Blair Family Update - The Finish Line is Near

We've bought our tickets!  Most of our bags are packed!  We are leaving on Aug. 28th!

These are all such EXCITING sentences!  But they don't come out of the blue.  The past two months, God has been blazing a trail for us, and we're really looking forward to sharing some of these moments with you.  Here is what we've been up to the past few weeks:

1. Texas Trip

 We spent a little over 3 weeks in the Houston, Texas area in the month of July.  We were so thankful to stay with Abigail's family friends, the Dunns.  They were so generous to have us stay with them, and it was so nice for us to have a quiet place to regroup.  It was great catching up, and reminiscing about childhood memories.

Randy and Esther Dunn were also kind enough to host a missions dinner for us, where they invited their friends, and we were able to share our hearts for Slovenia in a very close and intimate setting.  There was a sweet presence of the Holy Spirit that night, and we were greatly blessed by all those who were there.  Thank you!

 We enjoyed catching up with some long-time friends; like Abigail's parents' former Chi Alpha students, Ted and Nancy Menard.  We are so excited that they've joined the Hope4Slovenia team!  Thank you for your love and support!

We also made new friends; like Pastor James, who is a pastor at a Vineyard church in Houston.  He is actually the missions pastor at our friends, the Dunns' church!  We are so thankful for friends who introduce us to their friends!  Thank you for joining the Hope4Slovenia team!

 These dear friends are Pastor Raul and Cecilia Garza.  Many of you may remember, a few months back, we shared that we were contacted by Pastor Garza, as the Lord had laid Slovenia on his wife's heart, and they were looking for missionaries to support in Slovenia.  Since we are the only Assemblies of God missionaries to Slovenia, we were ECSTATIC to make their acquaintance!  When we met Pastor and sister Garza, it was like meeting old friends!  We immediately felt our hearts knitted together!  Not only did Pastor Garza allow us to come and share in their church, but he actually booked us 3 more services!  Wow!  That is every missionary's dream, right there!  We cannot explain how thankful we are for his, and sister Cecilia's love and support personally, as well as from their church.  They have been a huge blessing to our family, and we thank God for friends and ministry partners like them every day!

 We loved connecting with some of the churches who have loved and supported Abigail's family throughout the years - some since before she was even born! One of those churches was Galena Park Assembly of God.  We were so thankful to be able to see Pastor Glenda, and we so appreciate her partnership with us!

It was also super fun to reconnect with her granddaughter, Taylor, and her beautiful family!  It's always encouraging to see generations serving the Lord!








We met with, and saw so many more people, there isn't enough room to name them all, but here are a few more pictures:

 
 



2. When the Student Becomes the Master

One of the sweetest meetings was on our way home from Texas.  We loved getting to see Bradley and Ariel - they were students in our youth group, who then became leaders, then got married, and NOW they are youth pastors themselves! God is so good, and we are so thankful for his faithfulness.  We are so proud of Bradley and Ariel, our hearts could burst!  On a "missions" note, Bradley also took our information to his senior pastor, a man we've never met, and he and his church pledged support to us that day!  This past month has simply been filled with God-ordained moments like that one.
In our talking and praying, we knew that to meet our monthly goal we would need to have a certain number of partners at a certain amount.  God met that VERY specific need, and we are just blown away by his provision.

3. God-Ordained Moments

A few weeks ago we were ministering in a church in Venice, FL.  We had a blessed time, and also found out that the missions pastor we had been in contact with, and his wife were having their last Sunday with this church, as they were about to begin a church plant. As we were leaving, he came to us and told us that they wanted to partner with us, and wanted us to be their first missionaries!  Talk about stepping out in faith!  We were so blown away by their gesture!  Please be praying for them with us, and their new church plant, WellSpring!

4. So, Where Does That Leave Us?

We have bought our plane tickets, and are waiting for final clearance from Assemblies of God World Missions.  We are mostly packed, and are having a garage sale soon to sell the remainder of our belongings.  We are so excited and anticipatory of what is ahead!

Beloved prayer partners, please be praying for these specific needs:

1. Traveling mercies as we make our way to Slovenia.  We will be flying to Hungary, and storing our belongs there while we search for a home.  Please pray that we would make all of our connections, and that all of our bags would make it.

2. Our new home.  Please be praying that we are able to find a home quickly, and with no hiccups.

3. Our Speed the Light vehicle.  The youth in our district, PenFlorida have already raised the funds necessary for us to purchase a vehicle once we're in Slovenia.  Praise Jesus, what a huge blessing!  Please pray with us that we are able to find the perfect, reliable vehicle quickly.

4. Our visas.  Because of our status as religious workers, we are able to apply for our visas once we land.  Please be praying that everything goes smoothly, all of our documentation will be in order, and that we have our visas in hand soon.

