November Update

Dear friends and supporters,

 As I look back on the last several months, my heart is filled with gratitude and joy, mixed with immense sorrow and heartache. They have been some of the hardest in our short ministry. Just a few weeks after our home church discovered deep sin in one of its staff, we loaded up our trailers and trucks and headed out for the 2 month Cottage Cove trip we were preparing for in our last letter. Our hearts were torn between the church family and the pain they were enduring and the clear call that we received to assist the dear ministers at Cottage Cove. As we look back, we can testify of our God’s faithfully strong hand providing for, healing, and guiding each step of the way! The weeks were filled with one team after another bringing the force needed to complete the task. As we uncovered extensive termite damage, the initial plans of a more simple renovation turned into a complete demolition and rebuilding of 1/3 of the Cove facility! However GOD PROVIDED. He allowed this all to be finished in the original amount of time along with His abundantly providing $15,000 extra funds needed! Only by God’s hand could this mountain of hindrances be moved showing His glory to all who entered that building! And did I mention that all the while we still had all of the children and the ministry of Cottage Cove functioning every day? The boys were able to jump in with the programming while Meg served in the kitchen making meals for the 30 children, as well as all the volunteers, all of this with Elsie playing at her feet and Faith as her constant helper. Even in the kitchen we saw God provide beautiful sisters in Christ eager to ease the load each week as it was needed. He also provided a part time church family, Faith Church, where God refreshed, challenged, and blessed us beyond measure in our time away from Alpine. We often say that it is our desire as a ministry to join God where He is already working and Cottage Cove Urban Ministries is one of such place.

One of the many teams this summer...for more pics find Steppin-Out Missions on Facebook!

As our time in Nashville drew to a close we knew that the Lord was leading us to return home and do our best to refresh the saints and be refreshed as our hearts were still heavy. We and our church family were reeling from the effects of the sin that was uncovered and all of the ramifications that accompany such a devastation. So over the last few months we have stayed close to home and serve our local church. We have done several projects including the siding of our own home which was in desperate need of repair, and several projects in the Alpine family. We have been meeting with families and individuals from the church, preaching on occasion, and initiating a new Domestic Disaster Response initiative for SOM that includes a mobile trailer to provide a headquarters and equipment storage so that we can quickly respond to future needs. 

On November 14th I will be taking a team of 25 people down to Casa Bernabe Orphanage in Guatemala again where we will be assisting the staff and ministry with a myriad of projects and needs as we have done now for the last 6 years. It is always a blessing to return to a familiar location but this year has an added blessing, I will have the privilege of taking my 8 year old son Jonathan! I am so blessed as a dad to have this chance to lead my son in service to our Heavenly Father. Please pray with us the Lord might continue His great work in Jonathan’s life as well as our own and all families in covenant with God that we would love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and souls, and minds, and strength! As the U.S. approaches a heated election we realize that those words put into practice are the ONLY hope for this nation or the world!

Now we ask that you join us in prayer as we seek clear direction from the Lord for 2013!  Here are some of the projects asking for our assistance: 

• Building of jungle churches in Liberia, West Africa; 

• A possible return to a work started several years ago in Bolivia at Monte Blanco; 

• a major project in New Jersey with a Hatian church plant; 

• A final phase of renovation at Cottage Cove;

• Deployment if and when another national disaster occurs here in the USA or abroad.

Finally, we can never thank you enough for your sensitivity to God’s leading in partnering with us. We do not report all of this to prove how busy we are. We pray that we would never be consumed by looking busy! We report in hopes that our mighty God might be praised and that your faith would be strengthened in the miraculous works He continues even in this age.  If you would like to give to the orphanage project or be involved in any way in future projects please let us hear from you!  We also pray for YOU that you will persevere and that you will see how vital you are in the body of Christ whether with us or in your hometown! Thank you for your love and the way you strengthen us. We cherish you our dear brothers and sisters!

