Details, details...kinda

Hello everyone! I am writing this rather reluctantly, but with a feeling that it is necessary. I have had many questions since we came back about why we are no longer with Acts III. There have also been many conversations with others that know the complete situation, and they feel I should address things a little more. While I am not sure exactly how to do that, I do agree that all of you who have supported us in prayer and finances deserve a clearer picture of things, so I will be frank and honest.
Shawn and I were (admittedly) desperate to get to the missions field in a foreign country. At the time that we were presented with the opportunity to go with Acts III, we were also presented with another informal offer of a missions job. After praying for open and closed doors, and begging God for his leading, we felt that Malawi, by way of Acts III was the way God was leading.
Before we left there were a few red flags and things that we should have opened our eyes a little more with Acts III, but we attributed it to an immaturity in leadership as far as their Christian walk. Within days of being in Malawi, things became obvious that immaturity was not the only issue. After 6 months we received an email, having no prior discussion. That basically lead us to terminate our relationship with this ministry. We were in Malawi for another month trying to tie up loose ands and talk with the pastors that we worked with. We are now in New York with Shawn’s parents, and have broken all ties to Acts III in every way. Please do not ask us about the blogs and the web site, as we do not have anything to do with it and no longer read it ourselves. My suggestion would be to stop reading it. Please do not send any more support to Acts III for us. Please do not associate us with the ministry in any way.
I say this not in an evil or vengeful way. I truly feel that God did desire for us to go to Malawi with Acts III ministries. We learned so much there! We realized that we do want to be overseas; that we love being in a different culture, despite the difficulties that come with adjusting a family of 6; that our children won’t die from living in a different place, but rather they will be stronger, better people for it because that is what God desires in their life as a part of our family; that we can live a life that is so much more simple than we ever knew possible; that missionaries are people too – and we met some amazing ones there that we will always cherish! God doesn’t make mistakes…and we believe with all our heart that the 7 months we spent in Malawi was not a mistake in any way.
So, now what? Hahaha…good question! We recently learned that Acts III went to the government with some accusations and had our work papers revoked. That in itself is not such a big deal, as there are many missionaries and churches there that would gladly sponsor us to come back under them, and since they have been there for 15 years or more, they hold a lot of respect. The question facing us now is really more of where does God want us? Shawn plans to go to the headquarters of the CMA this weekend to present our ministry and desires to the IFAP office. However, the CMA does not have a field in Malawi. We will be raising our own funds, and have talked with other missionaries and compared budgets, and ours seems to be right on par, even with the student loans we have; but the CMA does not like you to have debt. So here are some of the specifics that we are begging you to pray about over the next week:
1. For God to continue working in us with forgiveness and love; that he would point out areas that we need improvement in, and we would willingly and humbly accept these things.
2. Do we go back overseas? It seems that we should…we can do it, we want to do it, and we enjoy it. However, we aren’t ruling out a missions-type ministry in the States…and by that I mean inner city or church planting! (All ministries are missions, I hope!)
3. That we would have some leading in whom to go with. Honestly, having been born into the CMA (practically), and knowing the wonderful way that they do missions, we would prefer to go with them as full-fledged IFAP tentmakers, possibly starting a field in Malawi. But if they are not interested in us, we have to decide what to do next. We have seriously looked in SIM, because it is recommended by so many other missionaries and is a reputable, large, world-wide organization. There have been other offers from a few missionaries. We are not however, being foolish or desperate this time around. Should God open doors, we will walk through them until they close.
4. Does it need to be Malawi? Let’s not be overly romantic here…we were there for only 7 months, and many of those months were hard ones of adjusting! We love it, we love the people, and we love the area. However, we both agree that our calling has more to do with what we will be doing rather than where we do it. Shawn is gifted in discipleship, teaching, mentoring, and counseling. (I enjoy doing these things alongside him!) We want to go where those things are needed most, and where our way of doing this (relationship-oriented) can be best utilized. Yes, Malawi needs this, but so do many other places. So if the CMA says, “We want you, but we need you in __________, not Malawi” we have another choice to make.
5. That through all of these decisions we would not lose focus of our real purpose…to delight ourselves in him and to love with all our heart, mind, and soul! Ministry is a side affect of these things!

Thanks for sitting through my rather serious blog! And thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers and love. Thank you for trusting in and supporting us in our efforts to serve Him!