Keeping Up With The Blairs

Where do we even begin!?  We hit the ground running this month, and are excited to share some of the highlights with you!

1. PenFlorida District Council

We are so thankful for our PenFlorida leadership!  Thank you to everyone involved in planning, logistics, set-up, tear-down, the speakers, PenFlorida Women's ministries for the luncheon, PenFlorida Missions Department for the moving and inspiring missions service and all the missionaries who encouraged one another.  It was truly a time of refreshing!  (Also, this is what missionary kid life looks like sometimes.)

We even found the Slovenian flag (which Aidan can recognize a mile away)!  It makes our hearts so happy to see little reminders of our future home!

2. Clearing Out Our Storage Unit

 When we moved in with our friend 2 years ago, in preparation for this adventure, we put many of our things in a storage unit.  This month, we went through it all, and sorted the "stuff" into four categories: take to Slovenia, keep in Florida for later (our next term in Slovenia, we will have funds to send a crate, this first time we're only taking suitcases), garage sale, and throw.  We managed to do it all in one day!  (Thank you Mellissa for watching Aidan that day!)

Thank you so much to Pastor Jeff Wade and his church, Ocala First Assembly, and Tim and Janet Sudreth, pastors of Suncoast Cathedral for helping us with the purchase of this trailer!  We downsized quite a bit, and were able to fit everything into it!  We are also very thankful to Dave Houck, pastor of Salt Life Church, for allowing us to park it on his camp grounds for the next 3 years!

4 hours, and lots of sweat later, that's what an empty storage unit looks like!!

3. Itineration Trip Up to Virginia

Much of Abigail's family is from the Virginia area, so we were very thankful to be able to book a few meetings and services up there!  On the way to the airport, we were so happy to get to have lunch with one of our former students, and monthly partners, Emma Dove!  We are so proud of you!  We love you!

 Our first day there, we had the unplanned and AWESOME surprise of seeing the Buckleys, missionaries to Hungary!  Abigail used to babysit their kids when they were little, and Dave and Karmi are her "missionary aunt and uncle".  They are just starting a summer of itinerating also, so please keep them in your prayers, too!  We are so thankful for their love and support!

We were very excited to connect with the Flores family!  Johnny and Robin graduated from the school where Abigail's grandmother taught, and went to her church.  They have three wonderful boys, so Aidan had a BLAST at their house!  They are also one of our monthly partners, and we are so thankful for them!

 These are Abigail's Aunt Temple, and Uncle John (Magic).  They have supported us since Day 1 (and not just on our missions journey).  We wouldn't have even been able to move to Florida without their help, which means none of this would've even happened!  Thank you so much for all you do for us!  We loved getting to spend time with you!

We were so excited to visit Faith Fellowship, where Pastor Don and his wife Kim have been faithful supporters of Abigail's parents for years.  Their youngest daughter, Jocelyn, is even named after Abigail's mother!

4. 80% Reached

This month, we reached 80% of our monthly budget!  We are so thankful, and anticipating wonderful things!  We are on target to be leaving towards the end of September, thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

We were also thrilled to connect with Tom and Lynda Kish, Dan's family friends from his home church in Ohio, who have partnered with us, and now live in Bonita Springs.  We had so much to talk about, as Tom is Hungarian, and Lynda grew up as a missionary kid!  We had a terrific time!

5. Slovenian Statehood Day

Slovenian Statehood Day is on June 25th.  It's the day that they announced their separation from Yugoslavia.  Please make a mental note to lift the people of Slovenia up in prayer that day!  We know that there is hope for Slovenia, and that Jesus is his name!

Thank you for your continued prayers for us!  We appreciate each and every one of you!

SaveSave

We're At 70%, And It Feels So Good!

We just hit another huge milestone!

We had a campaign to finish March at 70%, and today we met that goal!

Thank you so much to our friends and family, you joined us this past month, and with your support, we reached the next step!  We could not have done it without you, and we are more thankful for you than you know!

We are praying and hoping to leave for Slovenia in August, which gives us about 5 months to raise the last 30%.  We know that with God's grace, and your support, we will able to be on our way to Slovenia!

