Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand!

When Destiny, the thing you can’t shake off, get rid of, lose sleep over, outrun or make happen on your own, tugs on your heartstrings, do not insult it by planning to do it. Our timelines are often times the last defense between us and God’s plan to prosper us and bring every knee to bow. I have been under heavy attack the past few weeks spiritually as I have really dug in and sought out what God would have me do with my life. I already had some whispers and leading on the issue so I wasn’t flying blind, but I was, as with all things that the perfect will of God, flying into enemy territory. I believe the Enemy has limited resources and is not greater than He who is in us (God). That said, he’s good at being bad. He’s been practicing evil as a corporate entity for longer than anyone around, he’s never been at a loss for new recruits and endless enlisted re-upping, and he has some pretty intense henchmen: Angels, albeit fallen ones.

 Bottomline, when you seek God and His purpose for your life, know that there are only a few things the Devil cares about, if I can say it that way. Make no mistake, he cares for nothing but himself, but in that inward posture of self-preservation and self-exaltation, he is ever ready to defend people from connecting to God’s depths. He will seek to satiate the non-believer with more of Himself. He will seek to trick the believer into doubting what he or she already claims to know. And he will defend, like a ravenous lion roaming the earth, people from receiving the spiritual leading they need if they are called to start a movement.

Think about the nature of Revival. I know with all my heart it’s always God who is to blame for such beauty as Revival, but He is the one who designed the scenario of resigning Himself to working through the lives, lips and Love of people who would call down His name. So, people are to share in the credit God always intended to gather up with us. Revival started, no matter where you view it in History as an attitude of Belief. One man, or one couple, or some young girl, gathered up quiet time with God, sought Him, heard from Him and did what they knew they were given life to do. Mueller refused to think that money had to ever limit how many children (orphans) he could house in God’s Love and shelter. Moody refused to think a big city could not have the God of the cosmos and of the nooks and crannies infiltrate every corner of it with intimate life-changing Love. Frasier believed he was to not use his God-given talent to play piano at the bed-side of the Queen of England, but rather trek off into the remotest parts of China and show God’s Love to any and all who got in his way. Heidi Baker did not give up when she struggled for a decade moving in and out of mission field countries, often being evicted with no VISA in sight, only to then have a move of God that is unlike Africa has ever seen.

It was an attitude of Belief that these people clung to in those small quiet hours with just them and God. I am so furious at how my mind naturally gravitates toward figuring out how to carry out my Destiny for God. I am called, with my soon-to-be wife, Teale, to go to the mission field and save families and children from fire, poverty and darkness that would never care to learn their name, only gather them up and count them another meal. I know we will slay witch doctors and their gnarly spirits outside the gates of our orphanage! I believe we will one day have dreams where most of the language of those dreams is in the native tongue of those we minister to. I Believe we are going to have a beautiful dwelling on the Field that is able to house people in droves who want to come and experience a new breed of Missionary and how God always intended Love to be. Love is always unleashed because it always carries momentum. It does not fear anything but God in a Holy and reverent way. And it does not bend to man, but comes around Him in an all-encompassing Grace that is never to be bridled but only mounted and ridden straight in to the heart of war and then dearly rested in.

I have been set aside to do something that feels natural to my Spirit and makes others cringe. I’m not better than anyone because of that, but I am called to it. Others are called to be here, stateside, creating awareness of what’s going on in the world and changing their own backyards and neighborhoods by raising Godly families and not allowing their kids to grow up without knowing their neighbors well. They tend to Jerusalem. I am for Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

But I urge you, seek God for that calling He may have for you life. Know first and foremost that everyone has a calling from Heaven and it’s an epic and intense one that needs more people to seriously commit to carrying it out. “Love your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And Love you neighbor as yourself.” Love God and Love others. Simple, difficult, easy and demanding of all you have! The greatest commandment does not read as a suggestion of all you could give to accomplish it…It’s a list of demands that should hold you Holy hostage, confiding in you as to what you will  need to give in order for God’s will to be done.

You are ever in an endless battle of tug-of-War and I stress, it is a War! Please consider before God is you have another calling, perhaps as to where you are to carry out the greatest commandment. It will cost you everything, for all a missionary is, is someone just like everyone else, but they have been given a Holy GPS, a Heaven-directive if you will, as to where to pack up and go. The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few! Let’s be honest, some of the greatest missionaries who are walking the earth right now are not in the field…and I say that with the Revival that is still occurring as we speak ’round the globe. If you do not ask you will not receive. Do not let the flip be true…If you do not receive, you will not ask. That’s lazy Faith and many of us play it safe by not thinking we need to seek God on up-root my life questions. After all, if I give it all over to Him, why do I then need to pack it all up and go somewhere else. Things like, “But God is needed everywhere,” and “I don’t think I would make a good missionary,” are lame excuses from a cracked faith. Do not let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping and seeking what is Right in and by Him.