June Update

Dear friends and supporters,

We are taking a break from our massive pre-trip cleaning/packing/baking/car tune-up routine to bring you all with us on our next journey! Lord willing, we will be leaving for Cottage Cove to spend another summer ministering to faithful ministers of inner city Nashville. The goal of this project is to renovate another section of the facility, providing better opportunity for these children to learn, be loved, and ultimately be introduced to faith in Christ. We will also be filling in wherever there is need in the summer programming since they are facing a packed summer short staffed! Please come along with us whether it is in prayer for the work at Cottage Cove or perhaps following God’s leading to join His work in a physical way. We are praising God that we get to be together as a family for this trip and would cherish your prayers as we seek to draw our children and each other closer to our Father in the midst of leaving behind “normal” life for a while. We want to be fully dependent on Him for strength and only display HIS power and provision through us this summer.

Some of you may not have heard updates since our last newsletter…Joel has been able to serve with teams in Liberia on the school project and in Kentucky providing tornado relief. Both trips were successful and we continue to pray for guidance as the need in both of these areas is vast. We also had a wonderful opportunity to travel the midwest visiting our church families at Gulfhaven Mennonite in Mississippi and Rockport Baptist in Missouri! It was an honor to share in both of these places how God is working with Steppin-Out and we were so refreshed and encouraged by the people we came across. It is always amazing as we share our stories with others and likewise, hear theirs, to see what God has done in our midst! As trips fly by and blur together it’s so easy to lose sight of His amazing provision and blessing if we don’t make an effort to recall them. We are so thankful for those of you we were able to fellowship with and hope to be with more of you at some point in the future!

That about brings us up to date…with a lot of potty training, homeschooling, frog catching and princess dances in between.J Today, as I write this, we will be attending and Joel will be performing the wedding of some dear friends that met on one of our projects in Guatemala two years ago! Yet again, it is beautiful to see the hand of our generous God on the lives of His children!  

There is no way to describe the feeling of knowing that we take each trip and each day for that matter riding on the prayers of all of you who so faithfully lift us to our Father, who send us, and who love us with Christ’s love. A lot has happened in the last month (personal to our church family here) that has caused us to recognize our own inadequacies and to wonder at how God could use us in our weakness.  Along with numerous other even greater questions involved, we couldn’t see how plans for this summer would be possible. But our faithful God makes the way for His work to be accomplished! He has so tenderly ministered to us and those around us in ways we have never known. We’ve been learning to walk constantly in His presence, turning every thought, every waking moment over to conversing with and meditating on Him. We are far from there but just striving for it and knowing that this is the kind of intimate relationship He wants with us changes everything! He is a sovereign God who has so much happening in this world! We’ll miss out if we can’t see just how much He desires ALL of our love and just how much He wants to do great and mighty things through the humblest of His creation. We pray that we will be counted in that number and pray the same for all of you. We travel with you this summer and pray that the blessing of His constant presence is heavy upon you at every moment. 

By His Grace Alone,

Joel & Meg

the arrival

Joel has not been able to do blog updates because of internet connection but we received this update with some great pictures of the project up to this point from John Bleah (the Liberian project coordinator). John and his wife Ruth have been taking care of the guys and are a part of the group that the Lord impressed to begin this project. So here's the basics of what's been happening so far...


"Dear All,
Greetings in Jesus!
We praise the Lord and thank you for taking the bold step of faith toraise money and begin this big project!
On Wednesday, February 1, John Corley and Team arrived. Kendell of Samaritan’s Purse provided vehicle and drove them from RIA to ABCU guesthouse. Next day shopping for building materials was completed.  A meeting was held with Kendell who agreed and provided a vehicle and took the team to Saclepea on Friday, 03 February. The team arrived with a rousing welcome by the Church and the Mission Team.
On Saturday, 04 February, laying out of campus began and was completed on Monday.  Work on the roof and the digging out of trees for the foundation of New Guesthouse began on Tuesday.  Kendell provided a truck that took the building materials to Saclepea.  The truck arrived on Tuesday, 07 February. Roofing sheets are being placed on the roof and the foundation of the new guesthouse is being dug.
More photos on the way!
Praising Jesus Christ our Lord,
JB"