And that's not the only praise report we have!  Since our last blog post, we have also found out that PFYouth Speed the Light has raised the funds needed for our Speed the Light car!  For those of you who may not be familiar with Speed the Light, it is a ministry, where the youth of each district raises the money needed for missionaries' vehicles.  This is a HUGE help, because if we had to raise the extra funds, it would add months, maybe even years to our itineration cycle.  The fact that the funds are already available means that as soon as we land in Slovenia, we will have a reliable and safe mode of transportation.  We are so thankful to our District Youth Director Casey Casal, as well as all the teenagers who have given to Speed the Lights!

And that's still not all!  Wide Open, City Church's youth group in Sanford, FL has pledged to raise $5000, for our plane tickets to Slovenia!  That is amazing!  We get so excited to see young people on fire for missions!

We are so thankful for all the people who have come alongside us, who encourage us, love and support us!  Please continue to pray for us, for traveling mercies (our car just reached 100,000 miles!), favor with the pastors, and other people we meet, and to be able to leave for Slovenia as soon as possible!

Thank you!

Spring - a Time of Growth

We were recently reading through Ecclesiastes, and were reminded again, that there truly is a season for everything.

Spring is a time of growth, renewed strength and hope.  And we are feeling all those things in the last couple weeks.

We ended the year at 50%, and as of right now are already at 63%! That is incredible growth, and we are so thankful!  We are praying and believing to be fully funded by August 1st.

Some of you may be new to our blog, so we wanted to give a quick recap about what it is that we are doing.

We are newly appointed Assemblies of God missionaries to the country of Slovenia. Slovenia is a country in South East Europe, with a population of 2 million people, and approximately 1000 (0.5% of the population) Evangelical Christians.  There are currently no Assemblies of God missionaries to this country, and we are so honored and humbled to be answering God's call to Slovenia.

We are currently itinerating, which means we are visiting churches, and meeting with people to tell them about our heart for Slovenia, in the hope that they will partner with us in prayer, encouragement and financial support.  We will not be collecting a salary in Slovenia, rather we live off of the generosity of people who share our heart for Slovenia.  We have a monthly budget that we have to raise before we can get clearance to go.  Our first term in Slovenia will be for 3 years, during which we will be attending language school full-time, while partnering with the local Slovenian Pentecostal movement to help inspire church development and revitalization and trying to integrate into as much of the culture as we can.

After those three years, we will come back to the US, itinerate again, and then go back to Slovenia for 4 years.  We will continue this cycle until God tells us otherwise.  

So, when we say that we couldn't do any of this without you, it isn't false humility.  It truly is by the grace of people just like you that we are able to minister in Slovenia.  So, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Please keep our family in your prayers this month, as we all (especially Dan) will be doing lots of traveling.  With as much driving as we do, it is not uncommon to see accidents on the road.  We are often reminded that we need God's protection wherever we go!  Also, this past month Abigail's grandfather went to be with the Lord, and we all travelled to Springfield, Missouri to attend the funeral.  It was sad, but we know he is in a place where he is no longer in pain.  Please pray for comfort, as this is the fourth grandparent we've lost within the span of a year.

We appreciate all of you more than you know!  Thank you for coming on this journey with us!

sLOVEnia

We had something very exciting happen this past month, and couldn't wait to tell you about it!

We got an email from our area director to be on the lookout for a phone call from a pastor in Texas.  A couple of days later, we received a call.  As it turns out, pastor Raul Garza and his wife often travel to countries around the world, and connect with missionaries on the ground.  His wife felt prompted to do something for Slovenia a few years ago, so on one of their trips, they visited there.  They were surprised to find out that there were no Assemblies of God missionaries.  So years ago they started praying that someone would answer the call to Slovenia.

Fast forward, they wrote our area director, asking if there were any missionaries headed to Slovenia, and as a matter of fact... there are!

So he called us, and invited us to their church, and told us they were going to partner with us in monthly support!  We were so excited, and thankful for God's timing! It is so encouraging and at the same time humbling to know that we are part of God's plan.

To think that the creator of the whole universe has a specific plan, and that we have small part in it - it's almost too much to fathom!

