Less than 48 Hours to Go!!!

Well our Volleyball Tournament on Saturday was a ton of fun, and it was so great to have so many people playing and hanging out!!  There were about 50 people who were in the tournament, and another handful out to watch and help with concessions, and it seemed the overall consensus for the day was that we all had a ton of fun (minus a few sunburns, one black eye, and some definite bruises)! :) Here are some great shots from the day!

Our 2nd place team!

Our 1st place team who swept the tournament! (Gabe, Kit, Ruurd, and Lesley)

What a blessing that we were able to go into the Volleyball Tournament fully funded!!!! Yes that’s right, God did a mighty work and on Friday we got the last little bit to put us over our goal of $6,100.  God brought in another $640 from the volleyball tournament, and then surprised us yet again with another $600 on Sunday.  We keep saying we feel like the Lord is just multiplying everything left and right!

We are very thankful for the extra money because already we’ve been able to have the freedom to add an extra shuttle ride from South Africa straight into Swaziland, which will lift a huge burden (and expense) off of Corine both Saturday when we fly in and Sunday when we leave.  Praise God!!

Our trip is literally right around the corner (less than 48 hours away!), and as excited as we are, we cannot deny the overwhelming feelings we have experienced through these last few months of preparations.  The three of us may be physically going to Swaziland, but we wouldn’t be if it weren’t for so many of you allowing God to move through you in support of this trip.  Words don’t always express how deeply grateful and humbled we have been by everyone’s support, so we wanted to try and capture a bit of it for you all to see.  This is to show that as you have supported us in one way or another, you are a part of something much bigger at work, something we thank both you and our God for.  So even though “thank you” doesn’t do it justice, here’s a tremendous  

THANK YOU to: 

