Recharged

This past week has been a challenging one- in a good way. It was also very busy. Last Friday, Feb. 8th, late in the afternoon, we set off for Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, AZ. Our plane landed around 8pm Mountain Time. Our plans that weekend were to reconnect with a couple missionaries there at the Southwest Indian Ministries Center, see the progress that had been made on the new dorms and multi-purpose building, visit a couple different churches, meet Lindsay's Great Aunt and Uncle, and also to interview with their church's Mission Board on Monday.

The construction had progressed quite a bit from when we visited back in May of last year. When we were there at that time, the foundation for the dorm was just being poured. Now, most of the outside of the dorm is finished, most of the framework inside is done, insulation has been sprayed inside, and most of the plumbing is done as well. It is really coming together fast! Also, last time we visited, the multi-purpose building's floor was still being cleaned and mopped and bathrooms were almost finished putting in. Last week, Jon and I were able to enjoy playing basketball (Thanks Steve!), the bathrooms were functional, and the equipment room was stocked. It is so very exciting to see everything coming together!

On Saturday, we were blessed with the opportunity to re-visit the Heard Museum of American Indian Art and History.  We were also able attend a Hoop Dance Contest in Phoenix. Click the following link for more information. http://www.heard.org/hoop/abouthoop.html The hoop dancing was phenomenal. We enjoyed watching dancers from many places including Arizona, Canada, Hawaii, Utah, New Mexico, Tennessee, and California. For pictures, please go to our Facebook page, Jon & Lindsay Birkey.

Saturday evening, we met with Lindsay's Great Aunt and Uncle. We had a wonderful time getting to know them and hearing their stories. They were a great connection for us as we interviewed at their church before the Mission's Board for support on Monday. More on that in a bit. We thank Jim and Esther deeply for their faith in us and their generosity as well as their hospitality.

Sunday morning we visited Grace Bible Church in Sun City (Jim and Esther's Church), early in the morning. We enjoyed our time there. We then visited Trinity Mennonite Church in Glendale, where we met with the senior pastor, youth pastor, and worship leaders. We hope to return and meet with both churches again soon.

Monday afternoon, we interviewed at Grace Bible Church before their Mission's Board. We were challenged as we were reminded that we only have a few short months to raise the rest of our support by the end of May. We needed this reminder in order for us to refocus and recharge our hearts and minds with the mission that the Lord had laid before us. This trip to Arizona was exactly what we had needed to jump-start our support raising efforts. We have new goals in place and feel very refreshed and renewed in the Lord and His plans for the SIMC.

We returned to Indiana Monday evening and arrived at WGM Headquarters in Marion on Tuesday morning to begin our week-long training. We enjoyed meeting two new Missionary Disciple couples as well as reconnecting with another MD couple that we had met previously. We also enjoyed connecting with other missionary couples who were on HMA and meeting with some new and familiar faces of WGM staff. That time was spent attending teaching sessions, cooking and eating meals with one another, doing a work project together, and getting to know one another. We completed the training week on Friday and picked up one very excited dog from Jon's parent's house on Friday evening. We were finally ready for some rest.

Do you need recharged? What is draining you of your energy? Do you need time to refocus? How has the Lord used times in the past to help you rest in Him? We pray that God would reveal to you ways that you are being drained of your energy and focus in the Lord. May He come alongside you and help you find ways to refocus your heart and mind on Him and what He has for you as a part of The Body. May you find rest and fulfillment in the One who created you and may you bring Him glory all the days of your life.

Blessings,

-Jon and Lindsay

How to Cure Summer Boredom

Recently a fellow missionary at the SIMC in Arizona wrote an article for WGM's The Call magazine. We thought we would share it with you. If you want to read this article or other articles about what God is doing through other WGM missionaries around the world check out this link. http://www.wgm.org/boredom

By Billie Sue Dunn, American Indian Field
January-March 2013
Once school starts, children begin to count the days until summer. When I taught school, I would hear the students say after the first day, “Only 179 days to go.” But then when summer would arrive, parents would hear, “I’m bored! When does school start?” Students need activities to keep the summer boredom away.

Summer camps at Southwest Indian Ministries Center on the American Indian Field provide opportunities for children to have a Bible-based camping experience. Four different levels of Bible camp are offered, which includes teen camps and elementary camps.

Campers enjoy devotional time with worship and Bible lessons, crafts, games, sports, cooking and computer classes, and working with puppets. They also have Bible class to study and memorize the theme Bible verse. Making new friends is another key activity at camp. One camper said this about her camping experience: “I laughed, played, sang, and just had fun.”

