Saying Goodbye

Hello all,

I think you have been getting updates from all over, but I also wanted to give and update on our current status. Yesterday afternoon we had to say goodbye to our readers, the church, and Mariupol as we headed for the airport in Donetsk and then on to Munich. Right now I am sitting in the Munich Airport getting ready to board the plane back to Charlotte, North Carolina where we will have about a three hour layover before returning to Dallas tonight. It's difficult to put into words the emotions of the past several days. In some ways I feel like we don't truly know the pain of saying goodbye as well as Tim does, or others like Brandon and Katie Price, who have invested so much of their lives into this work. However, even after just two weeks, it's difficult to think about not seeing all these wonderful people on a daily basis. I think that is the beauty of a short term mission trip. It gives you the chance to fall in love with a place after being there for only a short time. I wonder how many long term missionaries have been inspired by a two or three week trip? And I wonder if whole church could be filled with a passion for missions if they could just step out in faith for a few weeks, and catch a small glimpse of what God is doing throughout the world? Maybe it doesn't take leaving the borders of our own country, but just opening our eyes to what is happening in our own neighborhoods, and communities. By the time we were finished reading we did not have any baptisms. There were a few visitors last Sunday morning, and possibly this morning as well, but on the whole there were very few visible signs that our work was making a difference. However, I believe that seeds were planted. I believe that friendships were made between the readers and the church members, and they are all in God's hands now, just as they were from the very beginning. And now as we board the plane in just a few short moments, the last thing that I would say is thank you. Thank you for your prayers, and for you encouragement. Thank you for your comments, and your thoughts, and for partnering with us over these past two weeks. My hope is that all of you would get the opportunity to have a similar experience. One in which you are inspired by the work that God is doing, and the love that is running through all the members of His family. We love you all and are so thankful for this opportunity.

I will end with this encouragement from Paul:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.


Our love and thanks,

The 2009 Let's Start Talking team