Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

The city of Indianapolis welcomes back Kevin & Kathi this week! We got into town on Tuesday and have been spending our time so far trying to reconnect with individuals and churches in the area. We're finding a little difficult right now because summer such a hard time to wrangle people - everyone's either on vacation or just plain busy. But, we believe that God has something for us here, so we're just waiting to see what that is.

An update on our support situation - we've had such an amazing response from our supporters. Many have decided to increase our support to cover the rising costs. We're so thankful. And now we're looking into options that might get us to the field even faster. Be praying for us right now because we need some wisdom with decisions in the coming weeks.

So, on the whole we are feeling much more encouraged than a week ago. God is so gracious to provide for us grace, encouragement, and peace.

We received a crushing blow yesterday in our support raising. Our newest support goal was sent to us by Greater Europe Mission, and we were discouraged by it to say the least. Our support goal was increased by $700 per monthly (almost 10%), which is the largest increase we've gotten so far. It dropped our percentage from 72% to 65%. The increase was due mainly to the increasing costs associated with the sinking U.S. Dollar.

It hurt so much to get these new numbers. It felt like we're no longer moving forward but running in place. How are we going to complete this journey if any advance we make is neutralized by new support goals.

Please be praying for us. We sought God's face the last 24 hours, and He reassured us that nothing has fundamentally changed - He is still God, and He is still good. But, we are less optimistic now that we'll be able to leave for the field anytime soon.

Yesterday we got back from a week of speaking at the youth camp in Pennsylvania. It was a nice diversion from support raising, and it turn out to be an amazing time. We got connected to this camp through one of our supporting churches - Burry's Church in Rochester, PA. It was a good reminder of how much we love ministry and loving people.

One of the things that this week reminded me of is how crucial relationships are in all that we're going to be doing. We spent a lot of time preparing our talks and activities we were running, but we realized that the greatest impact we had through that time was the love, attention, and care we had for those students. Preaching is so important, but I've been reminded that preaching without relationships often times proves powerless.

It was a good reminder because that's how I want our ministry in Cologne to be. Obviously, we want to preach the Gospel to all of those who will listen. We hope to be honest and open with people that this is the reason why we'll be there. But, lives will truly be transformed when people see Christ's love through our joy and love to them. Please be praying for that.

Today we left Indianapolis on our way back to Ohio. It was actually a sad event because we've really be blessed by our time there. We were swamped this last week with some great support appointments, and we added two new supporters in the last two days! We're a little disappointed that we won't be able to capitalize on that momentum, but it's convinced us that we'll have to come back to Indy soon.

Starting Monday we'll be in western Pennsylvania speaking and serving at a Presbyterian youth camp. We got connect with this camp through one of our supporting churches, and we wanted to be able to bless them because they have been such a blessing to us. We'll be gone for one week, and then we'll spend some time in Dellroy. After that we're hoping to go back to Indianapolis to try and follow up on some of the new contacts we made.

Today marks the two year anniversary of when we officially began support raising. It's hard to believe that it's been two years. We can say honestly that I didn't expect it to take quite this long. But, we also didn't expect that God would make this journey about more than just support. We've both realized that in the past two years, we've probably experience 10 years worth of spiritual refining. All to God's glory. He has been so kind and loving to us.

We definitely are encouraged because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The day of celebration when we'll be able to say "It's finished" we believe is coming soon. But, we're realizing that this is only the first chapter in the journey. Once support raising is done, we move onto the next level of painful refining!

All we can say is that we are so weak, and we wouldn't have been able to get this far if it wasn't because God strengthened us at every step. Please continue to pray for us not only that the support will be raised but that God would have His way with us. Thank Him with us that He is doing so much more than just raising money. :)