Saturday, July 23, 2011

A loooong overdue update

This update is long overdue, and for that I apologize. Since my last post we have been to London and back, graduated from Seminary, and moved back to Virginia. As you can imagine, the last few months have been very busy.

Our time in London was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the city and the team. Camden Town is a place we long to make our home, and we are moving forward in our application process with World Harvest. Tomorrow we will travel to Philadelphia for Assessment and Orientation, also known as A&O. This is our final interview with World Harvest, and if we are approved we will be able to start raising support for a 5 year term in Camden Town. We would really appreciate your prayers for this time: that no matter what the outcome is we would feel God's love for us, and be encouraged and affirmed in our calling to Camden Town.

Friday, February 11, 2011

We are going to London, folks!

Wow. It has been a long time. Sorry for my absence from the blog world, though I don't know whether or not anyone actually missed me!

Drew and I had a good time being back in VA for Christmas. We were there for almost a month, and when we returned to St. Louis life got crazy with Jan term and a bout of the flu. It is hard to believe that it is February already, and that in a few short months we will be finished with Seminary!

Since I last wrote, we have continued to move forward in the application process with World Harvest Mission, and are seeking to join a team in Camden Town, London. Camden Town is a diverse community and is famed for its markets (both indoor and outdoor,) where artisans from all over the world sell their wares. There are very few Christians in Camden Town, with estimates at around 300 believers out of the 50,000 people in Camden and closely surrounding areas.

Our next step in the application process with WHM is to travel to Camden Town for an official field visit. During this visit we will be building relationships with the team, as well as participating in their regular outreach events and in the life of the church they've helped plant in Camden Town. We will be in London from March 12-21st, 2011.

We are so excited for this time and can't wait to see what God will do. We want to invite all of you to be a part of this experience, first and foremost through your prayers. Please pray that God would bless our time with the team, and that it would be mutually encouraging for everyone involved. Pray that God would continue to grow in us a heart for this city and its people. Pray also for our dear friends, Rob and Rebecca, who are also in the process of joining this team and will be with us in London. We all are seeking clarity and God's continued confirmation that he would have the four of us go to Camden Town.

If you are interested, we also ask that you would consider supporting us financially. We need to raise around 3,500 dollars to cover airfare, lodging, food, and other costs associated with the trip and our WHM application process. Donations are tax deductible and checks must be made out to Grace Community Church, with WHM-Massengill written on the memo line. They can be mailed to:

Grace Community Church
attn: Caron-WHM
5146 Dickerson Road
Charlottesville, VA 22911

Any additional funds raised will be earmarked in our names in the Grace Community Church missions budget for future support raising. If you would like a letter with more information about our trip, send me your address and I will get one to you. There were many of you I wanted to send letters to, but I did not have current addresses. Thanks so much for considering!