ministry.
And Jennifer is preparing for the fall to teach the strings classes.
Please continue to pray for our financial need. We are still undersupported by $1,000 per month.
Sending you our love from sunny Colorado, Tim, Jennifer, Connor, Katya and Marika

Update

Hi everybody.
Wow, what an incredible week we had with our Candidate Orientation.
Thank you for your prayers. We had a group of 17 candidates whom we were able to approve for service to Ireland, France, Germany, Portugal and North Africa. It was an amazing time with group of people who love the Lord, have come from varied backgrounds and who knit together as a group in an incredible way.

It was a long week and exhausting but the Lord had His hand on it. On Wednesday we did a prayer walk through a residential area of Monument. It was amazing to listen as we walked and prayed for the people of our town. One of our groups eve had the opportunity to talk to someone who was out in the yard and working.

We feel as a Mission that we need to be involved where we are as much as the work overseas.
That all took place two weeks again. Last week Tim took some time off to work around the house. Besides gathering and cutting several quarts of wood for the Winter, Tim and the children cleaned up a ton of branches that needed moved to a space in the garden where we can chip them later. Jennifer has been working hard on her Strings class and violin lessons. She is in fact gaining some notoriety in Monument. She is really loving being engaged with her violin again.

A prayer request. Please continue to pray for Sabse, she is taking the next day or two to really seek the face of God and seek a deeper relationship with Him. Please also continue praying as some of our friends in Germany locate a fellowship of believers that she might get connected with.

Please also continue praying for our friend Hadschi in Austria. He is facing some very difficult decisions right now. He found out that his wife has been cheating on him for years and everybody knew it but him. Sadly he is looking for solace with another woman himself now. Fighting his own demons. Our co-worker is working to connecting up with Hadschi to serve him and stand by him. Please be in continued prayer for the family, with their two young children and this huge mess.

For His Kingdom, Tim, Jennifer ad the Kids

Hello all.

Just wanted to send out a quick note.

Please be praying for my friend John. He is a sheriff’s deputy. I met him at the church where our children attend AWANA. The church has a police presence there for security purposes. At any rate I’ve been able to talk at length with John. He has had some pretty bad experiences with churches through break ups and other. But he has graciously allowed me into conversation with him. He also served as a translator in Germany for the army, so we have found a good common ground. He’s a great guy. Please pray as we are planning to catch coffee together in the next week or so. I am thankful for the relationship that is building and pray that the Lord will open his heart to the possibility of a real relationship with Christ rather than seeing the painful relationships inside of some church contexts.

Also, be in prayer for Jennifer as she finds her way into the strings community in Colorado Springs and area. Many of you have been blessed by her playing and so know what a blessing it is that she is getting connected here. In order to help our family make ends meet in our support shortage, Jennifer will begin teaching a strings class the summer and the fall, through the school district. It is an opportunity that God has provided through relationship and we’re thankful for.

Please also pray for a new friend Sabse. She's a German gal (early 20’s) who contacted me over Facebook a while ago. Initially she contacted me because we have a mutual friend in Austria. Then one day she saw I was on-line and she texted me and asked if I had walked with the Lord for a long time. I knew immediately where this was going. Since then we have been texting on Skype every week as I counsel her. She is the only Christian in her town outside of Stuttgart. She is alone and trying to figure out how to walk with the Lord in addition to dealing with a number of other issues. Her family is hostile toward her faith and her friends don’t altogether get it. It has been great to see her move from a place of hopelessness to joy in just a couple of weeks. We are also moving toward engaging her friends a little more on faith issues. I also have friends I Germany working on finding a Christian community to plug her into. Please pray with us that her family will see the incredibly irresistible light of Christ and be drawn to it and that she will get connected with other believers in Germany who can become her family and support structure.
Thanks

Tim for us all

broken bones

Hi everyone.

Please be praying for Jennifer. Last Friday Jennifer was skating again and broke her fibula o her left leg. So now one knee is healing (right leg) and one leg is casted (left leg). As a result her doctor has prescribed a bone density test for her.

I’m sure you can imagine how discouraging this can be. Jennifer was out of action for a month or two when she broke her knee, then had the stomach flu for 3 weeks, then bronchitis for 2-3 weeks and now she’s broken her fibula. Basically from December 26th until now she has been sick or in pain and healing. Thanks for your continued prayers -

My dog ate my homework

Well, it wasn’t exactly my homework but rather a pair of glasses. We finally found Tim’s glasses, hidden in our dogs hide-out with his bones and other toys. Nicely chewed the glasses are not much use any longer. Thanks for your prayers everybody, in God’s very own humorous way He did return them to Tim.

Tim’s trip to Illinois.:

The trip east was incredibly busy. He had multiple meetings every day sometimes driving between Wheaton and St. Charles. While we were not able to raise the needed monthly support commitment a dear friend of Tim’s gave a substantial gift which will help stabilize our account through most of the rest of the year.

It was a great opportunity for Tim to be able to stay with Mom and Dad during his trip and to be available to help out when his Mom had a partial knee replacement.

Tim also had opportunity to connect with Wheaton Bible Church as GEM is working together with them to prepare and send church based teams to serve immigrants in Europe. Tim has become part of the preparation team with WBC and is very excited about this opportunity.

The Journey Deepens was also a great time of serving. Thought Tim was sick all weekend and wound up with a sinus infection, he made some good connections with people who are using the weekend to listen and discern what their part is going to be in ministry.

Jennifer, who’s knee is still healing and getting bronchitis after I left, held down the fort with our three children (and a glasses chewing dog) who are already now becoming impatient for summer to come. She continues to help out at the girls school and the teachers have really come to rely on her heavily.

Back at work and business as normal Tim is trying to catch up and step into the new rolls that are developing.

Tim is still in the Mobilization department but is also working with Preparation in the Candidate Orientation process and still developing a Coaching system for our new missionaries.

Working within both departments Tim has become an important part in a developing linear process. Beginning with recruiting, to preparing and equipping and finally walking along side the appointees as a coach Tim is in a significant position to influence and encourage those heading into full time ministry in Europe.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support as we seem to have found a very good place to continue to be able to participate in the significant ministries of a continent we so love.

It was great seeing a bunch of you. The White family

Hey everyone.
Thanks for your many inquiries, no I have sadly not yet found my glasses.
Right now I am hoping that I will in fact be able to get out on my flight and to Illinois today. Our area in Colorado has been pounded by a winter storm for the past two days. We’ve gotten at least 15” of wet and heavy snow.
If I’m able to get out today I will be at Fox Valley Bible Church on Sunday, April 19th and at Wheaton Bible Church May 3rd.
Look forward to seeing a number of you while I’m back. This trip is an important one for us as it serves two purposes. One is that I will be attending a conference the weekend of the 28th for GEM. The second is to hopefully raise some more support.
Please be praying for travel safety
Please pray that as a coach at the conference I will be used by God to aid young people in their decisions making processes
Please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom and contacts and enable me to raise the financial support we still need.

Jazzlovers

For any of you Jazz lovers out there. A friend of ours, (Deanna Witkowski: Liturgical Jazz) from Wheaton College just did an interview with NPR radio about her new Sacred Jazz CD out in time for Easter (now past, sorry). Check it out.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102998647