Here we are, send us!

To view Justin and Haley’s full update, click here:  Straining at the Horizon

Greetings from LaGrange Wyoming! 

It certainly feels like it’s been a long time since we updated you on what’s been going on in our lives! 

In our last newsletter, we had just gotten engaged and were looking at the possibility of having our wedding in early May. Thankfully, God did allow this to happen and our wedding went amazing! (Even though we could only have 10 people in attendance.) Sadly, with the Covid restrictions in place, we could only invite a very small portion of our immediate family. We wish that everyone could have been there to celebrate with us. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed it and had many laughs throughout the day. Afterwards, we got quarantined for 2 weeks which was kind of hard on Justin, as an extrovert.

We will be having smaller wedding celebrations with friends and family in Washington around Thanksgiving time, as well as in Nebraska over Christmas break. We are really looking forward to it!

Another thing we mentioned was Justin trying to get a job as a bus driver. This took longer than we expected, but it eventually did happen and we are so grateful for that! 

The whole process was complicated by the virus because everything got put on hold until July. The public schools were shut down and were unsure if they could reopen or not.

Honestly, there were several months there where we didn’t know how or if we would be able to pay our rent or buy groceries for the week. We definitely had to walk in faith and trust God’s provision and perfect timing with these circumstances. 

     Haley is also currently working while balancing a full course load. God opened the door for a work scholarship job in the school’s kitchen in order to pay her tuition for senior year. She is currently working around 15 hours per week, cooking a variety of meals for the student body and cleaning some of the cooking equipment for the school.

We have a goal of reaching at least $3,000 a month in missionary support so Justin can continue working in the home office of Tentmakers Bible Mission and Haley can focus solely on her classes, learning how to be a new wife and managing our house without us being so tight financially. Currently, we are only about 11% of the way to this goal, so we are very thankful for God providing us with jobs.

 In August, Haley started up her senior year at Frontier School of the Bible. The plan is for her to graduate in May with an Associate’s degree in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Missions and then afterwards complete an internship year to earn her Bachelor’s degree. 

We’ve already received the approval from Frontier to start setting up Haley’s internship with a church located in Lindon, Utah called Fellowship Bible Church(pictured below). Possible areas we could minister in include Bookkeeping opportunities for Justin, secretary work for Haley, as well as Children’s ministry and discipleship. It feels like we are SO close to heading out to do ministry in Utah, yet so far away as well!

We do have to admit though, it has been SUPER encouraging to see people continue to faithfully support missionaries despite everything happening in the world right now. In fact, many have actually increased their gifts and regular support amounts towards missionaries. Having seen this as a couple who are currently trying to raise their own support, this has greatly encouraged us to trust God’s provision in His time and to remain faithful to the ministries He has called us to serve in without worrying too much about financial matters. God is more than able to provide for our needs. We just need to be faithfully serving in the meantime.

Recently, there have also been a few changes with Tentmakers Bible Mission. A new family came and joined us in July and the Husband/Father (Nathaniel) is helping Chuck Mathias with the Bible training program, with the intention of eventually taking it over. Also, a few weeks ago, Ron Thompson (who was TBM’s previous Executive Director) stepped down and Chuck Mathias stepped into his role with some HUGE shoes to fill. Fortunately for Chuck, he is a tall guy with big feet so that shouldn’t be a problem at all, haha! 

Our last change is actually a work in progress, since it won’t really take place until November, but it’s probably the one that Justin is most involved with and looking forward to. TBM will be switching to using a new book keeping program called APLOS. This program is entirely online and will allow us to keep helping Tentmakers remotely from Utah starting next year!

Prayer Requests:

• That God would bring along people to partner with us, both in prayer and financially, so we can put more time and focus into ministry.
• Energy and strength for Haley to finish up senior year while balancing work, homemaking and being a new wife.
• Patience as we prepare for ministry in Utah.
•  That we would flourish and stay busy serving wherever God has us in life.
• That we wouldn’t become anxious or end up trusting in our own wisdom instead of the Lord’s. 

 Praises:

•  The doors were opened for Haley to do her internship in Utah.
• Bus driving has been able to greatly help with our current finances.
• That we can continue assisting with TBM’s home office work remotely from Utah.
• We have a God who is more than able to provide for us in all our needs!