unexpected joy

Dear friends,

I write to you from our last day at COP in Florida. We will be leaving at 4:00 tomorrow morning to head back home to cold and rainy Northern California where we will try to put into action some of the steps we need to take before going to the mission field. Yes, that's right... we survived our orientation program and are now "candidates in process." We have been affirmed in our call to overseas missions, but they could not appoint us as missionaries or members yet because of some of the things that we need to take care of first: like our health.

This has been a wonderful week for us where we have been faced with some hard questions. One of which is this: if I am this unhealthy in the States, how am I going to survive on the mission field? The results of our psychological evaluations revealed to us that my physical symptoms were just a manifestation of my emotional state. We are learning that it will take a lot of work to help me recover, but it is possible for me to be a healthy normal functioning human being again. We knew there were some issues, we just hadn't realized how bad we had let things get. But there is great hope! We now have a connection at the Mayo Clinic with someone who is experienced with these types of issues and has had great success! Please be praying for us as we undergo multiple tests and travel across the country to visit with doctors and begin treatment.

This journey has led us to the decision that it is time to move on to better things. Matthew is looking for a better paying job and we are looking for a new living situation more conducive to my emotional and physical healing. I will continue working my nanny position until that time that we can find something better and I am going to continue working my Premier business while we save money for our survey trip.

Once we have been able to stabilize our health and financial situation a little more, we will become "appointees" and at that time will be able to start planning our long awaited vision trip (or survey trip, as Pioneers calls it). This will be a 2 week to 3 month trip where we will visit teams in Indonesia who have invited us to look into joining their work. After we have determined what team we want to work with long term, we will return to the states to complete our pre-field training which includes a year internship with our local church to learn more about church planting and missions. Matthew also needs to complete some Bible classes as part of our pre-field training, but we have 5 years to complete this requirement after our appointment date.

We have been appointed a pre-field coach who will help us through this process, which should take 1-3 years before we can go to the field long term. Many of the staff in Orlando were previous missionaries in Indonesia and I was very encouraged to hear their stories and they were just as excited to hear how God had been calling us towards the country that they had poured years of their lives into. We are so blessed to know so many who have gone before to lay the ground work. We will be able to go and reap the harvest that many have died to sow.

Thank you for partnering with us through your consistent prayers and encouragement this week as we have sought God's heart for our lives and dreamed with Him for Indonesia. We have received wise counsel, and are looking forward to the journey ahead.

a thankful heart prepares the way

Wow. I can't believe we are really here at Pioneers' Candidate Orientation Program in Orlando, Florida! The past month has been a whirlwind of activity, but by God's grace and the generosity of our friends and family, we made it here!

Thanks to Matthew's saved up vacation time and amazing parents purchasing incredibly over-priced plane tickets, we were able to spend the past few days visiting with Matthew's brother and sister in law in Georgia while trying to adjust to Eastern Standard Time... I think the Indonesia time adjustment was easier! (but I was younger then and it wasn't right after a crazy new years' party!) We had a wonderful time visiting with them and seeing our nephew and niece. We were so blessed by their love and generosity and are so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful family!

Our flight to Florida from Georgia was... interesting... Because people were trying to fly ahead of a huge snow and ice storm that was coming into Georgia later this evening, the flight was overbooked and of course it was our seats that got bumped... There was supposably only one other flight to Orlando today and that would get us in to Orlando half an hour after the program started! One person volunteered to change their flight, so we decided that I should go on ahead so at least one of us could be there in time for the program. I went ahead to Atlanta leaving Matthew to try and get on one of the other connecting flights via standby. When I got to Atlanta, my plane to Orlando was delayed and Matthew was able to get on the standby flights so we actually arrived in Orlando at the same time, more than an hour before the program started! But since Matthew got bumped from his original flight, the airline gave him a compensation check! So God had a plan all along: 1) to teach me to TRUST HIM and not too worry so much and 2) to give us a little more money to cover our travel expenses for this week! He is so good!

So, our first night in Florida... we have already met some amazing missionaries and hopefully life-long friends and co-laborers! There is another couple in the program that have an interest in Indonesia, and we hope to connect more with them as the week progresses.

