I want to thank every one of you for praying for us as we have faced some opposition during this last hurdle. We have received lots of feedback that you are all praying and wondering how things are going with locating our documents.
The package is still lost in the USPS but we have some better news.
We have been talking with the SA consulate in Chicago and because they were partly responsible for losing our documents they have been very helpful in trying to locate them as well as pulling some strings to go ahead and resubmit an application. They told us that we will be able to submit whatever copies that we might have of the originals we had lost. The head of the consulate is also on the phone daily trying to locate everything else. We are very grateful that they are putting the pressure on the USPS because I think it has a much greater affect coming from officials vs little ol' me. She even told me that she would push for the USPS reimbursing us for any costs that would be incurred because of their neglect... (e.g. airfare changes)
On another note. I thought I had sent my passports in that package to the Consulate in Chicago and they too were lost in the mail. I was so convinced that I never looked for them here at the house. I had checked off on my list of to do's that I had put them in the package with everything else. I was looking for copies of birth certificates, and anything else I might have, to send to the consulate and found all three of the passports in with the papers.... Because we do have them, the Consulate is able to pull some strings and use copies of Birth certificates for this application. (so our mistake became a blessing in disguise!!)
We sent the second application to them last night and it arrived this morning May 21. The head of the consulate said to put her name on it so she could see to it herself. I will be contacting her this morning to find out what else we need to do. I will keep you all posted.
Thank you very much for your prayers. Our plans remain to go on the 30 of this month. I can't tell you how good it feels and how much confidence we have knowing that all of you stand so solidly behind us. We have been encouraged by so many of you shooting us emails or posts on Facebook and Twitter letting us know that we are in your prayers. That means the world to us... and we know your prayers are helping!
James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Bryan, Claire, Peyton, and baby #2
www.missionminds.com
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Bryan & Claire
Hey friends! If you haven't heard the news yet, we are expecting our second child! We discovered this wonderful news on April 29th and are so happy to be welcoming another member to our family. At first we weren't sure how this pregnancy would affect our journey... but after much prayer, deliberation and wise council, we have decided that we will be having this baby without the help of insurance in South Africa. (Our Global Health Insurance won't cover maternity until May 2011) Thankfully, a pregnancy and delivery are actually much less expensive in South Africa than here in the U.S. We are looking at a grand total of between 2,000-5,000 including pre-natal care and hospitalization. We are praising God for this added blessing and the fact that He has made a way for us to have this child overseas. We actually heard of a woman who lives in the states but chose to fly to S.A. to have her baby because she preferred the care offered there!!!
Well, we are "down to the wire" as far as our leave date! Only 12 days until we are supposed to be leaving! Please pray for us because our visa applications are lost in the mail... and have been lost since April 22nd. The last "touch" that shows up on our tracking number was on May 5th in Chicago. We have called multiple postal services and everyone we've talked to seems to simply give us excuse after excuse to get us off the phone. We've been told that we would know for sure on Monday... then Wednesday... then Friday... and so on. But we've run out of time to wait. We called the South African Consulate in Chicago (whose addressing mistake caused the package to be lost) and they are very apologetic and have promised to rush our visa application when it finally does get found. The head of the consulate also has promised us she will be calling the USPS daily until we find this package.
WE DESPERATELY NEED YOUR PRAYERS. We need a miracle right now to be able to move forward. Without those visas, we cannot leave on May 30th. Please pray for us, because in that application are our birth certificates, passports, checks and marriage license. We need this package to be located THIS WEEK or else we won't have enough time for the consulate to process the application and return the envelope to us. PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS.
We know that God is in control. We are trusting Him that this will all work out!
Be Blessed,
The Flores Family
We leave the United States in roughly 6 weeks. Reality is beginning to sink in as we realize that everything we know is about to dramatically change. We are excited, scared, curious, and a little sad. But each day we get closer to leaving, we are more and more sure that this is indeed what God is calling us to do as a family.
