Looking To 2012

Happy New Year!

As we look back over the last year, it is amazing to see God's footprints next to ours along the path that we did not expect to be traveling. This is the time of year to reflect, and I hope as you reflect over your past 12 months on this side of Heaven, that you are able to see our Savior's footprints along yours as well.

As we look back at our journey through 2011, we see those footprints as so many prayers, notes, donations, messages... etc.

It is truly humbling to look back at a full year of so many friends, family, and even strangers that have joined with us in the vision of us and our organization, to break the cycle of generational poverty with the orphan child in Cancún, Mexico.

Even as we look back at how faithful God has been in bringing us to this point over the last year, we are even more excited about what He has planned for this next year!

We are picking up our Uhual trailer on Tuesday, January 3, packing on January 4, and leaving for our road trip to Miami on January 5. We then have 5 days to travel down to Miami where we will be unloading everything into the Freight company's warehouse and delivering our car to the port for shipment and flying to Cancún on January 11.

We are so excited to begin this new year in Mexico and finally, after 16 months of preparing, beginning this new chapter of life.

Thank you so much to all of you who have partnered with us financially, through prayer, and by helping us with fundraisers and donations! We are so grateful to have you all joining with us as we go to work in Mexico and begin the huge learning curve we have ahead of us.

Happy New Year to all of you and we pray God's blessings upon you and your families for 2012, that He may stretch you and bring challenges into your life throughout this next year that will push you to trust Him and love Him more!

In His Grace,

Andrew, Anna & Kai

All Systems Go!

Even as I type this, the pure surreality of all of this is overwhelming.

With so much going on and "To Do" lists a mile long, it is sometimes hard to slow down and realize just what exactly is happening...

So, while this week was mind-bogglingly stressful, busy, and list oriented, the next two should be much more relaxed.

This was all planned you see.

We worked extremely hard this week to get the majority of our stuff boxed up and we are now living out of three suitcases. (One for Andrew, one for Anna and one for Kai.)

Along with working to get our lives packed up, we were also trying to finish our fundraising through letters to all of our friends and family we were not able to meet with personally, as well as Christmas cards and thank you's.

And to top it all off, we are in Chicago right now, where I got my Visa from the Mexican consulate!

And just before writing this post, we booked our plane tickets from Miami to Cancún.

Needless to say it has been an extremely busy and crazy 76 hours! But a blessed and wonderful 76 hours also. God has been so good in smoothing everything out and helping us to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time.

So with 22 days until we pull out of Indiana with a UHAUL strapped to our Suburban loaded down with everything we own in the world, all systems are a go!

And the reason we worked so hard this week was because we want to have plenty of time to spend with family and friends over the next three weeks!

So we got everything done just in time to pick up Anna's sister, Priscila, with her husband Antonio and our two nieces, Zua and Eliana tomorrow morning here in Chicago at the airport for some wonderful family holiday times!

Pris, Zua, Eliana and Tonio

And then on Sunday, Anna's other sister and her husband Mauricio, and our nephews André and David fly into town for the holidays!

Mauricio, David, Andre and Lizy

From now until the day we leave, we only have to finish our shipping manifest for Mexican customs. While that will take a few days to complete, we are thrilled with how much progress we have made this week and how the Lord is smoothing out the path ahead of us with each step!

We know that this is all due to your prayers and support! So thank you and from our family to yours...

The Days Grow Shorter...

As the days of December grow shorter, the sun disappears quicker, the nights dip deeper in temperature; and so, our time here in the states dwindles as well.

We now have less than a month left here in Indiana. FOUR WEEKS!! THATS IT!

That is an absolutely thrilling and yet terrifying thought.

Sixteen months of preparation and planning, was more than enough to get excited about going. You would also assume that would be plenty of time to mentally prepare, right?

Answer: eheh...No.

Nonetheless, time marches on whether or not I am mentally prepared for what comes next. And so, with a Visa being the final piece of the puzzle, and its ETA being a week or less away, packing and preparing goes into full swing.

It is amazing how many projects, details, and errands need to be done. All the while, making time to spend with family and friends that we will be leaving soon. Not to mention, a little holiday called Christmas. And then there is still the fundraising to do to make sure that once we get there, we will actually be 100% funded...

I was reminded by a picture of a friend tonight, that with the Lord's help, He will renew our strength no matter what mountains or molehills seem to be in front of us.

Whether it be a 25k (Half Marathon) race in which you have to write this verse on your hand (Thanks for the inspiration Julie ;) ) or the details and "To Do Lists" of moving a family to another country, or a financial hole from unemployment, or a heart broken by someone close, or an over-bearing boss, or a... you fill in the blank. We do not go through anything alone, and we most certainly can't do it on our own strength.

I was reminded tonight, that when I try to plan out how I will accomplish everything that needs to be done in the next four weeks, and see a mountain for which I do not have the ability or strength to climb...

Our God is standing with Me.

So what could stand against?

Answer: Nothing.

I hope that as the Lord has shown this to me, that He would also make it real in your life as well. Place your hope in Him, your trust, your faith, your love , your life in Him. There is no other way to spend your life this side of Heaven.

We so appreciate all of your prayers and support. Our ministry partners standing with us is invaluable, and I am beginning to realize just how powerful your prayers are in our lives right now!

So thank you all so much for your willingness to partner with us and with Back2Back to serve the orphan child in Mexico. Thank you for being a part of breaking the cycle of generational poverty with those whom Jesus loves so dearly. We are blessed to play this role in the Kingdom and to have a team of supporters like all of you who read, pray, give and take part in the body of Christ.

Right now, our plan is to leave Indiana on January 3rd and drive down to Miami, where we will put our stuff and our car on a container to be shipped to Cancun. We will then fly to Cancun from Miami on January 11th. **


** All dependent on the perfect plan and timing of the Lord of course... :)

Over The Top & Time To Go

It may have taken us a full week, but that is a good thing!

