Obedience is better than sacrifice...

Recently I (Jes) have decided to try drinking a small amount of coffee in the mornings. The Lord has certainly gotten me through this last 8 months of little sleep but I've been dreaming of coffee for over a year ;) I decided to get some Maxwell House which is what I drank in Belize. 

As I ceremoniously sat at the table to have that first cup, it struck me how different my view was the last time I drank it. It was over a year ago, in May. The day I found out I was pregnant with Silas. I made my last pot of coffee, sat on the counter in the kitchen in the lodge in Belize in front of the window overlooking the back yard. As I sipped my last cup, sweating and watching the wish-willies fighting over the best spot on the roof of the pump house, I knew my next cup would be very different. 

So here I am in lower Michigan, cold, in an apartment in the city, looking out over our backyard that is not really ours, through a window holding various rocks Sage has found and 3 caterpillars in their crysalis forms, with curtains in knots so Silas can't pull them down again. Things could not be more different! And yet, they are the same. 

1 Samuel 15:22 "....Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of the ram."

While we were missionaries in Belize, we updated our blog every week.  We received tons of support, verbally and monetarily. We were interesting, we were doing something different. Not just to others but to ourselves!  Even though it was a sacrifice in many ways to be there, in some ways it was easier. We were doing something obvious. We had left the comforts of home, everything familiar to us, friends and family etc. to serve God in Belize. Everyone knew why we were there, we didn't have to do anything special to stand out. Then God showed us what was next for us, and here we are being obedient, but not sacrificing as much. 

We haven't been updating the blog very often, for one because doing it every week really was a lot of work and it's been nice to have a break, for two because we both have a lot going on between Joel working and doing ministry and me homeschooling Sage and taking care of our baby boy, but also because we kind of feel like what we've been doing just isn't as interesting as it was 2 years ago. 

Obedience is better than sacrifice!

We know we're doing what God wants us to do at this moment. No we don't know what's next on His list for us, we take it a day at a time. 

We'd like to start sharing some of the things we're learning while we are here, things the Lord has been teaching us. Just because it's not as entertaining doesn't make it less important!  Also I'd like to encourage all of you that wherever the Lord has you right now no matter how interesting it seems to you and those around you, if you are being obedient then you are doing exactly what you are supposed to!

So keep an eye out for future blog updates that will be more than just what we are physically doing, we'd like to share what is going on in our hearts.  We know this is even more important than physical works and we are ready to share!

4/07/15

Once again it's been awhile since we've posted, but it turns out having 2 kids is twice as much work and time as one!

Things have been going really well here. First of all our little boy, Silas Jude, was born at the end of January. He was 9 lbs 9 oz (I know!). He ended up having to stay in the NICU for 6 days because of blood sugar issues but was sent home completely healthy. He's doing great and Sage is a wonderful big sister. She loves helping with him and making him smile, he has a special one just for her :)  She doesn't like him much when he cries though, we're working on that ;)

Joel has continued the same schedule we shared last time, but now he is also teaching the youth on Wednesdays and is going to the church bible study on Tuesdays. Something going on just about every day!

We're excited to share that Pastor Kenny was able to get enough funding to buy a new church van! Thank you if you helped out, it is a huge blessing to the village. Here's a couple pictures:

We still keep in touch with friends in Belize and everyone seems to be doing great. We're hoping we can visit maybe next year when Silas is a little older. Sage wants to see her chickens ;)  It's so strange to think of what we were doing at this time last year and how different things are now.

It looks like Joel will be joining the youth on a mission trip to Brazil this summer. We'll update about that once he knows more about what they will be doing.

We will be in WI to visit at the end of May for Joel's sisters wedding. We should be around for a couple weeks, hopefully we'll be seeing some of you!

12/22/14

Well it's been 2 months since we've posted, I guess it's about time!

Things are going really well. We've pretty much settled into a routine which is nice. Joel has been working 3-4 days a week as a concrete mason for a local company. We moved in on a Friday and he started work that Monday already! Plus his boss is a pastor, super cool. He's enjoying having yet another person to talk with and learn from.