Matt & Megan Abajian

Todd Angel

Dave Ashjian

Ap Armor

Kassy Batesole

Jordan Bane

Kathryn Barajas

Andrew Bellew

Jon Blesse

Carol Blumer

Jeff & Kim Blumer

Kathy and John Blumer

The Boldt family

Emily Bonenfant

Ashley Brannan

Devynn Braswell

Henry & Pat Brock

Mona Brock

Brad & Sue Buller

Dorothy Buller

Dan & Cathy Bunnell

Kevin Carolan

The Carlson Family

Kali Cauthen

Elliot Cavale

Emery Clayton

Andy Conli

Stuart & Marilyn Conrad

Andrew Coray

Doug & Jenny Davis

Luke Davis

Sarah Davis

Lesley de Jong

Corine Demetreos

Dave Denton

Grace Dewey

Jordan Diepersloot

Taylor Dildine

Todd Dildine

The Dodd Family

Jeff Doolittle

Danny & Arlene Eberly

Jenn Eberly

Stephanie Eberly

Ruurd Elzinga

Evangelical Covenant Church

Jayne Fossett

Sue Foster

Darin Fox

Janine Frey

Steve & Ginnie Fukugawa

Allison Gardner

Gettysburg Elementary

Jane Grim

Jon Goetz

The Grabers

Kyle Greilich

Melanie Hadlich

Kent & Kathy Hamlin

Bill & Karri Hammerstrom

Amanda Harrington

Jack & Holly Hauck

Cameron Hays

Bobbi Hick

Megyn Hildebrandt

Jamie Hofman

Matt Hofman

Hosanna Church of El Cajon

JJ Howard

Shannon Hrdlicka

Tyler Huff

Micaela Jones

Dallas Kimbler

Daniel and Susie LeRoy

Lincoln Elementary

The Lloyds

Stephen Love

Luke

Lonnie & Carolyn Loven

Paul and Elna Lungren

Chelsea MacAlpine

Jeremy MacAlpine

Gabe Maddox

Kit Maddox

Rebekah Madison

Frank & Laura Magnee

Josh Martin

Liz McClurg

Tyler McEowen

Justin Mesloh

Andrew Metz

Travis Miller

Kellie Moore

Ellie Mullins

Bethany Nelson

Courtney Norton

Bill & Judy Ostrom

Joey Parker

Jennifer Peters

Nic & Katie Pope

Kerry Pickrell

Pinedale Elementary

Justin Potter

Josh Querin

Tammy Reeves

Andrea Renfro

Lance Roman

Matt & Jade Roper

Luke Ross

Scott & Vanessa Shehadey

Larry & Arlene Shipman

JD Sikkema

Lana Starner

Kevin Stimmel

Caitlin Stouffer

Tahoe Joe’s

Jon Tenorio

Luke & Virginia Thomas

Katie Thompson

Joseph Torres

Mario Trevino

Jim and Sue Wegley

Sarah Welles

Sarah Welles’ Life Group

John Wilkins

Carol Williamson

Joy Williamson

Scott Williamson

Stacy Williamson

Kate Young

We wouldn't be going to Swaziland without all of your support.  THANK YOU yet again for letting God use you for His greater purpose! 

**Our flight leaves at 6:30 pm on Thursday evening.  If you would like to come and pray with us at 4:00 pm at the Fresno airport before we leave we would love to see you there!**

 

Let the Unseen Be Seen

Hello Beloved Friends!

It's been awhile since our last post and we write this now only A WEEK away from our departure! I wish we could give a full detailed account of all the amazing ways we've seen the glory, providence, generosity, and absolute love of God revealed to us through this trip already.

With that being said there's a lot to catch you guys up on. The last two weeks have been kind of crazy and we want to be honest with you in the reality of this trip and everything that we've been facing in the midst of it, challenges and all. About two weeks ago Katie began to have some trouble breathing. The problem persisted over the course of a few days and escalated one night when she began to experience chest pain as well. Katie ended up going to the ER that night. We had no idea what was causing the shortness of breath or chest pain and were hoping to get some answers, but none of the doctors were able to come to any official conclusions, even after being given steroid shots, an inhaler, and getting blood work done. Nothing was really working and there weren't any real answers and we couldn't help but think that perhaps it might be of a more spiritual matter that was taking place.

About this same time I (Karen) had been experiencing a lot of spiritual turmoil- feeling defeated, being stuck on past failures that when concentrated on left me feeling unwanted by God and unfit for a trip with ministry as its purpose. I felt like I had lost my joy.

Both Katie's health concerns and my spiritual "heaviness" were threatening to take our focus off this trip. One day Katie got an e-mail from Corine, the missionary we are meeting over in Swaziland. It read:

             Hi Katie,

             Just wanted 2 let u know that u and john and karen hav been on my mind
             and in my prayers. As u continue w/prep 4 trip and get closer 2
             departure u will face increasing resistance from the enemy; hold fast
             and do not be discouraged! The team here is praying for ur health and
             for safe travels. Keep up the good work and we'll c u soon.

             Love,
             Corine

The e-mail served as an affirmation that we weren't completely off-base in thinking that we were facing spiritual opposition in this trip and so we decided to combat it with prayer by committing to praying for the trip every day at 6PM. Some of you have committed to praying with us and we are so thankful for your faithful payers. Katie has since been feeling much better and the next day I received a check in the mail that had a sticker with John 15:11 printed on the back: "These things I have spoken to you so that my JOY may be complete in you and that your JOY may be made full." Such a perfect word from the Lord after having specifically written in an e-mail the day before that I had felt like I had lost my joy. A fact that makes this even more amazing- this check was from a stranger! Someone who I have never met, but who had heard about the trip through someone else. If I were Beth Moore, I'd be shouting "Glory!" right now.

Along with that we had begun getting a little nervous about finances for the trip coming together, but that same week we began to receive an renewed and abundant outpouring of donations towards the trip. God is so faithful! He is not just Provider at one moment in our lives, but continues to be because it is his very essence! He has and will continue to be all that He says He is!