I am talking about reporting on our fundraiser last week of course! Last Sunday, we were so blessed by the turnout and the generosity of everyone that came out to support us! There were so many donations and volunteers, it would take up an entire blog post, just to try to list everyone who donated, volunteered, cooked, donated, gave, spoke, prayed, prepared, and organized!

We are blessed beyond words with the support of our church family at FCC, our friends, and our family. Knowing we have a support group like we do that is investing in the Lord's calling on our lives and willing to take part in it is a special feeling. We know that the Lord has placed each one of you into our lives for this reason, and thank Him for doing so every day.

Here are a few pictures from the fundraiser...

Our goal for the fundraiser was to raise enough to get our account up to the point of being able to handle all of our one-time moving costs as well as set up a solid buffer for our ongoing work throughout the year. We raised, just over $7,000 and were able to get enough into our account to be ready to leave on schedule, the first week of December!

Along with this, we made a huge push on getting all of our monthly partners to get their papers or first checks turned in this month so that we would know where we were at for our ongoing monthly support. We expect to receive our October report next week and are hoping to be within striking distance of our monthly need!

Once we have our October report and we know where we stand for sure, we will be booking our tickets to leave the first week of December!

The next four weeks should prove to be quite a challenge as we prepare for the move. Along with Anna's oath ceremony for citizenship this Friday, we have to finish my Mexican work visa, get Kai's Mexican citizenship filed, finish getting our monthly support up to where it needs to be by meeting with everyone we possibly can, prepare all of our things for an oceangoing containerized shipment, figure out travel arrangements, and we also have a wedding in Texas in November, and Christmas at Thanksgiving with family!

It is going to be a busy month, but we are so excited to finally have a timeline! And, after more than a year of preparing, we are so looking forward to being in the place where the Lord wants and to begin seeing the plans that He has for us there!

Please be in prayer with us about a few things in this final month:

- Andrew's Visa paperwork goes smoothly
- Kai's Mexican citizenship filing goes smoothly
- All logistical details are worked out quickly, cheaply, and efficiently
- That we are able to get our monthly/quarterly/annual support team up to where it needs to be
- That the Lord's hand will be upon everything

Thank you for all of your support! It is because you that we are able to answer His call!

Back2Back Cancun Ministries

"So, what will you be doing down there?"

A defining question for a missionary putting together a partnership team, and one that I am going to try to start to answer with this post.

The Cancun site was started up in August of 2010. So it is young, just over a year old. In the first year, the site has now doubled in staff (including us when we arrive), and in only its second summer accepting short term groups, the summer of 2012 is already completely booked!

Matt & Julie Cooper, along with Mau & Lizy Davila, and now, Erick & Julie Mowery have partnered with two children's homes (Casas Hogares) San Jose & Esperanza, as well as two single mothers with several children in a very poor area of Cancun, and a continuing partnership with DIF, or the Mexican equivalent to CPS in the USA.

Each of these ministries have unique challenges and offer differing opportunities for being the hands and feet of our Savior.

Yesterday, we were able to visit two of these ministry partners, the CAT and Oti and her family in Tres Reyes.

If you do not recall what the CAT is, I explained it in our blog post from our trip last January and I encourage you to read about where these kids come from and why they are here. It will break you heart. You can read it here: CAT Blog Post
At the CAT, we were able to sing songs with the kids, led by Mauricio. There was lots of yelling, singing, and dancing!





The kids were also super excited to work on a canvas painting project for Anna and I's silent auction in a couple of weeks! So if you like what you see, you will be able to bid on this at our fundraiser coming up! We will also have one more of these that the girls at Casa Hogar San Jose will be helping us with!

After spending several hours at CAT, we headed over to Oti's home. Oti is a single mom raising eight children in Tres Reyes, Cancun. Back2Back is currently beginning to look for Shelter Program Sponsors for her kids so they can go to school!

We stopped by to drop off some clothes that had been donated for her kids as well as to get pictures of each of them so that they can be promoted for sponsorship. So, I set up all of my off camera lighting equipment, and got out the big camera, and it didn't take long till we had a makeshift modeling shoot going! They started pretty shy, but by the end, were twirling and posing like Runway stars! Meet Oti's beautiful children:

The trip is going so well thus far. Along with these opportunities to serve, I have also been able to gather lots of information on Staff guidelines and rules as well as housing for when we move and cell phone options.

The rest of the trip includes spending time getting to know the staff better, price checking everything we will need to get when we move so we can adjust our budget appropriately, and a few more visits to the different ministry partners, including the children's homes!

Looking forward to sharing a few stories with you all in person an a couple of weeks at our fundraiser! Can't wait to see you all there! Please join us if you can!

Destination: Cancun

Six weeks seems like a long time to go without blogging.

And so, we apologize.

There were reasons for the wait however, and I hope that this post more than makes up for the longing you have felt to keep up with what we are doing in our ministry... (Intended sarcasm, while hoping for it to be a truthful statement) ;)

So, what has happened in six weeks?

The list is long, but I will try to fill in the void as best as possible.

I need to preface this next paragraph to make it clear, that this is simply our personal reflections on what the Lord had called us to do, and was convicting our hearts of. God has certainly called millions into the professional world and in no way do we want to diminish their calling as if it were any different or lesser than ours. We are each called to serve a purpose in the building of the Kingdom of God, one body, many parts, all equal.

We are so thankful for the way that God used Haiti to wrest our attention away from our own little world. He truly used our time there and the experiences to transform our minds and hearts away from a life wasted seeking liberty, and the pursuit of human happiness. The American dream had always seemed like a good enough goal, but at the same time left us feeling hollow and empty. The idea of working in a job or a career our whole lives, was just not what we had been called to. And it took a trip to Haiti in May of 2010, right after the earthquake to shake us from the comfortable life that we had fallen in to.

