Back from Florida

Sorry its taking so long for me to post. We've had a long week and we were really looking forward to relaxing this weekend and that is exactly what we are doing. In fact Joseph is snoring as I am writing this. So I came home from Florida late Monday night and went straight to bed. Julie and I finally got to talk about my trip when I came home from work on Tuesday. I began by explaining what my trip was like.

When I arrived on Sunday afternoon in Orlando, Tom Young's (the IT director for NTM and my contact for this trip) plane had not landed yet so I sat in the airport for a little while. We finally met up and proceeded to get something to eat for dinner. We began chatting and getting to know each other. He began explaining to me about the itinerary for tomorrow and the many meetings that we would have. We had an enjoyable time at dinner and then we went to the NTM guest housing where we stayed for the night. The next day started off with a meeting with Andy Corley (Internet Programmer), Gabor Leidenfrost (Internet Programmer), Macon Hare (Head of the Communications department), and Brian Zinnamosca (director of Information Services). After introducing themselves I began to give my personal testimony, educational background, and professional experience. I began to explain how Julie and I were beginning to see that maybe I could serve the Lord using my skills as a computer programmer to help further the gospel. We of course talked about geek stuff and cool things that each of us had worked on or have been apart of. They then began to explain to me the needs that they had and particularly for NTM's website. I wont go into to much detail but they were explaining to me the success/problems of the website. They basically broke it down to me that the reason they cannot proceed at a quicker pace is because they lacked the human resources to do so. They explained that they really need me or people like me who connect with missions but also have the technical expertise to perform a quality job.
I began to think "they really want me? but I'm just a geek kid who likes computers!" I really didn't know what to think. After a lunch and some quick evaluating, I realized that I have a degree in computer science, I am working as a professional software developer, and I have a desire to serve the Lord as a missionary. I started to think that perhaps this is what God has prepared me and my family for? Another thing was that I was so encouraged at the possibility that God could possibly bring us back to New Tribes. It has been over 2 years since Julie and I were at the bible school and I'll admit both Julie and I thought that we might never get to be apart of the mission. Yet God is so good and the time spent outside of the mission has been for the best. Julie and I have learned to trust God for strength in our marriage, being parents to Joe, and encouraging/challenging other believers to step out in faith.
Monday afternoon came and went and I was soon at the airport going back home to indiana. As I said before I got in late and throughout this week Julie and I have done a lot of talking. When I was down there I explained to them the debt I accrued while attending Grace and that we were in the process of paying that debt off. Only when the debt is paid off can Julie and I begin to proceed further with NTM. We have been praying and trusting the Lord that he will provide for us financially as he always has and that we will be faithful in putting extra money towards the debt. Please pray for us in this way. We know that we want to proceed in heading towards NTM and whether God opens up the door for us to go in fall of 08 or a later date. We are praying for sooner rather than later =). What has changed for us in the past 6 months is that we are no longer thinking of what we can do to meet the needs of our debt but rather trusting the Lord to meet it. Another thing that we will need praying for is that while i was down there Macon explained to me that Julie and I could join the mission by becoming associates and start working right away. What is different is that Julie and I would not have to go to the MTC. We are still in limbo about this because we have been praying so long that God would send us to the MTC =). Julie and I are still thinking that we would very much like to go to the MTC but we want to remain open to whatever God has for us. The next year will go by very quickly as we have seen the time fly. So we hope that next year brings us into the training/partnership development or significantly closer to being out of our debt. Again keep us in your prayers and thanks for reading a long post =)

~Chris