News/Blog

AS OF SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, WE HAVE MOVED OUR BLOG TO http://cuscoandthecooks.wordpress.com/

We plan to continue to blog weekly about the events in our lives. This new blog will give readers the chance to comment and leave us notes. Thanks!

For those who are interested in keeping up with our team's progress, this page will serve as a way to keep everyone updated.

Now that we are in Dallas, we hope to update this on a weekly basis.

Saturday, January 10, 2008

This past Tuesday, we began our classes at the Continent of Great Cities building in Addison, only a few minutes from our apartment. It was an exciting day for us, because it symbolized the beginning of something we had been working towards for a very long time. We had class in the morning, and we learned our schedule and what would be expected of us over the next few months.  Lunch was provided by the staff at CGC, and we had an enjoyable time of fellowship with them. We also met our Spanish teacher and dove right in by beginning to learn pronunciations, the alphabet, and how to spell our names.

Wednesday morning, we left for Fayetteville, Arkansas, to meet with the Lawsons, who had graciously invited us into their homes for the weekend. Dr. Terry Lawson is a psychologist, and Dr. Jenny Lawson is a life coach who has special training in ability tests. They are also former missionaries to Brazil. Wednesday night, Thursday, and Friday were full of very valuable information. We discussed the results of the Highland test (some of you may remember the 3-hour long test we took a few months ago) which shows what natural abilities a person has. We also discussed and were provided activities to help us understand our personalities through the Meyers-Briggs test. We learned about team problem solving, decision-making, and goal setting. Dr. Terry taught us from the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Lencioni. At the end of the day we discussed some symptoms of depression and anxiety, and he instructed us in some relaxation exercises. It was a great weekend of learning about ourselves and each other, as well as gleaning insight from those who had gone to the mission field before us. We enjoyed being together and spending time with the Lawsons. They are an incredible couple!

This week will be a full week of classes and new exciting opportunities. Keep us in your prayers as we adjust to our new schedule and work load, which will be extremely heavy. When our schedule was being described by the staff at Continent of Great Cities, they threw out the phrase "boot camp" several times to describe our experience in Dallas

Thanks to those of you who check our website and send us encouraging cards and emails. We appreciate each of you so much!

The team with the Lawson's and our Director, Scott                              Learning from the Lawson's                              Our Host Family, the Lawson's (and their dogs)

Saturday, January 3, 2008

Greetings from Dallas! We are now here and the time for training is about to begin. After an emotional farewell to Stantonville, we left for Dallas on Tuesday morning, December 30th. Even though I was nervous about driving the moving truck and Charla was nervous about driving all the way to (and in) Dallas, we had "uneventful travel" the entire way. Gary and Jennifer had arrived just minutes before us. Some folks from Continent of Great Cities helped us to move into our apartment that afternoon.

It's been great to have a couple of days to unpack and get settled into our apartment. We love our little apartment and are very pleased with its size and location. It will be a cozy little home for our 6 months in Dallas. Even though it is surrounded by apartment complexes in every direction, this complex seems to be a very quiet and safe place (much quieter than the complex I lived at in Henderson during graduate school). The manager, who lives on the property, is very serious about keeping things that way. 

Looking around our area in north Dallas has been most pleasurable. Within a three mile radius is every restaurant and store imaginable. All of the stores and restaurants that were in Jackson, Tupelo, Memphis, and Nashville (1 to 2 hours away from Stantonville) are now five to ten minutes away. Yesterday, we went to the largest mall I had ever visited -- four stories with an ice rink on the bottom floor (the Galleria, for those of you who are familiar with Dallas).  For a guy who grew up in Farmington WV, went to college in Henderson TN, and then preached in Stantonville TN, this "big city" life is quite different from the norm. But, we don't need to get used to it -- Cusco does not have all of this stuff!

On Monday, we have some meetings with people who will be helping with the training, but our first full "official day" is Tuesday. Then, Wednesday, we leave for Fayetteville Arkansas for a team-building retreat with Drs. Terry and Jennifer Lawson. In December, we took the Highlands Aptitude test to prepare for this retreat. This is sure to be an exciting learning experience.

Thank you to all of our friends and family for your encouragement and support. "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you" (Phil. 1:3).

     The Moving Crew in Stantonville                              The Cleaning Crew in Stantonville

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

The move to Dallas to begin our training with Continent of Great Cities is getting very close! We will be pulling out on Tuesday December 30th. Here is our most recent newsletter, which will fill you in with more details.

2008NewsletterDecember.pdf

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Hey everybody! I wanted to leave a brief note just in case someone stops by to check this out. There isn't much to report--check out our September newsletter (link below) for details about our fundraising. Our "one-time" departure and settlement fund is now 75% complete. God has blessed us so richly and we trust that we'll complete this fund soon! If you are interested in helping, please email me.

