Wedding, Wichita and Wings

The past month has been full of great moments! It's been a busy time as well - sorry for the delay in blog posts!

We were so grateful for the summer spent in Megan's hometown, Champaign, IL. Toward the end of our time in Champaign, we tried to squeeze in as much time with local family and friends as possible. We also had the great joy of celebrating the wedding of Megan's Mom, Mary, and her new husband, Alan. This was a great time for our family, and a huge blessing from God.

We performed a song for Mom and Alan during the wedding ceremony

Seth, Megan, Andrew (Megan's brother), Mary, Alan, Kara and Ryan (Alan's kids)

We were so happy to be apart of this wedding ceremony and share in the joy of Mary and Alan. It was a really special time.

In the middle of August, we packed up our belongings and moved west to Wichita, KS - Seth's hometown. We are living with Seth's wonderful parents and enjoying time here very much. Seth's homechurch, Countryside Christian Church, is a supporting church for our work in Japan. We were able to do a presentation at CCC, to share about what we will be doing in Japan.

Speaking at Countryside Christian Church about Japan

We have been diving into involvement with Countryside! Seth will be preaching for the Sunday evening service for about 6 weeks starting in October. I will be helping with the junior high small groups as well as learning from some wonderful women in some women's Bible study groups. The rest of our time in Wichita will be spent reaching out to other churches and individuals in the area who would want to partner with us financially in going to Japan. We are happy to say we have 12% of our monthly commitments and about 10% of our start-up cost raised! We know God will continue to provide and send us when he wants us to go.

Another great blessing of this month was the short trip we were able to take to Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO. Many of our teammates were in Joplin at the end of their furlough and together we spoke at OCC's chapel services the first week of school for the offering appeal. It was a great time to connect with the college students and friends at Ozark. Not to mention spend time with our teammates, who we will not see again until we move to Japan!

Part of our team, gathered for some good eatin' in Joplin - Hot Wings!

Here's what is next for our team:

In the next few weeks our teammates are returning to Japan and beginning focused ministry in Nagoya, Japan. They hope to launch the first church this winter! We are so excited. Meanwhile, we will continue to fundraise and study Japanese to prepare to leave whenever God provides the funds.

There are three other teammates of ours preparing to move to Japan along with Seth and I. They are Jared and Stephanie Henke, and Brigette Relyea. For three weeks this fall, the MSGF "Recruits" as we call ourselves, will head to MTI - Missionary Training International -an institute that offers various training programs for missionaries. We will be experiencing a 3 week session to prepare for the challenges of moving overseas, culture shock, team dynamics, language barriers, etc. Please pray for this time to prepare us, shape us, and teach us in great ways.

Jared and Stephanie Henke, Brigette Relyea, and ourselves. All preparing to move to Japan to join the MSGF team there.