February 16, 2009

Hello friends,

So I guess this is really happening! We just bought our ONE WAY tickets to Haiti. Wow.

Yesterday Nick and I taught a lesson in Kidspointe about compassion, and we talked about this mission of compassion that God has called us on. We wrote the lesson, and so it was refreshing to revisit what the Bible says about compassion, and also to re-think about this journey... to talk about where we've come from and where God is leading us. It was fun to teach together one last time. Next Sunday is our last Sunday in Kidspointe. The time line of everything is a bit intimidating.

We leave in ONE week for missionary training at MTI in Colorado. We will be in Colorado for three weeks, returning to NC on March 13. We're back here in our apartment until early April, at which point our our family will move into Nick's parent's house while we get everything here at the apartment sold and cleared/cleaned out. That will become our "home base" until the move. We'll also be having GIANT yard sale in early April where we get rid of 99% of our stuff. Literally. (Location/date/time to be announced at the next update.)

Gwenn will be heading to Haiti for 8 days on April 11th with a team from her mother's church, Liberty Christian Fellowship, on the Outer Banks of NC. Once she gets back, there's about a week to wrap things up, and then 6:00AM on April 27-- we're gone! Weird.

So, as we walk forward in this mission, please be praying about these things:

• Our time line! It's kind of overwhelming, and we still have a few key details to confirm. Please pray that God would give us the strength we need to make each step.
  

• Logistics. Please pray for that we'd be able to get rid of all we need to get rid of here and that we'd be able to get all of the stuff we need to settle in there!

• MTI, our training in Colorado. We're very much looking forward to learning from the pros. :) We KNOW we have a lot to learn. Please pray for humble and teachable spirits. Please also pray for the logistics of ANOTHER "change of venue" for the kids.
  

• Our provision, that we'd be able to be 100% supported when we leave in April. January was a very good month for us, and we trust that God will continue to provide.

• Our good-byes. They are getting closer. It's family. It's friends. It's church. It's stuff. It's our home. It's our country. It's our language. It's our culture. (Thankfully, it's not our God!)

• Our hellos. They are getting closer too-- to new friends, to a new church, to new stuff, to a new home, to a new country, to a new language, to a new culture. NEW CHILDREN.

Thank you for your faithful support and prayer.

With grateful hearts,
Nick and Gwenn Mangine