So with that being said, we knew that God had used that trip to Haiti, to grab our attention and, as it turns out, our interest in Haiti, is what led to our being contacted by Back2Back. They were looking at possibly expanding their operations into Haiti and contacted us based on our interest. It was out of this that the Lord began opening the doors with Back2Back and closing the doors with the other organization that we had been interviewing with, CFM.

So after two wonderful exploratory trips to Cancun to visit the new Back2Back site, and to Haiti, to the visit CFM orphanage and a week with Back2Back and the ministry that they are looking to partner with in Haiti, Jesus in Haiti Ministries, the Lord had made it clear to us that we were to be with Back2Back. So, it was in March that we committed to Back2Back and officially became Staff Candidates pending fundraising in April after board approval.

We knew that Back2Back was the organization, but we still had not heard definitively from the Lord on the location that He wanted us. ( I say definitively because we had experienced a few signs and words, including this totally unexpected one as were driving from St. Marc, in the north of Haiti, back to Port Au Prince on the day that I just happened to be praying specifically for a sign from God for Cancun:

In case you can't tell, the little boy crossing the street in front of us in Haiti was wearing a shirt that said Cancun on it.

...but we were asking for just one more wet/dry fleece ;)  )

After beginning fundraising in May of this year, telling our support partners at the appointments that we will be in Mexico and then Haiti or may just stay in Mexico, it became more and more difficult to proceed and fundraise without having direct answers to some of the most important questions that our partners in ministry were asking us!

"When are you leaving?"

"Where are you going?"

"What will you be doing?"

These are important questions to have answers to, when you are asking people to sacrificially give from their hard earned money to assist you in building the Kingdom of God! As you can imagine, not having answers to these questions can be a bit nerve-wracking during such meetings.

So in August, our fundraising began to slow and plateau. We began to pray, to seek God for answers to these questions. We knew how it was affecting our ability to share our heart and vision for ministry and we knew that God had an answer that would allow us to answer these questions.

Patience ensued.

And more patience was necessary.

And we began having dreams, dreams about a place and ministry ideas for this place and God began cultivating our hearts to care deeply for those we had met in this place, He was breaking our hearts for what was breaking His at this specific location.

We began seeing the name of this location popping up in very unexpected and random places, and people were sharing things with us in regard to this place.

And still we were not sure.

And after it seemed all patience in the universe had been grasped, utilized and reused, Anna came across a sermon online entitled Decisions and God by Eric Johnson.

After we both listened to this, we began to comprehend what God was trying to say, so with surrendered hearts, we said yes to God and allowed his peace to immediately come over us. Once we had told God out loud that we would serve him in Cancun, the uneasiness and uncertainty of wether or not we were in the center of His will immediately disappeared.

I can't express the feeling to you in words, only that it was akin to the power of the Holy Spirit moving powerfully in a time of prayer or worship, breaking chains on your heart and soul that you did not even realize were there.

Many people have made remarks like, "you had plenty of signs, why not just listen to the first couple!?"

Well, honestly, we wanted to be sure, and there was a measure of selfishness and guilt that we struggled with for a long time.

Guilt, because we had originally thought Haiti was where we were going. We had been talking and making plans that way, and did not want to let anyone down who was thinking that we were going to Haiti for sure.

There was also the struggle with selfishness; for two reasons.

The first was that clearly, Haiti, was a much more difficult place to live than Cancun. In no way did we want to make this decision based on an easier lifestyle or the fact that we could not live without the things that we would live without in Haiti.

Secondly, we have family at the site in Cancun. Anna's sister and brother-in-law, and our two nephews. We did not want to make this decision based on a selfish desire to live by family.

These are just a few of the many, many reasons that caused us to take pause, and read deeper into each sign and word. To pray longer and seek His will even more about what specifically He was calling us to do.

So, back to the timeline. Five weeks ago, we sent an email to the Back2Back directors and Cancun site directors indicating what we perceived to be God's leading in our lives, and as some were away and traveling, it took several weeks for us to hear back that we had officially been given permission to join the blossoming ministry at the new Back2Back site in Cancun!

That was three weeks ago, and since then, we have been working like mad on our fundraising event coming up on October 23 in Elkhart. Please come out and support us if you can! Also, we have been working on logistics and fundraising issues related to our switch to Cancun from Haiti, and we have even started packing!

Andrew will be leaving this Tuesday, October 11, for Cancun for one week of meetings with the staff in Cancun, as well as seeking out a place for us to live when we get there and working out other details to prepare for our move there at the end of this year!

I think that brings you up to speed on our lives and just one of the amazing ways that God has been moving! Apart from these things, God has been moving mightily in our home church, FCC, and we are praying for revival and know that the Lord is bringing it!

So, Andrew will bring updates this week during his trip in Cancun and if you are receiving this email and we have not had a chance to get together with you to discuss partnering with us in our ministry, please shoot us an email at aaconrad@agconrad.com or come on out to our For the Orphan Chili Dinner/Silent Auction Benefit later this month! We want so badly to have time to meet face to face with each and every one of our partners! We really do not want to have to send an impersonal letter out in our last months to meet our 100% funding goal!

We just want to say thank you to our partners in ministry! We are closing in on 50-60% funded and would not even be in a position to leave on time without all of your support thus far! We pray for each and every one of you every week, that God would bless you and your families and provide in miraculous ways.

"O You Of Little Faith!"

 "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" - Matthew 8:26

This morning's reading from Oswald Chamber's devotional "My Utmost For His Highest" was the final 1/3 of inspiration for this post.

Another 1/3 of inspiration was from last week, when Anna and I attended the Jesus Culture Awakening Conference in Chicago. For three days, we were blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit, through worship, powerful prayer, healing, and teaching from great Mothers and Fathers in the faith. This event was not a conference or a gathering, but rather a "sending" of a new breed of revivalists. It was truly a life changing encounter with the Savior and the burning fire of Pentecost. For us personally, this was a "chain-breaking" time that loosed the power of the Holy Spirit within our lives in an immeasurable way!