campus layout

making plans 

fellowship

We again thank you all for your prayers throughout this project. Joel has communicated that it's not an easy build simply because the supplies are primitive which requires a bit more "inventing" to make it all come together correctly.  It's also down right HOT and the men are exhausted by the end of the day. They have however received wonderful care...beds provided which Joel says would not be typical in the area, and Ruth is doing an amazing job trying to give the guys more "American" meals so that their stomachs can handle it. Joel described the people as extremely loving...and curious. They gather around watching and wanting to help every step of the way. (you can see this in some of the pictures) It is also apparent to him the effects of the brutal war that they have been through and the calloused nature that they demonstrate because of it. The fruit of this school project will likely take many years to take effect and break through the mind set that has taken hold of the culture. 

first church service

-So please take on the task of interceding for these people. Only God's mighty Spirit can accomplish what man cannot! 
-Also pray for John (Corley) and Joel as they will both be teaching in different churches tomorrow! May God's words be clearly conveyed!
-Pray against warfare and for the Father's strength on those involved
-Praise God for His mighty work in the nation of Liberia and for His love He desires all to receive!

roofing

The Gospel…the Power of God

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the Power of God for Salvation to Everyone who Believes”

I love this verse! It is such a wonderful reminder that it is not our craftiness, or our methodology, even our skill and effort that saves the souls of men, but it is only the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is our motivation to Go and to Serve. We believe that it is a wonderful privilege to be a part of the awesome work of God that He is doing in the West African Republic of Liberia.  A few short months ago SOM received a call from a ministry that we had partnered with a few years ago, Missionary Tech Team. TECH is the ministry link that God used to direct SOM to Liberia and the project at African Bible College. We were incredibly blessed to be a part of what God did and continues to do on the campus of ABCU, but we had also finished the span of work that we believed God had for us there and so we have not been back to Liberia for a while now. So when TECH called, we were anxious to hear about this new opportunity to return to this country that we have grown to love, and to a people that are hungry for Hope and Salvation found in Jesus Christ. TECH described to us that they had been contacted by a ministry called AIMS (Association of Inland Mission Schools). Here is a quote from the AIMS website:

“The ASSOCIATION OF INLAND MISSION SCHOOLS (AIMS) is an intercultural, international, faith-based organization of the evangelical tradition, comprising Americans, Liberians and other nationals who are committed to primary, elementary and secondary education in the West African Republic of Liberia which is recovering from a devastating military revolution that left the nation and its people battered, bruised and broken.”

AIMS requested that Steppin Out partner with them in the rebuilding and future development of their school in Saclepea, Liberia.  You can learn more about this ministry and the project in Saclepea at the AIMS website:  http://www.aims-liberia.org/project_saclepea.php . SOM will be taking a small team during the month of February to replace a roof on the main building that is currently on the campus called the Carson House. Along with that project we will be assisting them by planning and laying out future building locations and forming up the foundation for a new guest house that will serve to house future short term teams and medical teams for the region. What I think is so incredible about this project and serving this new ministry is that many of the students and pastors from these AIMS schools and churches are now attending or are alumni of ABCU! In fact we will be reunited with many of those people when we return, and we will have the privilege of assisting and equipping them for even more impact throughout Liberia.

That is why that scripture rings in my mind and in my heart, the common denominator in all of these ministry efforts is the advancement and proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  What an honor to do the work that He has called us to do. To be able to connect solutions to the needs of these ministries around the world and to help spread the Gospel that much further, because there are more buildings, water wells, generators producing electricity, so that men, women, and children have the opportunity to hear and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The buildings, the wells, the generators, and even the people will someday perish. But Eternity will be impacted if just one soul is saved because of the Power of God in the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Of course we could not do this ministry without YOU! And it is that same power, that same Gospel that is at work in your hearts to partner with us and to support us in love, in prayer, and in deed. We praise God for your partnership in advancing His message of love, hope, and forgiveness not only to the people of Liberia, but to the uttermost parts of the world. Thank You!