Mission2germany

Dear friends,

We never write letters.

That’s a weird way to open a mission trip letter. Our pastor gave us a form letter to follow but that felt even weirder. The truth is that we don’t write anyone letters and if we opened up this letter by pretending this is just the latest in a long chain of correspondence we’ve kept up oh these many years, that would feel as fake as when people run out of things to say and ask you questions like, “hot enough for you?” Wow, that was a really atrocious run on sentence, but we are excited about this trip and we are not going to let sentence structure stand in our way.

If we were you, we would probably be thinking, “They are going on a mission trip?” That’s a completely fair thought. We keep asking ourselves that too. We are not the first couple that people think of when it comes to going on a mission trip to reach others in need. Plus, we’re so busy. Work is really intense right now and this is not a good time to go on a mission trip. But we’re not sure if there is ever a “good time” to go on a mission trip. And we could probably come up with a list of reasons why we shouldn’t go, but we keep coming back to the one reason we should – God loves people.

We’ve been trying to live that in the life we currently have. We mean it’s easy to pray for far off places and far off people, but loving who you live and work with is a challenge. We’ve been trying to see our live as a mission field, not just this trip. And it’s been cool to see the way God has used this new approach to everything from the way we tip at restaurants to the way we treat people in traffic. But now, it’s time to take the things we’ve learned to a new longitude and latitude.

We are going to Germany for at least three years. Going wasn’t a hard decision. When it comes down to it, Jesus laid out a pretty simple religion for us, didn’t He? Love God, love others, and love ourselves. Nope, deciding to go was easy. Paying for it however, is a real challenge.

To be honest with you, we just don’t have $75,000.0 to live in Germany for 3 years, laying about the house, eating baked Tostito chips and watching reality home renovation. So, instead of selling our LED 88 times, we decided to send letters to people we don’t know and ask for something we don’t usually ask for, money. We’d love if you could financially support us on this mission trip. A little, a lot, any would be great. And if you want to know more about the trip, please let us know and we will write you.

The one thing on the form letter we got from church that we agreed with was the request for prayer. If you could pray about the trip, that would be great. As much as God loves mission trips, other people don’t. There will be a whole host of obstacles that pop up and entangle themselves around our ankles as we prepare to go love the people of Germany. And knowing that you are praying would mean a lot to us. We would like you to feel like you are going with us when you give or pray.

Thanks for reading this rambling letter. In case you prefer a more traditional approach to the “can we please have some of your money” letter. We can send you that as well.

Sincerely, James and Terry