Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Where Have You Gone!?!

That's the biggest question followers of this blog have asked. Well, it HAS been a long time since we updated this thing...thanks to Facebook. Heather and I have been contacting people through FB, and have forgotten to keep up on our blog site. We are SO SORRY if anyone has missed us, and we will be more diligent on updating this from now on. Having said that; what has been going on since winter? This spring, I graduated from the LTD program here at Camp Forest Springs. Last year was one of the most difficult and satisfying years of my life...Thank You God! The administration here asked if I'd stay on and work as the Resident Program Associate through the summer. that's a big title for "Larry's right hand man". I got to develop games for all the youth camps, plus help oversee all the program areas that we have, like archery and air rifles. I also became a High-Ropes Facilitator, and got to work on our new high ropes course. It's a team-building course where we can work with up to ten people at a time. This thing is massive. It stands over 60 ft. high and has two exits on the top tier. A Leap of Faith and the Giant Swing are the ways to get down off this awesome course. You'll have to come here to see just how big this course is. Anyway, my contract finished on Sept. 7th. However, Heather and I have been asked by CFS to come on board permanently in a new ,missionary staff position. We have accepted the new role of Alumni Coordinator. I say we because this position allows Heather and I to work together in this new role. We will be working closely with Dick Angelo, the president of CFS. Our new job will be to reconnect former staff and campers into new relationships with Camp. It will be like taking CFS out to those people who have been a part of its history. We are so excited for this amazing opportunity. We both thank God that He has placed us in a ministry that has been so integral in our spiritual development. So, What does all that mean? Well, it means that Heather and I will be raising our support to be able to join missionary staff. Some questions that we get asked: 1)Can you work at camp while you raise support? This process works best if we don't work full-time anywhere. Heather & I can pick up a couple of hours when there is a need here, but we need to focus on raising support, not holding a full-time job. 2)How does this process work? We are contacting people that we know; informing them as to what our new ministry will look like, and asking if they will pray whether God is calling them to help support us. We know that God wants us here in this new role, and He will provide the monetary support. It's all His money, anyway. He has the plan laid out, all we have to do is to inform people about it. God knows whose hearts He will move support us. So, we are just leaving it all up to Him. We are simply asking folks to listen to the Holy Spirit to see if they might be one of those people God is calling or not. Either way, that's OK with us, because God has it all under control. 3)How can we help? Pray for us in this process. Your prayers for our faithfulness to Him and focus on the process before us will help to carry us through this. Pray if God is calling you to help us. Pray for Zoe and Maia that He will continue to give them peace as we travel every weekend. 4)If we wanted to support you, how would we do it? Please contact us by e-mail at reisguys4him@gmail.com, and we can go over the details. Did you know that and missionary organization has to take payroll taxes out of support? Checks to CFS made out on our behalf will go into an account. Once a month, our accountant will do the payroll and take out up to 1/3 of donations earmarked for us for insurance and taxes, just like a normal payroll check. The IRS is very particular about this rule so there is no possibility of illegal money transfers. So, that's about it for now. We are thankful that you are still interested in our poor, neglected blog. I promise we will update on a more regular basis from now on.