I dare you to ask Him if you and yours should go somewhere else. If you’re so confident that you are where you’re supposed to be, then why would you not test the Lord’s Good Word and ask Him to confirm that? Perhaps because if you ask impossible things, He will call you sell it all and follow Him. He might ask you to sell your house, your retirement plan and everything else those around you, including Loved ones, call security and wisdom…and then He might tell you to take your lovely wife and 4 little toe-head girls into the heart of Africa. Who are you to argue, but all the more, who are you not to ask. If you do not ask, you do not receive. I would wager that if everyone seriously sought God for where they were to serve God and spread the good news we would have Revival right here at home…for all these people whoa re comfortable or dead set that they belong in the good ’ol USofA would have gone through the dark night of the soul, where they knew they might have to give it all up and go! Not how scary…How exciting!

Again, you’re reading the words of a young buck missionary who is about ready to embark on getting married, having kids within the year after that and hearing from Loved ones about retirement and career jobs more than ever before! I’m in it!! But I know that I am a missionary and that I am going to have one heck of a Father-in-Law one day because he is entering into a relationship where his Son-in-Law is taking his baby girl into the Mission Field…where it’s not always safe, where we will struggle with money to some degree, where people won’t speak our name, where I will have to protect my wife physically perhaps…but we will be rich and right where we are supposed to be! I urge you, ask and then receive! I am seeking right now and it feels phenomenal. I do not even believe God will tell me where because Teale and I already feel in our hearts that we need to find our tribe of people. We find them, and we will find God speaking loud and clear to us about what’s next! The Bread of Life often becomes breadcrumbs for us to Holy follow Him. I don’t even want what’s next…I want Him.

I urge you, engage in this tug-of-War and know that as you near this gift of what you were meant to do from God’s lips Himself, you will encounter all the flaming darts of the Enemy. Even if they hit upon a Holy shield of prayer and Love and Bravery, they still burn and are hot as Hell. Keep going and if you never have asked the tough questions, start going! You should have God show you that you are not a missionary if you think you are not that kind of person. After all, if you’re so convinced you are not to go out and be that kind of Christian, then He will surely affirm that in prayer and through those around you. Here’s to revival both near and far!

Go.Missionary.Go.

As with any relationship that matters and demands the strength to endure more, there comes a time to have the infamous

“DTR” Define The Relationship. All the romanticism and epic dream-work that I had allowed to serenade my thoughts of Ireland had finally run their course. There comes a time when, no matter how compliant and patient Love is, you simply must taste, see and have it in front of you, confront every part of it, ask it for forever, and leave or stay with the answer given.

The entire endeavor to Ireland was steeped in potential future Missionary work, and much like that confronted Love I urged before, I had to come to see, taste, smell and be with Ireland. I’ve been trying dearly to lean into God on this trip and hear from Him what He would tell me about Ireland. As He would have it, He has been dousing all the remaining romantically lit notions I did not admit were still burning strong. He does this out of Love, for artificial light can never be kindled and therefore can never spread.

Ireland is no longer is just flowing red hair, cuddled green hills, endless brave sheep that fear neither traffic nor Americans. It is no longer historic pubs with old grizzled Irish men who speak with hospitable Guinness-kissed accents, or whimsical song and dance routines through cobblestone streets. It is also dirty…and dreary…and tiring, and wet, and spiritually dark and lonesome, and, and, and. All the while Ireland is relentlessly charming, again keeping with the relationship thought, was I to give my heart to it?

God spoke very clearly about Ireland to me. It came simply and strongly as I ran along the Irish coast in Galway with a random Springer Spaniel that had decided to tag-along for my early morning sojourn. My family grew up raising Springer Spaniels and so this was a welcomed playfulness from God as I considered very serious questions with Him.

I loosened my grip on Ireland and God simply asked me this, “Do you want Ireland or something else?” There wasn’t a hint of condescension in the tone nor was there a leaning toward one or the other as far as an answer go…It was simple…what do you want? This was odd because most of my crossroads with God have come with me asking that very same thing to Him. I’m learning however, as we all should and do, that God speaks differently to each of us. Some people have hearts that get ravaged and inspired by literature, and so the Great Author of Love meets them between the binding. I crave and need ownership of what I am doing for God. There is incredible power in God expecting me to make a move, trust Him and simply do.

And so I sat now trying to shut-up my fun 4-legged running partner who was barking incessantly. Me, God, Ireland and the 3 girls back at the b&b who I had traveled with. War feels most real when it can stare you in the face in the silence of just you and your choices. Peace has the same motives in such places: an overwhelming effort to come over someone in absolute power. I know for my heart’s sake, I was freed of a relationship and of a wonder that morning. I knew, miraculously to me, that I did not want Ireland. I wanted the something else. That said, I’ll admit, right then and there along that ocean, I still wanted Ireland. God has a way of thinning out the circumstance and making it simply about desires and Love that you would need to chase after whatever you are considering. It took a simple act of surrender in Ireland to let go of it.

I am, for the first time since I can remember considering missions as a life, free to dig in deep to the 3^rd world settings of the darkest and most forgotten places ‘round the world now. And best of all, it feels of God. Ireland was being considered. The “something else” God offered me was being consummated. World’s of difference between the two.

