Preparations in Progress

The last few weeks we have been preparing physically, spiritually and emotionally to leave our comfort zone in Tennessee to move to Ethiopia to teach at Bingham Academy. We are so thankful to each of you who have joined us in the ministry in Ethiopia through your faithful prayers, financial support and encouragement. We could not do this without you.

PHYSICALLY-We are setting up our garage for a series of BIG yard sales to lessen our load as we store and pack our belongings. We received most of our immunizations during our training in Charlotte last week and will finish the rest up next week. Did you know that Naomi enjoys wearing a live snake around her neck but has a tendency to pass out while receiving shots? We just found out, the hard way!

SPIRITUALLY-The last two weeks at SIM’s headquarters were spent in countless sessions about sharing our faith with those we will be ministering to, handling stress and culture shock, combating spiritual warfare, and much more. We hold to His promise that when we are weak, He is strong. We are praying that the Lord will be glorified in our willingness and obedience.

EMOTIONALLY-We are beginning to say ‘goodbye’ to many people, places, and routines. The girls asked to be home-schooled for the rest of the time in the states and we joyfully obliged. We enjoy the family time together and are working hard to prepare them for an international curriculum at Bingham Academy. All five of us will be learning to speak Amharic, one of the five hardest languages. (Thank goodness most of our teaching will be done in English!) With 256 characters in the Amharic language, we should know our “ABCs” by this time next year!


Prayer Requests
1) Visas to be granted.
2) Adequate financial and prayer support. We have about 50% of our up-front and 30% of our monthly financial support in SIM’s office now. SIM requires all of our support to be pledged by the end of November to guarantee our fly out date of December 27th.
3) Sale of our house.
4) Bingham Academy still needs staff!

Praises

1) Orientation and training went very well for all of us.
2) Jon’s business, MowMaster, is sold!
3) Good health - even through all of the immunizations, travel, and fatigue.

On My Knees
By Mattie Grace

On my knees

I said a prayer

I know God heard

Because He is always there.

I asked for God

To hold me close

This will be

The time I need Him most.

My life is changing

Before my eyes

But to God

It is no surprise.

He’s gone before me

And created His plan

I know He’ll walk with me

And hold my hand.

God is Calling Us to Africa!

We’re going to AFRICA!
Bingham Academy, an international mission school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia URGENTLY needs teachers and dorm parents. After a lot of thought, and prayer, we heard the Lord telling us to GO! So, we applied to teach at Bingham Academy for 2 ½ years. We have been accepted by Bingham as teachers and hope to fly out in January 2006 (VERY soon)!

There is one small twist to this job… we don’t get paid!
Instead, we will be going out with SIM (Serving In Mission - a non-profit mission organization) and raising financial support from churches, family and friends who are interested in being a part of this exciting work in Ethiopia.

Bingham Academy is an interesting place!
There are more than 200 students in grades K-12 from over 20 countries, and teachers from over 6 countries. About 50% of the students are MKs (missionary kids), and the rest are expatriates and nationals. Fortunately for us, the teaching is done (mostly) in English.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the world, with many basic needs!
Parents of Bingham students work in various parts of Ethiopia, helping the locals with clean water projects, farming methods, veterinary medicine, medical clinics, HIV/AIDS work, translation, literacy, and church planting. Our goal is to provide an excellent education for their kids, in a nurturing environment, so they can continue in this work. With our girls, we will also help with other projects over the next few years during our summer breaks and as time permits.

Our hearts’ desire is that we will be faithful servants, just as Isaiah was when he said to the Lord, “Here am I, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) as we fulfill the Great Commission found at the end of Matthew’s gospel: “Go and make disciples of all the nations.”
We would love to hear from you!

CONTACT INFORMATION
If you would like to receive future Newsletters, become a Prayer Partner, or help with our Financial Support, please contact us: jon.parker@sim.org We'd love to hear from you and let you know more about our vision!

Jon, Julie
Lauren, Mattie Grace and Naomi