Dating

Joel and I have attempted to keep dating in our married life these past five years.  At first, before kids, it wasn’t too hard to fit in a date every week or so, but then after kids, it became more complicated.  Well, then you add in the number of moves we’ve had this year alone and well, dates have become few and far between.  A few weeks ago, some frineds here offered to watch the boys for us if we wanted to go out on a date!  We were so excited but at the time, money, or lack there of really hinered us having more than just coffee together.  Then this week, God provided several gifts that enabled us to meet our budget needs for the month, including a date!  So today we get to go on a real date and we are so excited. You’d think it was Christmas morning or something as we anticipate an adult day out as a couple, sans kids!  Thank you to JP and Sue and your generosity to care for our boys so we can get this much needed break.  We love you guys and are so thankful to be serving here with you again.  I have to also mention my friend Denise who watched the boys a week or so ago so we could go grocery shopping.  Although the day was a bit different than we planned, having that time together was really important.  Thank you for your sensitivity!

 

the calm...

here at NTBI, it's only a matter of days till this place is flooded with new students eager (mostly) to see what God has in store for them. we're so excited to be a part of that work of God in their lives and we so need your prayers as we begin this new ministry!

Beginnings

Today is a day of new beginnings for me, Bethany. I start working again today. I am excited, mostly, at the thought but then am a little nervous too as it’s been 6 years since I have done office type work. Thankfully, Mike, my boss is a great and gracious man whom I have worked for before and so I think we’ll get on just fine! If you think of it today, pray for me to be confident and to be able to grasp all that I’ll be doing. On another note. As you all read months ago here on the blog. I really had a tough time with all that led to us coming home this year. There has been some healing along the way but these past few months have continued to be a struggle for me as we have faced more trials financially. I am asking for prayer, a humbling thing to do. Please pray that my faith would be strong and that I would trust WHATEVER God has in His plan for us, that it truly is His best and that He will enable me to endure in His strength. Never in my life has this been such a battle. I want to be able to have a viable ministry here at the Bible School and I don’t want this to quench the Spirit in me by a lack of faith. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement to us. It is amazing to know we are surrounded by people who love and care for us!

summer days and nights

wow, what a week!

It was a week where we saw God's provision of our 'daily bread' like we've never before seen it!

Praise our God!

It was a week with alot of ups and downs...

But, our God gave the strength for it!

And after it all, we were able to get to Dairy Queen last night to maybe celebrate a bit or just enhance the warm summer evening. Much fun!

These next two weeks will be very busy as the students will be returning during that time. I (Joel) still have much to do to prepare for their return. The musical worship team that I'll be working with hasn't had alot of interaction with leadership up to this point and I'm ambitious to really get to know them. But at the same I must be careful to not overdo it. It's our first semester here as a family on staff and I know my tendency to have way too high of expectations. Please be praying for me to be aware of that tendency and to make conscious choices to not take on more than I should.

Thanks for your prayers for us last week. They were evident. And it goes without saying, we still need them this week.

Please do keep praying for the Lord to increase our financial support base. I know that many missionaries around the world are facing similar support decreases and some even have to return from their vital ministries overseas just to raise more support. Please be asking the Lord to faithfully provide for His work here on this earth of ours. Many of us are looking to Him to do that.

And if you have time today, maybe check out our school's website New Tribes Bible Institute.

Today's doctor visit

Today we had an appointment for Owen to finally have his 1 year well child checkup (at 15 months) and he got his 6 months shots (better late than never).  He is healthy and happy and for that we are very grateful.  His height is way above average and his weight is just above average, so he is following well in the “big for his age” department just like his big brother. 

 

Jack also got a quick check up and Joel and I were able to talk with the doctor about what to do next with him.  Jack has been on a dairy and soy free diet for 4 weeks now and we haven’t seen any changes in his tummy troubles so we wanted to know what the doctor’s next move would be.  So this is how it will look for the next month or so.

 

·         Today we took in another stool sample to the lab to have it checked for parasites and other things

·         Today we also began to reintroduce dairy and soy to his diet (boy was he happy to eat mac and cheese again!)

·         In a week we’ll treat him again with Vermox for worms to try that once more

·         In about 2 or three weeks, we will begin to eliminate gluten from his diet. 

 

The doctor said that if gluten is causing the problem, we would know within a few weeks after eliminating it from his diet.  So we’ll try that for 2-3 weeks and see if there are any changes.  After that, if the tests come back clear, the vermox doesn’t make a difference and gluten is innocent, then we’ll be referred to another GI specialist and go from there.  So that’s the game plan for now. 

 

Thanks for all your prayers for our family and Jack, especially.

 

Fabuland!

Owen and Sunny

The Boy of Summer!