We are so thankful that God has brought us out of those difficult few weeks and has restored to us health, joy, and hope, but we are not so naive to think that the spiritual battle does not persist. We would greatly appreciate your continued prayers. Pray for God's glory to shine through the entirety of this trip. Pray that we would have the strength, endurance, and focus to get everything done that needs to before we leave. Pray that our hearts and our minds would be pleasing to God, and that He would continue to prepare us to be able to authentically share the love of Christ with the people in Swaziland and prepare the people that we will encounter along our travels to receive us and God's Word with open hearts.

 We have so many more amazing stories of how the Lord has prompted people's hearts to partner with us in this trip and of how He has encouraged us and hopefully we get a chance to share more of those stories with you! It has been absolutely incredible to see the reality of the spiritual realm be revealed so tangibly.

 We have been learning a lot about the power of prayer through this trip and I want to leave you guys with a few scriptural reminders of what God says about and has done through prayer.

The power of prayer is not the result of the person praying. The power resides in the God who is being prayed to. God's response is not dependent upon the eloquence of our words. (Thank goodness, because I always stumble over my words and never seem to be able to convey what's truly in my heart!) One of my favorite verses is Romans 8:26-27, which says " In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God."  

James 5:16-18 declares, "…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."


"…I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). 

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." -2 Corinthians 10:4-5


The power of prayer has overcome enemies (Psalm 6:9-10), conquered death (2 Kings 4:3-36), brought healing (James 5:14-15), and defeated demons (Mark 9:29). God, through prayer, opens eyes, changes hearts, heals wounds, and grants wisdom (James 1:5). Do not underestimate the power of prayer because it draws on the glory and might of the infinitely powerful God of the universe! Daniel 4:35 proclaims, "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'What have you done?'" 

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" -Ephesians 6:18 

P.S. We are also very excited for our volleyball tournament on Saturday (our final fundraiser before we head out)! Visit the event page at Support Missions: Play Volleyball
 and sign up here Sign-Up Sheet. Looking forward to spending the day with all of you!

Progress Update

I know we’ve said this before, but we have been so blessed by God’s provision through so many of your donations and your help at the yard sale!  We wanted to give you a little progress update as to where we’re at with our funds and a breakdown of our costs :)

COSTS (as a team):

Airfare:                                                         $5,355

Food/Lodging:                                                $400

Safari:                                                             $200

Other Expenses:                                             $145

(exchange rate, supplies, etc.)                                 _

Total:                                                              $6100  

We are certainly getting close to our goal, and not to sound like a broken record, but we are so thankful and amazed watching the Lord at work!  To date, we have raised $3,901—praise God!! And thank you so much for being a part of this with us!!  We still have about $2,200 more to go, but we know and trust that God is faithful and will bring this in.  Anything above this $2,200 will go directly to Corine to be used as needed in the villages of Fontoje and Tincatsavaneni, so we are really praying that God will provide enough for us to leave money there as well. 

There are definitely still ways you can get involved!!

1)   We are having a volleyball tournament coming up April 9^th, so clear your calendars and get ready to come out and have a great time!  More information will be on facebook and the blog soon, so be watching for that.  Because this is so close to our departure date, this will also be kind of a send-off party, so even if volleyball isn’t really your thing, we’d still love for you to come hang out with us and buy a water or some cookies!!

2)   As a team, we’ve also decided to start intentionally praying for this trip every day at 6:00 pm.  We set the time so that even though we aren’t physically together, we’ll know that we are gathering and praying as one for this trip.  If you want to join us in prayer at 6:00 pm wherever you are, we would absolutely love that!  We’ll be texting each other reminders and verses to focus on/pray about, so if you want to get in on that let one of us know :) It won’t be super formal, just a way to intentionally lift up this trip. 

We love you all and hope that you are seeing God moving and at work in your own lives just as we are seeing Him at work in ours!