And that brings us to the title of this post.  Slovenia is the only country in the world that has the world "love" in it.  And we love Slovenia!  God has given us a love for a country and people - and we are so anxious to get there!

So this Valentine's Day, love the people near you, but also love the people that God lays on your heart.  God uses each of us to pray for people all over the world.  Allow the Lord to soften your heart towards his people, and pray for them.

Happy Valentine's Day. And remember, "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

A Year To Review, A Year To Hope For

 As of January 1st, we have been itinerating for 1 year.  We've driven 34,441 miles, and visited 88 churches in 6 states.

We have raised 52% of our monthly budget.

All of these numbers are encouraging, but of course, we are longing to finally make Slovenia our home.  We are praying, hoping and planning on leaving for Slovenia by the end of June.

January is a month to look both forward and backward.  Backward, to remember all the blessings and special moments that happened, and forward with expectation.

So, we would like to share with you our top 3 itineration moments from 2016, and the top three that we are praying for, for 2017.

2016 Top 3

1. Candidate Missionary Commissioning Ceremony

In June of this year, we got to experience one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments.  We were commissioned as Assemblies of God World Missionaries.  All of our leadership was there and prayed over us.

Our Europe regional directors the Trementozzis, and our Central Europe area directors the Sabellas were there, as well as our district superintendent Terry Raburn, and district  missions director Tom Manning.  We received a Slovenian Bible, and the blessing of our leaders.  It was a moment we both have been looking forward to, for as long as we can remember.

2. Visiting the Slovenian Embassy in Washington D.C.

We were fortunate enough to be able to visit the Slovenian Embassy in Washington D.C. in November.  You may not know this, but the land an embassy sits on is considered that country's soil.  This means that technically, we actually visited Slovenia!

We spent time praying for Slovenia; their government, their people, the spiritual climate there, as well as our transition to moving there.  It was a very special time that stood out in our minds as an ordained moment.

3. Many, Many Itinerating Car Selfies

We have spent countless hours in the car together - it's a good thing we all like each other and shower regularly! Thankfully, Aidan is a terrific traveler; he LOVES hotels, snacks, sleeping in his own "big boy" bed, and watching Paw Patrol in the back seat.  We have great talks on the long drives, listen to music or even audio books.  We've been able to see some amazing and spectacular things along the way; Ocala National Forest, the Southernmost point of the US, a sunrise in Miami, orange groves and manatees at the Tampa zoo, to name a few.  We have met so many kind and generous people along the way.  Countless people have partnered with us on this itineration journey, and are making it possible for us to be moving forward towards moving to Slovenia. 

2017 Top Three

1. Getting the All Clear

We cannot wait to use these passports to board a big plane, with all our earthly possessions, and move to the country God has called us to!  We are ready to go!  The moment we hit that "magical" 100 mark, we will be on our way to the next adventure!

2. Meeting Our Slovenian Brothers and Sisters

We are so excited to meet our Slovenian brothers and sisters in Christ.  The Slovenian Pentecostal fellowship has invited us to come, and we cannot wait to be there, worshipping and working alongside them.  Please be praying for them with us!

3. Start Learning Slovene

 One of the questions we get asked most at churches is if we've started learning the language yet.  We would love to!  The challenge is that Slovene is not a widely spoken language, so there are only a couple options for taking classes here in the States, and none of them are near us.  So we will be spending the first year (at least) in full-time language school.  We are both very much looking forward to learning Slovene!

A Thankful Heart

Honestly, this is our favorite time of the year.  We both LOVE Thanksgiving, and try to make sure Christmas doesn't infringe on November.  Perhaps it's because Thanksgiving isn't over-commercialized.  Maybe it's because Thanksgiving is a "pure" holiday, without presents and things.  Or, it might be because Fall colors are the prettiest.  Who knows.

No matter the reason, I think we can all agree, that having an attitude, and a heart of thanksgiving is the best.  There are numerous verses in the Bible on thanksgiving, most notably in the Psalms.  

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 118:1

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. 

Psalm 111:1

I will praise the name of God with song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 69:30

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1

So, in the spirit of that last verse, we would like to share with you all what we are thankful for.

