Just received this video from NTM today.  Hope it is a challenge and an encouragement. You can see the HD version here: Click Me for HD

Amanda and I have been in contact with the Language School in Canada and with our leadership in West Africa and went from a time of disorientation into a time of,… ”I think I know what is going on… I think.”  Currently we are functioning on the plan of Canada in January, which means we leave the day after Christmas!  That’s only 107 days away!  During our time in Canada we will be studying the French language and immersing ourselves in the culture as well.  We are looking at being at the French School for roughly a year.  This is important because most of our mission fields study their language in the country they will be ministering in for that year.  Due to the difficulty of learning French in West Africa we will spend our first year in Canada to strengthen our language studies. 

Our end goal in so doing is to be able to better communicate in French so that we may better share the Truths of God’s Word with those from all walks of life in West Africa.  Like so many of you who support the work we desire to join the Lord in, we also desire to see the tribal people of West Africa come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We appreciate every prayer that has been given on account for us and those who give them up.   We also appreciate all those who are financially partnering with us to see this goal realized in a timely manner.  Sometimes I feel the urgency to be in West Africa so strongly that I fail to remember the need to be properly prepared for the task at hand.  When looking at Paul’s life in Acts it is a constant reminder that the Lord prepares us for what He has planned and that we function on His timeline not our own. 

On the lighter side, Amanda and I are enrolled in a French language class with the French Alliance in Kansas City… I feel sorry for the ears that will bleed when they hear my attempt at French !  We are excited and nervous at the same time, we really haven’t had a lot of opportunity to speak other than at each other and with Rosetta Stone.  That starts this month and should run up until the holidays so that we can be that much more ready for Canada.

Amanda and I also had the opportunity to take our eldest two to their first concert.  The Lord provided 4 free tickets through some very dear friends of ours and so we took them to Rock the Light at Starlight Theater.  They were so excited at getting the chance to see the Newsboys up close and we had to warn them that we would be a ways away from the stage so we might not see them so well… until the Lord got involved.  We ended up less than 10 feet away and very stoked!  They played on a remote stage for a short time that was right next to us.  So needless to say I had to eat my words, because God brought them to us in the crowd.  None the less the boys seemed to really enjoy the experience and Amanda and I really enjoyed the chance to take them.  You know who you are so thank you very much!

The kids are doing well in school, as always.  They are somewhat paranoid at the thought of not doing well, yet always excell at their school work.  Everyone seems to really enjoy their teachers and to be adjusting to classes well, while being uncertain of what will come after Christmas, so please remember them in your prayers.

This month we have a couple of meetings with some pastors to discuss their interest in joining our ministry.  Please be in prayer for that as we desire to continue pressing towards the goal.  Amanda and I are also involved in AWANA’s and teaching the Youth Group on Sunday evenings at our home church and desiring to be a blessing to them in those ministries.  Thank you to all of you involved and invested in this ministry.  If you have any questions, comments, or whatever please feel free to contact us.  My email address is robert_kay@ntm.org

Praise:

• One of our partners works in the health field and was able to help us cut the cost of our immunizations by a large margin!
• The Lord has been raising up partners to the point that we are now at 20% of our support level for West Africa!
• Amanda has been taking the kids through some spelling curriculum that has bloomed into an awesome program for our four oldest!

Prayer:

• We are currently at 20% of our support.  We need individuals to join with us as financial partners to see our goal of West Africa by next summer come to fruition.
• To see our immunizations come to completion.  Sometimes things don’t always go as smoothly as one would hope for.
• Selling our van.  Honestly, that is a huge prayer request for us!
• Family and friends who are suffering through hardships due to the economy and job losses.
• For our start up costs.  I will be posting some updates on our start up costs in the near future. (If you would like to give towards our start up costs in West Africa, just contact us and we can get you any of the information you may need to help you.)

Thank your for your prayers!  If you have been partnering with us in prayer and do not currently receive our newsletter and would be interested in receiving it please let us know.

It’s July already… seems like it sneaked up on me! Amanda and I are excited about what the Lord has been doing this last month and the things He is continuing to do for us so that we may prepare to head overseas.

The past month: We were able to meet with a few new churches in the Missouri and Kansas area, and have seen the Lord raise up many prayer partners that we are excited to have the opportunity to share in this ministry with.  We also saw a few more financial partners join us which brought us up to… 20% of our support level for West Africa.  It has been very exciting for us to see the Lord’s provision this past month and we are excited to see what He has planned for these coming months!

Currently: Right now we are planning and preparing for a trip to Wyoming to serve with one of our partnering churches and their Master’s builders group.  As part of this group we will be headed to Table in the Wilderness Ministry’s Camp.  We’ll be there for one week and then back home again to prepare for a trip back to Grant City the following Wednesday.  We have really enjoyed being able to fellowship with our local body and to have the opportunity to serve alongside with so many who are brothers and sisters in Christ!

Future: We are still trusting the Lord for financial partners so that we may continue on with the plans of attending French school in January.  This would keep us on track for West Africa in late summer of next year (2010).

Thanks for your interest!

Hello friends!

It’s been some time since we’ve sent out any kind of update- I apologize. We’ve been wanting to send something out for the last several weeks, but so many things have been up in the air- we weren’t sure what exactly to update you on!

There are a few matters we’d like to bring before you now. As you know, our original plans were to spend 8 months on partnership development and then leave for Canada in August of this year. It is apparent now that this is not going to be able to happen… our support is at 15% (which is up from 10% when we started! YAY!). Waiting is not, and has never been, our desire- we are desperately aware of the urgency of the task that lies before us. And yet, while the Lord’s timing is not our own, we trust Him completely to bring to fruition what He has started.

