More Good News!!!!

Sorry for two posts in one day, but we had been also waiting to hear officially about school, and the news just came in the mail today.....

It's official! Ben will be attending the Missionary Baptist Seminary to receive his Masters!!!

It is such a relief to have finality to decisions that had been prayed about. We now can begin to move forward and prepare for the next step. Thank you everyone who has been praying for us. We absolutely love the men that have come out of this school, and Ben is very excited to dive right in!

God has Provided!

We are very excited to announce that we have been blessed with a home while we are in Arkansas!!!! The generous members of Oak Grove MBC in Benton, Arkansas, under the direction of their pastor, Mr. Vance Nutt, are graciously allowing us to move into their parsonage! This is a HUGE blessing for our family. The seminary has free student housing, but it is set up more for new families with maybe a small child or two. While we would have lived under these cramped conditions so that we could follow God's calling, it is going to be so nice to not have to! Having a home will make our transition so much smoother, especially since we will be homeschooling. I still cannot believe we only have about two months left in Pennsylvania. Each day gets a little harder as we begin to say goodbye to places, people and things.

Just today I took Rianne to her followup appointment with her ENT, Dr. Dohar. I cannot believe it was really the last time we will go to him. This man was a God send to our family. When Rianne was 11 months old, only 13 pounds, and hadn't grown or gained an ounce since she was 4 months old, it was him that discovered she had very severe sleep apnea. She only had 5% of her nostrils functioning because her adenoids were so large. She was only getting 4 min of REM sleep a night and would stop breathing over 150 times during a night's "sleep". He expertly removed her tonsils and adenoids even though his tools were really too big for an 11 month old. He removed Annabelle's adenoids and tonsils a couple years later and put tubes in Rianne's ears. I am so grateful for his skill, but I am even more grateful that he was willing to pray with our pastor before surgery. It's pretty amazing too, because he knows a pediatric ENT in Little Rock and said he would gladly pass our care and any needed info onto him. 

It is relationships like this that take me off guard. I know I am going to miss my family, friends, students and coworkers. However, I am beginning to realize there are so many more people that make up our world that will be missed as well. Our children's bus driver....our dental hygienist....our family doctors....our schools...Mark Bedillion and his farm stand....

We have the night free tonight. I keep telling the kids we need to make a list of all of the places we want to visit one last time before we go. Unfortunately, I think the time has come to start doing just that...

Sentimentally Yours- Anne

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." -Winnie the Pooh

Decisions Have Been Made!!!

Well, if you haven't heard....the Fishers are headed to Arkansas!!!!! After a lot of prayer, seeking wise council and more prayer, we have decided that to be used by God most effectively, we need to be more educated. Ben is already enrolled in the Missionary Training Ministry program online where he will receive an Associate of Missions Degree. He has also applied to the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock, Arkansas, to earn his Masters of Theology. He is hoping to spend two years on campus working on this and then doing the last year from the mission field. This is a huge transition for our family, so we appreciate any and all prayers!

Ben has notified his full-time job that he will be resigning in July. They have been so good to our family for the last 11 years. It is definitely bittersweet. Ben is very excited about being able to get a formal Christian education, but he really enjoyed working for WPP too. It's difficult to give that up, but we know we are following God's Will for our lives, so it makes it somewhat easier. I am not looking forward to leaving all of my Zumba, Barre and Aqua students. They are all so special to me and really give my weeks purpose. We aren't sure yet how we will earn our income in Arkansas. Please be praying that God opens up part-time positions for us that will still allow for flexibility, but also provide financially.

Another area of transition for us, is that I will be homeschooling our children for the first time. Our children currently attend public schools that we absolutely love. The teachers and staff are extraordinary and our children have received a great education. I always said that if God wants me to homeschool, He'd have to be very clear about it! Well, it has become clear that it is time. Because Noah is getting older and we want to prepare him to hopefully join us on the mission field someday, we feel it is best to begin the process now. In the future homeschooling may be our only option, so I prefer to learn the ropes while we are still on US soil! I have begun researching curriculum and am actually getting excited about it. Please pray for us all as we begin this new journey. Right now I am used to having time during the day (by myself) to get things done. I'm praying that even though we will have many hours a day together, we will each find a way to carve out time for ourselves. 