The final 1/3 inspiration came yesterday as we were spending the evening at the Grand Haven, MI beach with Anna's parents, her sister Lizy, and her husband Mau and their boys, André and Davíd. We decided to go out to the lake, where the water was a, balmy, 54ºF. Every single one of us despised getting our feet wet as the water was so frigid. But little Kai, he was just writhing around and whining while we held him, clearly wanting to test it out for himself. So we put him down and he bolted right for the crashing waves of ice cold, fresh water.

So how do these three things all tie together in my crazy mind?

They all impressed upon me, the power of faith, and the extent to which I myself trust my Jesus to know and accomplish what is best for me in my life.

At the conference, I was forced to come face to face with the fact that my heart wanted to believe that God miraculously heals people, but my mind would continually second guess, and rationalize into human terms, that which the Lord was accomplishing in only ways that He could do.

This is fear.

Lack of Faith.

Call it whatever you want, but it was devestatingly humbling to have the Lord reveal to me, my own lack of faith in Him.

Then yesterday, I was holding Kai's hands above his head, as he charged forward, without any regard, in to freezing waves that were easily taller than he was with only joy and laughter.

He had total faith in the hands that held him.

He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that His daddy would never let him go.

Then it hit me.

Total faith within a dangerous situation, or a troubled time, produces only joy and laughter, when we just have the faith of a child in our Heavenly Father.

And again this morning as I read through Oswald's few challenging paragraphs, it all came together.

My lack of faith.

My lack of trust.

The fact that my head knowledge of God's promises far outweighs my heart's ability to accept those promises.

If just a mustard seed can move a mountain, then what more would the Lord have me do with the faith of a child!?

How would he use me to bring His Kingdom?

What more could a nation do with the faith of a child!?

Forget politics, Jesus never concerned Himself with them, the culture of God's Kingdom would never get us elected anyways! With the faith of a child, the church of this nation could rise up and end poverty, child hunger, remove the word orphan from the modern day dictionary! If you don't like the liberal programs that help with these issues, then stop voting to end the entitlements and get involved in removing the need for them!

What more could a generation do with the faith of a child!?

A movement is growing, from all over the world. This generation (0-100 yrs old) is shaking off the chains that have held back the Kingdom of God, the chains of oppression, affluence and agnosticism, cynicism and unbelief, and are being lit with a fresh Pentecost fire from the Holy Spirit! This generation will bring revival to the world, as we take up the faith of a child.

God is moving. Powerfully. Right now, all around the world. There are those that have the faith of children, that are accepting and acting upon the promises of God. Miracles are happening. The fire of the Holy Spirit is upon His people and is reaping the harvest.

Time is running low for us to join that harvest. If we continue to allow our own disbelief and rejection of the power of God to get in the way of our great commissioning, then we will be no more useful to Him than the goats that he separates from the His sheep at the day of judgement. (Matthew 25:31-40)

I pray that the Lord strengthens your faith, that you accept His promises for what they are, and begin to believe in the God of miracles who daily seeks after you.

Summer Craziness

It has been such a crazy summer.

Not just the amount of things on the to do list that seems to grow longer the harder we work, but also how much it seems as though the weeks are disappearing quicker every day!

For the last two months we have been so busy, calling people, talking with people, fundraising, road tripping, networking, planning fundraisers, organizing our team of partners, visiting family, friends, and acquaintances, it seems as though it was just yesterday we returned from that exploratory trip to Haiti!

While we have struggled to keep you updated via our blog, please rest assured, that it is not due to a lack of desire to communicate where we are with you!

We have just returned from a fundraising road trip where we made many great connections and have another trip planned to speak to several churches that invited us to speak! Before that trip, we spent a week in the Southwest visiting my brother and his family and seeing some of God's beautiful creation!

Before that, we were blessed to be able to take part in Summer of Service Student Weekend in Michiana! It was a blast being group leaders and watching God move in the lives of our local teenagers and how He used them to really bring Jesus' love to the community in real and tangible way!

We are back home now and resuming planning of our fundraising event which is scheduled for October 22 and we are working each week to continue to build our team of ministry partners!

We are super excited to have some fellow B2B staff joining us, starting tomorrow! Mau and Lizy, Anna's sister and her husband, who are on staff at B2B Cancun will be flying in tomorrow with their boys, Andre and David and we are looking forward to spending time with them and talking about what God has been up to in Cancun since we left at the end of January!

Sharing Our Calling

About a year ago, I was asked to preach for the first time at church. Let me be the first to tell you that I never thought I would be this guy --->

Boy was it a challenge.

But stretching opportunities are always good, and I learned a lot about myself and about how much I really did not enjoy speaking. Writing is much easier and I enjoy it much more.

So when our Pastor asked me to speak again this year, I was unsure what to think.

Obviously, much has changed in the past 12 months, and what God has called us to do, is going to involve this type of thing. So trying to balance our new reality with my past experiences was an interesting challenge.

So, on Sunday, June 12th I spoke about my personal testimony, our journey and calling into full time ministry.

Let me tell you, it was a blast.

I know without a doubt, that it is God continuing to confirm our calling. I had so much fun, I accidentally went 10 minutes longer than I was supposed to. Afterwards, I was ready to go again. There was a thrill to speaking to people about what God is doing. The Holy Spirit was present and powerful and truly provided the words of the message that God wanted delivered that day.

So if you are at all interested in listening to how and why God called us to serve the orphan child, you can check it out here:

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Asking The Question

It was Wednesday night during youth group that God spoke really loud into my ear and made me feel desperate. Andrew was almost done with his lesson and I couldn't wait for him to be done. I was about to explode, I could feel God's desperation for their lives and I knew that that night was going to be only the beginning.

