We're accepting this position for several reasons:
1 - it easily allows us to minister/work in two of our five ministry focus goal-areas: orphanages and education.
2 - it will be in close proximity to organizations that could expose us to another ministry focus of ours: supporting human justice
3 - it opens these doors without seriously subtracting from our savings.
4 - we see opportunities, goals, dreams, and circumstances seeming to align and we believe that the hand of God is at work in it all. He seems to be indicating that it is now time to "go for it."
At this point, we have set aside $14,000 to put toward the cost of this trip. We've been putting together an estimated expenses list (including airfare, medical insurance costs, re-establishment costs in Thailand, DTS expenses, etc), which will exceed our $14,000 savings, but we're excited that at least three of our five areas of focus will be accomplish-able (is that a word?!) without tapping into our savings too much. For the 10 months that we are teaching, we will have our housing provided for, and we'll make a small salary to cover every-day living costs - and, hopefully, also our monthly medical insurance bill.
After the 10 months of teaching, our desire is to attend the New Zealand YWAM Marine Reach Discipleship Training School with a medical focus, which would start in July of 2016 (and allow us to meet our fourth ministry focus). We've been able to communicate a bit with the current DTS leader this week and are encouraged by our interactions with him.
We'll have a 4-month gap of time between the end of the school year and the start of the DTS, and that will allow us a little "flexible" time - our goal at this point would be to focus on human-justice-related volunteer work (if we haven't been able to devote a lot of time to that during the school year), and stop in the Solomon Islands on our way to New Zealand to see our sister's family who live there. We also might be able to use this time - depending on finances and if we have money to leave Thailand - to visit some of the organizations we're familiar with that are using their businesses to serve people and share the love of Jesus.
A possible back-up plan for those four months (if we are still short on funds before we have to pay for the DTS) will be to try to either earn money in Thailand through teaching English or spend the time in Australia working under their Work and Holiday Visa program, which would allow us to seek temporary employment for up to 1 year in Australia. Ideally, if we live frugally, working during those four months would provide the remaining finances we need to complete the Discipleship Training School. Basically, we're just open to adjusting our plans during those months, and willing to work hard to meet our future financial needs, or to jump into any opportunities the Lord may open.
Regardless, it's exciting to see plans appearing to begin lining-up... Of course, we're trying to hold onto these plans loosely and allow God to come, direct, and work among them, but it seems like we're starting to move forward with this "vision time!" (Although, I have to admit, I've personally been struggling a little with accepting it as "real" - that we're moving toward our long-term goals. It feels like we've been operating in this location and mode of life for so long! We've even pursued opportunities to go elsewhere in the past 3 years, and for many different reasons, none of them have happened. It seems like too much to hope for that in a couple of months we will be stepping onto on an airplane with a one-way ticket, and spending close to 2 years on this adventure.)
But, it IS starting to feel more real... Because the other news in our life is that Gabe was hired to work as a tax-preparers receptionist for the tax-prep season - which is a little bit of a bittersweet transition. He's worked for his boss - who has become a close friend - for almost 3 years painting, and it feels like the good-byes are already starting, and that life is already beginning to shift into a new gear. This job will provide a stable schedule, an opportunity to learn new skills, and obviously financial help from now until we depart, and this is a blessing as we will need to coordinate our schedules to plan our move to Thailand and because we'd like to continue steadily socking away money into our trip account. At the same time we've also been SO blessed by Gabe's current boss, and it's hard to see that season come to an end. We know that this is just one of many relational changes as we head East, and that reality is sobering. It also acts as a signal that the transition OUT of the status-quo for the last 2 years is underway.
We will be sending out a mailing in the near future with more details and an invitation to family and friends to support us and this journey - both through financial gifts and also through prayer backing. If you would like to receive such information, please contact us! You can email us at gabedanikwood(at)gmail.com, or send us a message on Facebook, or text us if you happen to have our number. We know that this next season in our lives is a big undertaking, and we would so appreciate knowing that there is a community of people who are standing behind us and encouraging us as we step out in faith.
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