Several Ways to Keep in Touch

Hello All,

Time for us is flying by! We are staying very busy working, preparing, and trying to find time to relax and enjoy this wonderful time of life with each other.

We wanted to let you know that while we are away from The States there are many ways to keep up on what we are doing besides this blog. We will be trying to bring in many of these outside sources of information here to the blog on a regular basis, but you are welcome to check out these other places with more frequency if you would like.


Photos - We will be putting our picture on this new Flickr site we just made

Video - Jordan hosts his videos here on Vimeo

Facebook - Missy's Facebook account is here (Jordan doesn't have one)

-Jordan and Missy

Moving Ahead...In God's Timing

Well, Things are definitely moving along. Some days we wake up feeling like this trip may never get going, and others it seems as if the trip is right upon us. We both are so glad that we have waited for God's timing through this whole process as we have seen many potential issues work themselves out without any involvement of our own (other than prayer). It has been very difficult for us to wait as both of our hearts are already down with our brothers and sisters in Chile, and are anxious to get on the ground and start running.

We have had some real answers to prayer lately that include:
-Clear objectives for what we will be doing in out year living in Tomé, Chile
-A place for us to live that is already furnished right in the middle of town, within walking distance to the church
-Several donations to support us for our year away
-A good relationship and communication between our pastors here in Portland, and the pastor that we will be working for down in Chile
-I (Jordan) found a computer that is powerful enough to edit on, and got a good deal on it

A few prayer requests that we still have are
-Plane tickets, We still haven't found the right ones yet.
-That clear communication will continue to take place between ourselves, our pastors, and Pastor Luciano in Chile
-That the preparations for our house in Chile would go smoothly
-That God will continue to give us the support that is needed for our year abroad

-Jordan

An Exciting Letter

Well, it’s been awhile since our last update, and honestly it was mostly because we had little to update everyone with! We’ve been waiting for about a month and a half now for a letter from the pastor in Chile responding to the letter our pastors at Riversgate sent down there. I’m exciting to say we received a letter yesterday from the pastor of Amigos de la Misión church in Tomé, Chile! Pastor Luciano’s response to our letter was insightful, encouraging, and really opened up the communication between our church here in Portland, and the church in Tomé. How exciting it is to see how the Lord has orchestrated this relationship between churches already, though they have never met! It was also encouraging to hear how the church down there can use our help, and how excited they are to have us in Tomé!

Some of the things Pastor Luciano mentioned in his letter were specific ways that we can come alongside the church and serve. These included developing the children’s ministry, young married couples ministry, Missy teaching classes, Jordan working with media presentations and communication, and serving the youth group. It was really a blessing to see how Pastor Luciano revealed how both Jordan and I could serve together in some areas, and how our presence was valuable from the individual talents we can bring as well. What a step in our journey this is!

It’s hard to believe how the praying, seeking, asking, and waiting is really coming together, and I can only praise God for His leading in this area, and His challenges as we wait and grow and learn to seek Him more and more. I think that there are going to be some amazing learning opportunities in Tomé, but I also think about how the past 5 months have been full of learning experiences since I first returned from Chile.

Thank you all of you who have been praying for us, may you continue to intercede with us for the people of Chile who are still without some of the basic necessities. There is a fundraiser that Pastor Luciano is currently working on to buy hot water bottles for families without heat this winter (it is currently winter in Chile) to keep them warm at night. If you are interested in seeing some pictures from their hot water bottle-raiser, go here.

Can’t tell you how thrilled we are for this answered prayer, looking forward to sharing more as it comes…!

Missy

Updates Updates

Things are moving...maybe slower than we would like, but I think both of us can see the Lord's purpose in it as things come together. Already it has been a wonderful and exciting journey, learning more about Chile and what help they need, how we can be Christ to people and serve and love on them, and what it means to be "missionaries." I think that the Lord is teaching us so much through experiences and trials we have gone through even in the past few months. There is always more to learn about marriage, and being unified in the Spirit!

