Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

It's been a while since we've updated everyone on here. It's been a crazy last couple of weeks! Praise God, most of our arrangements for leaving are in place. We still have a few random details to work out still. But, we have our travel plans set, language school lined up, and our temporary apartment in Bonn secured! Despite the stress of this time, we are thankful that things have happened as smoothly as they have.

On Sunday night we had our Commissioning service at our home church in Dellroy. Thanks to everyone who came out for that! It was amazing to see so many people from different denominations and backgrounds coming together to worship what God has done. It was a special night for us. We'll try and post some pictures here soon.

If things don't slow down soon, our heads might spin off! Wow, everything is moving so quickly. Occasionally, Kathi and I will look at each other in disbelief amazed at what is going on. On top of having our flights and shipping container arranged, we enrolled in our language training school this week. It just amazes us at how faithful and awesome God is. It's definitely an exciting time right now.

But, there's also a lot of sadness. We're both saying goodbye to friends and family who mean so much to us. It's hard to think that some of these people we won't see for years. It's a difficult process. But, again God is giving us His provision in the form of comfort and peace.

Departure in 50 Days!!!

Things keep moving along quickly. Over the past few days we've begun the process of completing paperwork, organizing a shipper, and securing our plane tickets. In fact, we found out this evening what our exact flight information is:

Departing on Wednesday, July 22nd at 1:43pm from Chicago-O'Hare
Arriving on Thursday, July 23rd at 6:10pm in Duesseldorf

It's so surreal. We can't believe it's all happening. In exactly two months we will be boarding a plane for Germany. God is amazing.

We've waited 2 years, 10 months, and 18 days to be able to say this: We're finished with our monthly support!!!! We are truly blown away this evening by God's ever-present love and tenderness to us. Over the course of these last three years, He has reassured us countless times that He would show Himself faithful. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God." (2 Corinthians 1:20).

We received an email this evening from one of the pastors at our old church in Chicago, Trinity Community Church. He was letting us know that their elders recently decided that the church wanted to commit to supporting us the remainder of our monthly support! What makes this even more special is that it represents a full circle from where we first started; this church being one of the first communities we shared with when we began our support raising journey in 2006. God is so amazing in His timing. We are grateful that we have this special connection with that wonderful family of brothers and sisters!

We want to thank the countless number of people who have endured and persevered with us throughout these last 3 years. We can't tell you how blessed we have been by your continued prayers, support, and encouragement. Your faithfulness to this work will shine bright in our hearts and in the Kingdom for eternity.

And, now the really hard work begins. Praise Him for every moment!

Yesterday I celebrated my 31st birthday! A friend said to me, "You're not just 30 anymore. You're in your 30's!" Yikes. Not only did I move more firmly into my fourth decade, I'm also celebrating 10 years of walking with Jesus. It's amazing to me all of the things God has done. When I first starting walking with Him, I was so confused and unstable - I was the image of a house on shifting sands. Still so far to go yet.

Ten years later, we're on the verge of leaving for ministry in Germany. It boggles my mind at the direction He has brought me in that time. I certainly wouldn't have predicted this back then. But, it's a testimony to His love and faithfulness. I can look back and say, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." (1 Samuel 7:12)

It's almost surreal to think about it, but the only thing that is standing in the way of us purchasing our plane tickets is $350 a month. We've completed our training and all of the other requirements of our sending agency. We have enough out-going funds. Above all, we feel ready and prepared to move to the next stage of the journey. What an amazing and exciting season we're in! One of our friends and supporter, Dennis, decided to celebrate with us, so he created this nice progress thermometer for us. Please be praying for that last little bit of support. We're hoping to finish it up by the end of the month so that we can be on target to leave in July!

We've been traveling the last week or so. After a very brief stop in Chicago, we're now spending this week in Indianapolis connect with friends and supporters. It's going to be a crazy two weeks for us. After this week, we're off to Dayton, Columbus, Akron, and finally Michigan.

On Thursday we finished up the last remaining training session we needed to prepare for our departure. It turned out to be the best part of all of the training! All of the instructors, sharing from their own experience, cast a vision for how multiplying churches can reach the entire world. It help reinvigorate our excitement and passion for building His church in Cologne. It also taught us that many times it's our own structures, programs, and ideas about church that create the greatest hindrance to churches reproducing. Because of this time, we have an greater passion for the maxim: The Simpler, the better.

We come away from this time feeling very renewed in our call to Cologne. God used the time to renew our hearts for the people there. Not only that, but we now feel "released" to start this new phase in our ministry. We have now completed all of the initial requirements from GEM we need to leave. The only things that still remains is the last $400 per month to be raised. It's such a small thing. We're confident that God is going to do some awesome things in the coming weeks to open the way for us to leave!