Update

From the 19th floor...a scene from downtown Bangkok

This Wednesday we'll be boarding a plane bound for Bangkok, Thailand (well...we'll be boarding a plane bound for Seoul, Korea, where we'll catch another plane which will be bound for Bangkok, and technically, we'll board that plane on Thursday).  We've had a great year and a dream of a time with support-raising.

Case in point, we just sent out a prayer request for the remainder of our funds, and about a third of it was pledged or donated within the following 5-6 hours.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you who prayed or gave!

So what do our next few weeks look like?   Well, we will spend the next few days very busily packing, visiting with friends and family, and finishing up last minute details.  We'll arrive in Bangkok at about 9:30pm on Thursday, go to sleep, and wake up early the next morning to go apply for a Visa to leave and reenter the country.  The next Tuesday we fly to Malaysia for the MTW Area Retreat to spend about 5-6 days with MTW missionaries from all over Asia, then return to Bangkok on the 18th of October.  From there, we start looking for a place to live, line up our spots at language school for November, and begin to settle in to Thai life.

Keep praying as we go through a time of great transition, and let us know how we can pray for you!

Prayer request and need...

Hey 'rope-holders'... we've had a bit of a challenge...we met with our MTW coach today to 'check off' the last things before we leave the country, and because of several factors outside of our control, we still have some funds to raise. 

Here's the good news, though:  we're still leaving on Wednesday, October 5 for Bangkok, and Mission to the World is allowing us to proceed in good faith that the rest of our funds come in.  Praise God that we are able to go the field and begin our language learning and ministry with and to the team!

Our need:
The reason that we are still able to go is that we have chosen to take a pay cut of about $260 per month over the next three years, and on top of that we still have a one time need of about $900.

How you can 'Hold the Rope':
1.  Pray.  Ask the Lord to provide all of our needed funds in these next 6 days.  We would definitely prefer to be at 100% of our monthly amount, and to have all of our 'one time' funds in hand before we leave.

2.  Give.  Here is the breakdown...we need five families at $50 per month or 10 families at $25 per month over the next three years to restore our salary.  Or...if you are able to do one time gifts only, that is just as good!  Our total need over the next three years is about $9500 more than what we currently have pledged or available.  Please consider helping us out.  If you are interested in doing so, respond to this email, call me at (770) 826-8911, or you can give online HERE.

Thank you all so much for 'holding the rope' for us as we have prepared, please continue to do so, and please let us know how we might pray for you, too!

                                      Clinging to Him (Deut. 13:4)
                                            
                                                            Trey and Kiki

One Way.

Yesterday was a 'first' for me.  I bought my first one-way tickets!  That's right, we were cleared to go and we'll be leaving on a jet-plane on October 5th. 

Today we send our visa application, go to South GA to visit my (Trey's) family, and begin the process of packing to move overseas.  Pray for us as we take care of these final details for departure.

Bangkok and Other Places: Where we are and where we're going

We'll start with 'Other Places'.  Right now, we're living with Kiki's parents in Cumming, GA and spending a lot of time going to South GA to visit my parents.  Moving to the other side of the world is a bit complicated, so we're also using this time to figure out visa requirements, banks, taxes, and other pesky necessities.  This has been a very good time for us, as we haven't had the freedom over the past 3 years to spend so much time with our parents and friends in GA because of seminary and work.  Likewise, it has been over 6 years since we've really been able to spend much time with my (Trey) parents, because before we were in seminary, I worked as a youth pastor at a church in the ATL area.  So, we're really enjoying some time to prepare to move as well as catch up with our families again. 

Now on to the 'Bangkok' part.  In the last week or so, we've gotten several verbal pledges which, when they become official (meaning, when they show up on my MTW account), will allow us to buy tickets!!!  We hope that one month from now we will be flying into Bangkok and setting up shop.  We have a conference in Malaysia that we will attend from October 12-18, and then we'll begin the job of settling into an apartment or small house in Bangkok and figuring out our language school plans.

Pray with us as we finish out our support and our plans to go!!!

A good month...

I think that we have some big news coming (no, we're not pregnant). But I'll update that as soon as I get official word...but you can probably guess what it is.

In other news, we're now in September. Tomorrow I pick up my brother and his girlfriend from the airport and drive down to south GA to spend a weekend with my family. In a couple of weeks we go up to a cabin in the mountains with Kiki's family for a long weekend. We will go to Savannah to see my nephew play football, we'll have meals and coffees with friends, we'll visit churches and supporters who have been praying for and supporting us, and we'll make final preparations for our expected departure. This will be a quick month, one that will fly by, and we pray that it will be a sweet, memorable, and encouraging month as we prepare to move.