While I am excited for this new adventure, I am anxious about the actual move. Ben and I have lived in our little house in Western PA since we got married almost 14 years ago. This is the only home our children have ever known. The thought of leaving it behind is quite sad. Please pray for each of our hearts as we go through this loss. We know it is just a house, but I know it will feel like so much more. Fortunately, dear friends of ours will be renting it from us. We know they will treat it as their own, and we can come for visits! 

Please say some specific prayers about our move. Our plan is to help with our church's Sports Camp the second week in July, host a family reunion that Saturday, and then make our move the following week at some point. We are beginning to downsize drastically (The Washington City Mission is being over-run with our donations!). This is a really difficult process, but very necessary. We are hoping we can move with a U-haul, so please be praying that it will be possible.

The last area of adjustment, and the very most difficult, is the leaving of family and friends. God has surrounded us with an incredible support system. We have friends that are as close as family. Friends where the husbands are Ben's good friends, the wives are mine and our children are friends. These relationships are such blessings that I do not take for granted. I know they will still be our good friends, but it is going to be very challenging to be away from them. Please pray that God will prepare some families for us in Arkansas that will provide the same enjoyment. Fortunately , we know some already and look forward to getting to know them better! Please be praying for our extended family members; specifically Ben's Gram and my parents. It will be a huge adjustment not having us so close. We are grateful we will still be within a couple days drive, but it will be much harder to get home. 

Our family and friend concerns are absolutely magnified because we will have to leave our church family. It will be a huge challenge being away from them each week. I'm praying God has a special church picked out for us in Arkansas. At this point, it is very hard for me to even consider attending another church on a regular basis. Life Point has been a huge blessing for our family, and I am really dreading leaving. It has been very surreal as we try and prepare to move. Knowing the Wednesdays we get to spend with our Life Group are numbered; knowing I just have two more months to volunteer as Room Leader with LPK; thinking about who will take over our various roles at LP....We are so grateful for the magnitude of blessings we have, but it will make our move so much more difficult...so much loss.

I don't want to leave this blog here. While we will spend months saying goodbye and mourning the losses, we will do so with great joy too. There is no better place to be then in the center of God's Will. While the transitions will not be easy and heartache is inevitable, there is great hope and expectation for our future! I cannot wait to see what God does with our family. I cannot wait to see the experiences he has prepared for us. I cannot wait to serve him in a new capacity! We love and appreciate you all. Thank you so much for joining us in this journey!

Trusting and Believing- Anne

"Now may the God of peace-who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepard of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood-may he equip you with all you need for doing his will." -Hebrews 13: 20-21a

World Missions Seminar

Ben and I had the privilege of attending the World Missions Seminar at Faith Baptist Church of North Little Rock. The seminar is organized by Lynn and Brenda Raburn (pictured above). This is an extraordinary couple that has a heart for missionaries. Having been full-time missionaries out on the field, it became their calling to educate, support, encourage and equip missionaries so that they can be successful on the field. I knew that the seminar would be full of useful information, but I was not prepared for how well it would deal with every aspect of being a missionary. Not only did they teach us about the ins and outs of deputation, finances, planting churches, cooking on the foreign field and more; but, along with their team of highly skilled teachers (including James and Kenya Taylor!!!!), they also taught us about the emotional side of transition, culture shock, leaving your family behind, Inter-personal relationships and conflict resolution. All of these subjects were delivered with the harsh realities, yet with compassion, concern and love. They really prepare the WHOLE missionary to enter the field.

Brenda instructing the ladies about carving out time for God and how to disciple women on the field.

Kenya sharing her heart with us about the marital relationship on the field.

Adapting to the Culture with Lynn

Pre-field Deputation with James

I adore this woman!!!!

The education was phenomenal, the food was delicious and the company was priceless. It was so nice to mingle with others in the same position, others who are in the trenches, and some who have been there done that. I have an even richer support system now that is worth its weight in gold! 

We also thoroughly enjoyed our stay with the O'Kelleys. Prior to this week, we had no idea who they are. However, they have a heart for missionaries so they opened up their home for us to stay in (for free!) for the week. We enjoyed getting to know Clint and Andrea and their adorable girls. It is so nice to know we have some awesome friends in Little Rock now! 

