30 days and counting . . .

Hello again! It has been quite a while since my last post, and quite a bit has been going on. I am now within a month of my official departure date of Jan. 3rd, 2009, and I am starting to tie together all of the many details of leaving home. Thank you all so much for supporting me through these past six months of fund-raising, preparing, and decision making. I am thankful to be on this side of the process, and as my departure date draws nearer, I find my excitement and anticipation growing. I have been blown away by how vividly I have seen God at work here, and I have been encouraged by His grand provision. I have learned a lot about trusting my Father with each day, with getting on my knees and bring my needs before Him, and practicing patience (and unfortunately I still need more practice). I'm realizing that this last month at home will pass more quickly than the rest have, and I anticipate a lot of "people time" and goodbyes. I am ready to get started, but I am not someone who loves a lot of change all at once, so I expect that God will continue to teach me through each phase of these next two years.

I do have some prayer requests for the month of December:

- Pray that all of the many details of departure will fall into place
-Pray for strength through the many goodbyes over the coming weeks, and a positive perspective on these many life changes
-Pray for quality and encouraging time with my family
-Pray John 15:5 for me as I continue to learn ministry

Some important dates:

- Dec. 28th: Goodbye Open House 2:30-4:30
(First Evangelical Free Church Solid Grounds)
- Jan. 1st: Leaving Lincoln for Dallas
- Jan. 3rd: Plane departs for Costa Rica
- Jan. 6th: First day of Language School
- Jan. 14-22: Latin American Area Conference

I am really looking forward to staying connected with you all while I am gone, and sharing the details of life and ministry in Latin America. Be looking for new posts, pictures and video on this blog, and please feel free to respond at anytime. It would be great to hear from you all. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and a fantastic New Year! God Bless.

96 days to go . . .

So here is another quick up-date for those of you that are tracking along with me in this process. I am so excited to share that I am at 52% of my monthly support, and 36% of my total start-up costs - Praise God for his faithfulness and steadfast grace. The process continues to be both exciting and challenging as I am learning to trust God with each day, and attempting not to worry too much about tomorrow.

I was very encouraged last week while I was listening to an on-line sermon over Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

How cool to think that not only could God do immeasurable more than I ask, but immeasurably more than I can IMAGINE! And I have a great imagination! I love Jesus, he is so cool. So I have been praying that God would not simply bring me to 100% of my budget by my departure date, but that He would do so by December 1st. This would allow me to use my last few weeks to focus on friends, family and departure details.

Can I invite you all to share in this prayer with me as I continue to labor through this support-raising process? I praise God for his many blessings, for you as my brothers and sisters and support team, and for continually amazing me with His glory.

abrazos y besos a todos.

Begin the countdown . . . 120 days

Well, I am up and running! And the countdown has begun, 120 days to departure -

There is so much going on in life right now, but I am praising God for his blessings and his provision. I am excited to share with you all that I am currently at 38% of my total monthly support! I have seen God work in some amazing ways, and I know that I will only reach 100% because of Him! Thanks to all of you who have already joined my team, both prayer and financial - your love and support is invaluable to me.
I plan to use this blog to keep you all up-to-date on my support raising process, and to allow for some interaction after I leave the States. I also hope to be able to share with you my heart and prayer requests for the ministry, and hope you will come along side of me in this way.
Muchas gracias por todo su amor y su confianza en todo que voy a hacer en Peru.

Bethany "first-time-blogger" Kerr