Our first interview is tomorrow afternoon, so we hope we can get enough rest this evening to wake up refreshed and clear-headed. The decision making team meets on Wednesday to prayerfully decide whether or not to offer us appointment as missionaries with Pioneers. So, if you feel a strong call to pray on Wednesday, that is why!

We are so excited to talk with other missionaries and to hear of all that God is doing around the world through His Church! I have been so blessed by the heart of Pioneers and their servant leadership! If you haven't checked out their website and read through their core values, I HIGHLY recommend it. You can find a link to their website on the left under the PARTNERS section.

Thank you dear friends for your prayers, encouragement, and financial gifts.

I will continue to update you as time allows, but please be patient, as our week is very full and my stamina has been very limited. Please pray for strength for both of us as our over-worked immune systems are adjusting to the new surroundings and our lack of sleep catches up with us.

How to Support the Parsons

We have been officially accepted to attend the Candidate Orientation Program with Pioneers in January! That means we need to raise about $1600 in about 16 days and we need your help!

If just 100 of our friends donate $16 each we will reach our goal. If we don't reach this goal in the next 16 days, though, we will have to wait until April to go to the Orientation Program.

Thank you so much for your support.

The easiest way to give is by clicking the donate button to the left under our picture. This will take you to a secure site where you can donate through a PayPal account or credit card. You can always contact us via email if you have any questions or want to support another way.

We are also trying to sell our Dodge Caliber to raise money for this trip, so if you or a friend are looking for a used vehicle, send us a not right away!

We need prayer for physical strength as we complete last minute paperwork and assignments and finish up our regular work before we go. Pray for quality rest when we have little in quantity and understanding between each other as nerves are frayed with the last minute planning.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and support. We are so blessed by your friendship and are looking forward to sharing with you in these next few weeks as we see what God does!

Merry Christmas.

~ Matthew and Erica Parsons

A Hope for the Waiting

Last Sunday our friend and one of the pastors of our ever growing church family spoke a moving message to begin this advent season about the meaning of Christmas. It was an awesome message and a perfect reminder of why we celebrate this season. He talked about how so often we miss the big picture of Christmas because we skip to the story in Luke of Jesus' birth. We miss out on the whole story that begins in Genesis... a story of brokenness, a promise of restoration, and a waiting and a hope.

There is a season in our lives called "Waiting." In this season we wrestle with who we are and why we are on the earth. We may be suffering from the loss of a loved one, or loneliness, or illness, or uncertainty. We are waiting for God to come through and rescue us from our brokenness in whatever form it has taken.

Christmas is a season to remember that it's okay to wait and we are not alone. Christmas is the time when we remember that we have a Great Hope because we trust in a God who is Faithful and keeps His promises. And we have the opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas: that Christ came to bring light into the darkness. This Christmas we have a new hope. A hope and a reminder that God does keep His promises. He is faithful.

Seven years ago I found myself on a boat in Indonesia crying my heart out to God in prayer. I had fallen in love with a people and a nation and I didn't want to leave because for the first time in my life I felt at home and I saw a great need for a people to know the Love and Grace of Jesus. Through my tears, I heard His gentle, strong voice speak a promise to my heart: you will return to Indonesia and you will not be alone. I returned the next year with an amazing group of people and again I felt a peace knowing that I would return to this place that I called home and the people that I had come to love as my family.

Now, five years after that last trip, my husband and I are pursuing a relationship with a missions organization to see if we are cut out for long term missionary service in Indonesia. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness, His perfect timing, and the lessons we have learned in the Waiting. He has strengthened us, matured us, prepared us and now we are being sent out... just as He promised.

There is still some preparation left. We are not leaving for Indonesia tomorrow, but we have taken a large leap in that direction and we feel that at last the timing is right for us to go.

The organization that we have chosen (or maybe chose us?) has a simple but effective process for their candidates. First, we must complete the formal application including obtaining 6 general references and a pastoral reference for each of us and a psychological examination to determine if we really are crazy enough to be missionaries. :)

Then we will fly to Florida for a week long orientation where we will decide if this is the right organization for us and if we are the right couple for the organization. During that week, they will also provide us with invaluable training and support as well as show us all of the projects they are involved with around the world to help us focus our vision. Our goal is to attend this orientation week in January.

