Well, we got back late last night from our week at the beach.  Boy, what a great week we had!  It was so relaxing and peaceful.  I had forgotten how nice it was for all of us to be together again.

 

Rob and I did a lot of praying, reflection, and seeking God this week.  We were able to spend some time listening to what God would have for our family.  I know that we have already sent our newsletter out to many of you, and in that newsletter we told you what God was calling us to do-step out in faith so that I could come home and help Rob with his ministry at AIM.  But, I wanted to give you a little background of how we got where we are right now.

 

In 2005 we were in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico working with several other missionaries building a children's home.  Every week we would have groups from the US come and help us on various projects at the children's home.  On our down days,  Rob and I would lay outside in our hammock under the one shade tree that we had, and we would ask ourselves, "is this all God has for us?" We were seeing that God was sending these youth groups to Mexico to minister to the Hispanic people, but what was happening was God was doing a work in their lives.  These people would go back home changed!  Their burden for missions would spread like wildfire in their church.  We wanted to reach more people and help them have that experience!  We began to pray that God would expand our territory. 

 

In about March of that year I was looking on the internet for a place where a national friend of ours could use her gifts as a translator on the mission field.  I stumbled across the AIM website.  When I read about all they were doing and what they stood for, I got excited!  I told Rob, "We need to check them out!!"

 

In July 2005, I got very sick.  We couldn't quite figure out what was going on-everyday was a struggle to get out of bed.  My situation gradually got worse, in that I was becoming dizzy, had severe diareaha, nausea, and everytime I sat up in bed the whole room would spin around.  I remember waking up one Sunday morning, and the whole room was spinning.  When I tried to get up, I realized I had to lie back down.  I was freezing!  I had about 3 of those thick wool Mexican blankets on me, and I was still shivering.  Our support was only about $1200/month, but we knew that I had to go to the doctor.  We called the missionaries that we were working with and asked them if there was anywhere that I could go to get treatment, and they offered to help me get to a local clinic.  Monday when I showed up at the clinic, and they completed their tests, I found out that I had a severe case of typhoid fever and parasites.  The course of the treatment would take several weeks.  By the middle of August, I was feeling somewhat better, but still very tired.  I couldn't get out of bed for long periods of time.  At one point, I told Rob to get me back to NC because I didn't want to die in Mexico.

 

The end of August we called a mission house in Merritt Island, FL and asked them if we could come stay for a few months so that I could get some rest and recuperate.  Our plans were to return to McAllen, TX in January to attend language school so that we could return to Mexico more equipped to help the Hispanic people we had grown to love.

 

In the course of this time, we had several mission conferences in Texas that we had to share our ministry.  I convinced Rob to contact the AIM office to see if we could visit their Matamoras base for us to see if God could use us there.  On our way back to Ramos Arizpe, we were able to meet with the couple that worked in Matamoras.  We started praying that if this was God's will, that he would open the door.

 

We packed up all of our belongings and headed to Merritt Island, FL in September 2005.   When we arrived there, we knew that this was where God wanted us right then.  The time I had in Merritt Island was a time of rest, reflection, and refilling!  We spent time at the church being fed and ministered to as well.  We weren't able to raise the support necessary for language school.  So we spent several months seeking God's will for our lives.  Once again, God led me to AIM.   We made arrangements to meet the people at the office in Gainesville, GA.  When Rob and I walked out of that meeting, we knew without a doubt that this was where God wanted us!  In fact, when we got in the car, we looked at each other and said, "we are coming out of the wilderness!" 

 

We left Merritt Island in March of 2006. We had come to a mission house in Statesville, NC.  In April 2006, we signed on with AIM, and we headed to Long Beach, MS to set up and run the AIM base there.  We had groups come from all over to help with Hurricane Katrina relief.  This was a great summer!  I think we had over 350 people come through that base that summer!  Unfortunately, we were only getting about $400/week.  We had some money that we had saved up, so we were living off our savings.

 

Upon arriving back in Statesville in August, we were unsure what we were going to do financially.  Our support was still not up to where it needed to be, and we knew that we would have to find us a house of our own.  I decided that I should go and find a job.  I say "I," because it was never in Rob's plan!  I went against my husband b/c I thought I needed to help God out a little.  Well, after only sending my resume out to about 5 CPA firms, I got a job.  I felt that it was God's will, because my boss was very flexible with my hours during the off season.  I enjoy my job very much!  But, what I am seeing now is that I should have waited and trusted God!  I shouldn't have jumped ahead of Him on this one!

 

It has been 2 years since we started with AIM.  What I am finding out now is that Rob is in the center of God's will!  He is doing a fantastic job with AIM.  That prayer that we prayed for God to expand our territory has been answered!  We went from seeing 350 people go to the mission field to seeing around 1500!  What I am also finding is that I am not in the center of God's will.  I know that it is not God's will for our family to be apart 2-3 months at a time during the summer and 2-3 weekends during the spring.  When God called us to missions in 1999, He called us as a family!

 

Please join us in prayer as we try to be faithful to what God has called us to do! 

 

In Him,

Kimberly