Homeless!

"And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." ~ John 10:3-5

We will be officially homeless as of September 30th! We officially gave notice in writing on the house that we rent.

We're locked in now, I guess. No turning back! :)

Someone at church asked me if we have a Plan B. We actually never thought of that... No Plan B. Just a Plan A: follow God to Argentina to do missions. That's it.

That's the plan.

What a walk of faith and practice in trusting God this has been. It is all a joy to follow Him, because we hear His voice. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." - John 10:27

The hardest part about this has not been trusting God, but dealing with and accepting the misunderstanding, the questioning of our motives, the doubting of us as Christians and people. We just shake our heads that there are people that choose to believe we are just "moving back to Argentina". Like life is better there or something. It's not (imagine going to this hospital in Neuquen where we are moving - just take a look, go ahead. Then tell me we are going to be living large.). We're just "moving back to Tony's home country" - we're not really going to do missions. We just want to live abroad and have other people support us and not work. Who are we to do missions anyway? We've heard it all (or at least I hope, because I can't take much more of this). I could go on, but won't... (sigh). That has very much been the. hardest. part. of all this, hands down. We never in a million years imagined that our greatest support and encouragement would come from outside of church, from non-believers, from the third world even. But it has, at least so far. It doesn't make sense. For every word of encouragement from a believer, we have received two from non-believers. I don't understand it. [And please don't criticize me for just telling the truth, I don't know if I can take one more person jumping on us for just wanting to do mission. This has simply been our experience]. Of course, we hope and pray that this changes.

I love what Hudson Taylor said in response to his critics and doubters when he was about to leave for China,

'“A foolhardy business,” said those who saw only the difficulties.

“A superhuman task,” sighed others who wished them well. And many even of their friends could not but be anxious.

“You will be forgotten,” was the concern of some.

“With no committee or organization before the public, you will be lost sight of in that distant land. Claims are many nowadays. Before long you may find yourselves without even the necessaries of life!”

“I am taking my children with me,” was the quiet answer, “and I notice it is not difficult to remember that they need breakfast in the morning, dinner at midday and supper at night. Indeed, I could not forget them if I tried. And I find it impossible to think that our heavenly Father is less tender and mindful of His children than I, a poor earthly father, am of mine. No, He will not forget us!”' - from Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, p. 124 [read the whole thing here]

I thank God for the example of Hudson Taylor. For Gladys Aylward, and for all the others that have gone before us in faith and have proved God to be faithful. Their testimony speaks and encourages us even to this day. Thank you, Jesus.

So... we're looking forward to being homeless!

:)