We are so grateful for all of the people that helped to make this trip possible. We thank God for calling the Raburns to serve missionaries. We are blessed to have the Taylors guiding and encouraging us. There are so many more details from the week, but I cannot possibly share them all. If you have an interest in mission work or are already a missionary, I cannot recommend this seminar enough. You can also get additional online training through the Missionary Training Missionary at www.missionarytrainingministry.com We will be returning to the seminar next year, and hope you will be able to join us! Stay tuned to see what else God has in store for the Fishers...

Equipped and Ready- Anne

"Do not fear the Holy Spirit's movement, embrace it." -Terry Parrish

Important Lesson

This past Sunday we had the privilege of sharing our experience with our church. It was hard to condense our trip into 15 minutes, but we love every opportunity we get to talk about it! While preparing what we wanted to share, there was one particular lesson that God has taught me through this, that I felt was very important to share with everyone. In case you were unable to join us, I want to take a moment to share it with you here.

God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Dr. Cortney Cash

 Renee Johnson

Wendi Rogers

For years I was under the impression that God only uses those people that possess a superhuman amount of faith to do His really big jobs. I looked at my Pastor's wife Renee and wondered how she could have had enough faith to move her young family miles away to start a church in a town they have never heard of. I looked at my good friend, Cortney, who was in school to become a doctor and had plans to move to Honduras with her family to be missionaries. I was astounded that anyone would have enough faith to leave a prestigious lifestyle in the States to become a mission doctor. Another friend, Wendi, has just adopted two more Asian children. That makes her the mother of 4 biological children and 5 adopted children. I looked at her and wondered how she could possess such faith as to take all of that on! When I was in MOPS, I heard a woman share about how her husband had been having affairs for years, came home one day and told her didn't love her anymore and wasn't sure he ever had. Yet, they worked through it, reconciled and are happier than they have ever been. I couldn't fathom living through that heartache and having the faith that the situation could improve.

While all of these women are amazing, the thing I didn't realize was that they are all like me, all like you. They do not have an unattainable storehouse of faith. They have the faith they have in those particular situations, because God called them to it. When God calls you to do something in His name, He places a desire in your heart to follow Him that is so strong, you cannot help but follow Him. It doesn't require as much faith as you would expect, because God supplies what you need. However, it does require 2 things:

1) It requires a relationship with Him. You will never hear what He has planned for you, if you are not spending time with Him. If you are not growing in your knowledge of Him. If you are not sharing your heart with Him. If you are not listening for Him.

2) It requires for you to be willing. I'm sure there are many people that God has called to do great things. He was ready to equip them with all they would need to accomplish it. However, they were not willing to take that first step. That first step can be scary. That's where your faith comes in. He wants to see if you have enough faith to take that first step and then He will take it from there. 

The great thing about God's will is that He never gives us the whole plan at once. He only calls us one step at a time. He knows that in our human frailty that we cannot handle the whole grand picture. We will talk ourselves out of it before we even begin. In our story, first He called our family to do a 5 day mission trip together. It required some faith to say yes, to commit to sending 4 people to Jamaica. But then He called me to go to Kenya for a two week mission trip. And then He called Ben to consider becoming a full-time missionary and take our whole family to Kenya. We are only given one step at a time. We are only certain of each next step, and to this day we still aren't sure where we are going to end up. But that's okay! We know Ben is going to further his missionary and theology training so we can be prepared for whatever the next step is.

With each of my friends who are living a life following God's will, they are each able to do so because that is what God has called them to. If you told Renee to pack up and move to Honduras, she would say: "No, I could never do that!" Why? Because God hasn't called her to. If you told Cortney to adopt 5 children from Asia, she would tell you: "No, I could never do that!" Why? Because God hasn't called her to. If you told Wendi to pack up her family and go across the country to plant a church, she would tell you, "No, I could never do that!" Why? Because God hasn't called her to. 

So, I want to caution you. Don't look at others and think they are living these extraordinary lives because God made them extra special. Look at yourself. Ask yourself: "Am I following God with my whole heart and listening for what He has for me? Am I willing to take the next step?" If you can answer yes to both of these questions, then watch out! You have a great story of faith coming. If you aren't quite at the place where you can answer yes, well then it is time to deepen your relationship with Christ. Your story of faithfulness has time to be written too.