From there, we will contact the teams we feel God may be leading us to serve with and find a time that is most convenient for us to come and work with them. Then we will work hard to save money and raise support to go on what is known as a "survey trip." This will be about a three month trip where we will be able to get a better picture of what day to day life in Indonesia is like and if we are compatible with the existing teams. Then the team leaders will work with us to decide if we are the right family to join their team long term. Then we would return to the States to settle any affairs and raise more support before going long term to the region that we have seen God lead us to.

We would love your comments, encouragement, prayers and support as we press on towards these goals. There are many ways that you can partner with us in this stage of the journey and we would love to talk with you about those opportunities and visit with you about how we can partner together to accomplish the Great Commission.

Some of our more urgent prayer requests are :

financial: to pay for the trip to Florida

health: energy for both of us and clarity/diagnosis/better treatment for our issues

spiritual: that we would be on the same page and connected to each other and God despite the busyness of this next month of preparation and holidays.

physical: as the end of the year approaches, many things are up in the air like where we are going to live and work come January especially without knowing our time-frame after the orientation, storage or sale of "stuff" (vehicle(s), furniture, pictures and keepsakes, etc)

Your Love is Enough

How many times have I heard or said that phrase "Your Love, oh God is enough for me" ? This morning once again I received the same message but felt it move deeper into my heart.

My dear friend Tristen and I were talking last week during Life Group about the dreams that God gives us. The question came up : is it wrong to strive after the dreams God has given us? My immediate response was NO! How could it be wrong for us to follow and chase after the passions and dreams that God has put in our hearts? Of course, there is a time when we chase dreams instead of the Dream Giver and we have to re-orient our selves and our priorities. But I reassured my dear friend that it was good to go after those desires that God has given us. Of course I would say that... isn't that what this whole blog is about? Following the Dream?

But today God spoke in the overwhelming gentleness that is His Spirit and whispered into my heart "The only thing that matters is My Love. My love is enough to light up the darkness. It is all you have ever needed."

In this song, Brandon Heath sings about the Love of God:
"You're the hope in the morning, You're the light when the night is falling...You're the eyes to the blind man, You're the feet to the lame man walking... The only thing that matters is Your love."

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." 1 Corinthians 13:1

I can strive forever to follow after the dreams God has given me. Or I can trust in His Love and Faithfulness and trust His promises. See, going to Indonesia and leaving a legacy is not just a dream or a passion, it is a Promise. So I don't have to strive for it, just trust in God's promise and His timing and wait and go when He says go.

Now I hear him say "Now is the time, it's time to go." Am I ready? Do I trust Him to do what He has promised? Do I step out in faith and say yes, I will go, even when I cannot see the path ahead?

Hope is springing up from this old ground

It has been too long since I have looked at this blog. Too long without an update, I know... but life has been so busy. It is hard to make myself sit for long enough to write down what has transpired these past few months... Unfortunately, my few minutes is all I have today, so it will be a short update with more details to come...

Since the last update, much has happened...
We have gotten pregnant.
We miscarried again.
I lost twenty pounds and gained back another ten.
I have had discouragement and hope presented to me on the same day.
I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease (a thyroid and autoimmune disease that explains every health problem I have faced in my entire life).
I have become an independent distributor for Premier Designs Jewelry.
I have shared many hours with friends and family as we have encouraged each other.
We have been presented with another opportunity to go to Indonesia this summer.

Right now I am working long days at three jobs while Matthew continues to work his 40 hour + job at Simpson. We are both completely spent physically and emotionally. Many days I feel as though this will be the last time I will be able to get up out of bed. Although we now know what is wrong with me, the cure is a very long process and my body has been so worn down by the disease, it will take months before I will start to feel better. So forgive me for not writing. When my day is done, all I long for is sleep.

Pray dear friends... Pray for supernatural strength for both of us. Pray for wisdom as we talk with leaders of our churches to determine if now is the time for our vision trip. We have waited so long, but financially, emotionally, spiritually and physically we are not ready. But I know what God can do in six months time and if this is our time, we will rise to the challenge and do whatever it takes to prepare ourselves for the coming trip. I have waited too long to let any opportunity slip by. I will give every last ounce of energy to follow this dream.

Gungor - Beautiful Things