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. “ Matthew 5:16

To God alone be the glory

A Look at Jonah and Peter

As I was reading about Peter in Acts the other day, there was one little detail that made this particular story just jump off the page.  It’s not a long story, just two chapters, so I would highly encourage you to read it before reading on… :) (look I’ve even made it easy for you—just click this link! http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2010-11&version=NIV)

Did you catch that little detail in verse five?  Peter was in Joppa when the Lord gave him a vision and Cornelius’ servants came to tell him to travel back to their master’s home with them.  Why is this such a big deal?  Okay, maybe it’s not—Joppa was a huge port city that saw a lot of traffic, a lot of people frequented there, so maybe it’s just a coincidence.  Maybe it is just a coincidence, but I don’t serve a God of coincidences—I serve a God of intentionality.  So what is the intention here?  I think it serves as a parallel example of what happens when we respond to God in either obedience or disobedience.

There is nearly an 800-year difference between the time when Jonah and Peter would have been in Joppa.  This common link, years later, places these two prophets nearly side by side.  The interesting thing is that both Jonah and Peter heard nearly the same word from the Lord—“Rise, go…”  It was in Joppa they both decided their response to the call of the Lord.  If you know the story of Jonah, you know that he chose to flee and run the other direction, thinking he could outrun and outhide God.  Peter, on the other hand, chose to go.  He chose to travel with these strangers, to a stranger’s house, I’m sure not knowing fully what to expect.  Here is where I think the parallel gets interesting.  Let’s look at what happened in both these men’s lives after their decision was made:

Jonah: Jonah gets on the boat to Tarshish and encounters the most tempestuous storm.  After realizing this storm was brought on because of his disobedience, he is tossed overboard by the Phoenician sailors and literally sinks to the depths of the sea.  In his divine mercy, God rescues Jonah through sending a great fish to eat him, giving Jonah another chance.  Jonah does go to Ninevah and preach repentance to the people, but his heart is full of anger and pride and bitterness when the Ninevahites respond and repent.  Jonah’s story ends with him moping outside the city walls, and that’s it.

Peter: Peter follows Cornelius’ servants without hesitation.  Upon meeting him, Peter hears how the Lord spoke to Cornelius, and sees God’s divine hand on this encounter right from the beginning.  Peter then shares the gospel with Cornelius’ whole house, and not only do all of them believe, but the Holy Spirit comes and is poured out on everyone, even though they are Gentiles, and all are baptized.  The story continues though!  When Peter later goes up to Jerusalem, he is criticized by members of the circumcision party (people who believed that circumcision was still necessary for salvation, i.e. making it unavailable for Gentiles) because he ate with these Gentile men.  Peter then explained to them the vision God had given him and all that happened at Cornelius’ home.  These men fell silent, gave glory to God, and responded by saying, “‘Then to the Gentiles God has also granted repentance that leads to eternal life.’” (Acts 11:18)  The Lord continues to spread his message of eternal life through Peter and the other disciples, continuing to work miracles and showing them the glory of Himself. 

Unlike with Jonah, we get to see Peter’s story continue.  Did God still use Jonah in his disobedience?  Yes, he most certainly did.  But how much more did he use Peter in his complete obedience?  Their stories after Joppa are incomparable.  Let’s take a lesson from Peter—respond to the Lord with obedience and watch him lead you places you never imagined you’d go, experience his countless blessings, and continually see the glory of our great God.

Yard Sale Day!!!

First, we just want to say THANK YOU so so much to everyone who donated items, stored stuff at their house, helped us transport and load items, bought stuff at our yard sale, and came out this morning to hang out and help out.  It was so encouraging, we seriously cannot tell you enough.  To see and feel everyone's support in this journey is just so incredible, we seriously have been beyond blessed by every one of you!!!!! (And we can't say that enough!) We give all the glory and praise to God--without Him none of this would have happened. Enjoy some pictures and our video from today that reveals the total blessing of God's provision!!

Steph helps set up in the wee hours of the morning

John and Liz test out the exercise equipment!

Modeling some lovely finds!

Look at all those bags of clothes!!

Team Jonah!

Yet Another Miracle!!