For some of you who might have not known,  God recently provided me with the greatest girl in the world, and wouldn’t you know it…she wants me to be her husband like nobodies’ business! I want her for a wife for all my life! And so, I have a helpmate to serve alongside in the Mission Field. Crazy part about all of this, God brought a woman into my life who has as deep, and in many ways a deeper, affection for the Mission Field. Our skills when combined are scary to the Devil and I love that we will one day be braving the Mission Field together…healing, Loving and burning the Hell right out of dark places with God’s light.

Mine and Teale’s love is about to get incredibly rambunctious for God in a way that only the drawing near of the Mission Field can do. Pray for us. Ask us what you can pray for and remember, we Love to pray for so many people. So, I dare your heart to find us.

With all my heart…

Go.Missionary.go.

What’s all this pain happening for?
Why isn’t God doing anything about it?
Because lives are perishing all over the place at such a market pace that it’s…astounding.
Why are there 148 million orphans in the world?!
Why is their 27 million slaves in the world today?!

We as the Church can look back and say…

“Well God, exert your will! If that’s your will do something about it!”
God says,

“I’m constrained to work through the hands, the feet, the hearts, the minds and the lips and the lives of my church. And if you do nothing… Nothing is being done!

Why would I serve the Christian God? All this hurt and pain, orphans, slavery, death, hurt…why isn’t He doing anything about. I think He is asking us that very question, all the time, especially when we ask Him that. We have no right to ask questions to which we do not wish and surrender to be the answer to.

God has always been waiting for you, to do His will. This is how He intended it and how He is ever waiting to accomplish it. Even miracles, manifestations of Heaven of which no human can boast in, are still called down by a praying heart. So, if you are hung up on the amount of atrocity, or sitting across from someone who is, and that’s what’s keeping you someone from serving and surrendering to God, then I wager He’s thinking the same thing!

“If only this person would be willing to really do something about this, then they would at last see that I want things right more than they ever could. They don’t serve me because they know me. They lament and stay at bay, when I am more invested in providing an elixir to the very things that they claim would arouse them to joining in My Holy campaign.”

I believe God would never renig on His invite for anyone to join with Him, but how much more is that true when you mention healing the world, making On Earth as it is in Heaven a reality! Don’t associate the attributes of the Devil with the nature of God. He is the healer. Do not excuse away allegiance for God simply because you point out un-acted upon hurt still alive in this world. That is the very purpose of God’s leaning toward earth …Restoration!

There’s never been anything wrong with Christ, only with how Christians carry around His name as they live their lives. Don’t let what’s wrong with Christians keep you from serving what is always Right with Him.

I left nearly 3 months ago to cross 3 oceans in order to serve God in the Mission Field. Before I left on my amazing adventure (New York, Iceland, London, Dubai, Kenya) I prayed a nearly 20 year old prayer.

Lord, help me find my wife…draw her close to me and me closer to her

I embarked on a crazy tale of orphans, witch-doctors, snakes, indifference, demons, tangible Holy Spirit presence and a flat-out breaking of my heart for the things that happen far from our United shores. But the greatest mission field did not find me in the U.K. or tramping around through Dubai, or even in the red dirt of Kenya…it was in an answer to a prayer I had refused to stop chasing long ago.

On one of my first nights in the U.K. I was sitting with my travel companion and fellow missionary, tucked away in a rather cozy and entirely hospitable English home in Leeds. We were doing nothing out of the ordinary…chatting about life and where we respectively might go next. I make it a habit to really lean in and listen to what people are saying when they are talking…always wanted to someone to do that for me growing up and no one did…so I Love them as I would like to be. As I sat there listening to my friend, she randomly started talking about her friend back home who she had recently had somewhat of a falling out with for various reasons.

As I continued to listen I noticed something deep inside of welling up. It didn’t build up slow, it was just there and it kept thrashing about in my heart as though it was making itself at home because it was more than welcome. I actually had the instinctive thought…”This is her, I am hearing about my wife.” I am not one to jump after anyone…ask anyone…I have waited. But when you pray about something incredibly long, you run the risk of beginning to develop a thick-skin along with a resilient heart. I discounted the truth behind that thought, but nevertheless, something was happening.

On the surface, our conversation continued and was nothing seemingly to extraordinary, but what was happening on the inside of me was brilliant…complete with all the trapping of romance, Civil War, and Faith. I remember having to douse those feeling/thoughts so I could focus because they were altogether distracting. After my friend had gone to bed I realized I could not sleep if my life depended on it. I was a bit pissed to tell you the truth. I did not come all the way across the world to start to get distracted by some random girl. But there I sat, clear as day, wide-eyed, unable to deny that whatever this was it was powerful and felt perfectly from God.

The funny part about this back and forth between God and I was that as I sat there in the throes of night, I returned to that same thought…I heard about my wife today. I never asked myself a question, like, I wonder if I heard about my wife today…or…I wonder if that was really her. I felt, knew it was her. Funny how even when you know and feel something, belief still has to be cultivated around it. I repeated my plea to God, “Lord, I only want to be distracted by you and my wife.” I repeated that sentiment in my heart over and over again. I then said it out loud because there’s power in the spoken word. And then clear as Truth, God responded…You are right. You will only think this way about your wife.