Andrew was ready to start praying to finish with his message when I interrupted him. I asked the youth to write the answers to two simple questions:

*What would happen to you if you died tonight? and
*If you were in the presence of God and He asked you, "why should I let you spend eternity with me?" what would you say?

They gave their papers back to me and we all went home.

"I don't know."

"I don't deserve it."
"I try to be a good Christian and I help people in need."
"I have done too many bad things."

My heart was filled with compassion and I understood why God had made me feel that way. He wanted me to pray for their lives and ask for time. For time so that they could hear the truth about the reason they were created.

About a year ago our church moved to a new building and recently new youth groupers started joining on Wednesday nights. Andrew and I are the leaders of the junior high.

It was Thursday during my devotional that I began to pray for them. I asked for an opportunity for them to make a decision and for me to know how to do it.

You know I grew up in a Christian family, my dad is a pastor, but I had never led anyone into making a decision for Christ. This was going to be my first time and I didn't know how to do it.

I asked my mom for guidance because she has a lot of experience with this. I wish I could say that about myself, but I was happy and excited to start participating in expanding God's kingdom on Earth.

Wednesday night came and I started speaking. I felt nervous at first but then I felt in tune with the Holy Spirit and words started to come out of my mouth almost without thinking.

I ended the message telling them that if they wanted to give their lives to God they only needed to ask for forgiveness of their sins and tell Him that they believed what Jesus did for them and that they were thankful for it. I let them do it on their own with their own words and that was the end of the message.

After everyone left Andrew and I stayed alone in the room. I became overwhelmed by what had just happened. Insecurity started to fill my mind with thought of not having done enough and then Andrew reminded me that it wasn't me, I wasn't the one doing the work in them, but that it was Him who called me to do so.

The next day, during my devotional, God spoke again very clearly and this is what He told me:

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." 1 Corinthians 1:21

I did my part.

The rest is His.

I just needed to be willing for Him to use my foolishness to achieve His plan.

Living Intentionally

The Lord has been really working on me lately about the way I live my life. The way I take so many conversations, moments, meetings, get together's for granted. He is challenging me, that even as we go about fundraising and meeting with people to share our heart and vision for the orphan child, it is not just at these times that I need to be thinking and focused on what the Lord has called me to do. It is every minute of every day. It started 27 years ago and its called...

Life.

It passes with...

every breath

every blink

every laugh

every tear

every prayer

every class attended

every meeting sat through

every church service

every vacation

every day

every week

every month

every year

every decade

every century

every millenium

It goes on and on, generation after generation.

Where do you fit in to that? Where does your existence fit into the hundreds of billions of lives that have been lived on this planet?

What did you do today to make a ripple in the ocean that is time?

What is it that you will do tomorrow that will impact a life and change it for the better?

Life is lived, 24/7/365. We all choose what we do with that time, with that precious vanishing vapor that is our lives. We have been given this gift, this opportunity to utilize the talents and blessings that the Lord has given to us.

We all live. But do we simply live for ourselves, or do you feel that pull to something greater? That yearning deep in your heart that you could do so much more...

Why not choose to live intentionally?

What is living intentionally?

Purposefully electing to allow God to use your life for His purposes.

There is no greater success to be measured in this life or eternity.

Why not step up? Why not invest in what God is asking you to be a part of with the tools and abilities that He has already blessed you with?

You can choose to make a difference right now, today, in your next smile, in your next conversation.

Don't let another opportunity pass you by to share God's love with those around you.

Smile intentionally.

Talk intentionally.

Give intentionally.

Repeat Daily.

Anna Challenges the FCC Youth

As the Jr. High Youth leaders at our church, we have had a blast getting to know the FCC youth group and teaching them, challenging them, and watching them grow. Youth ministry is a tough, yet very rewarding calling. The past two years, we are very thankful that we have been able to serve in this area of ministry. We certainly have a better idea of what it is like for those who are in it full time and what we have learned will come in very handy in Mexico and Haiti working with orphans and youth group age kids there.

Here is a video of the end of Anna's message to the youth last Friday night at the all-nighter lock-in.

She has a gift, and the Lord is already using her mightily. I cannot wait to see her in action on the mission field that God has called us to!

As the month of May starts, we are now set up on the Back2Back system and are able to receive donations noted for our account. We are in the process of getting all of our existing donors moved from donating to our Church, to Back2Back. Along with that we are starting our fundraising full time now.

As you learned in our last post, the miracle that God has planned for providing the funds to achieve the vision that He has given us has grown! It is exciting to look forward and anticipate how God will use you all to achieve His miracle and provision for us to care for the orphan child!

As we are getting the ball rolling in the next week or two, please do not hesitate to contact us (aaconrad@agconrad.com) if you would like to hear more specifics about what God has called us to do and vision He has laid on our hearts for the orphan child. We would love to get together with you and tell you our story, and how you can be a part of God's plans. If not, you will most likely be hearing from us directly as we would like to meet with each and every person who is reading this to share with them personally how and why God has called us to this and how you can become a vital ministry member in serving the orphan child!

The Miracle Got Bigger

This morning during my devotional God gave me Matthew 21:21-22, He knew what He was doing.

April 16: Andrew opens the e-mail that we got from Back2Back telling us the amount that we need to raise to be able to start our ministry in Haiti.

Our response to the e-mail: WOW!!!

We knew that the amount we would need was going to be big and for a moment thoughts of fear and failure flashed across our minds, but at the same time excitement filled our hearts. While the number may seem like a giant in our way to some, we know that it will just make the miracle that much bigger.

You might ask "why are you guys excited about raising support, or that huge amount?"

"Why are you excited about leaving everything you ever new and loved?"

"Why are you excited about living by faith?"

Our answer: Because serving  and trusting God has brought peace, providence, happiness and freedom that passes understanding. It is a new life that we wouldn't change for anything because we know that we cannot be in better hands than His.