Campers also have the opportunity to experience fun events like the zoo, circus, baseball games, and story hour at the local library. Swimming is the highlight of every day. Memories are made as the campers do photo projects and assemble scrapbooks to take home. Summer boredom can’t overtake the children with all that happening.

Most importantly, campers have the opportunity to learn what Jesus has done for them. One camper wrote, “As the days went by, I learned more and more on why Jesus died for me, for my sins, for everything.”

Winter weekend camps are also offered to help revitalize the children and their relationships with God. This enables the staff to show Christ’s love to the campers for more than just the week at camp during the summer.

You can be a part of enriching the lives of Native American children. A minimal registration fee of $50 is requested, but that covers only one-third of the $150 cost for each camper. No camper is turned away if he or she is not able to pay the $50. You can become a part of the camp scholarship program, which helps camps be affordable for all Native American children.

The days are counting down until the 2013 summer camping season begins at Southwest Indian Ministries Center. You can play a part in keeping boredom away from Native American children.

You can become a part of the American Indian Field camp scholarship program. Although camp costs $150, any size offering will help send a kid to camp. Send your check to World Gospel Mission and write account #23749-CALL on the memo line.
World Gospel Mission
P.O. Box 948
Marion, IN 46952-0948

Winter Prayer Letter!

Our winter prayer letter is finally finished and heading out in the mail. If you would like to receive these prayer letters in the future, please email us at lindsay.birkey@wgm.org or jon.birkey@wgm.org with your email or mailing address. Click here to view our fall prayer letter online. 

Blessings,

Jon & Lindsay

Christmas Travels

Merry Belated Christmas!

This year we traveled up to Wisconsin and Minnesota to visit Lindsay's family for Christmas. The Lord provided safe travels up and were able to make great time (7 1/4 hrs). Lindsay's parents live in Sparta, WI (about 1/2 hr east of Lacrosse). We enjoyed catching up with her parents as we haven't seen them since last Christmas. We also were able to meet with the pastor of her parents church about getting an opportunity to share about going to AZ. He welcomed us back to share with the congregation sometime in the next couple of months! 

On Christmas Day, we visited Lindsay's grandparents (on her mom's side) for Christmas Lunch. We opened gifts and I (Jon) talked their ears off about Ireland. Hopefully I didn't bore them too much with all the pictures. :) Speaking of pictures....Here is a family photo from Christmas Day. 

On the way back home on Christmas, we dropped in to see Lindsay's grandmother (on her dad's side). She enjoyed seeing all of us again and also watching Amos react to her singing stuffed dog. 

We noticed a winter storm was brewing in Indiana so we took of early this morning from Wisconsin. After a brief stop at my Aunt's house in northwestern Indiana to check on the weather, we finally made it home after 9 1/2 hrs on the road! Ugh. Glad to be back home and sleeping our own bed tonight. We are grateful once again for God's provision and safety and for great times with our family. 

We hope that your Christmas was filled with special memories and fond moments with loved ones. Blessings to you all!

Jon & Lindsay 

Jobs and Family Time

Tonight, we thought we'd update you on our jobs and time spent with family. First, jobs. Jon's job at Pioneer is going well. Harvest lasted till the end of October. Since then they have been packaging seeds. Jon has been doing a lot of fork truck driving. Pioneer has been a good employer. They gave us a turkey for Thanksgiving and have been very good about giving time off when we need it. 

Lindsay's job has been going well also. Recently, she's been sent out to a satellite location of the hospital for a few days each week. She's really enjoying the opportunity to work with kids and their families on a day to day basis. 

This Thanksgiving we were given a couple days off to visit family. We gathered at Jon's Aunt's house in Crown Point, Indiana. It was great to meet up with family from Ohio and around the area. This Christmas, we plan to go visit Lindsay's family up in Wisconsin. Please be praying for good traveling weather as we will have an 8-9 hour drive ahead of us. 

At the end of the month, on the 29th, we will also be welcoming Jon's brother Phillip and his wife, Esther, back from Bangladesh. They were married this summer in Northern Ireland and we will be having a 2nd wedding reception for them back here in the States. We look forward to celebrating with them. 

We hope you are able to enjoy the holiday season in the company of friends and family as well! 

Wishing you safe travels and many blessings in Christ,

-Jon and Lindsay

Apartment

Long time no see...or read...