My heart didn’t drop, and my knees didn’t become weak (I was lying in bed), but I felt my heart go. It raced and jolted like someone was tugging on it. It sprinted through me like some kind of magic…leaving traces of the Holy Spirit that had waited to come to life for years, coursing through at every turn. The best emotion that found me that night though was how confident I was in this Truth…I had found her. God had finally done it. It felt exceptionally natural…like breathing.

And thus began my new adventure within my already-adventure. I quickly took stock of where I was, and how I would honor my time to both court her from afar as well as be whole-heartedly chasing vision while on the Mission Field. I was determined to let her and Missions both work in concert before God…never competing with one another, but always enabling the other. After setting up boundaries, I quickly began to realize that this was going to be one wild ride because there were a few things that were impossible for me at the outset.

What I mean by impossible is that Teale, who at this time was someone whose name I still did not know, did not like the idea of me because she wanted to honor her friend’s request for help only one moth earlier. Teale’s friend asked her to hold her accountable to not date or “crush” on anyone but God for 9 months. Teale, ever the invester in people’s lives, went all in and pledged to hold her accountable to this. So, since I was on a mission’s trip with her friend (an intimate and sacred setting no matter how intentional you are) it didn’t take much thought to know what I represented to Teale: Her friend’s potential sin.

I was thinking Teale was going to be my wife…while she thought she wanted nothing to do with me.

So, as you can see, things were a bit lop-sided in my direction. I knew for this tryst and relationship to come to pass, Teale would have to be wooed and pulled into a Love that she had no intention of giving me. And so, I prayed. Then I prayed again. I prayed for a whole week about what to do. I finally emailed her. I sent her a word of encouragement, a quick hello and waited to see what happened. She responded back and accepted my friend request because she didn’t want to hear a mouthful from her friend about why she would not accept me as a friend. So, right off the bat, God did me a favor, by commandeering her thinking, which was to do me a favor. We’ll call that in the door!

After I was in the door, I used my wit and commented as humorously on just about everything she posted on facebook. From that God began to quicken her heart and create an interest on her end which I matched with as best-I-could-muster Romance when chasing someone 3 oceans away. God moved quickly in our hearts after we had our first Skype, which found her in San Diego and me in Scotland, she was “all in” as she would put it. I would like to blame her forever-affection on the fact that once she saw me, it was all over…but…it was clearly a God thing. Her heart had been moved on by the Almighty God and when she sat across from me through Skype, that was simply a Holy preparation that had long gone on before.

And so, fast forward to the end of Mission’s trip, which was six weeks ago. I flew straight into San Diego from Africa and spent 3 weeks with Teale. I had waited all my life for her and I wanted to show her how much I meant that by spending holidays with her right off the bat. I spent Thanksgiving with her family and we split Christmas between our families. I asked for her Father’s blessing to ask her to marry me the 2nd time I met him. I have not proposed yet, but all in good time. Letting everyone in her family have the chance to catch up somewhat to where our hearts already are is in every way part of my heart. That said, the proposal is coming. I Love Teale. I am excited to continue to court her and marry this girl! I am excited to start doing ministry with her down in San Diego and eventually head to where we feel the Lord leading us in Missions: The U.K. (Ireland) More about that in the posts to come.

I left for the mission field 3 months ago and found out that falling in Love with Christ and Teale is the greatest mission field of all time. I am more inspired now to wrangle and wrap myself in my vision for the future with missions…AND I now have a teammate to go with. God was good long before I met Teale, but dang He gives the very best of gifts.

We will be having a website soon where you can follow the proposal, the wedding updates, the mission field journey as well as the daily musing and ministry that God entreats us with while down in San Diego. Thank you so much for being part of my journey. My desire for teammates and more supporters as I move toward the Field is ever on my heart. If you have ever thought about saving Ireland from darkness or that thought rouses something in you, then find me, chat with me, and I will share with you the vision that will change your life.

“I pray now for men and women to begin the journey in their heart to be sent into the Harvest that is long been ripe and awaiting them in Ireland.”

I have meant this prayer every time I have prayed it because ever since I considered with my heart what it would mean to give yourself whole-heartedly to another person, I was thoroughly enamored. The thought of being brave enough to serve one person with all you have, be held accountable to that end by God Himself and reap the Joy that must come from waiting and then taking hold of the right person in that Love… let’s just say I was won over by the thought to wait, make war, and call out for a wife.

But God has been stirring another passion in my heart, nearly just as vintage as my longings for a wife: Missions!

And so…I do believe God has given me the girl, and it is now my Hope and privilege to pursue her now more than ever. It’s not easy, especially on as an accelerated track of affection as ours…but it is entirely with the right person. Pray for us that the euphoria of finding each other is met with blood, sweat and tears before God, given freely, laboring in Love to help grow this epic relationship.

I found her. I want her. I am learning her. I am entirely imperfect. God is good. Joy and Rest make Godly warfare.

This is indeed my Epic Lovestory

because this is indeed the girls of God’s dreams for me.

I Love God. I Love Teale. I make Romance and Warfare for both.