Tuesday night Dave leads a bible study at a nursing home and Joel has been leading the last couple of weeks. That's been going well.  Thursdays Joel spends most of the day with Dave and they do different things each week, either bible study or evangelism or both. Last week they went to visit hospice patients at a VA hospital and one man got saved!!They planned to hand out tracts at the mall after, but Dave and Joel felt the Spirit urging them to go home so they didn't go to the mall. On the way back they witnessed a car accident and after getting the girl out of her truck they got to spend time with her and witness to her. God was definitely involved in the timing of that.  it was a really cool situation (she was fine!).

Saturday mornings Joel and Dave are part of a bible study led by yet another local pastor that involves several other pastors in the community. Joel is really enjoying that as well, just another perspective and way to learn.

Sunday mornings Joel volunteers at a huge church in Flint making a big breakfast for homeless and needy people. He loves this opportunity to share with not just the people coming in but the other volunteers. Then of course we go to a regular church after that on Sundays. So the week is pretty full!

Our apartment is all put together now with a washer and dryer and separate rooms and everything, it's just right for us :) Sage and I spend all of our days together, we go to the library, the park, go for walks, and do lots of cooking and baking and experimenting with new gluten free recipes. She's a great helper and I love that we get to spend so much time together :) Plus there's doctors appointments and bible study and church, getting things ready for the baby, things like that.

Our little man is due in 4 1/2 weeks, I think we're pretty much ready to meet him any time (I sure am! ;) )

Also we wanted to let everyone know we're going to be using some of our ministry money to help out Pastor Kenny in Gales Point to get a new church van. Here's the link if you'd like to check it out and donate: Church Van  The van he's been using for ministry in the village is no longer usable so he's asking for help to buy a new (used) one. This is really important for the village as most people don't have vehicles. Kenny loads up the van and takes people to doctors appointments, to the grocery store, and other errands they otherwise wouldn't be able to do. The van also picks people up for church and takes people to outreaches and all church related activities. So it's really important, we know exactly what the funds will be used for, and we trust Kenny 100%. Pray about it and see if it's something you or even your church could help out with, every little bit helps!

We are home in WI for this week for Christmas and we'll be heading back next weekend. Joel got to share at a church here on Sunday about what God's been doing in our lives, that was really nice.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

10/22/14

Well we moved! It's already been a couple weeks. Everything went smoothly, Sage even survived the trip....surrounded by snacks, watching a movie, with nothing but her undies on, but hey she made it ;)

We love our apartment! It's so simple and we're enjoying not having too much stuff, it makes things so easy! We were unpacked in a few days. We have all the essentials and it's so easy to maintain we have lots of extra time, it's great :)

We are also enjoying that we can see deer right outside our window, of course the corn helps bring them in.....

Joel had a couple projects he wanted to get done in the apartment and almost has them finished already. One was opening up a closet so we can have a washer and dryer:

And the other is making a door and wall between ours and Sages room:

We've been getting settled in, it sure is different living in town but wow having things so close is really nice! Sage and I have enjoyed going to a great park and to the library. Joel has been joining Dave and Toni at a bible study they do at a nursing home and spending time with Dave even doing some street ministry. He also has found a part time job that seems like it's going to fit in well. 

We are planning to be back to the U.P. and WI in a few weeks already for deer hunting and Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas (unless the baby has other plans of course ;) )  

That is pretty much all that's going on just wanted to give an update! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and our move and everything!

9/25/14

Well the big news is we found a place to live! Last week we drove down to Flint to look for houses to rent. We spent the first day driving around Flint and looking at different neighborhoods. Wow, Flint is exactly how it was described to us, not the best/safest place it seems. We did find one house in a neighborhood that seemed ok, but it seemed it was going to be expensive to heat. That night we went to Davison where Dave and Toni live to stay with them. Their church was looking at renting or buying a building and they invited us to go along to look at it, especially since there was an apartment in it the church might be willing to rent to us.  It's a building that rents out office space and also a large room for weddings and church services. Well it didn't work out with the church, but the owner let us look at the apartment and actually said he would consider renting it to us! Well we came back the next day and discussed details with him, and it's going to work out perfect! He has never rented it before and just uses it for storage but we're going to clean it up and he's renting it to us for $400 a month EVERYTHING included! Even internet! We weren't even looking in Davison because it's so expensive - the cheapest we could find was $600 plus utilities, and then this! The Lord seriously had everything worked out for us :)

So we're planning to move in October 10th, just 2 weeks away!