We are living an adventure. God has closed doors and we have felt discouraged at times, but He has opened better doors and now we understand His purpose for our lives.

It has been challenging, but who doesn't like a challenge?

It makes you feel alive. It helps you see that Glorious King that is bigger than the air we breath. It takes you one step closer to reality and away from this earthly dream.

Matthew 21:21-22
"I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

"whatever you ask for" We are led by vision, not an amount of money, and we know that it is only through Him who gives us strength that the vision will be provided for and fulfilled because He has not failed His promises and never will.

A New Normal

Over a month between blog posts seems a bit "procrastinatorist".

You can tell it has been awhile by how big Kai has gotten!

I am fighting the urge to use this post to go on a diatribe attesting to all of the many things that we have been up to so as to prevent you from thinking that we have been idly lounging around.

Instead I will just tell you that, adjusting to a life in which you are neither here, nor there, but here and preparing for there, is busy, and filled with uncertainties, challenges, and many, many opportunities for exercising patience.

We are very thankful for this time that God has given us to prepare to go. For the wonderful home He provided for us, and for the support that we have. But we still have a mountain to climb. So we progress, daily, to seek strength and patience while we wait on Him to provide the next step to take in faith. We are getting closer as we finish up the paperwork process with our organization, Back2Back Ministries. The biggest challenge has been the fact that we are creating a budget and fundraising goals for a place in which we have not lived and the organization has not yet operated.

So we are creating and making best guesses based on our research while in Haiti in February and March as well as Back2Back's previous site start up experience in other countries. It has been slow but is progressing.

So now that we have our "in flux" working budget and fundraising goals, we are just about ready to begin fundraising to achieve the Kingdom-sized goals for the vision that God has placed on our hearts as well as Back2Back's for the orphan child in Haiti.

While we  have been working with Back2Back on paperwork, we have also been busy with other things, including getting plugged back in at our home church, Faith Community Church working with the youth, worships team, and starting in May, helping out in the office during the week.

We also decided it would be best to file for Citizenship papers for Anna, so two weeks ago we mailed those off and started the 6 month process to get that taken care of.

We are also very close to launching our new website home, www.agconrad.com !!!

Also in the last month, Kai has been growing like crazy and now crawls...

And stands up...

And laughs hysterically...

And even hates some types of food...

Have a great Holy Week!

The Girls

As our visit to Haiti winds down, we begin to pack up our three suitcases in preparation for our pair of two hour flights on Tuesday, and I can't help but flip through my hundreds of pictures from the last few weeks and read through my pages of digital journals, pouring over so many wonderful memories.

If you were to ask me what we did for the last five weeks, I would launch into an all-inclusive account of the major goals that we set out to accomplish; such as the week with Jesus in Haiti, assessing Haiti as a start up site for Back2Back, the multiple meetings we had with B2B directors, the ministry opportunities that we had and the research we were able to do in preparation for moving here.

But as I sit on the front porch of the orphanage here in Port au Prince, looking out underneath the shade of this beautiful Mango tree, I hear the laughter and screams of the girls downstairs playing. I scan through the mental pictures and memories in my mind that we have experienced the past five weeks. And what really stands out, are the kids. The lives of the beautiful children who have touched our hearts in our time here and solidified God's call and vision for us here in Haiti.

While the goals of the trip were important and our meetings, research and other activities were necessary as we lay the groundwork for the vision that God has given us, these things were only the busywork of our trip. The real reason we were here, was the kids, the people. This is the ministry. This is the Kingdom work. The rest is just the necessities that allow the Kingdom work to take place. Let me tell you about a few of these precious children who we got to know a little better over the past few weeks.

If you happened to follow our blog from our trip to Haiti 10 months ago in the aftermath of the Earthquake, then you met Rose (short for Roselanda).

She has gone from a 9 month old baby with a spiking fever that could barely move and eat, to a rambunctious and smiley, beautiful little girl!

The difference between Rose then and now is because of Jared & Jalayne's consistent care and support of her, her Mom and her sisters. This is the kind of real impact we can have on the precious children that need help here in Haiti. Speaking of sisters...you all remember this little butterball right?

She was about a year and a half old in May of last year. She was just learning how to walk and still could not do it on her own. She was underweight, underdeveloped and needed a lot of help doing everything.

She is now full of life! She still struggles a bit with her balance but is a spirited and active bundle of joy!

These are just a few examples of the kids whom God has used to meld our hearts into His vision for what Back2Back can do here in Haiti.

Finally, we had a bit of a party here the other night. With Ciara, Jared and Jalayne's oldest girl, on spring break, she wanted to have a sleep over! So Wednesday, the girls came over and we played outside in the afternoon.

Then we ordered in pizza from the U.N. (They have one of the better restaurants in Port Au Prince, believe it or not ;) ) and set the girls all up with mattresses covering the floor in front of the T.V in Jared & Jalayne's room. We turned on Tinkerbell and watched them have a blast all night long while completely ignoring the movie.

There was jumping, throwing, tickling, screaming, and it was all tied together with hours of giggly laughter and fun. It was so neat to see these girls be that, just girls, having fun. In a place where most children don't get to experience a childhood, the Lord is providing an opportunity through Jared and Jalayne to bless these girls with just that!

On the subject of girls, Jared and Jalayne also had another princess come to live at the orphanage yesterday! Meet Dalindia! (Hint: She is sitting on Jalayne's lap. Genese is on Jared's.)

She is 18 months old and lived in a tent city with her Mom. When her Grandfather found out that Dalindea's mom was leaving her at the tent all by herself, as a baby, for days, He stepped in and took her in. However, he already had several children of his own living in his small home with his wife and they could not afford to take care of her. So through connections with Jared and Jalayne's staff, they began working with the Grandfather a few weeks ago and after all of the tests had been done and papers signed, Samuel brought her home today where she will start her new life! She will fit in great! After only a couple of hours, she was playing and smiling, and laughing with the other girls!