First order of business: We’re having a YARD SALE SATURDAY, MARCH 12^TH!!!! It’ll be at Karen’s house (2532 Beverly Ave, Clovis) and we’d love for you to stop by!! 

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the great stuff we’ll have!

This’ll be our first fundraiser, and today we definitely saw God at work and knew we had to share it with everyone!  Here’s a bit of what happened today:

So this morning we (Karen and Katie) set out thinking we were going to pick up a few donations for our yard sale.  After driving all the way to Clovis, we got some disappointing news that the person whose stuff we were supposed to pick up didn’t have it ready and had asked if we could come back again maybe Sunday or Monday.  To be honest, Katie was a little discouraged we weren’t going to be able to pick it up today, but Karen was really positive about it.  We were already at Shannon’s house picking up her truck when we got the news, but then saw that Shannon’s next door neighbors had some office chairs out by the curb.  We went over to talk to the man and see if maybe we could have them for our yard sale.  We explained to him what we were doing, and it turns out this man and his wife are going to the Congo in July!!  It was so encouraging to share with him about our trip and hear about his own, and we were able to give him one of our letters.   Then we got a brilliant idea—it was about 11 o’clock, the time when most yard sales are shutting down, so what if we drove around the neighborhood looking for yard sales and ask if we could have any of their stuff they were going to take to goodwill?  What a crazy turn of events!

After only a few short hours, we seriously felt like this must have been what the disciples felt like walking with Jesus when he would provide out of nothing.  When we picked a date for our yard sale, we literally had pretty much nothing to contribute.  We didn’t know how it was going to be successful, so we prayed and started asking people if they wanted to donate.  There have been so many of you who have contacted us, and getting facebook messages, calls, and texts has been amazing!  But today we felt like we witnessed a miracle like Jesus feeding the 5,000.  When Jesus told his disciples to feed the people, they responded by offering him what little they had, and Jesus multiplied it mightily!  The Lord gave us so many things today—from couches to a recliner to a huge big screen TV and so much more!!  Meeting Cindy and her fiancé and Jim and his family and getting to share with both of them our trip was so encouraging (and thank you guys so much!! We know the Lord will bless you greatly for your generosity!).  We are still in shock today and just keep laughing at our crazy day of watching God bless us beyond what we even dreamed this morning. 

“”Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.’”  Malachi 3:10

Our Week of Firsts

Sunday we mailed off all of our support letters!

 

Karen got her vaccines all taken care of :)

AND......

WE GOT OUR FIRST DONATIONS!!!!! Our letters were only just sent out and we have already received $727!!!! We don't even have words to express how grateful and blessed we feel.  It is such an affirmation from the Lord seeing Him provide already!!!! We'll keep you posted on the blessings to come!

Team Jonah: Raising the Bar

 

(Raising the bar...)

Some of you, especially if you haven’t been going to The Well Community Church lately, may be wondering why we chose the name “Team Jonah.” Based off of The Well’s current teaching series, “I Am Jonah,” we, like Jonah, have stood at a crossroads after hearing the Lord’s call to “Arise, go… (If you haven’t read the story of Jonah, you should check it out http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah+1&version=ESV) The Lord puts a number of different crossroads in our paths throughout our life, but for Christians, the overriding call on each one of our lives is to share the love of Christ with others and to make disciples.  When God calls us to “Arise [and] go,” to shine the love of Christ somewhere in the darkness, we each stand at a crossroads: do we step out in faith in that moment, trusting God to completely provide in every unknown, or do we turn and run the other way, believing that we can run and hide from God and the call He has given us?  

If you clicked on the link and read the story of Jonah, you’ll see that when Jonah stood at his own crossroads, he chose to run in the completely opposite direction of where God called him to. (Which got him where? At the bottom of the ocean and in the belly of a fish….just saying, maybe not the best decision!)  The closing line of this last week’s Jonah video at The Well said,  “Whether it is to or from Ninevah, I stand at the crossroads.  I am Jonah.”  The question is, when standing at the crossroads, what will your decision be?  