Originally, we thought that our only option was to delay our departure for Canada until August of 2010- a full year. After talking with some of our field leadership, it appears there may be another option available. IF Robert and I can purchase Rosetta Stone- language learning software required by Parole de Vie in Quebec- and study beginning French to an acceptable level- it is possible that we might be able to enter the school at the intermediate French level in January of 2010. IF this were accomplished, our overall time line of departing for Senegal in late summer of 2010 would not necessarily have to be delayed. The alternative, because this is not a guarantee, would be to wait for the next semester that accepts beginning level French students in August 2010. This would delay our overall departure for Africa by at least a year.

All in all, we need YOU and YOUR PRAYERS! There are many things that need to be done before January, not the least of which is wisdom and direction from our Heavenly Father for the many decisions and preparations that need to be made- as well as financial provision. But there are a couple of others things that must fall into place for us to reach this goal:

* We must purchase the newest edition of Rosetta Stone as soon as possible, so we can get started as quickly as possible learning the beginning level of French. The cost of this program is $450.

* We must get our immunizations. The kids’ immunizations are covered- so they are free for us! Praise God!! We will get them started as soon as summer break starts, since one of these immunizations is a series that takes 6 months. However, for Robert and I, the cost of the immunizations will be $900. We would need to be able to start our immunizations within two months in order to have them finished (we have a series of shots that are needed which take 6 months as well) in time to leave for Canada in January.

* We need to get our monthly financial support to a level that would enable us to go. We need your prayers that the Lord would raise up, not only churches, but individuals who would partner with us in this ministry.

Lastly, we want you all to know that we are not discouraged- but rather encouraged! God is good and is worthy of our praise- in the midst of all possible outcomes. We were trying to adjust to the thought of having to wait another entire year before leaving for Canada and now we find that it is possible that the Lord has opened a window of opportunity in January- it’s a few months later than we had planned but months ahead of what we were considering! Dan and Rick- thanks so much for working through some of these issues with us this morning!!! While we understand that attending Canada in January is not a guarantee, at least it is a possibility!

We appreciate you all being willing to lift these needs before our Heavenly Father and we know, in His time, He will provide all that is needed to take us to the next phase of ministry. We are so thankful to Him for bringing you all into our lives to share this journey with us… you all are so precious to us. I know this is probably somewhat confusing, so if there are any questions, please feel free to contact either Robert or myself anytime!

By His grace alone-

Would you please be in prayer over how the Lord would use you? There are three main ways that you could partner with us.

1. You could join us as prayer partners- Amanda and I both highly value and have seen the Lord work through situations that we knew were raised up in prayer before Him.
2. You could also join us as financial partners. This includes everything from one time gifts to regular monthly giving.  With as few as 75 partners at $100 monthly we could reach our goal for serving in West Africa.
3. You could also join us as partners in the field.  In Luke 10:2 Christ says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

If you would be interested in partnering with us in any way or have any questions please feel free to contact us.

So Amanda and I have been working on this “PD” (partnership development) thing for just over four months now and are excited to say that we are at 15% of our recommended support for West Africa.

April has been a good month with nearly every weekend being tied up, and a lot of encouragement from those that we were able to visit with.  We are starting to see June fill and are excited at the possibilities that the Lord is bringing our way.

As for our plans to head to Canada for French study this August, the Lord has made it beyond obvious that we are to stay in the area for a year and head up in August of 2010.  We knew that our plans were shall we say, aggressive, however we did not want to limit the Lord and His ability to raise our support that quickly.  None the less while home we have had the opportunity to challenge the youth in our church with the thought of ministry as we serve them, and to visit with other youth groups in the area as well.  Please pray that we would be a challenge to those youth to consider tribal church planting.

For the time being we continue visiting churches, reconnecting with dear friends and being excited over the end of school for the kids and the start of their summer break.  Thanks for checking in on us and we’ll talk to you all later.

Pray for us as we seek to raise a regular monthly support level of $7536 (Currently we are at 11% of our goal).  We know that is a large amount but are trusting the Lord for a large partnership group made up of those whom the Lord would use to give according to the level that they are able.

We are praying for specifics in this area as well.  To help others see how this could be accomplished we broke down our support to show how every bit helps to raise the amount needed to go into Senegal for a family our size.

We are asking the Lord for:

• 4 partners at $500 a month
• 5 partners at $250 a month
• 10 partners at $100 a month
• 10 partners at $75 a month
• 21 partners at $50 a month
• 40 partners at $25 a month
• 50 partners at $10 a month

Thank you for your prayers and feel free to contact us anytime.  In His Grace, Robert

Our kids asked us if we were glad to be finished and we found the answer more complicated to answer than we previously could have imagined.  Yes and no.  Yes because when we first began this journey 3 and 1/2 years ago it seemed like it would take forever.  Yes because we feel an urgency to get overseas and share the gospel with those in Senegal who have never heard.  Yes because quite simply, it always feels good to finish what we’ve begun.  But then when we think about it, there are so many no’s to that question too…

No we weren’t ready to leave friends that we love as family.  No because we still could learn so much from the wisdom and experience of those that serve as staff at MTC… those who have gone before us.  No because when it comes right down to it we’re not finished. We’re just beginning.  Our Father’s training for us continues (Praise Him!).  We’ve just begun what we’ve been training for… there is so much still to be done.  We pray that one day we can look back on our lives and praise God that we have finally finished.. to say with Paul before God that by His grace we have finished the race.  But for now we’re just beginning.  Will you partner with us so together we can join in what our Father is doing around the world?