1. A Home

This past year, we have been living with a friend.  This has helped us keep our costs down while raising support, have someone to "come home" to, as well as someone to be there with Abigail while Dan travels alone.  We are thankful for our home.

2. Safety

As we have been traveling so much this year, we have unfortunately seen many accidents on the road.  We are so blessed and thankful that God has kept us, and our car safe as we itinerate.  We are thankful for traveling mercies.

3. Health

We have been blessed this year.  None of us have been majorly sick, we have not been in the hospital, or had any major injuries (toddler bumps and bruises aside).  We are thankful for good health.

4. Family

Although we have had losses this year, on both sides of our family, we have been able to spend more time with family, than originally expected, and we have been thankful for every moment of it.  We are thankful for quality family time.

5. Partners

We have been overwhelmed by people's generosity this year!  Thank you to all of our ministry partners, both churches and individuals.  Thank you to those who pray for us on a daily basis.  The earlier mentioned things would not be possible without the power of prayer.  We are thankful for our supporters.

6. Hope

We are thankful for the hope that we have in Christ; that we know our Father in heaven loves us, cares for us and supports us.  It is his same hope that we are so longing to share with the people of Slovenia.

Thank you, to everyone who reads our blogs, posts, likes our pictures, etc.  You help us stay excited and keep our spirits up!

We appreciate all of you.  Thank you.  Thank you for lifting us up in prayer, writing us and loving on us.  Thank you.

Trusting God Through The Storm

This week, we have all been consumed with tracking Hurricane Matthew.  Initially, our city, Jacksonville was supposed to get hit severely, and evacuation orders were given for much of the city.  By God's provision, we had a service that Sunday (we had a rescheduling, they had a cancellation), in Tampa.  So on Thursday, the day before the the hurricane was to hit, we left.

We were blessed beyond measure, we were safe, we had water, food, and the means and ability to leave town.  It is with humility that we acknowledge, that not all were so fortunate.  We are very grieved by the lives that were lost, especially in Haiti.

Through all of this though, God has been reminding us to trust him in the storm.  We read over the story about how Jesus calms the storm, in Matthew 8.

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

There are physical storms, like the one that swept through the east coast.  But there are also spiritual and emotional ones.

It can be a financial struggle, a health scare, an uncomfortable or new phase in life, or a loss.  Storms come in all shapes and sizes.

In our lives, we are told that we WILL have storms, not that we MAY have storms.  But we are also promised that the Lord will not forsake us.  

Personally this year, we have had some personal losses, there has been a lot of new, and a lot of change.  But through it all, we have been encouraged to put our faith and trust in the Lord.

So, today we would just like to encourage you, if you are in the middle of a storm, don't be discouraged.  Take heart in the Lord.


Now, for a quick update:
  We are all doing well, and on the itineration trail.  Last month we were mostly in the Ocala area, and this month we are in and around Orlando.  We are currently at 44% of our budget, and would like to be at 50% by the end of the month.
We have had such a pleasure sharing in churches this month!

At one of the churches we visited, we had the honor of sharing in their children's church.  After we spoke, a little girl we're going to call Miss M came up to us, and told us that she feels like God wants her to come to Slovenia and help us, when she grows up!  That was such a moving and exciting moment!  If you can, take a moment to pray for her, that if that is God's will, that He would guide her steps.  Oh, to have the faith of a child!

Finally, to wrap up, here are a couple sweet moments, brought to you by Aidan.:

1. As soon as we get out of the car at churches, Aidan gets busy trying to find the nursery.  He will pull on my arm, and tell everyone he meets in the halls that he wants to play, until we finally make it to the nursery.  Where he ALWAYS has a blast!

2. Aidan has named the three mountain peaks on our logo: the tall one is daddy, the one on the left is mommy, and the one on the right is Aidan.  Whenever he sees the logo, he says, "Slovenia!  Daddy, mommy, Aidan, Slovenia!"

3. We took Aidan to eat at IKEA for the first time.  It's a Swedish store, that also has a restaurant.  When we lived in Belgium for college, it was a treat to eat there.  So, we were very excited to introduce him to it.  Well, we are very proud to announce, that there is now a new Swedish meatball aficionado in our house!