Stay tuned for the stories of our own crossroads, and how we each came to our decisions to “Arise and go” to this beautiful place of Swaziland.

Introductions

I Am Jonah

Hello Friends and Family!

 We're going to Swaziland April 14th--25th!!

 Our theme verse for this trip is John 11:40: “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’”  We strongly believe that God has called all three of us to Swaziland this April, and even though we are not sure what He has in store for us, we do have faith that in whatever it is, we will see the glory of God!  We are stepping out in faith and would love for you to join us on this journey, whether it be through prayer support or financial support.  We know this may sound odd, but to be honest, we don’t have a set financial goal to raise—whatever we receive we know that the Lord will use and bless for His glory.  Any money raised will go towards the cost of the trip (airfare, food, lodging, etc.), purchasing supplies in Swaziland for the new preschool in Fontoje (pencils, paper, glue, stickers, paint, toothpaste, kitchen supplies, seeds for the garden, a washer and dryer, school uniforms, etc.), and supporting Corine, the full-time missionary living in Swaziland who we will be working and staying with.  Supplies that can be donated here for us to take over are coloring books, crayons, children’s clothes (ages 3-7), tennis shoes, dental floss, toothbrushes, markers, and kids plates (Disney or something colorful and sturdy!), so if you have any of that laying around, we’d love to take it off your hands and bless the people in Africa with it!  What a great God we serve, and we are so excited to step out in faith and journey with Him!  Hear our stories about why we desire to go:

Karen Blumer, 22: As soon as Katie told me about her plans to return to Swaziland, I couldn't get it out of my head.  I had been having this desire to go on a mission trip for the past few months, but didn't know when it was going to happen.  I already had plans to work at camp for the summer and I felt like waiting for another year would be too long.  The fact that Katie was going over spring break was perfect timing and after discussing and praying about it with her, we knew it was something God had completely ordained for both of us.  I have such a passion for children and I'm so excited to go and serve and share about the love of Christ in this way! 

John Williamson, 18: I want to go to Africa because Hope Rises needs people to go and serve. They just built a preschool and want to provide for the kids coming there, but they need to get all the kids’ information so they can be sponsored.  They also need a lot of supplies for the school.  On this trip, we are going to go around and visit all of the kids’ homesteads and make a sponsorship packet for each one, so that Hope Rises can put the information on their website and people here can sponsor and support the kids in Africa.  God has shown me how much I have to be thankful for, and because of that I really enjoy helping out families that need it.  This is a great opportunity to do that. 

Katie Williamson, 22: One of my greatest fears after I came home from Swaziland last summer was that I would get back into my regular routine and forget about the people I met and the experiences our team had.  I didn’t want the trip to be something that I just checked off my list or later in life simply recalled with fond memories.  My prayer was that the Lord would open a time for me to go back, but I didn’t know if I would be able to go back again over the summer with either The Well Community Church or Hope Rises.  As I was praying about this last November, an idea all of a sudden came into my head: “What about going over spring break?”  I literally laughed at the thought because it sounded so crazy, but I just couldn’t dismiss it.  Since then, plans have continually fallen into place by the grace of God, and now I am so excited to see this trip coming to fruition and to have the opportunity to share the people and experiences of Swaziland with both my brother John and good friend Karen.  I cannot wait to again visit the people of Swaziland and share the fullness of the love of Christ with my Swazi friends!

 

Thank you so much for your support in this trip!  May God continually bless you as you abide in Him!

Karen Blumer, John Williamson, and Katie Williamson

If you would like to donate to our trip, you can make your checks payable to any one of us. Our mailing addresses are:

John Williamson

321 Sunset St

Kingsburg CA 93631

Katie Williamson

4258 W Fig Garden Dr #130

Fresno, CA 93722

Karen Blumer

2532 Beverly Ave.

Clovis, CA 93611

Stay tuned for more updates as we prepare to head out!