Willing to Go, but Will Have to Stay

Recently, one friend asked another a very poignant question.  “You may be willing to GO anywhere for the Lord, but what if He calls you to STAY?”  That really struck me.   Emil and I experienced that exact scenario in our own mission journey.  We finally said, “Send us Lord,” moved out of our home, sold a lot of our things and began planning for a move to Costa Rica.  But, after much prayer, a lot of counsel and a visit to Costa Rica the Lord shut the door.  Soon afterwards came the offer to join Global Recordings Network.  We fought the process for some time.  Why would we stay when we were ready and willing to go?  Well, after another round of prayer, counsel and ministry evaluations we realized that the Lord was leading us to STAY.  It was a difficult decision, but reflecting over the past four years we see that it was the right one.

Now, the Lord is asking again for us to STAY.  Our team of 13, who was ready to GO to Nepal next month, has had the door closed.  Nepal has just experienced a natural disaster that has shaken the core of their people, communities and faith.  We were scheduled to visit villages that were between Kathmandu and the epicenter of the earthquake.  Those villages are said to now be flattened.  Our goal in going was to share the gospel with the Tibetan Buddhists.  Many of them have now died.  That lays heavy on our hearts.  Although we are unable to go, we are able to send finances for our staff to reach out to the survivors and share the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  In addition, this money will help care for GRN’s Nepali staff.  For our team, it has been disappointing to prepare for months to GO, yet in the end have to STAY.  But the Lord knew.

Psalm 139:16 says, ”…in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

I always tell our teams, “We have our Plan B all scheduled, and now we will wait to see what the Lord’s Plan A is!”  Well, here is our Plan A, the Lord’s Plan A.  I pray that in years to come, the Lord gives us a glimpse into the good that rose from this devastation.  Please, pray for Nepal.  If you are led to give to GRN’s Nepali Relief Fund visit www.grnusa.net and visit the “donate” page.

 

Avocado Festival Results- This Side of Heaven!



It was a busy day at the GRN booth at the Avocado Festival

Josh handing out a Spanish Words of Life with a Smile!



Our Dunamix DC Dance Team performed on stage at the festival

 

We've lived in Temecula for 20 years now and just learned about the Avocado Festival in Fallbrook.  Upon first hearing about it I (Stacy) was certain it had to be a small town festival with low attendance.  Wow, was I wrong!  The festival was miles long and was said to have been attended by 100,000 people!  Our team of 45, yes 45 (throughout the day), did an amazing job of putting CDs into the hands of those who were vendors and those walking by our booth. 

This year, our DC team has a group of dancers from Dunamix Dance Project joining us.  Their goal is to share Christ with others through worshipful dance and testimonies.  After performing, a woman at the festival came up to our booth to compliment the girls.  She said she was so impressed with what they shared about the Lord, how they presented themselves so modestly and how while dancing it truly looked like they were worshiping Christ.  What a blessing to hear that!  We can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do with them in DC.

The entire team worked diligently at the booth giving out CDs to the constant stream of visitors.  We had many believers come to thank us for sharing with others and challenge them to somehow do the same.  We were so busy that we actually ran out of Spanish CDs two hours before the event ended!
So, thank you to all who participated and prayed... here are the results that we get to see on this side of heaven....

721 CDs were given out (another 200 could have easily been given if we didn't run out)
47 languages were given (even Icelandic!)
45 volunteers and staff participated
All three of these categories were 1 day record totals!