Praises:
Deputation end date established!
Prayer Requests:
Safety, health, homeschooling, three more churches continue to take us on for support, and visas.
July in Review
In July we had six great meetings and a missions conference. At King James Bible Church we stayed up past 11pm fellowshipping with the wonderful people of their church. On July 5th, I was scheduled to preach in honor of the 250th birthday of America, and so I had the joy of speaking on reasons why we celebrate America. At the next church I got to reunite with Pastor Steve Cowgill, who I knew as an evangelist when I was a teen living in Georgia. In Springfield, Tennessee we went to Providence Baptist Church and had a wonderful time with Pastor Price and his wife. At Mount Pisgah Baptist Church we were blessed to see their amazing printing ministry; we hope they are able to print Pigin Bibles in the future. Lastly – what a fantastic missions conference in Orlando at Eastland Baptist Church! We really felt loved and comfortable with them. Years and years ago, I would have never thought I’d have such a warm place in my heart for Orlando, but we’ve been to so many wonderful churches in that city.
End Date Established!
In June of last year I sat in front of a veteran missionary as he told me all about starting costs we needed to save over and above our needed monthly support. It seemed impossible to save that much money, while living on road with six people driving a gas guzzler for thousands of miles. We had some saved, and have always been diligent to save, but what he said genuinely didn’t seem possible.
Well, what can I say… God provided and proved me wrong over the last year. At a meeting recently a man came up to me and asked me if we had any special needs to get to the field. I told him the remaining dollar figure we were needing and four days later I received an email from him telling me he was sending a check. That final amount and what we have saved up to this point covers, from the best we can tell, flights there and for furlough, an emergency flight fund, a vehicle, and starting household living necessities. We are so thankful to God for His provision, and thankful to the individuals and churches that listen to Him when He leads. With all our starting costs saved, and our support around 95%, Melissa and I decided to set an end date to deputation: October 4th. I texted my pastor to tell him our plans, and within a couple hours I found out about three new churches that took us on for support. It is so exciting to see God move!
Future Plans
Over the next two months we have twelve more meetings and two missions conferences. The teens have the Heirloom Seed Summit in September, which is a wonderful must-go-to camp for ministry kids, and the reason why I scheduled meetings in Tennessee. Our pastor has asked us to be at our home church for a month before leaving for PNG, so we will be there for most of October. In November we head to Idaho to see Grandma, get things prepared for Lily and Charlotte to live with her, and take care of the RV – most likely selling it. Regarding our visas, we are getting some last pieces of info to PNG and our hoping for the best. We need to have all of our 3-year visas in hand, at which point we will apply for Lily’s special 60 day visa (as an 18 year old she can’t get a 3-year visa). I would love to tell you a specific date of when we will be leaving for PNG, but there are still factors outside of our control. I will tell you as soon as I know!
Thank you again for all your love, prayer, and support for my family.
In Christ,
Rick Schworer