Now that our monthly fundraising is completed, in addition to my work here at Stantonville and Charla's nursing job, we'll be preparing for our move to Dallas. It's a pretty big job sorting through everything we own and deciding what goes to Dallas, what goes in storage, what gets sold, what gets thrown away, and what few things might go to Cusco. We spent a lot of time in October on "sorting" and then had a big yard sale. The next couple of months will be spent sorting and planning for our move to Dallas...and of course we want to make the most of our last two months with Stantonville. The church here has been such a blessing to us and it will be hard to leave.

Thanks to all of our supporters! "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you" (Phil. 1:3)!

Friday, September 26, 2008

It's been another exciting and busy month. All of the news and happenings can be found in our first newsletter. Click the link below (2008NewsletterSept.pdf) in order to see this newsletter. I've borrowed the title of Barton and Allison's blog, "The Cusco Chronicles," for the title of the newsletter. So, check it out--it will update you completely on the last month's news!

2008NewsletterSept.pdf

Saturday, August 23, 2008

The past month has been a busy and very fruitful month of fundraising. God has blessed us richly. We are thankful to announce that we are now finished raising our monthly salary and work fund. We received a monthly support commitment from the Antioch church here in McNairy County. Our good friends Bart and Laura Warren work with this congregation. The West 7th St. church in Columbia, Tennessee has also committed to supporting us monthly in a very generous way. Charla's parents attend there. West 7th is well known in the area and has a lot of exciting things going on--we are excited about partnering with them. Tom Weems, one of our closest friends here at Stantonville also committed to supporting us monthly. The Oakwood Rd. church in Fairmont, WV, committed to supporting us as well. This church is also well-known in North Central West Virginia for all of the good they do. There are a couple of other churches in WV that may be supporting us to help round out our monthly support. We also will be visiting the Christian Chapel church near Natchez Trace State Park--we anticipate their monthly support as well.

This process has gone much more smoothly than we had expected. God is to be glorified for what he has done! We are not done with our fundraising, though. We still have some one-time funds to raise that will help us depart for, arrive at, and settle in Cusco. Many have helped us already with these funds.

Our team will be meeting on September 1st in Florence, Alabama to meet one couple and an individual who are interested in joining our team. We will also be heading to Dallas, Texas September 12-14 to meet with the staff at Continent of Great Cities to learn in detail about our 6 month internship beginning in January. We'll also be looking at apartments.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to prepare to take the best news ever to Cusco, Peru!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

God continues to bless our plans! In the past couple of weeks, several have donated generously toward our one time fund. We cannot express our appreciation enough to these friends and family members. Yesterday was also an exciting day as we heard from the Oakhurst congregation in Farmington, WV. This is where I grew up and where my Dad still preaches. They committed to supporting us $1,500/month. This is a rural congregation of about 120 members. Needless to say, their generosity has touched us deeply and we are excited about partnering with them to reach the lost in Cusco, Peru. Thank you to all who have helped us in working toward arriving and working in Cusco!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

We are excited to announce that the elders of the Estes church in Henderson have agreed to be our overseeing/sponsoring congregation. We are thrilled to have a church as mission-minded as Estes to oversee our work. We respect the elders there very highly. All three preachers, Mark Blackwelder, Billy Smith, and Roy Sharp, have had a major impact on us through our contact with them at Freed Hardeman University. We have several friends who are members of the congregation as well. If we could hand-pick one church to be our overseeing, it would be Estes. We look forward to the years we will be partnering with this great church!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

It's been an eventful 5 weeks since I wrote last. One-time donations continue to come in--and for all of these supporters (who are listed on the "Supporters" page), we are extremely grateful. We have met with the elders of the Antioch congregation in Ramer (McNairy County), the 4th Street church in Selmer, the Estes church in Henderson, and the Union Hill congregation in Benton, Kentucky. Both the Antioch and the 4th St. churches were very positive and indicated that they would support us monthly and will let us know more as they sit down and talk about specifics. The meeting with Estes was to discuss the possibility of them serving as our overseeing church. This meeting also went well and we hope to hear from them soon. When we do, I'll definitely post again. This coming Sunday we meet with the elders at Adamsville, TN. This congregation is only ten minutes away from Stantonville and we have a good relationship with them.

We have a busy month ahead of us too. July 25th-August 1st, we will be part of a group of 20 members from Stantonville who are going to Aruba to lead a Vacation Bible School in the mornings and a Gospel Meeting at night. I'm also tentatively planning on making a fundraising trip to West Virginia in August. Several churches there have indicated that they will support us and a visit would be good before they make any final decisions.