It has been a pleasure for us to see Jared & Jalayne doing their ministry first hand, and now we can't wait to see how God uses us in the future to do the same for the orphan child here in Haiti.

A Desire To Suffer

The last four weeks have absolutely flown by.

It seems like we just landed here in Haiti and to think that we only have one week left is hard to comprehend. Our time here has been wonderful. Challenging, but wonderful. To be able to spend time with our dear friends, Jared and Jalayne, and to get to know their girls here at the orphanage has been such a blessing!

Here is 5 year old Ciara, she is quite the spirited firecracker!

And this is Genese (pronounced Zhen-Ez) She has a smile that lights up the room!

And this is little Kiara! She is 2 months old now and is just gorgeous!

Our brother-in-law Antonio calls these blessings, "Kingdom Currency." He explained it as things that you cannot buy with money and blessings that God provides that were not expected. Our time here in Haiti fellowshipping with friends while meeting with Back2Back and doing research on a ministry here has been one of those "Kingdom Currency" blessings, and we are so thankful for it!

Growth as a person is something that we often long for. I am not speaking of getting an education, or getting a new job, or attaining that promotion, or finding that perfect someone to marry. While we see these things as things to strive for, they are no more than goals that we accomplish. What I am talking about is much deeper than accomplishments, it is growth as a human being, the maturation of the soul.

We can read books and watch documentaries and discuss situations and world issues 24/7 and grow in knowledge, grow in our ability to argue issues effectively, but this does not grow us spiritually. Without spiritual growth as a person, we starve the very core of who we were created to be. But the reason we often lack spiritual growth is because we know the cost and choose not to pay it.

"The things we try to avoid and fight against - tribulation, suffering, and persecution - are the very things that produce abundant joy in us." We "don't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it."
- Oswald Chambers

The cost of growing spiritually, of growing closer to the savior that we worship for an hour on Sunday's, is high. Very high. Trial, tribulation, hardship, despair, persecution. These are not things that we hunger for naturally. These are things that we pray we will not experience. These are torturous examples of things that we have buffered ourselves from and avoid at all costs. And, yet, these painful experiences are what draw us to lean on the only one we can depend on. They are what teach us that through all of life's valleys and disasters, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

So we know that it is through persecution and suffering that He has called us to grow in Him. We also know that even as we go through these things, we are able to persevere "because He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). So then why do we continue to value our own comfort above growing?

Is it crazy to desire suffering? Is it Christlike to desire a safe, comfortable, happy life? Is it Biblical? Are we called to live happily and comfortably, avoiding hardship as best we can while throwing in our once a week worship service to the One we claim to live for?

I struggle with these things just like everyone else. Asking questions that make us think about these issues is easy. But taking a look at our own lives and changing things is much more difficult. Most likely, these words are read and you think "hmmmm good questions..." and then you go to the next email in your inbox or the next website or article you wanted to look at and your day continues. That is what I used to do, and still do to this day sometimes. We are all called to different things in this life. My sufferings and hardships will not be the same as yours, nor should they. Our trials are what prepare us specifically for that which we are called to do in the Kingdom of God. So let me simply ask you what God asked me:

What obstacles are in your life that are hindering Me from molding you into who I designed you to be? What luxuries and comforts are you trading for a true relationship with Me? What sacrifices are you not willing to make because you value those things over growing with Me?

Ask yourself these questions and pray about them. Prepare to be convicted if you do though, because He will show you things and you will change. And when you do change, you will grow. And when you look back and see the pain, and the growth that you just came through, and see where He has brought you, you will long for more, you will begin to know that desire for suffering.

What I have observed here in Haiti over the last few weeks is the joy and happiness of people who suffer daily. When forced through circumstances, human beings can mature in certain ways very rapidly. To live in Haiti, to grow up here, is something that I will never be able to comprehend because my life experience was nothing like this. But the joy that the Christian's in Haiti possess is unmistakably, the joy of the Lord. The worship that takes place here is genuine and pure. It is the adoration of those who have been through more trials and hardships in the last 18 months than most will experience their entire lives. And they are better people for it. Their reliance on Jesus is total. Their spiritual growth curve is always upward.

I try not to look at my own spiritual growth curve because I fear that if it were my stock funds growth curve I would have sold out long ago and traded up to a better fund. What does your spiritual growth curve look like? Would you invest in it?

-Awkward transition from "spiritually heavy" section to update on our missions stuff-

We are leaving Haiti a week from tomorrow on the 15th and have experienced much in our time here. We have been meeting weekly with Todd Guckenberger, director of Back2Back Ministries via Skype and are happy to announce that we are officially joining Back2Back as full time staff members this week!

As we look forward, we are working on where and when we will be doing our training as well as where God is leading us to serve. Back2Back, along with us, are still in the preliminary stages of planning and looking at Haiti as a new site. This is looking very good but has several issues that will need to be worked out in the next 12 months. The timing is the tricky part for us as we would like to be on the ground training and serving late this summer. It will likely take a bit longer to get Haiti off the ground and the other couple that is looking to go will need more time to prepare as well.

So, tentatively we are looking at the possibility of doing some training at the Monterrey facility for a couple of months and/or doing 12-18 months serving at the Cancun site as a transition time for our family as well as mentoring with the site directors of Cancun, Matt & Julie Cooper, who we really connected with during our trip in January. During this time it is possible that we would be getting the ball rolling with Haiti, traveling there to lead Back2Back short term groups that will allow us to hit the ground running when the Haiti site takes off.

So our next steps when we return home are to attend our Fundraising Boot Camp seminar in Indianapolis March 16-19, and get right to work doing fund raising full time. The sooner we are able to get fully funded, the sooner we will be able to begin our training and ministry. We are praying that the Lord will bless this and we will be able to move to Mexico no later than August of this year.