At this point we are still waiting to hear back from the church in Tome. Our pastors sent them a letter requesting a bit more information about what their expectations are of us, how we can come alongside them, and letting them know that our home church of Riversgate is behind us in prayer and support. This was exciting to send down there, but it does take awhile for mail to travel to Chile, so now we must be patient. :)

I recently received an email from Alejandra, our initial contact in Tome. Her and her husband actually left Chile shortly after the earthquake, and will now be going to seminary in the United States. Exciting for them, but it does make our trip a little different now that we don't have them to be our "go to" people. We are praying about someone in the church in Tome to kind of step in as mentor and guide for us, a person who is involved and knows the church well enough to be able to help us get integrated, as well as just be someone we can meet with weekly/bi-monthly to check-in and pray with.

Our tentative leave date is still late-August, but like all things this is very open and flexible. It is hard to not be down there right now, as winter is setting in and people are really in need of housing. The Lord's timing is much better than our own, however, and I'm sure we will get down there just in time for whatever He has planned for us. Just another reason to be praying for the people of Chile, and all that they have ahead of them in terms of reconstruction. If you are interested in donating toward materials for the reconstruction of Tome and Dichato, a nearby town, go to the 2010 for 88 website.

Thanks for your prayers for us and our brothers and sisters in Chile, we are excited for all that the Lord has in store, and how He wants to pour out His love on the Chilean people!

- Missy

Welcome!

Greetings! Thanks for stopping by our blog to check out what is going on in the life of the Reid family. The Lord has really done some great things during our first year of marriage, and it has been by His grace and plan for us that we have had this amazing opportunity to serve abroad in Chile.

Starting at the beginning, both Jordan and I knew we desired to travel and serve/live/work abroad in some form or another. After getting married last August, we began really praying about what that would look like and where the Lord was leading us. After waiting on Him and reading up about all of the opportunities out there, we began to look into moving to Spain. After a few months of research and working to connect ourselves with people or a business, it simply seemed “against the grain,” as if we were trying to pursue something instead of simply sitting before God and really listening.

In February, I (Missy) got the opportunity to lead a group of Capstone students down to Chile for a month long missionary trip. Jeff and Brian, the Capstone founder and missions coordinator, respectively, had decided that they were unable to go and a leadership spot needed filling 3 weeks prior to leaving.

The Capstone team's mission to Chile is in itself a story in which we can now, in hindsight, see just how great God's plans are. Brian and Jeff had looked into possible mission sites all over the world, and had settled on Chile because of the lack of missionaries that visited the country. The mission dates were also a piece of this miraculous journey that would eventually lead us to where we are now. The team was set to leave January 30^th from Portland, arriving in Chile the 31^st of January, and though it had been arranged that they would fly home February 28^th, Jeff changed the return flight at the last minute to the 27^th.

The mission trip was eye-opening, we visited three towns during the four weeks we were there and made some wonderful relationships in the different communities. Throughout the trip I spoke with our trip facilitators about the possibility of Jordan and I moving down to the town of Tome, Chile, and working. Both Jordan and I felt a strong pull to pursue living in Tome, and were looking forward to seeing what would happen next. After the earthquake, which hit only 4 hours after our flight left Santiago, plans changed in that our hearts were still desiring to travel to Chile, but this time in a different capacity. The team could not believe how protected we were in leaving Chile, especially when we thought back to how the date was changed last minute. Jordan and I felt as though coming alongside the church and the community and provide encouragement as well as practical support to Tome and the nearby town of Dichato would be a great opportunity to share God's love with people and help out.

So here we are, still following the Lord's leading as the call has become more and more defined. We are planning on spending one year in Tome, Chile while we help them in reconstruction, provide English classes, create outreach and ministry opportunities, as well as offer media work. We are excited to have this blog as an outlet to keep our friends and family posted with all the new and exciting steps we have ahead of us, as well as ask for your prayers! We will be leaving in late August, and are just in the beginning stages of asking for financial support to fund our time in Tome. Our home church, Riversgate, is going to be sending us to the Covenant church, Amigos de la Mision, of Tome. We cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for this period of preparation, as we have already learned since opening this door in March. Thank you in advance for your prayers of protection, preparation, and peace of the Lord. We are so thankful for all of the support we have already found in friends and family, especially because this is just the beginning!

Missy