Happy New Year Friends, Family, and Partners in the Gospel!
We hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years! Jen and I have been enjoying our time in the States and have been making some good connections thus far!
We wanted to send a quick update out to let you know some things to be praying about.
Trip to Oregon this week…
If you didn’t know, Jen and I have been in the States doing some work to prepare for our next season of life (which we’ll talk about in a minute). In the next couple of days we’ll be driving from Sacramento up to Oregon for a bit of time. Please pray for safe travel for us! And speaking of travel…we got in a little bit of a fender bender (even though no fenders were bent) yesterday. We were rear-ended at a stoplight last night and while the car is fine, our necks aren’t! We’re both in a bit of pain and are trying to get to a chiropractor before we drive up in the next couple of days. Please pray that our pains aren’t serious and they’ll go away with a few jerks and twists by a certified professional.
Speaking of pains…
Spanish Visa Update
In order to apply for our visas, we must first get a letter from the Spanish government approving us to begin the application here. We’re hoping to get that letter from our co-worker in Madrid in the next few weeks. Please pray that we get that letter soon so we can apply before we’re scheduled to return Europe.
In addition to needing this letter, there is a chance that we are going to need some documents from France. If this ends up being true we are going to need some major prayer (and help) to get this done. Calling the Spanish Consulate is easy, but actually talking to someone has proven impossible thus far!
Please pray that God will make our way clear in applying for our visas. And if He has other plans, pray that God gives us peace and wisdom about how to move forward!
So, why are we back in the US again?
Honestly, we’ve felt like we’ve spent way too much time in the US! We want to be in Barcelona and are really looking forward to settling there and getting started in ministry. But we also believe that our best work will come from within a team, not just from us being there alone forever! Please pray that God will work in people’s hearts and give like-minded people a burden to live out the Kingdom in Barcelona with us.
We’re also back in the States to begin to raise more awareness about our project in Barcelona to our supporters, friends, and other Church leaders. The more people we have praying for us and sending us out the better! So to that end, we’ll be soon sending out information about a gathering in Portland! For our friends in Sacramento, we’ll be organizing a gathering when we’re passing back through in February!
Our Timeline to Barcelona
Our 18 months of moving and transition has taught us a lot! One of the lessons that we’ve learned is that we aren’t made to live like this! We miss having a home. We miss being in a neighborhood where we have the chance to know other people. We even miss routine! Because of these things (and more) we’ve asked CA to consider letting us move to Barcelona sooner than later. Please be with us all as we process this decision. Pray that God will give us all wisdom and that we’ll receive His plans with gratitude and a faithful spirit. Pray that God would begin developing relationships for us to step into in Barcelona even now.
Personal Life Update
One of our desires in our prayer team updates is that you guys know as clearly as possible how we are feeling and how you can be praying for us. So…here’s the real deal: We are tired. We are ready to end our time of transition and we are ready to build a home. We are more than ready to bring stability to Maisie’s life and our own. We are ready to dive back into ministry and give flesh to the lessons that we’ve been learning over the past few years. So here’s our request: Please pray that we feel God’s peace and closeness. Pray that we won’t forget that Jesus is walking through this time with us and empathizing with our struggles. I was reminded this past week about the power of prayer and I know that as we all go to God with these things that we’ll receive them all and more!
Quick List of Prayer Requests
Pray…
1. for our physical healing and for travel to Oregon
2. for our visa application to be seamless
3. that God would bring people into our lives with a passion to see the Kingdom expressed in Barcelona
4. that God would open doors for us to move to Barcelona soon!
5. for our souls to feel God’s rest, comfort, encouragement, and joy as we get closer to the end of a tiring season of life.
We are so thankful for you all and the time you spend with our God on our behalf. We are so grateful to have a community of people who believe in God’s work in our lives, who send us out, and who pray for us.
So much for this email being quick! Thanks for keeping up with our lives and ministry! We’ll be in touch soon and we can’t tell you enough how excited we are to share stories of how God is changing lives in Barcelona!
Talk to you soon!
Grace and Peace,
Justin, Jen, and Maisie
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