We're also happy to announce that the East High St. church in Springfield, Ohio has committed to supporting us on a monthly basis. The preacher there, Phil Grear, has known me since I was tiny. The church hosted us for a Gospel Meeting back in April and it is a wonderful, loving group of Christians in a place where the church isn't very strong. We are thrilled to be partnering with them. It is also exciting that two couples here at Stantonville have committed to supporting us monthly--Dwain and Golden Meek and Gaylon and Teresa Moore. Both of these couples have been a blessing to us and will continue to be in the future.

The fundraising process is moving slowly but surely. It has been a joy to develop and mature relationships with the people who have met with us.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Last Sunday night, we had a good meeting with the elders of the Bishop St. congregation in Union City Tennessee. It was great to spend time with our good friends, Jarred and Beth Anne Clayton, who are members there. This process is proving to be a tiresome but rich one as we get to visit with old friends and make new acquaintances with brothers and sisters throughout the area.

We also received a commitment for monthly support from the Finger and Cypress Tank congregations. These are our first commitments from churches that have given us a specific dollar amount commitment to begin in January. The Finger congregation has been a blessing to us for several years. I worked with them for two years when I was in college. Earl Edwards, who is an elder and preacher at Finger, has been a constant source of encouragement to me as we've continued making plans to do mission work. The other elder, Jim Davis, is one of the kindest men I know. To be a rural congregation, their commitment to foreign mission work is outstanding and their commitment to us is very generous. The Cypress Tank congregation is even more rural than Finger (that's hard to believe), but their commitment to missions is also outstanding. When we took our research trip in 2006, they and Finger were our two biggest financial supporters. I sent them some information about our plans thinking they might be interested in a donation to our "one-time" fund, so it was a pleasant surprise when I received word that they wanted to support us on a monthly basis. What's even more humbling is that we've never visited with this congregation--in fact, both they and Finger committed to this monthly support without our visiting with them and sharing our plans personally. We sent packets to both of them suggesting that we come and visit and they both made these commitments without a visit from us. We'll definitely be visiting with them soon, though! God has been very good to us and has blessed us richly through these two congregations and the many other individuals who have contributed to the Lord's work in Cusco, Peru.

I mentioned in the last post that we also received a monthly commitment from a couple that we were friends with in college. They probably wouldn't want to be mentioned by name, but I'll do it anyway. Derald and Courtney (Wilson) Swain have committed to supporting us monthly. They currently live in Texas, where Derald is stationed in the military. He has also served in Iraq. Courtney has been a very close friend of Charla's for many years. We are thankful for their friendship and humbled by their desire to support us.

In addition to what we listed previously, we will be meeting with the elders of the Union Hill congregation in Benton Kentucky on June 25th. My friend, Josh Herndon, preaches there.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouragement!

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lam. 3:22-23).

Monday, May 19, 2008

Our fundraising is kicking into full gear. We met with the missions committee of the West 7th St. church in Columbia on May 11th. They were very gracious to us and we look forward to hearing from them in the coming months. We are scheduled to meet with the elders of the Antioch church in Ramer, TN on June 8th and the missions committee of the Estes church in Henderson on June 22nd. We also have received a commitment for monthly support from some good friends with whom we went to college. Continue to pray for us through this process!

If you are aware of anyone who might be interested in supporting us, please let us know! Thanks to all who have contributed to our work!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

We had a great team meeting in St. Louis this week. We were hosted by David and Lisa Moon, members of one of the congregations in St. Louis. Their hospitality, not to mention their house, was spectacular. Glen and Kathy Henton, of Freed Hardeman, also attended our meeting and served as the facilitators. Their wisdom and insight was invaluable.

Most of the weekend focused on principles of teamwork and conflict resolution. We learned a lot about these subjects and a lot about one another. We also spent some time talking about fundraising.

As always, we were enriched through what we learned, but also, as usual, we came away encouraged and strengthened spiritually. We always enjoy being with Barton, Allison, Gary, Jen, and Logan. God has blessed us with incredible teammates with whom we thoroughly enjoy spending time (of course it helps that our hosts had an entire basement filled with arcade games, pool, ping pong, etc.).

Our next team meeting will be in September in Dallas with Continent of Great Cities. One of the things we'll do that weekend is look at apartments that we might rent when we move there in January. It is strange to think that this will be our last meeting before the team will be together in Dallas. We've met so many times over the past couple years, it's odd to think that those kinds of weekends will be coming to an end.

Please keep us in your prayers as we have some key fundraising appointments in the coming months.