(Traded some street boys, addicted to glue, their nasty glue bottles for some ice-cold Fanta sodas.)

So, here’s the skinny of it. A missionary may have all the zeal in the world, but part of their momentum, I believe, is held in the people and the support they are willing to pledge to keep you in your place of service! God enjoys this cooperation and “all-aboard” mentality as He is glorified and sent among the hurting in this world.

That said, my support is only able to keep me here for another two weeks… but, I have much more than that still to do! I am praying to be able to be out here through Christmas.     

Among the projects that I am hoping to be able to stay here and continue (through December) are…

• Building multiple walkways (cement) for the Baby orphanage
• Serving at the baby orphanage, 3x a week,  as their on-site builder and help alleviate some of the interim Director’s responsibility (87 babies!)
• Serve at Mataaw Children’s Home, twice a week, co-overseeing the property while the Directors are back in the States in furlough
• Oversee the final projects at my original children’s shelter… the “Shoe Drive.” (see last blog).
• Etc.

I have had many supporters ask me over this past week what they could possibly do to chime in with supporting me here (and help the kids). Between this blog and last y’all should have every bit of information to both keep supporting me out here to Love on the kids and finish things up properly, as well as bless the kids with some essentials for Christmas.

Please feel free to send me any questions you might have regarding any one of these opportunities to bless. These kids lives are being changed from all the prayer, energy, support and faith all of you have imparted into me. Keeping me out here for a bit longer is one of many ways to bless the kids!

I believe in all of you, and have enjoyed doling out the support everyone has given me thus far by blessing the kids and adults out here with the Love of Jesus. I cherish the opportunity, before ever it happens, to be able to continue to do the same.

If you wish to send support for any of the reasons shared in the last two blogs, please feel free to do just that.

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Mark my name “Justin” in the area labeled “purpose.”

I’m sitting beneath a mosquito net, still batting away bugs from the light on my computer screen as I write this. Yes, I am definitely in Africa! I bet by the time I finish writing this sentence the power would have either flickered off or altogether shut off…Yep, there it goes! T.I.A. (this is Africa). Someone asked me today how long I have been here and I was taken aback when I had to admit to him “Only 12 days.” It’s only been 12 days but I feel like it could have already been 12 months. I have been so privileged to be able to do so much already in my short time, see so many different ministries, and genuinely serve in all of them.

Some of what I have been involved in thus far…

I’ve held AIDS babies until they fell asleep in my arms, helped dress for bed 89 under 4 year olds in an electricity deprived shelter…twice, I have played soccer with kids so far removed from society that some had never seen a Mzungu (white person), dressed wounds, ran children shelter kids to the hospital, waited in line at a clinic’s overflowing AIDS seating, preached to a Swahili speaking congregation, built a 5o foot sidewalk for kids at a Baby shelter, learned how to farm like a Kenyan, led worship, prayed against witchcraft, chopped grass with a machete, cooked Chai, hand-washed more clothes than Whirlpool, gotten stuck in the mud…twice, got chased by Thunderstorms and a Black Mamba, and so much more…

I can truly say I have seen God’s hand move in and around all that I have been a part of as of yet. I have been able to serve the missionary girl whom invited me to the Children’s Home that I am currently serving at by taking a lot of the pressure off of running the Children’s Home. I have made at least a good solid dozen contacts, from huge families to single people out here, all having invaluable insight into what they feel God is up to out here in Kenya. I have learned things from these relationships that took them years to learn.

All of these contacts have yielded many opportunities and I have felt a good pressure to sift through all that has been made available to me as I discern how to best continue and conclude my time out here. I have prayed thoroughly and consistently and have agreed with God that the following is what best serves what I need to do to prepare for the future in missions and honor right now while already being here.

I will continue to serve in Kitale, Kenya with “In-Step” (baby orphanage) building cement pathways and industrial sized chicken coupes. I’ll also help direct the overall management of the home as their directors will be heading back to the States on Furlough for 5 weeks in early December.

I will be splitting my time between In-Step and Malawa Ministries, which is run by a young married couple from Texas named Kim and Bud. I bonded very quick with both of them and could see myself doing what they do in the coming years and want to learn as much as possible from them during my time here.

This is where you the supporters come in…I intend on my time between In-Step and Malawa to keep me busy ’til about just after Christmas. If my support stays where it is at right now then I will have just enough to swing back through the U.K. to speak once more in Scotland and then head home to the States. My heart would like a few more things to happen.

I would love the opportunity to visit Heidi Baker and her ministries over Christmas break (13th-29th). Counting airfare, this trip will cost me roughly $450, which is great considering it is the very worst time to travel price-wise. I have always valued Heidi’s ministries and know I could learn so much from her if given the chance.

Along with wanting to visit Heidi’s ministry toward the end of my time here, I would also like to bless at least one, if not all of the 3 children’s homes I work at with various items. My hope is to bless the off-the-beaten-path home out in Burindi with clothes and toothbrushes…the “In-Step” baby orphanage with shoes (preferably Crocs) that won’t get dirty all the time (see facebook pics)…and Kim and Bud’s Malawa Children’s Home with a weed-wacker from in town. Each gift serves a dear purpose…From cleaning their teeth and preventing infections, to having clean shoes and preventing sores from developing, to keeping the grass/weeds manicured enough to not allow exceptionally poisonous snakes to creep the Children’s play areas.

