Johnston Review

Recent Activity

Our first move away from home and toward the mission field took place in February. God has been faithfully meeting our needs as He is moving us closer to Bulgaria. You may remember that our house sold in August, just before the housing bubble burst. A friend offered us her pool house for a few months. Our stay extended longer than we planned. We were anxious to find other options so as not to wear out our welcome. Around that time, Susan’s mother told her that the tenants who had been staying in her late grandmother’s house were planning to leave. They offered the place to us rent free. We only needed to pick up the utilities. What a great provision! Susan was really excited to return home for a time before leaving for the field. For me it represented the first step to the mission field as we were leaving our church family at St. Andrews, as well as my parents and my hometown. Still, I saw a lot of positives in the move. I was really glad that we all would be able to spend a little extra time with Susan’s side of the family. The pace of life is more relaxed, giving us ample opportunity to concentrate on the important spiritual disciplines we will need in Bulgaria. Also, we hoped to make new connections for support-raising.

Just about the time we got settled into our new place, it was time to hit the road. So far we have only been to three missions conferences this spring and only one was a non-supporting church. Susan and I have come to enjoy these conferences, especially the new friends we have made along the way. Sometimes they are a bit long for the kids, but they always have a good time and the churches are always aware of the need to take special care of them. Almost everywhere we’ve been, Joshua has really connected with someone his age. However, at our last conference, Chestnut Mountain, it was Paul and Eli who made connections. It was fun to see them walk into the dining hall and say, “Hey there’s my friend. Can we sit by him?”

On the Calendar

The first week in April, we will be returning to Chestnut Mountain where our Bulgarian team will have what is being called a “Nuts & Bolts” meeting with our new team leader, Dal Stanton. Again God has provided. Our host family during this missions conference heard of the busyness of our travel schedule and offered to watch the kids for us. This really helps us because we will be leaving Orlando sometime around 4 pm and must be at our meeting by 12 noon the next day. Until that offer was made we were planning a significant detour to Columbus for an overnight and dropping off the kids with my Dad.

Support Update

We are currently at 70% of monthly support. The process has been long and at times discouraging, but we have caught our second wind, or perhaps you could call it our third or fourth at this point. Missions conferences have a way of encouraging us and inspiring us to persevere. We have also been encouraged when unsolicited support has come our way. A church in Glennville recently contacted us to let us know that they planned to make a contribution. Such occurrences are reminders that God is sovereign in our lives and in this process.

Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Pray for Travis, a member of our church and the son of our friends Clark & Pilar. He is pursuing a summer internship in Bulgaria and will need to raise a significant amount of support in a short time. We are very excited about his interest in missions and pleased that Bulgaria is where his opportunity seems to be.

Pray that our support-raising efforts would yield much fruit in the coming weeks and months and that God would soften hearts and move people to support our work.

We are in a busy traveling season with a mix of support-raising and reconnecting with family and friends. Pray that God would keep our family safe and that much joy would accompany our visits.

Praise God that He has been opening opportunities for us to share our vision with potential supporters.

We are grateful for the quality time God has given us to tend to the needs of our children during this time of transition. In the same way, we are grateful that God has been working in our hearts through the joys and struggles of living this new life where very little is certain. Thank God that His love never ends and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.