We Fly Tommorow!

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The Last Three Days

Wow! Things are getting crazy around here! We want to share with you a bit of what we have been experiencing these last few days.

On saturday we got these little cameras called a Digital Clover. These little guys will be able to fit on our keychains so we can have a camera everywhere we go! We are pretty excited about these and have been playing with them! (Pictures coming soon!)

Sunday we got to have the great pleasure of going back to Chicago to Vist with Colins family as we all celebrated his grandparents 50th anniversary party! It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed meeting so many new people, and enjoying the company of those we haven't gotten to see in a while.

Today! We began packing and taking care of random loose ends! We didn't realize we had this much junk! Crazy! We are getting tired quick and it seems a bit overwhelming, however it's also exciting because we are getting more and more ready to get to the Philippines!

Please Pray For-
-The interns already arrived in Manila, and their orientation process
-Or need to continue to raise financial support
-That we get everything packed up in time and that our apartment will find another tenant by thursday to move in so we don't have to pay early cancellation fees on our lease
-That we would be able to find time to rest as we have a lot to do before we take off

As always thank you for your prayer support, financial support, and encouragement as we go down this path. We couldn't be doing this without the Grace of God, and his spirit moving you, so thank you for your faith!

Colin & Rachel

Huntington Tour

Well the time to leave is getting close! We made a video to show what our life in Huntington is like to show to our host family in Manila, and to document this town that we have lived in for the last few years.
Enjoy!

-Colin

A poem... sorta.

Once upon a time,
There was a little rhyme.

It was gracious and cute,
with class to boot,
looking for friends to recruit.

It spoke on behalf
of missionary staff
moving to Manila to live.

In order to go,
The reader must know
that some happy soul must give.

So please if you will,
out of your charity to spill
finances for Colin and Rachel.

www.wycliffeassociates.org/links/donatenow

The Parable of The two Debtors

Hey everybody,
This past Sunday I had the great honor of being able to teach at the 509 Community the passage Luke 7:36-50. The recording is available at the following link if you would like to listen to what I had prepared.

http://www.509community.com/audio/audiofiles/download.php?filename=Sunday_05_22_2011.mp3

It was a great week of preparation. I learned a lot this week through preparing to speak. The ending was really hard coming, and it was really awesome to see how God just taught me that its not about me wrapping up things perfectly and neatly, and that I should leave room for people to approach the text as well.

Enjoy, and thanks for listening,
Colin

Thrill.

This is both an illustration of what the rapture MIGHT have looked like yesterday (inside joke to my fellow 509ers), and an unfortunate image to enhance the following overused roller coaster metaphor. Perhaps with this in mind, you will excuse the cliche. If not, just enjoy the look on left front guy's face.

I woke up from a nap this afternoon with an anticipation that felt like a burning in my stomach and chest. You know that feeling when you are waiting in line for a rollercoaster? …or the one you get as it is clicking its way to the peak of the first major drop?

Thrilled.
I am THRILLED.

All of a sudden I am uncontrollably, unimaginably excited about this move to South East Asia. Before, I was just trying to survive my final semester of classes. Now, my body is buzzing with an adventurous spirit born out of a holy trust.

I trust God.

This realization was so blissful that I could not imagine going back to sleep. I had to share it… with my family, with my friends, with those who I have yet to meet in person, and with those who also are on a path towards submitting their lives to Christ.

HE has reminded me that there is nothing that I can do to earn His blessing. As much as a strive to do things on my own, and as much as I despair when they inevitably fail, He provides in His perfect timing.

It was a silly yard sale.

I poured all of my time and energy into a community yard sale this past weekend. Many people from the 509 donated items to sell as a fundraiser for our missions work. I drove 5 hours to and from my hometown to retrieve an SUV laboriously packed of things to sell by my father. I woke up very very early after late nights of organizing to haul out tables from the church’s basement and boxes of stuff to display. Friends came to help despite the early morning and the heat.

Not many people came. Many people sloooooowly drove by to check out the sale… and then kept going. I was very discouraged. I felt like a failure. I wanted to take the financial provision for the move into my own hands. Hear this, I’m not saying that partnering with God is wrong. He graciously chooses to involve us in the unfolding of His plan. What I am saying is that when we expect to be blessed because of our own labor, we labor in vain.

God gives because He loves… not because we have found a formula for blessing.

So we wait. We pray and we wait. We labor in love and not in expectation.

It is amazingly freeing to realize that this adventure’s success is not going to happen because of my striving. Colin and I are on a rollercoaster of God’s design, and we are going exactly where we should be.

Goodbye classrooms, HELLO Monsoon Studio!

I am officially DONE with my on-campus course work.

I have put together an emotional series of images to best express my joy.

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Try to to cry.

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I will no longer be paying a billion dollars to sit in a windowless class room.

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My grim determination has paid off.

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I am a victorious... and about to get buff because I will finally have the time to work out.

 That is all.
-Rachel