Willing and Ready- Anne

"For I can do everything, through Christ who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:13

Our Condolences

I know you have probably been wondering what happened to us...I was hoping to update you while we were in Kenya, but between the expense of internet access and the fact that I only had my phone to post from, it just didn't happen.  Then I intended on posting as soon as we got back, but the adjustment has been so much more difficult than I expected. Between the jet lag, the discrimination over the scare of Ebola and trying to get life back to normal...it just didn't happen. I really didn't want the frustration of it all to overshadow the beauty of our experience, so I waited.

And so, here we are! I have found the ability to sleep, breathe and function again so I will catch you up! 

TRAVELING TO KENYA

The travel there was long, but the kids did great! Our entrance into Kenya was a bit eventful. We landed in Mombasa and after such a long journey and the sudden heat wave Noah got one of his nose bleeds. And of course, this one was bad. This wouldn't have been much of an ordeal, except that as we entered the terminal there was an Ebola checkpoint right there! While we filled out the questionnaire (have you had any unusual bleeding in the past week?...), Ben tried to take Noah into the bathroom to get cleaned up instead of bleeding all over the floor. However, the authorities caught sight of him and had him immediately come through the check point. Fortunately, they were really good with Noah. They took him to the first aid station and put an ice pack on his nose and it immediately stopped bleeding. After getting through customs, we were able to greet James, Clayton and John. I know we must have been quite a sight! 

The fun didn't end there. We had to drive a little over two hours to Malindi. If you have never drove with James on Kenyan roads....well, it's an experience. All was well until about the last ten minutes of the trip when Rianne's stomach couldn't handle it any more. Yep, she vomited all inside the van. I felt so bad because when we pulled in the whole gang was there to meet us. And there we were, blood and vomit stained...um thanks for having us! Fortunately, it didn't seem to phase them too much (Kenya, I can't believe you cleaned out the van and didn't let me do it!!!), and the kids immediately began playing together.

WEEK ONE

I contemplated giving you a day by day breakdown of what we did, but I'm not sure this blog could support it all! For our first week, we were able to assist the Eyes On Christ team by providing eye clinics in various villages. It was such a blessing to get to be a part of this! Not only were we able to provide glasses and sunglasses to them, but we were also able to support and encourage the churches and bible studies by sharing the gospel with the attendees. I got to help with giving the people their glasses. It was really awesome to be there when people could see clearly for the first time. It was remarkable! Ben got to walk through the villages inviting people to come and he got to preach to the crowds while they waited.

The kids really enjoyed playing in the villages; especially Rianne. I have never seen her more in her element than while we were there. I'm pretty sure she could give Pigpen from Charlie Brown a run for his money, but she loved it! It was awesome to see our children bonding with the Taylor kids and Ellanora. I'm hopeful that regardless of where we go from here, that they will have a lifetime of friendship.

WEEK TWO

We really enjoyed our first week of ministry. There was so much that happened that I cannot possibly write about it all! The second week was spent living the missionary life and finding out about life in Kenya. The kids were able to experience Homeschool, we scoped out the local grocery store, visited the health clinic, toured some properties with a land agent, did laundry, ran errands, asked A LOT of questions, participated in the book study and met with James, Clayton and John to go over the future of East Kenya Missions. It was a very full week and I feel like we were able to clear up so many question marks!

 

 

We also managed to find some time to experience the fun that Malindi has to offer. Ben and the girls went on a safari, we got to visit the beach and swim in the Indian Ocean, and we got to visit the Snake Farm. It was really amazing to get to see so much more of God's creation. We are incredibly blessed to have been on this trip as a family. Our children are very grateful that they have had this experience.

It feels like this blog post has done a disservice to our experience. I can't possibly share all of the memories, photos, stories and laughs. I can't explain the fulfillment, joy and frustration. I can't bring you into all of the details. All I can do is attempt to tell you that God is moving in East Kenya. He has some really awesome servants working for Him and we are incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to share in it. We are eager to see how God uses our time in East Kenya in the future, wherever that may be. Unfortunately we can't answer the question, "Are you headed back?" at this time. We appreciate all prayers as we continue to seek His Will. I want to encourage you to listen to God's prompting, whatever it may be. I can assure you that if you follow it, you will have an extraordinary life!

On My Knees, Anne

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." -1 Cor. 2:9