So that is where we are at, and where we see the Lord leading right now. I feel compelled to make a disclaimer statement that the Lord will open and shut doors according to His will and not ours, so all plans are subject to His leading and not our guessing. Please pray that He continues to go before us and that we continue to follow Him in all things.

Underneath the Mango Tree

So what happened to the other posts from my week with JiHM?

Ummm....I accidentally deleted my notes from the week. I did have several more pictures to share and a few stories, but I will move on as the Lord is working on us anew this week and I feel it is more important to share this with you. Perhaps in the future I will come back to the rest of my time at JiHM, but if you want the director of JiHM's take on how the week went, check out his blog post on it here:

http://blog.jesusinhaiti.org/2011/02/doing-number-3.html

On to our current week.

As I sit here on the second floor balcony of the girls orphanage in Port Au Prince, Haiti, my view is of a giant mango tree, I am shaded by it from the morning sun while listening to the hustle and bustle of honking horns and semis as they make their way through the streets.

It is often when we are quietest that it seems God chooses to speak. Perhaps this is because it is the only time that we can hear Him, due to the fact that most of the time we are creating noise that drowns out His "still small voice." I am no expert on hearing the Lord speak, I see myself more as the stubborn one who needs 100 different glowing neon signs directly from God pointing where to go. But is this a lack of faith on my part? Should I be more willing to do what I think He is calling me to do, or should I rely on my own feelings of what I want to do or where I want to go and call that His will for my life because he gave me those desires?

This week is one of seeking. Seeking His will in many things. Seeking Him for guidance as we do fundraising to finance the ministry that He is calling us to. Seeking Him for a clear direction as to what country He wants us to serve in with Back2Back. Seeking Him for a better understanding of His grace and forgiveness. Seeking him simply to seek Him.

This week, as Anna and I have spent much of our time reading, praying, fasting and talking, we are seeing that through this time of seeking for specific direction, we are, more importantly, drawing nearer to our savior. There is something about running to Him that shifts the way you view what you thought you were running to Him about. It is hard to explain, so I will not try to do so further, but let me just encourage you to give it a try. Give something up for awhile, whether that is food, video games, TV, Facebook...just give it up and seek after Him. Let me be the first to assure you that what you will discover will be profound.

So as Anna and I continue to seek God for a vision of where He wants us to serve, we are praying that you will join us. We need all of the prayer and support we can get as we decipher His will. Please pray that He will show us clearly if He wants us here, in Haiti. Or if He wants us in Cancun, MX. Or if He wants us in Belize City.

These are the three possible location that Back2Back is either, currently serving the orphan child, or will soon be.

We need to make a decision before we come home from Haiti on March 15th, but the sooner the better obviously for planning purposes. It sounds silly to put God on a timeline, ridiculous even. But we believe that He put us here in this place and at this time for a purpose and we believe that He will show us where He wants us within His timeline.

Please join with us in prayer for these next days and weeks.

Thank you.

Andrew & Anna

My Week @ Jesus in Haiti - Post 1

Life without internet is two things.


At first, it is debilitating. You feel as though you are disconnected and unable to keep up with all of the things you have come so accustomed to knowing.


Then, you begin to realize that all those things that you were constantly checking and information you were constantly downloading into your mind, was not as necessary as you thought it was. Life goes on even if you dont know what is happening. And then you realize how much more time you have on your hands when you are not constantly checking email, Twitter, iGoogle, CNBC Stocks, Facebook, and the other 25 apps that get daily use for the typical person.


It was frustrating knowing that I would not be able to blog, but I took alot of notes and journaled some, so that I would be sure to remember all of the things that I wanted to share with you all. Hence the reason I am numbering these posts.


For the first post I want to share with you about the Tree of Life orphanage.


As one of the five points of light of the Jesus in Haiti Ministry, this orphanage is home to approximately 25 beautiful little boys and girls from the age of 6 months old to about 10 years old.




This orphanage has a very unique story. Shortly after the earthquake, a successful Haitian woman who had a very good job and made a pretty good living began to have a heart for the orphans of the earthquake. She chose to act on that conviction and leading and found a vacant home that was not finished and began renting it from the family that owned it in Florida. After she secured the home, she hired 6 Haitian women to work at the orphanage full time and began taking in orphaned children off the streets.





Because she provides the funding for this orphanage solely from her own paychecks, there was no furniture, very little clothing, and no toys whatsoever for these children. All that she could afford was the rent for the home, the salaries for the workers, and one meal a day for the children. 

This orphanage just happened to be located right in between the JiHM guest house and Tom's home where he lives with all of his boys. So, one day while walking between them, Tom divinely happened across this home filled with children, scantily clad in tattered clothing and slightly malnourished, sleeping on the floor. He immediately saw the need and knew that JiHM needed to step in here and help with whatever they could.





Tom began bringing beds, bedding, toys, rice, diapers and other essentials that these children needed. But most importantly, Tom and his boys, along with the short term groups that were coming down, began spending time there, investing in the lives of these precious little ones.





While it is such a joy for us to have this opportunity to briefly visit with these kids and do our best to love on them, share Christ with them, and play with them, it is the ongoing relationships that Tom and his boys have with these children that will really help shape these children into followers of Christ in the long run.





And as is with most things on a short term missions trip, the people that you think you are traveling to a different country to minister to, and share Jesus with, to bless, are the ones that are blessing you, that are sharing Jesus with you through their smiles. It is so easy to see the face of Jesus in these smiles. These smiles that persevere in the midst of more difficult and horrifying circumstances than we as blessed Americans will ever begin to comprehend or understand.

Here is a great picture of Linda Neal, the new Chairperson of Jesus in Haiti's board. She has such a heart for Haiti and these kids. You can see how God has placed her in this new role and how perfect she is for it.

Here, Germaine gives each girl a brand new dress that she brought down with her.

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And just a few more...