Sunny, Our Dog for the week...

Blackmail Material...

Good dental hygiene begins early...

Bon Appetite!

Playyyyy Balll!!!!

a midsummer's day update

‘Afternoon from hot and steamy Michigan,

How’s your summer going? If it’s like ours, it’s passing quickly and it’s hot and mostly productive.

Life here has settled into a fairly regular routine, for now at least. For the last 5 or 6 weeks, I (Joel) have been working out of my office preparing for the students arrival next month. Along with various assorted tasks, my main responsibilities have been to schedule and fill up the openings for our chapel program, a daily hour of teaching, musical worship, student leadership growth and other things that need to be addressed towards the whole student body. Along with that, my other primary responsibility is working and discipling students through their involvement in the musical worship team that I lead. I’ve been preparing a lot of music and ideas and principles that I want to pass on to the students who I have the privilege of working with. I’m excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for building relationships with these students, many of whom will go on to serve as missionaries themselves. Even though our ‘field experience’ hasn’t been the ideal normal type, I’m convinced that our God will use it.

The students begin to arrive in about a month or so, so all of us as a staff of missionaries here at the Bible Institute are squeezing in preparation and rest and relaxation before life revolves around the students again.

Bethany and the boys have been also getting some routine, though it hasn’t been without it’s ups and downs. Not having me in the house all day has been an adjustment for all three of them, though Bethany is doing an awesome job of keeping our house and boys in great shape. She’ll start assisting the schools dean of education in August and is looking forward to that change of pace.

Jack is doing slightly better. We’ve had him on a no soy/no milk diet for 3 weeks and have seen some change for the better, but it seems that all change in his little body is slow going.

So that’s life for us these days. How about you? Seems like everyone is more relaxed during the summer so we tend to not hear from folks as much, but we love staying connected to what’s going on in your lives.

Before I sign off, I would ask for your prayers in two big areas.

First, my Grandpa (Papa as we call him, he’s my mom’s dad) in Southeastern Pennsylvania has been in the hospital for nearly a week dealing with the results of a minor heart attack, some of which have been some serious blood clots. He’s around 85 years old and though in his mind as spry and feisty as ever, his body is not as spry. My mom is flying back from Guyana (where she and my dad serve as missionaries) to help in his care. Would you pray for the Lord’s mercy on Papa’s body as well as for physical and emotional strength for my family.

Second, man the gas prices are awful! You know that and we really know that. Because of how gas effects so many things and the economy in general, we’re facing some financial needs and shortfalls that we’ve never had to deal with. We ideally could use an increase in our support and however things come about, we’re looking, moment by moment, and I mean that, to our God who has promised to meet our needs as we seek His purposes and serve Him full time. Please be praying both for our provision as well as for our ability to totally trust in His ability to provide for us.

Thank you so much for standing with us!

Joel for the Potter 4

4th of July Weekend

Hey all,

Thought I'd send out some photos from our weekend with Bekah and Jon and
Christine. It was a lovely time had by all, especially the youngest
Potters!

Happy 4th!

Bethany

california pictures

Here are a few pictures from my trip to LA earlier in June. The image resolution isn't the greatest as we've had to revert to our older camera.

my office

for those of you who know me (joel) well, you'll understand that I've wanted my own office for qute some time now. i think the idea of an office as a creative and personal space is something that has appealed to me for so long now. now, for some, the office is something to be escaped at the end of the day and week, but for me, while I love and need to go home at the end of the day, having an intentional space that is my own, is sublime.

so, now that we're here at New Tribes Bible Institute, I finally have my own office and I must say, it's quite spacious.

after several days of painting and prepping and moving in some furniture that I was able to borrow (after a while, I'd actually like to build my own furniture), began the task of making the space mine. I'd been collecting books and magazines, appropriate textbooks and journals, all kinds of things that I thought would be perfect for my office. and after a few different arrangements I got it just right.

now, there are a few of my teammates here at the school who don't know this side of me, the ametuer interior designer, the architecture buff, the creative type and several of them after giving good feedback made the assumption that Bethany must have helped, at least in arranging the pictures on the wall. I sheepishly said, 'no, actually I did it all...', not sure what they'll think.

but in the end, I love my office and am thankful for this unique to me blessing from God.

can you ever imagine anyone else saying that about their office...