I (Claire) was encouraged to speak at a church in Connecticut in late March. Even though I only shared with them for a few minutes, I was so blown away by their spiritual and emotional support and their financial generosity. It's fellow believers like that who are our "cheerleaders", affirming us in our desire to follow the Lord.
We want to say a special thank you to all our faithful supporters. You have no idea how much of a daily encouragement you are to us!
Please pray for us as we are in the midst of the visa process. Pray for expediency and favor with the consulate.
Also pray for us as we are still looking for housing in Cape Town. We have the opportunity to live with our teammates for the first month or so, and while we are grateful for that option, we are still looking for a place of our own in the meantime.
Remember to always check out our website for updated information!
May you all be blessed as you pursue God's will for your own life! Thank you for the part each of you play in our journey.
We were blessed enough to have the whole team together for Thanksgiving. At times, it's difficult to be apart during this season of preparation. It was so encouraging to be together and to be able to share some of our hopes, plans, dreams, and even fears with one another.
As we look forward, we know that God will continue to prepare us for this journey He is leading us on.
Waiting on the edge of something is never easy. But the anticipation can either motivate you, or cause you to turn back. Only by God's grace do we move forward.
We are at 20% of our monthly support and 57% of our set-up costs. We are praising God and knowing that He will continue to lead us forward.
Take a look at our website if you have a little time! Bryan recently revamped it.
Blessings on all of you... Thanks for keeping up with our journey! God is good!
We have officially begun the process of transition. Just another reminder that this venture is indeed, a reality! In a week, Claire will be flying to Vermont and Bryan will drive just a week later. We plan to be there with Claire's parents for 2 months and hopefully depart for Cape Town in January.
It's a bittersweet time for us as we say goodbyes to everyone we have spent the past years with. We will greatly miss our friends, family and church body! But as we move forward, sadness is not our tune... we are delighted to be moving into the season that God has ordained for us.
As far as support, we are still at about 10% of our monthly and 65% of our set up fund. We are praising God for the support that we have received and believing him for the rest. In the meantime, Bryan will find work in Vermont to help those numbers increase.
We are so blessed to have been able to live with Bryan's parents for the past month and now to be living with Claire's parents for the next couple months. Both of our families have been so generous in opening their homes to us.
As we walk forward in this journey, we ask for your continued prayers. Transition is never a completely smooth process, but please pray for us that it will be as smooth as possible, especially for 5 month old little Peyton.
Please continue to pray for us as we strive to be trustworthy with what we have been given by God. Even in only having a 5 month old, we are walking forward in this journey of parenting with hearts desires to do it to the best of our ability. We want to make decisions even now for Peyton that will set her up for a life of godliness even now. We also want to hold her with open hands and release her to the Lord knowing that He and only He can protect and sustain her. Pray that we will walk in wisdom even as we parent on the mission field. Thank you for your prayers and for being the body of Christ alongside us!
2"I will go before you and make the rough places smooth;
I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
3"I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
4"For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me.
5"I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God
I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
6That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
7The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these"
We had reached a sort of an impass. It felt as though either we needed God to give us an obvious sign that we were to stay the course, or we had to give up. We had been support raising for a few months, working really hard at it--with no result. We felt defeated, disappointed and confused.
After several weeks of crying out to God for an answer, we gave up. Not that we gave up on God, but we gave up on being in control. We told Him that we couldn't do it anymore. That our support raising journey was completely in His hands. And then we sat back, and waited.
That same week at church a friend of ours handed us a check for a couple hundred dollars. It was a sign from God.
Bryan had a dream a couple months back about a truck bed full of apples. The back of the truck was opened, and a couple apples fell out. After those few apples, it didn't take long for the whole truck to dump out. He felt this was a prophetic dream about support raising.
After that first check, the ball kept rolling. We received monthly pledges that blew us away.
God has taken control. And it's a much better game plan than ours!
We are blessed to now be at 9% of our monthly support and 30% of our set-up fund. It may not seem like much, but to us it's monumental. It's God's assurance that this is indeed the path He has set out for us. And we anticipate the great things He will continue to do along the way.