If any church is excited about these ideas, please let me know. I’ve already have supporters chime in with amazing gifts… Soccer jerseys from England, bracelets from California, chocolate from Scotland, etc. But more is always needed. The trick is giving what they actually need. I can provide you with that information. You need only react.

I will list the items and prices below for any hearts who are interested. Kitale, Kenya is notorious for having a corrupt postal service, often confiscating goods that look just that…“good.” So, while it might not seem conventional, donate toward me through my church’s website, and mark under “purpose” where you would like the money distributed…shoes, toothbrushes, or weed-wacker. I will keep three separate accounts up and running for each of these gifts. All the gifts are to prevent harm to orphans, so I can’t think of a better to share a few bucks with Christmas coming up. I felt it heavy on my heart to share with everyone what was available to support. I will happily throw pictures up on my facebook of all you helped make a reality!

Prayer Requests!

Healthy…Thank you for your prayers for both now, before and in the time to come. It’s only been a 11 days, but I can feel it in my bones. It’s a good tired, but still just that. As construction and traveling begin to coincide, I imagine fighting fatigue will have to become a disciplined art-form. Pray I can stay disciplined and healthy during the rest of my time here.

Open Doors…Pray God continues to speak loudly and clearly and much is going on both here and back in the States. Lot’s of people are very excited to support what God has been showing through my time here. I would Love to have a way for everyone who wishes it to jump on board with what God has called me to.

Big Things…I feel as though big decisions and change are just around the corner. It’s an odd thing to think about more change considering I am still living in change (Africa), but I feel it coming nonetheless. Pray I can not focus on it or anything else but the Big Things God is trying to show me right now all around me.

Thank you again for your help, both financially and spiritually. You are my family, some by blood, many by faith, all by Love. I respect what you do. Because of what you do, I can do what I was made to do.

, With all Joy, Struggle and Adventure Africa comes with

Justin Gunter

go.missionary.go.

facebook.com/justingunter

Children’s Home items…

1.) 87 pairs of new shoes (baby orphanage)…$100

2.) 100 toothbrushes (two children’s homes)…$20

3.) Basic medicine for isolated/poor Children’s Home…$40 *this will last them 8 months)

www.remnantloves.me click “donate” then mark my name “Justin” AND for what gift “tooth,” “shoes,” “medicine”

My heart and mind are racing this morning with excitement. It might go without saying, but I really enjoy the time when I sit down and report to all of you about what God is doing out here on the Field. Sharing this life’s work with all of you is a mixture of humility and privilege and refreshes the truth: I live in a unique and constant place of blessing just now, having access to your prayers and strength and continuing to be able to chime in from corners of the world that you help keep me at. God is using each and every one of you and I pray for more of you as I seek more of God.

Good news…The U.K. portion of my trip is coming to a close! I am delighted to say that I have accomplished all I felt led to come here and do. I have spoken with dozens of Irish men and women who have both braved the Ministry as well as called Ireland and the U.K. home now for longer than I have been alive. It is in sitting across from the pub table, or the tiny living rooms that I see it…the genuine joy, fear and hope that comes out of these people’s faces and inflections…That is where God has given me such treasure and vision on this trip. I now have exactly what I need to pray effectively about whether or not the U.K. and Ireland will be a home for future ministry.

Preaching…

“There is no way a dark, dying, spiritually struggling country was not going to let an energetic, young, fiery man who wants to talk about Jesus all the time, call the U.K. home for a while and not fling him up behind a pulpit.” (Renfrew Baptist member)

Just this past Sunday I preached in a church that has been around since the 1800′s. Renfrew Baptist Church and lead Minister Brian Luse, who was my Pastor back 5 years ago in the States while I was at Seminary, invited me to bring God’s message to them. And I did! I spoke on Revival…“Why not Renfrew.” It deeply impacted many of the congregation and they have invited me back to come and speak on my way back from Africa. This was a wonderful step of Faith for me to have the chance to take, and I pray I have caught the “preaching bug” as Pastors call it before I enter a part of the world (Africa) that will look to me to do this very thing!

Africa…

I am excited to say that the tickets have been bought! All the details were in place long before the tickets were purchased, but there is something sobering and freeing about buying the tickets. I depart for Kenya on the 17th of this month (5 days!) I am flying into Nairobi and then have a 10 hour trek up to Kitale in the North where I will be stationed. From everything that has been communicated my way, there are people praying for me and I will hit the ground running as soon as I set foot in that place. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Please bare with me as I am going to not have as many opportunities to so easily jump on the internet and communicate with you all once I call Africa home. Know that I will protect the day(s) during the week that I am able to have internet communication, and I consider it part of my Mission to keep you, my family, informed as to all that happens out here. Know I will do my very best in the coming weeks with my new home in Africa.

Praise Notes!

