(a long post, which we hope communicates well our hearts)

Stewarding Opportunities...

Many times when we think of the word stewardship we immediately think of our home or finances. It wasn’t until we had some elders from Soma Community Church challenge our church on this issue back in April that my perception was widened. April was a challenging month as we had a great Men’s Retreat and also a week of church and leadership training. Liina and I would say that these principles that we learned during that week have changed our marriage and world upside down. It is like we see the world a little more clearer, a little more simpler. Even though we learned many simple Biblical truths that we all know, the process of integrating them into our lives has been one of constant forgiveness and repentance to make these truths real heart belief. It is quite often that new truth gives us a high sense of conviction, but often I find myself having a low commitment level to making the changes stick. This had to change in my life.

It was over dinner with one of our guest, that our small talk discussion changed directions. How do we steward opportunities? I know many opportunities come and go like thoughts in my mind everyday. I never game much thought of how do I really steward them. Liina was sharing about some of her dreams. Things that God had put on her heart over the past 3 or 4 years. It was 4 years ago that Liina talked to me about some her ideas of which I immediately shot down. I was like, I don’t think so. I feel this is the direction that God has asked me to go, so this is the direction that I am going if you want to come along. She has followed me faithfully, but God has broken me through different men who have spoken truth into me. What about my wife’s dreams? Are they insignificant compared to what I am doing? Will her dreams take away my calling to Estonia? It was after praying about this, I started to go to find wise counsel. Men that I trusted and would be praying for me as I sorted this out. I realized that one of the biggest blessings for a husband is to study his wife, collect information continually, and then make his wife’s dreams come true. Now some dreams may not happen for many years or may take a lifetime, but some are not so hard to make happen right away. Little did I know that God was already moving different plans and things into motion in the background.

It was in May that Liina and I were just sitting and talking. I asked for forgiveness in many matters of the heart and also for being so closed with opportunities. God has blessed us with different talents and abilities and this has caused conflict in our relationship with how to use them together. Our prayer over this past year is that God would change something, so that we could use our talents together. We want to be better teammates. We want to further God’s kingdom together, not as separate individuals.

We began to research as much as we could on Liina’s dream. Liina’s dream was to take a year off of school to go to Africa and us her medical degree working with HIV/AIDS patients. She has felt for so many years that she wants to go to give basic medical care of people who don’t have it. Our research and e-mails took us to several organizations, but through prayer many just did not seem to fit. They fit Liina with the medical, but how would I fit into the picture. How could I help? We just did not have peace about it. Finally we came across an organization that works with the southern 9 countries in Africa. They are called Hands at Work in Africa. Their goal is to help care of 100,000 orphans by 2010. How will they do this? They are helping revitalize the local church to take responsibility for their town or village. They help the church become the life-center of the community. The people in the church are the ones that go door to door helping make sure the HIV/AIDS patients have their medicine. They make sure the orphans and widows are getting taken care of and fed. Many of church members are the ones that are adopting and taking the orphans into their homes. After researching and talking with them, we had found our peace Liina and I. We found a place that we both could use our strengths together for God’s kingdom.

Africa become a real opportunity, but how could we go. I was getting ready for another huge summer of camp ministry. There is so much work to be done here in Estonia. What about Risttee? What about Josiah Venture? How would the finances work? What would our supporters say? How can we communicate this? Is this just a dream?

When it comes to Estonia, God is in control. He knows what needs to be done here. I just need to repent of my pride. God is calling up Estonians to carry the work that was begun. Summer would make a great time to start transitioning more responsibility onto Estonian shoulders. Peep told me not to worry about Risttee. He told me that Risttee is excited for us and this opportunity. Peep said that he doesn’t want the success of our church to be defined by how many people we have in the pews, but by how many people we can send out of the church to do what God has called them to do. Little have we known that God has used us to prepare a new road. There is another couple in our church who are now thinking of going to Africa to serve as missionaries for 2-3 years. Some singles in our church are thinking of going to Africa to serve for a year. We can never know how God will use our stories to influence other around us. Josiah Venture is excited for Liina and I, but also they are glad that I finally will take a break. They have been trying to get me to take a sabbatical for a long time now. Our sending church is also supportive of us taking a sabbatical year off from Estonia. Our family has been supportive of us taking a break from things. Everyone that we have talked to for advice has all supported us in this decision.

So what now God. Ok God, you have taken care of everything but finances. God we are willing to go, but we don’t want this trip to put any financial burden on our supporters was our prayer one night. God has an amazing sense of humor. The very next day I get an out of the blue e-mail from our family about a financial gift given to us from my late Grandma Brock. Everything that we needed to go to Africa, was taken care of. The last excuse that we had for not going, was now taken away. It was a shocking and scary moment. It was a moment that can’t be described when you realize a dream is starting to become a reality. God had removed the final roadblock from our path.

It has been through much prayer that we have been working through how this next year will work. We will be going to South Africa starting in the middle of September. We were planning to stay for 6 months, but have felt that God has shortened that plan to 3 months. Thanks to the several conversations with Hands at Work. After our 3 months, in the middle of December we will be coming to the states. This will be my first home for the holidays since I moved to Estonia 7 years ago. Our plan is to take December and January to rest and spend time praying about the next steps for Liina and I back here in Estonia. God has opened many new opportunities for us to serve together. We just need to find peace with which door to walk through. Starting in February, our hope is to start spending time with the many of you who support us with continued prayer and also financial. I hope that you get to know my wife Liina better, as many of you have not really met her or have had much time to get to know her. Also we will be spending time with partner churches who help us with the many summer camps. We want to really come and spend time getting to know each other better. Also, this sabbatical time in the states will be for spiritual growth and learning. We hope to study, read many books, and attend a couple of conferences that will help us for the next chapter of life. We don’t know what lies ahead, but we know that God is preparing us for the next thing.