5. Language learning.  We will begin language studies as soon as we get there.  This will be new for all of us.  Please pray that we are able to pick up the Slovene language quickly, so that we may best reach the Slovenian people.

6. Building relationships with the Slovene Pentecostal movement.  We are so excited to meet and partner with the Slovene Pentecostal churches and church leaders.  We are eager to hear their hearts and desires for reaching their people, and coming alongside them and supporting them in any way that we can.

7.  For our son, Aidan.  Pray that he would make friends, adjust to his new home, pick up Slovene quickly, and not only survive, but thrive in and love his new home!

It's been a long road, but we have seen God's hand every step of the way.  We are thankful for the lessons we've learned, the people we've met, those who faithfully pray for us, those who sacrifice and have partnered with us monthly, those who have generously opened their homes to us and everyone who has encouraged us along the way.

We genuinely couldn't have done any of this without you!

We promise to keep you updated, as we are about to leave, once we're there, and as our ministry in Slovenia blossoms.  We love and appreciate each one of you!

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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!

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One Of The First Slovene Americans Was A Missionary Priest - The Story of Frederic Baraga

While doing some research about our soon-to-be host country, we came across this very interesting person in history.

Meet Frederic Baraga.  He was one of the first Slovenes to immigrate to the United States, and he was a missionary priest.  Here are few interesting facts about him:

- He arrived to the United States on New Years Eve, 1830.

- At first he ministered among German immigrants in Cleveland, OH.  During this time, he also began to learn the Ottawa language.  He later went to live among the Ottawa people.

- In 1837 he published the first book in the Ottawa language, Otawa Anamie-Misinaigan.  It included a Catholic prayer book and catechism.  

- He then moved, and ministered to the Ojibwe people.

- In 1843 he founded a mission in L'Anse, Michigan.  During this time he earned the nickname “the Snowshoe Priest” because he would travel hundreds of miles each year on snowshoes during the harsh winters.

- He worked to protect Native Americans from forced relocation.

- He published a dictionary and grammar book on the Ojibwe language.

- In 1853 he was elevated to the position of Bishop of Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.  During this time, a rush of European immigrants relocated to the area.  He continued to minister to Native Americans and Europeans, alike. 

- He continued to travel by snowshoe in the harsh winters well into his sixties - all to reach people in remote areas.

- On a trip to Europe to raise money for his mission, he was presented a jeweled cross and episcopal ring by the emperor of Austria, as a thanks for his service.  He sold the cross and ring, so he could fund his ministry.

- He wrote letters home about his missionary work, which inspired many other priests to move to the United States as missionaries as well.

Wow!  What an inspiring and devoted follower of Jesus!  Frederic Baraga's story reminds us of a few things: 1) EVERYONE has a right to choose Jesus - regardless of geographical location or skin color; 2) There should be no obstacle too great when reaching people (snowshoes); 3) It's so important to reach people in THEIR language; 4) Nothing is of more value than people's souls (cross and ring); and 5) We are called to inspire others as well.

See the snowshoes?

We hope the story of Frederic Baraga has inspired you to reach those around you, it certainly encouraged us!

So, we will sign off as Bishops Baraga did in his pastoral letter, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen."

*If you would like to read Bishop Baraga's Pastoral letter, you can find it here.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You

Well friends, we're in May!  Here's a quick update on what we've been up to!

We have had the pleasure of visiting many churches in the past month!  For most of this itineration cycle, we have stayed in our home district, PenFlorida, but this past month we had the opportunity to attend churches in West Florida District, as well as Alabama District.  We were very encouraged by the congregations we visited, it so wonderful to see people on fire for missions!  There was one church in particular, whose missions goal is to partner with a missionary in every country of the world!  Because we are the only Assemblies of God missionaries to Slovenia, this was very exciting for us!

Dan has stayed very busy this month, going to Alabama and West Florida's District Councils.  District Council is a conference which the majority of the pastors from that district attend.  It is a great opportunity to connect, and hopefully book services, set up meetings, and gain support.  We will be going to our own PenFlorida District Council in two weeks, and we would appreciate your prayers during that time!

We just reached 75% of our monthly budget!  This is so exciting, and it is starting to really feel real!  We've started to pack some of our bins with things like winter clothes, and Christmas decorations.  We have received our first extension, and our superiors have given us until July 1st to be funded.  Please be agreeing with us in prayer, that we would be able to meet this deadline, and on our way to Slovenia!

We will be starting our visa applications soon, and the timing of it all is very important.  It's hard to know how long the process will take, and once we receive our visas, we have to be in the country within 1 month.  We would appreciate it if you would be praying for us, that the application and approval process would go off without a hitch, and that everything would happen in God's timing.

What we really want to say is best summarized in Numbers 6:24-26 "May the Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace." This is our prayer for all of you, our faithful supporters!  Thank you so much for all you do - your prayers, encouraging words, and financial support!

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