I have heard from the Kenyan Govt/Embassy directly that I do not need any more vaccinations than I already have. In short…when I show up in 5 days, I will be let in! Please keep praying for this to be the case, as this is something the Enemy loves to do to missionaries. I am believing I will not be held up at the border, and I want you to believe in that as well!

Prayer Requests

Confidence.
That I keep, in my heart and on my lips, the “preaching bug.”

Discipline.
That I keep the discipline that God has given me during my days here. It is up early, up late, chasing God and wanting more!

Joy.
That I would only focus on what God wants me to! I want my focus to be razor sharp so my Joy is ready to go!

with all my heart

Eph. 3:20

Justin Gunter

go.Missionary.go.

I am here! I made it into the U.K. 3 days ago counting this morning. Two different families have opened up their homes to me during this, the beginning part of my Mission’s trip. Margaret and Martin McGuire are a semi-retired couple whose hospitality ages like a fine wine. They are young in spirit and have helped me around town, with me often shuffling to keep up. We’ve even had burgers and pizza the past few nights…A touch of home on the dinner plate.

The Hindleys are an amazing family that live roughly 10 minutes across town from the McGuires. Brian and Rose are a wonderful Mom and Dad and treat my like one of the boys! We recently went to Temple Newsam, a countryside estate that looks like something straight out of Pride and Prejudice. We consecrated it by playing football (soccer) all over its enormous fields. We got extremely muddy and man points were awarded!

I would encourage you to pray for them both as their Love is continued to be poured out on both myself and my calling. The McGuires and the Hindleys are their names. (Left: Adam and Alex Hindley)

Hurdles…

Before I left I contacted Kaiser to see if I had any vaccinations from childhood still outstanding. At that time they informed me I had all my shots up  to speed. I left for this trip under that notion. I just received an email from them that they had “made a mistake” and that I never finished my Hep A&B shots. This means I will need to start over with that series of vaccinations before I leave for Africa.

Main problem now is, Hep A&B vaccinations usually take 6 months to administer as a series of 3 shots. I called Kenya and they told me that they would probably not allow me to enter into their country without the shots successfully completed.

The only possibility of averting this hindrance is an accelerated form of the vaccination, which could be completed in as quick as 1 month’s time. However, even with this new accelerated option of vaccination, I still run up against the problem of having to prolong my Africa trip a good few weeks, which could ultimately prove to be too long of a delay to still serve in Africa in the way I was planning to.

So, with a very deep breath and a very surrendered plea, join with me in asking God’s leading for the unfolding of what is supposed to be next. A hospital giving me bad information cannot de-rail God’s plan for my life and calling, but, as it would seem, it might allow God to show off a bit by tweaking things, moving even more pieces around and aligning things in such a way that either the U.K. or Africa get an even more intense ownership of this time in my life.

Prayer Requests…

I am waiting to hear back from my Kenya contacts to see, even with the possible new accelerated vaccination timeline, if that will still allow me to serve in the orphanage/children’s shelter as originally planned. I am also awaiting word back from various YWAM bases in the area which was my initial interest when considering where to serve in the U.K. I will be traveling to Ireland within days and will update all of you on when and where that trip will lead me. Pray for speedy contact and clear answers about serving in this part of the world. 

I live in Christ.

I come alive in this part of the world.

I live through your prayers.

With all my Love.

Justin Gunter

www.facebook.com/justingunter

www.twitter.com/gomissionarygo

justingunter@gmail.com

Dear family and friends,

I pray this letter finds you well. It has been quite the journey thus far pursuing Missionary work, and although the plan did not end up as I originally intended, God is in control. In fact, He has brought together a greater opportunity than I could ever have hoped to orchestrate myself. (Eph 3.20)

My past 4 months of pursuing Missions

Month 1

Pursued Ireland…VISA delayed, volcano erupted, contact fell through.

Month 2

Pursued Africa…More VISA issues and my contacts fell through.

Month 3 and 4

Waited on God to move for a patient two months…

God brought BOTH

Ireland AND Africa to me!

And now…I am embarking on the details below.

IRELAND

I depart September 24th for Ireland! I will spend the better part of three weeks meeting up with Pastors and church-planters from Dublin to Belfast, witnessing how God is moving throughout Ireland. I will be specifically leaning deep into my conversations, trying endlessly to learn about the culture, the movement of God, or lack thereof, and what has worked and failed for the church in Eire thus far. I will learn Ireland so I can then pray about living it.

AFRICA

After my month in Ireland it’s off to Kenya for at least 3 months to pursue the other side of the vision God has planted in me: Working with children at risk and planting orphanages. I will be traveling to Kitale, Kenya where I will be working in an orphanage and Rescue Shelter for at-risk children. While serving in Kenya I will have dozens of children under my care and leadership.

The Support Rundown

Both legs of this vision trip are not without cost, although in each case God has worked incredibly to make this entire Mission affordable. I have, as of September 14^th, gathered nearly 77% of my necessary support and know that God will inspire the right people to invest into what is going to be a lifetime in the Mission Field. Below are the costs for each leg for those of you who think best with numbers and visuals.

Ireland – $900

Kenya – $2,800

*This is including airfare, Praise God!