It has been a while since we have last posted. It isn't because we don't have much to say, we just aren't very good at making time to write new posts. So we apologize for that. 

We wanted to give you an update on our housing situation. After we left Morton, IL in June, we settled into a farm house that was way too big for us. But it was only a temporary stay. We were in the process of helping some friends of ours convert a garage into an apartment. It was finally finished in October and we were able to move in! Imagine moving all your stuff into a one car garage! We actually like it very much. It keeps us from forming a lot of clutter and it's quick to clean. The washer and dryer are pretty sweet too!  Here are some pictures. 

The orange wall is where the garage door is. We sealed it off and boxed it in. 

The checkered room is our bathroom. We have a full shower, toilet, and even a small vanity. The shower wall is actually linoleum. A pretty inexpensive and cool idea. 

You'll notice we don't have any appliances other than the fridge. We use a toaster oven and a two burner cook-top to make our meals with. We use our microwave too. 

We had an interesting first couple of nights at the apartment. Lindsay woke up in the middle of the night to a scratching sound. After looking around, she went back to bed. A few minutes later she heard it again. This time she located the sound coming from a box of nutri-grain bars. She quickly closed the box. Then she shook it and realized it was heavier than it should be. At this point she decided Jon needed to get up. After shaking the box, Jon agreed that there was something in the box that shouldn't be there. They agreed that they had a stow away mouse from the farm house. Jon took it outside and released it. The very next night, Lindsay woke up again to a scratching sound. We aren't sure whether we had two stow aways or the same mouse found its way back in. We set up some sticky traps and caught another one. We have been mouse free and able to sleep through the night since. 

That's all for now. We'll be posting more this week with some more updates about our jobs, fundraising, what's going on in AZ, and family time. 

Blessings,

Jon & Lindsay

Yesterday

James 4:1-3 

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

As I (Lindsay) sat at work a few days ago, a scene from a tv series I had recently watched came to mind. The scene went something like this...there were quite a few people stranded on an island as a result as a plane crash. A group of people was building a raft in hopes of sailing off the island. However, their high hopes were soon crushed when a man who was a high school science teacher approached them. He was concerned about when they were planning on leaving the island in the raft. The monsoon season was approaching. Soon the tides/currents, etc. would shift, causing them to sail off course into less heavily traveled areas, and therefore decreasing their chances of being rescued or spotted on the raft. The group, who was planning to sail out the following day, was quite upset that this man had said nothing to them until that day and asked, "Well, when should we have left?" The man's response was simple..."Yesterday."

This scene flashed back into my mind at work because as I sat in the office, it seemed that the only people who came in to see us that day had one thing in common-- impatience. As I searched for a way to describe what the overwhelming theme of the day was, this phrase came to mind, "Everybody wants everything yesterday." 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not claiming to be the queen of patience, but the situation did make me think quite a bit about today's culture and attitudes as well as the Scripture I had read that morning (posted above). I began to ponder the question, "What causes fights and quarrels among you?" James is puts it simply when he says in the later verses, "You desire but you do not have...You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight."

Today, we are often spoiled with instant answers and results. We don't know the answer to a question, so what do we do? We Google it...and (of course depending on how fast of an internet connection we have), we have the answer almost instantaneously. We want the fastest, latest technology...as soon as it comes out. And this attitude, whether we like it or not, permeates other areas of our life. Put in short, we simply don't like to wait. 

But let's take that a step further. How often does that transfer into our relationship with God? We ask, but we don't receive...at least not when we think we should, or not how we think God should respond. 

I understand that the above is not a new topic, however, I think there is a challenge to be taken from this other than just simply having more patience. The challenge is taking these "unanswered" desires captive as well as the frustration and anger that comes with them. The challenge is to not let these disappointments rule us or ruin our relationships, but use them as an opportunity to grow and mature in character. So, what causes fights and quarrels within you? What causes fights and quarrels among you and others? What causes fights and quarrels among you and God? 

I want to challenge you to search for the answers to these questions. Seek them out. Use them to grow and mature as a disciple. Reconcile your differences- whether they be grudges you hold within yourself, how you've treated someone else, or how you've treated God and your relationship with Him. Are you content with things not going your way yesterday? Are you content with not getting what you wanted today? Are you upset that God hasn't answered you or has answered you in a different way than you expected? How will you react? Will you let it ruin you from the inside out or will you let what you didn't receive yesterday help you grow today?

Blessings,

Jon & Lindsay