Another month has come and gone and we have so much to be thankful for. This update brings beautiful BUT CHILLY 😉 Fall weather. We have been trying to enjoy this Fall weather, together as a family, as much as we can since this will Lord willing be our last Fall in the states. We went camping one more time for this year and brought Jim’s mom with us. The boys loved having Grammi come along on the adventure to Hocking Hills. We also went Apple picking and the boys had so much fun. April also had the privilege of going and spending a few days with her sister and parents as well, which was wonderful for each of them.
BUSY BUSY! We have both been busy with our support raising efforts but it has been enjoyable as well because we love getting together with people, we love sharing our passion about Haiti and how God has worked in our lives. So it has also been a privilege as well to walk this journey of faith in raising support! Since our last monthly update, we have jumped from 29% in monthly support to 37%! How awesome is that! We are also 63% raised in our start-up costs to move, which we believe will be fully met by time we go because of the monthly support coming in right now that is going towards it until we move over! AMAZING! A lot of people ask at what percentage do we do certain things so we figured we would share that on here as well!
-We plan on putting up our house for sale at 50% raised, so we only have 13% to go and are praying that will be within the next month or so.
-Our organization shared around 65% is when we will go and do our cultural training, which we are really looking forward to. So we only have 28% to go for that and hope to be there within the next 1-2 months!
-At around 75% we start figuring out our housing situation down there and our organization shared that we will go down there one more time before we move to look at where we will be moving etc and start planning stuff. This also includes around that time, of getting our shipping container ready to ship off since it will take 1-2 months to get there. The plan is for it to arrive hopefully around the same time we do.
WE ARE GETTING CLOSER! We are very excited as we are getting close to things starting to really happen more as we get closer and closer. So we covet your prayers during this time, for good health, good connections, opportunities to speak, and encouragement as we continue our journey of getting fully funded so we can move. The date we are shooting for is March 2019 so we have 5 1/2 months to go non-stop. We have such peace that we will do what we can do and ask God to do what we can’t and just trust knowing He has this ALL figured out down to the very second we step off that plane and touch our feet on the soil we will call home. We are so thankful for that peace that comes from Him! We are so excited and joy filled for what He’s done already and what He is going to do. It’s been amazing to get to know our support team a bit more already and we look forward to growing those relationships through the years as we pray for them and connect with them.
WHAT’S COMING UP?
This past week we had the opportunity to speak at a small group. This was an adoption/foster support group and they were so wonderful & welcoming. They asked so many amazing questions that we had so much joy answering. We were thankful for that opportunity. Next week on the 28th, we have the main session of the church service at our home church and the pastor is going to do a Q&A with us, so we are really excited about that. Coming up in the middle of November we will be speaking at another local church and the first of January we have another speaking engagement at a local church. We are very thankful for the opportunities we get whether it’s small groups, church services, or one-on-one coffee chats! So if you would like to help connect us with your small group or church, please let us know!
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
Like we shared above, we need prayer! We have seen the spiritual attacks already in this journey but we know Jesus is stronger than any of it. We are so encouraged by our awesome God, that He is in this and we are so thankful for what He has been doing in us through this journey. So please pray for us as get closer and closer to going over there. For more speaking opportunities, more connections, good health, April as she homeschools the boys and that during this time we can be a blessing and light to others.
Did you hear the cool news…we have spots left on our support team 😉 If you haven’t grabbed a spot yet, we have one JUST for you! 🙂 Joking aside, honestly we would be tremendously honored to have YOU invest in this ministry God has called us to. We would love to see how God uses this to change and grow you as well. Would you like to be one of the little gray people below? 🙂 If so, check out the chart and see where you would like to be and go HERE to start your monthly support! You can set the date even too of when you want it to start, how awesome is that! If you have any questions about it, please let us know!
We could not do this without you, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your support, encouragement, reading our updates and asking us how the journey is going means the world to us. We have an amazing tribe ❤ We love you all!
Love,
The Starkeys
To Haiti We Go 