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Overview
In December 2007 Joanna
and I were appointed as missionaries to Trieste, Italy by TEAM (The
Evangelical Alliance Mission). As of January 2008 we are
raising support and as soon as that comes in we will be heading to
Italy for language training and then to join our team. As our
support begins to come in, we will be transitioning from our full
time "regular jobs" to full time ministry. Joanna and I are
active our home church, St.
Andrews Evangelical Church, in several capacities
ranging from cleaning to yard crew to small group leaders to being
in the worship leader rotation. We are also finishing up
the Missionary Candidate Training Program at St Andrews. The
program is an intense 2+ year program lead by Vernon Bauer. We
are on the home stretch of the program. The following is an
archive of things that we have been up to.
Prayer Card
March 3, 2008
Columbia, SC
Joanna
and I just finished our new "refrigerator guardian". Double click
the following picture to view the card. You can "right click the
picture and select "save target as" to download it.
St. Andrews Missions
Conference
March 2008
Joanna and I will be participating in
the week long St. Andrews Evangelical Church this March. We always
look forward to the conference but it is a lot of work!
Happy Birthday Grandpa!
February 22, 2008
Wheaton, Il
Today
is Joanna's grandfather Azael Jones' 86th birthday. I wanted to say that
we are grateful for the godly example and great encouragement you have
been to us. May God bless you and may you see many longstanding prayers
answered in this coming year. We love you grandpa!
Grandpa and Grandma Jones in Costa Rica 50+ years
ago.
"Phase 2" at TEAM
February 16-23, 2008
Wheaton, Il
Joanna and I are in Wheaton,
Illinois from February 16-23, 2008 for "Phase 2". The purpose of
Phase 2 is to "learn more about TEAM, support discovery, and
professional development".
CLICK HERE to read the daily updates.
Suzanna Jane Fleming
February 18, 2008
Congrats to my baby brother, Gabriel and his wife
Kelly on their third: 7lb 14oz Suzanna Jane.
 
Why Did We Make the Logo Look Like That?
We styled our December 2007 newsletter after the Starbucks Italian
Roast Coffee logo (Hold mouse over the logo to see the similarities).
Now, when you pass a Starbucks on the road or see it in the grocery
store, we hope that you will remember Joanna and I and the spiritual
condition of Italy in prayer.
Click here to
view the newsletter (when it is open you can save it to your computer).
Phase 2 at TEAM Headquarters
February 18, 2008
Wheaton, Il
As I am
writing this the wind is literally howling outside. The temperature
without the wind chill is 8° F (-11 with the wind chill), but our hearts
are warm with expectation of moving one step closer to serving the Lord
as church planters in Italy! Thanks
to our generous supporters, Joanna and I were able to fly to TEAM's
headquarters (saving us 2 days of driving) for our "Phase 2 Training"
and
Joanna's aunt and uncle, Kathy and Jerry Soen, have loaned us a car for
the week! We are with about 20 other "Appointees" who are
learning about TEAM and where we fit within the organization.
Today (Monday) we focused on TEAM's vision. We were excited to
hear Charlie Davis, TEAM's international director, use TEAM Italy's vision statement
as the model for all ministry areas. What a blessing it will be to work
with a ministry area that is (we are told by many sources) doing so many
things well and reaching ambitious goals.
We
just finished the first day: 12+ hours of mostly sitting through very
informative lectures. My favorites were two sessions with
Charlie Davis and one with Bob Wright. Please pray that as the week
progresses we will be able to process and remember the massive amounts
of information we are being inundated with.
New "Feedback Page" and
Updated "Video Page"
January 22, 2008
We just installed a Feedback Page, so let
us know what you think! Also, we updated the
video page a few days ago, so be sure to check that out.
Happy New Year!
January 2, 2008
This Sunday at St. Andrews
Evangelical Church we will be worshiping God because He is the treasure.
I would like to ask for your prayer that we will recognize God as the
Pearl of Great Price, the person to be treasured above all else in our
lives. Listen to this
John Piper excerpt from desiringgod.org, or watch
the video that we made to
accompany the audio for the service. Piper does a good job of
reminding us of what is important. Thanks to Don Sarazen for finding the clip.
Merry Christmas!
December 24, 2007
Today Joanna and I are
mailing our newsletter. To download a PDF of the letter
"right click" the picture above this text and select "save target as" if
you are using Internet Explorer or "save link as" if you are using
Firefox.
A Special Day
December 18, 2007
Today Joanna and I are
celebrating our 8th anniversary. It seems like yesterday
that we walked down the aisle at Rutledge Chapel. I always looked
forward to being married, but I had no idea that life could be as good
as it is. Every year has truly better than the one before!
As I look at this picture, I am reminded that in the past eight years we
have lost friends and family, and we have new editions in both
categories. Throughout it all God has been faithful, and His
love has been evident all along the way.
We are
Appointed with TEAM
December 11, 2007
The appointment committee
met yesterday and we are officially appointed with TEAM! We have
been "Inquirers", "Applicants", "Candidates", and now we are
"Appointees" (for more on the process click
here). What that means is that deputation (raising prayer and
financial support) has begun. Also, as Appointees we will be
spending a week in February at TEAM's headquarters near Chicago for what
they call Phase 2 training. The purpose of Phase 2 is to learn
more about TEAM and how to deputize. We need your prayers
more than ever! Click here to link to our
Prayer Request Page.
Trip to TEAM headquarters (Yes it's cold in
Chicago)
November 23-28, 2007
Joanna and I drove to TEAM's international headquarters in Wheaton
for what they call
 the
"Placement Consultation". For more on the process of joining
TEAM click
here.
Placement consisted of a series of meetings to
confirm our compatibility with TEAM. The trip served as a huge
encouragement and confirmation that we have been moving in the right
direction! Everyone at TEAM made us feel like part of the
family. We would like to offer a special thanks to Bill and
Kathy Bacheller for their hospitality and for fielding more than
their share of questions about TEAM. Also, it was great to see
Keith, Laura, Elisha, and Noah (you can see them in the first part
of the "trip to TEAM"
gallery) Cathy, Jerry and the Soen family, and Richard,
Christie, Bella and Tommy (the last few pictures in the "trip to
TEAM" part of the
gallery).
It's always refreshing to see old friends and family!
We are Accepted as Candidates
November 16, 2007
All of our paperwork, evaluations,
interviews, and references were compiled and sent to three
independent assessors. Those assessors approved, and today we
were accepted as Candidates with TEAM. The next step is to
meet with TEAM so that we can be "Appointed". Once that
happens we only have to raise support and we're off to Trieste!
Joshua's First Sermon
October 21-22, 2007
Joanna and I attended our first missions
conference as future Missionaries at Cornerstone Bible
Church in Montgomery, Ala. I was asked to preach for the first
time on Sunday and with much fear and trepidation I accepted.
Praise the Lord! His strength was made perfect in my weakness! I
preached on 1 Peter 1:17. Cornerstone has had a huge impact in
both Joanna and my families. Harold Eich, my grandfather, came to
know the Lord at Cornerstone in the 1940's. My grandparents were
married in the same building that I preached my first sermon.
Cornerstone has supported Joanna's grandparents, Azael and Marian Jones,
and her parents, Peter and Debbie Jones, for decades. Cornerstone
was very supportive and encouraging to Joanna and I.
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