Otherwise we've been busy trying to get to all our churches and supporters. I think we did pretty good. Joel has spoken at Menominee Grace, Stephenson Methodist, Stephenson Assembly of God, New Life in Wausaukee, and last weekend was Country Bible. Next weekend he's speaking at our home church, Interfaith here in Amberg, and that will be our last Sunday here.

Sage turned 4 last month and had a super fun Birthday party, I had an ultrasound and found out we're having a BOY, we had a rummage sale, caught up with old friends, met and had dinner with new friends, visited family....it's been a busy month!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support and time, we appreciate you all so much! I can't tell you how encouraging it is to run into people who tell us they've been keeping up with us every week and really know what's going on with us, it's so so cool :)

8/17/14

Well we've had a busy last month! Summer is always a busy time up here, trying to fit every event in before it gets cold again. Unfortunately it's been a super cold summer!

We've been to Birthday parties, Sage has united with old (but young!) friends...

Sage's favorite thing of course is spending lots of time with Grandpa and Grandma :) (The feeling may be mutual...)

We've gone camping twice, been to a family reunion......

....spoke at several churches, Joel has met with pastors, there's been a bridal shower, a wedding....

....the big announcement that we're expecting baby #2 in January (!!!) so I've had doctors appointments....Sage's 4th birthday party is this Saturday......really we've been quite busy! Joel has been working a lot of hours for some construction companies, so long in fact that he takes off one day a week just so we can visit with people.

We have phones now, Joel: 715-548-1784 and Jes: 715-548-1774. There's still lots of people we want to see so we'll be contacting people and/or you can contact us!

We've come up with budget for our next year in Flint. Like I mentioned in an earlier post we'd still like to ask for help with our living expenses. Joel will be discipling with Dave and this will be his main focus but of course we have to live too so he'll be looking for a part time job so he has time for ministry as well. We don't need as much. If we could raise enough support to cover our actual living expenses such as rent and utilities, that should be all we need. We are going to live very simply. We're going to get the smallest house we can find to save on utilities, we'll only have one car, and we're going to be as frugal as possible. You won't see us spending a bunch of money on entertainment or eating out. We'll have a garden if we can. We also want you to know our donations only go to necessities. We bought a car with the money we had from selling our car before we left. We also used that money to buy a computer after ours was stolen. We'll use the money Joel is making this summer to move and furnish our house. If you are giving us money we want you to know exactly how it is being used so feel free to ask about our finances at any time. We've figured out our expenses as best we can and we've come up with a monthly budget of $880.00 for rent and utilities. This is what we're asking for help with. Our other expenses such as food, personal items and gas come to about $1,000.00. So Joel will have the goal of making this amount with a part time job.

Something important we've learned about ministry while in Belize is that the best gift you can give someone, the best way to really help anyone, is to give them the gift of time. Joel wants to be able to give this gift to those around him and whatever his ministry looks like there.

And that's as far as our plans go! We will have to sign a year lease so we're planning to stay at least a year and after that only God knows!

If you are a supporter we would like to encourage you to let us know if you plan to continue supporting us. We realize it may seem better to support an overseas missionary but really we are going to be doing the exact same thing here as we did in Belize. Our main focus is discipleship with the purpose of encouragement and bringing people to a closer relationship with God and also to support the church we will be part of. This is needed in all nations, including and maybe even especially ours!

Thank you all so much for keeping us with us and supporting us!

As far as churches this next Sunday Joel will be speaking at Menominee Grace and the next Sunday at Stephenson Assembly of God. Hopefully see some of you there!

Weeks 36 & 37

Well we've been quite busy, our last week in Belize was kind of a whirlwind!

I wrote the  last blog on a Monday, Tuesday we spent preparing for our guests who arrived that evening around 5:30. There were 4 of them and we had supper and sat at the table and talked and prayed together for a couple hours. It was their first time in the country and they had a lot of questions about ministry and the area so we got to share a lot with them. The next morning they left. Bright and early around 5 am. It was a really strange situation that we'll have to share in person, I don't know how else to explain! So after all the work we had done to get ready for them, we found ourselves with a few days off, which was nice.