As always, thank you for staying in touch with us!  It means so much to us that you have partnered with us, whether it is through prayer or giving.  Without you, none of what we do would be possible!

On The Road...

This has been a very busy time of year for us, and we couldn't be more thankful!  Busy means we are able to share the message of hope for Slovenia with more churches and people.

We have already been blessed to travel towards the southern part of the state in July, and the Gulf side in August.

We have visited many churches, and met so many gracious and kind people.  We have even been able to be a part of a beautiful missions banquet!

We also just got our very own #hope4slovenia mugs!  We have already seen a great response towards it!  If you would like to purchase one, you can pick one up when we visit your church, or at the upcoming Experience conference.  OR you can make a donation online, and we'll be happy to send it to you!  Feel free to write us on our Facebook page to set that up!

It has been a great few months!  Thank you to those who have contributed towards it!

Being on the road also means that we have to keep our "little person" happy and busy.

For the most part he is a wonderful traveller, and goes with the flow.  He likes to talk about what he sees out the window, or what we are doing next.  Of course, he also likes to watch Paw Patrol, so if you think of us, pray for our sanity. :)

Now, before we sign off, here's today's dose of Aidan cuteness:

1. Whenever we pull into a new place, Aidan asks us, "Where are we, dudes?"  It cracks us up every time, which of course encourages it!

2. Aidan has mastered introducing himself to new people.  He now walks up to someone new and says, "Hi, I'm Aidan Blair.  I'm two."  Sometimes he even says, "I'm going to Slovenia!"

3. Aidan loves making new friends in the nursery wherever we visit! 

As always, thank you for staying in touch!  We also want to thank you for your continued love, prayer and support!

Itineration Is In Full Swing

Happy Wednesday, Friends!

We have officially been missionaries since January, however I was still working full-time as a teacher until June 10th.

On weekends we would travel together, as a family, but during the week, Dan would travel alone, even doing 5-week stretch in Ohio, while we were back in Florida.

On June 11th Aidan and I flew to Missouri to join Dan, and begin our (roughly) month-long missionary training.  It was a time of learning, stretching, abiding and prayer.  It was truly enriching, and we felt empowered to continue on this adventure called "itineration".

For those of you who may not know, itineration is the process of missionaries meeting with churches or individuals, and sharing their heart for the country and people they feel called to.  This can be over coffee, or in a service.  

The hope is that people would be moved, and partner with the missionary in prayer and/or financial support.  Both of those are a vital need for the missionaries! I know people who have prayed for me or my family every day since they met me!  I have had ladies show me our family's prayer card in their Bible, where they have kept it, and faithfully prayed, for over 20 years.  It is very humbling and encouraging at the same time.

So, I thought you might enjoy if I shared a few light-hearted moments.  And since we have a rambunctious 2-year-old, whose vocabulary is rapidly growing, most of them revolve around him:

1. When we ask Aidan "Where are we going?", we usually get an adorable "Slovenia!"  But, on occasion, we will get a resounding "TARGET!!"  That one has gotten a little more dangerous these days, haha!

2. We have mints sitting out on our display table.  For obvious reasons, we don't let Aidan have them.  So, sometimes when people come over, take a prayer card, and try to take a mint, Aidan scrunches up his face, and shouts, "No touch the candy, put it back!"  We usually make a light-hearted joke about how they have to promise to pray for us, and then they can have the mint, but... yeah. 

3. Aidan thinks all churches have donuts.

4. During our commissioning service, we were holding Aidan, and I saw my grandparents.  I pointed them out, and said, "Look, it's great-grandma and great-grandpa!"  Just then, the people who were to pray with the new missionaries were called up, many of whom had white hair.  Every one that walked by, Aidan sweetly said, "Hi great-grandpa!  Hi great-grandma!"  One of those people was our district superintendent, who was coming to pray with US.  He is a very sweet and understanding man, but I was about ready to die of embarrassment.

5.  One day, Aidan took a little bag, flung it over his shoulder, grabbed a pack of prayer cards, and said, "I got my prayer cards, I'm going on a mission!"  My sweet boy.

So, these are just a few of the funny moments we've had, and I know there will be many more to come!  Thank you for coming along with us on this adventure!