3 Focused Days of Prayer

We ask for prayer from time to time and have mentioned a few specific needs recently. We are still awaiting answers to some needs and have just started a very important itineration season, so have decided take 3 days of focused prayer (which I felt in my heart this morning, Sept 6). We are asking for any who would be willing to join us in prayer to take some time over the next 3 days (September 6-8, 2016) to pray for the following needs:

Living Arrangements

• We are still awaiting the go to move into the house we'll be renting through December before we move into a church's missionary apartment. Please pray that the inspection and everything else would go smoothly.
• We will be needing a few furniture items for these 4 months. Thankfully, God has already answered our need for a fridge and some living room furniture, but there are some other needs. The biggest of these needs is a twin bed for Genevieve [Update: Someone contacted us yesterday with a twin bed for Genevieve].
• We will also be needing a few small appliances like a microwave and toaster [Update: It sounds like we have a microwave now too].

Transportation

• We are still waiting for the vehicle we will be using to be fixed. The part should have been shipped and it should be done soon but let's pray for that as we need this vehicle.
• We need this vehicle to last this itineration cycle. Please pray for God's favor over the car, that it will not have issues moving forward.
• We need safety as we travel. Itineration involves a lot of travel. We ask the Lord's hand of protection as we travel.

Fundraising

• We need to raise our monthly and cash budgets prior to departure for Bolivia. We are hoping this will take about a year. This will take God's help as we cannot do this on our own.
• For our schedule to remain full during this itineration season. We hope to have opportunities to visit churches each Sunday. And, of course, we are hoping for many of those that we visit which don't already partner with us to become monthly partners. We are also hoping for current partnering churches to continuing partnership with us.
• For the right opportunities to connect with individuals. We don't only seek church partnership but also partnership with individuals. We are hoping for family, friends and strangers to commit to monthly support or one-time donations. We are also hoping for current partnering individuals to continuing partnership with us.
• For other fundraising opportunities.
• For the right words to speak whether we're sharing a window or sermon at churches, sharing with pastors, boards or missions committees or sharing with individuals.

Homeschooling

• We (mostly Polly) will begin homeschooling Genevieve this week. She will be starting the 1st grade. We need the wisdom, guidance and patience to not only do it, but do it well.
• For Genevieve to thrive in her schooling.
• For Jonah to do well as he learns and grows and for Polly to balance taking care of him with teaching Genevieve.

Personal Finances

• Beyond raising our budget, we also would like prayer for our personal finances. We still have some school debt and have a small amount of other debt which we would like to eliminate as quickly as possible.
• That we could settle in to start working on setting our personal spending budget for while we're here in the States. Our current situation isn't the norm so we haven't really been able to figure this out yet.

Personal

• Since we haven't settled into a normal routine and schedule, we still feel like we're in transition. We would love to settle in. Beyond that, we ask for prayer concerning the following areas:
• Spiritual - Our schedules are crazy but we consider time of prayer and devotion (Bible reading) to be very important to our personal lives and in preparation for itineration and ultimately our ministry in Bolivia.
• Physical - We ask for health and safety as we go through this itineration (and always). I also need to find a routine so I can become physically active in exercise more regularly.
• Emotional - Emotions can fly at times when people feel that there is no firm footing beneath them in a transition. We know that God is our firm footing which has helped, but we can still use emotional strength. [Update: Genevieve had a really difficult day emotionally on Sept. 6. But through that, she also opened up about some of the things she misses and why she wants to go back. This was good for her to verbalize, I think. Please pray especially for her during this transition.]
• Relational - We want to have great interpersonal relationships within our family and also be great family and friends to those around us. We also want to continue to make and develop new relationships with others. Also pray as the kids continue to develop their social skills.
• Mental - We need to continue growing and learning mentally. We need to keep up our Spanish so we don't make it more difficult on ourselves when we move to Bolivia. We also need to have times to rest and relaxation to remain mentally strong.

I'm sure there are other areas where we can use prayer. If while you're praying you feel the Lord puts something in your heart regarding us, would you please message or email us to share it with us. We appreciate you taking your time to pray for/with us. Would you also pray blessing over my (Mike's) parents as they have given so much of their time, home and vehicle to help us through this transition. May God bless you as well!