We got to go to Witzoo finally, we've been wanting to go since we moved to Belize. They rehab animals, particularly quash and parrots. This is where Jessi will be released in August!  We met Alan, the owner, last Thanksgiving and he invited us. We needed to drop off some keys with him anyways so we went on Friday. We had stopped at Marks and Joel ended up working there for awhile so we got there too late for the quash feeding, but we got to have a tour of their property, it's a really neat place! They have so many different fruit trees and hardwood trees, it's amazing. And everything is centered around the animals. They showed us trail cam photos of jaguars, puma's, pecary, and tapir, sooo cool.

View of their house from the pond (that has crocodiles in it!)

View from their deck:

Saturday the watchman moved in and Joel was busy showing him around. Sunday was our last church service and then a pool party/bbq at Marks! Mark invited us and Jay and his family, so there were a lot of us ;)

Myrtle and her sisters got to use the fireplace for the first time! I can still smell it.....

They cooked up an amazing meal of 4 kinds of fish, pecary, chicken, rice and beans, and mango coleslaw.

That was a super fun day, we were all tired after that!

Monday we spent the day packing all our stuff. Then that evening we went to Jay and Myrtle's to say goodbye. Myrtle had tons of food waiting for us - food to bring home with us! Good thing we had some extra room in our suitcases! It was extremely sad to say goodbye, so I won't talk about it :(

In the morning we got up early, had breakfast, and were on our way by 7:30. And there at the end of the driveway were Jay and Myrtle! They wanted to give us some gifts and say goodbye again, and they even brought Sage her favorite puppy so she could say goodbye.  Man I miss them already.

Kenny drove us to the airport and dropped us off. We had an uneventful trip, Sage had fun on the airplanes :)

We only had 2 flights with a layover in Atlanta so it worked out perfect, we got to Green Bay around 9. Sage was so excited she couldn't even sleep and by the time we got there she was a bit loopy, but it was funny. It was so cool to see my parents waiting for us!

So we're staying at my parents now, it's been a week already! Last week we were busy visiting family and friends. It's strange to be here yet normal you know? The weather however, that's a different story. I can't remember being so cold!  Sage is so happy to be here, she's having a blast going through all her toys and playing with everyone. 

Joel is working now starting this week and plans to until we move to Flint. We don't have a time frame really, it's nice that he can work to save up some money to move and furnish our house. 

I'm thinking now that we're back you might be having questions about support. Here's our plan as far as that:

As we said before we're planning to move to Flint, MI (near Detroit) so Joel can disciple under Dave Pompo for pastoral ministry. We don't know how long this will be, we'd like to say for sure a year (we'll have to sign a lease) but more likely 2. Joel would like to find a part time job not only for money but to meet people in the community so he can continue discipling people, perhaps starting a house church to edify the church we will be going to and bring people in and get them involved. He wants to do part time so he will have time to spend with Dave and with the people around us as well as with the church. We have learned in a lot of cases it means more to share your time with someone than your money or resources. So we are still asking for help financially. We would love to talk with you about this in person if you'd like, and once we come up with a more exact budget we'll let you know much we feel we need. 

We know it might be easier and seem more effective to support overseas missionaries. But really we will be doing the same thing wherever we are, whether it's Flint or another country. And we can promise you that you will not see us living extravagantly. We have learned a LOT about wants vs needs in Belize and we will putting that into practice the rest of our lives. You won't see us eating out, spending money on entertainment, buying nice things, etc.  We will be living as frugally as we possibly can, we plan to rent a super small house to save on utilities, have one car (we bought one before we came back actually), and be creative and encourage others to do the same, to live more simply. Maybe once we get our own place I can start sharing some of the things we come up with to save money and we'd love to hear your ideas too! 

We'd love to meet with any of you in person if you want to and share about our experiences and what we've learned, and to catch up on the last 9 months of your lives as well! We don't have phones yet, probably by next week we will so for now facebook or email (jdirish@ymail.com) is the best way to get ahold of us. We'd also like to visit all our supporting churches so let us know what works for you!

We appreciate each and every one of you so much, everyone who has supported us and continues to support us in any way.

I don't think I'll update every week, maybe more like every other or to let you know when we're speaking at a church or something. Speaking of which, this Saturday is barn church at Rob and Sheena Wenzels, Joel will be speaking there and it's a great night of worship and testimonies, we'd love to see you there!