Communication

I aim to be the missionary that is never left on your refrigerator beneath a magnet. That said, I will be doing my very best to include all of you in this journey who remain back in the States.

I will be updating my blog/newsletter/twitter every 2 weeks with stories, videos, pictures, etc from this journey. I will also be leaning heavily on those praying for me and encourage those who are willing to commit to prayer to print out and pray over the prayer requests I report back with weekly.

While God is certainly enough, He longs to see His power witnessed through His people and so I fully agree with Him that I am undertaking this trip with all of you in my corner, praying, fasting, fighting and believing in and through me.

I felt in prayer the other day from God,

“I’m just getting started.”

To that I say,

I am willing. I am ready. Let’s do this thing Jesus!

Thank you, with everything in me, thank you.

Justin Gunter

God is good. I am not. Hooray!

Skype name: JustinGunter

www.remnantloves.me

www.twitter.com/gomissionarygo

justingunter@gmail.com

To donate go to www.Remnantloves.me, click “give”, click “donate” Write “Justin” in the purpose box.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

- 1st Corinthians 13:12

It was nearly 6 months ago to the day that I began to “pull the trigger” as it were on following the Lord’s leading on my heart to head to the Mission Field.

It seemed simple enough: Allow God to fill me with bravery and abandon. Allow those traits to permeate my every motive. Ride that strength and freedom into the Mission Field (Ireland). Funny how the most confusing things often times have the simplest roots.

If you follow this time-line you will see God’s protection at its finest…

– 2 months ago I had my VISA delayed. This delay persisted and kept me from entering Ireland, causing me to cancel my original flight

– 2 weeks after I canceled my flight, I learned that the church I would have been serving in would not have been able to accommodate me as they were undergoing many as-of-late changes.

- 2 weeks after that I received a letter from the main ministry organization I would have been working with, informing me they no longer felt they could accommodate my missionary hopes.

As you can see, had I been able to go to Ireland as I originally intended on June 3rd, it would have taken only a few short weeks for me to find myself without a church to serve in, or without my main source of ministry. That would have been an adventure no doubt, but likewise a disappointment. But out of the ashes of disappointment can once again arise the intended fire. Ireland’s door being shut in my face only emboldened me to remember why I was doing any of this; Why I was going through the inconvenience of raising support to craft a life that would be one of inconvenience, sacrifice and foreign shores. I have been made by God to be a missionary! And by God I will do so!

As I returned to God in prayer after these handful of set-backs began to mount up I distinctively felt as though I had done what was asked of me…“Pull the trigger.” I never had a back-up plan, because my plan was and is to go to the Mission Field and get my feet wet with what I believe is my calling in life. My mode of attack for this plan was, at first charge, the shores of Ireland. I’ve always Loved Ireland and I always will, and perhaps one day I will get to grace her shores and spend time with God’s island. But my calling is much bigger than a strategy, a mode of attack, a VISA delay, a disgruntled volcano and certainly bigger than Ireland. And so, I bid a confident “Slan Eire” (goodbye Ireland).

As it so happened, God gave me many ideas as to how to attack and carry out this plan of the Misson Field at the outset. One of those many ideas was working with Iris Ministries. The founding lady, Heidi Baker, is someone I deeply respect and furthermore, someone I always considered to be “my tribe.” Ireland might be a place that holds my heart, but Iris, and Heidi Baker, are my kind of people.

That said, I am “pulling the trigger” once again in devoting myself to going to the Mission Field to serve with Iris Ministries. They have a Harvest School, in Pemba Mozambique, which is their main form of receiving missionaries which begins Oct 8th lasting until just after Christmas. The cost of this trip is slightly higher than Ireland, but God’s work will never lack God’s funding. Ireland was not a mistake, nor was it even a deep seed of disappointment. On the contrary, I feel had I not had the opportunity to lay my heart’s desire before my God and be willing to count going to the Mission Field of more value than going to Ireland, I might have toiled in my own details instead of God’s overall plan for me.

I would give up anything to serve Jesus and that is why utter passion, determination and virtue steer my course when all too familiar fear and hesitation try to nestle up to all things uncertain in my future.

I do not need details to be certain of God’s Love for me. I can serve a God who does not fully explain Himself at times.             I trust Him.

In fact, and it does take practice to truly mean this, I actually relish when I do not have the details all neatly before me…that kind of adventure and trust demands devotion and surrender, and that is the only posture I ever want to serve from.

With confidence now firmly in my sails, I will be updating everyone on here as to what the next few weeks/months looks like.

Prayer requests…

- That I would trust in God as I prepare for Iris and for what I know will be world’s different from the anticipations of Ireland.

- A short-term job until I leave in October.

- I wish impart to and empower other leaders in my church, ensuring little to no difficultly in the church’s transition.

- More support, both prayerfully, and financially. I have $2,000 currently raised. I need $3,900. (This is easy for GOD!)

- Focus! I want to remain faithful to here and now even while preparing for what’s next.

*I promise to make other prayer requests available to you as they reveal themselves to me.

With all my Love…absolutely all of it.

Justin Gunter

God is good. I am not. Hooray!

707.333.9036

Go.missionary.go