Jack

 

Owen

 

Bethany and the Boys

 

Joel and Jack

 

Jack's new pediatrician

We have found a new pediatrician here for Jack and were able to get in to see him on Thursday of last week.  Going through the whole history with him was tedious but we were the last appointment of the day and he was a great listener through it all.  We asked him about transferring Jack's care from the Ped. GI specialist in St. Louis to one in Ann Arbor and he had some things he wanted us to try first.  Since we had some short success with taking Jack off of soy and milk, he wanted to try that again for a longer period of time.  He also wanted to get Jack onto a fiber supplement to help "bulk him up".  So this week we started the fiber and next week we'll begin elliminating milk and soy from his diet.  I am a bit intimidated still by this but being home in the states sure makes it a whole lot easier.  The labels here on foods are reliable and most even say if they contain milk or soy so that you don't have to read every ingredient.  After a few weeks without these things in his diet, we'll have a good idea if they were causing his diarreah.  Then we'll try reintroducing them one at at time and see how he reacts.  If we don't find that those eliminations help him, we'll begin to take him off of anything containing gluten.  The doctor felt like that even though Jack tested negative to Celiac disease, it was worth trying th elimination of gluten from his diet to see if that was causing his problem.  * He currently has a patient much like Jack who also tested negative for Celiac but has had success in eliminating the diarreah by eliminating gluten.  But we won't go there yet.  For now, increase fiber and decrease milk and soy.  Jack did weigh in within the 75^th % for his weight and the 95^th for his height so that was great news!

 

Thanks for praying and we'll keep you posted!

 

 

back-blogging - LAUNDRY!

Ok, so it’s proving to be difficult to keep everyone up to date with our lives having the internet isolated in our bedroom upstairs in our house.  I don’t spend much time up here so I don’t see the computer much through the day.  So I’m going to do what I call “back-blogging” today.  Let’s go back a few weeks, shall we?

 

Joel went to California for something like 6 days to handle the transferring of our stuff, which came by boat from Indonesia.  That trip went well for him as he got most of what he had to do done in a couple of days and then just enjoyed the sights of LA.  He actually had the audacity to call me from Malibu to tell me he was having lunch at a little beach café there, overlooking the water.  You can guess my response, while I was home with the two boys alone… “just be quiet!  You are not nice!” Or something like that!  I am glad though, that he got the time away and that it wasn’t all work and no play.  For that makes Joel a dull boy, as the saying goes!

 

He made it home safely and we three survived the week without daddy – Praise the Lord!  We have, since then, continued with some things around the house to get everything settled that we brought with us from Missouri, before the next load arrived and so when, last Friday, we got the call to go get it at the warehouse, we were ready to begin the process again. Or so I thought!  Little did I remember that we had shipped home box after box of clothes, bedding, and towels.  Ok so think with me on this.  How many loads of laundry do you suppose it took to wash say, 6 rubbermaids of “stuff”?  Thirty-six!  Yes that’s 3 – 6, 36 loads!  Thankfully I didn’t have to resort to only using our washer and dryer but was able to take everything over to the school laundry room and do 18 loads at a time.  The washing wasn’t so bad and the drying was actually easier, as they have industrial sized dryers that dry like 4 loads at once in about 30 minutes!  It was the folding that just about killed me!  I left the house at 12:30 and came home around 5.  Whew!  I was tired and hot but it was all done. 

 

Meanwhile, Joel was home doing load after load of dishes, by hand, mind you, to wash all the pots and pans, tupperware, etc. that was shipped home.  After a month on a ship, no telling what nastiness was on it all.  It took us about 4 days to get everything put away, but now I am happy to say, we are settled in with no boxes to unpack!  I am happy to be “home” and to finally get our lives in order again!

Father's Day

I asked Joel the other day what he would like to do for Father's Day and we came up with a picnic at the park Saturday.  Great idea!  Well, this is Michigan and that means the weather is completely unpredictable.  We actually decided to wait till the boys got up from naps that afternoon to go so when it rained that morning, we were thankful we still had several hours for things to dry out.  At around 2pm, things were looking good. The sun was out, the grass was green, not too hot, not too cold.  Joel and I had a relaxing Saturday afternoon curled up on the couch watching movies and reading books.  Perfect day.  We got the boys up a little later than planned but then headed to the park.  As we drove away from the house, Joel looked to the sky and noted the very BIG storm clouds heading our way.  He looked at me with that question in his eyes, "do we keep going, or do we turn around and go home?"  I said, "let's go!" so we did.  Jack was totally excited to get to play at a park and I just couldn't dissapoint him. 

 

We got to the park and it was full of people, so we obviously weren't the only ones with this great idea.  We laid out the blanket, unloaded the van, and then took note of how much time we had before it dumped rain on us.  I guessed 30 – 40 minutes.  Enough time to grill some hot dogs, right?  Well, yes if you remembered the matches to light the grill.  Ooops!  What now?  There's a Wendy's around the corner, we could go get hamburgers to have with the other food we brought.  Ok, sure, great idea and that will give us a chance to see if the rain will pass by.  Now, load us all back in the van and drive to Wendy's.  We got the burgers, parked the van in front of a much more empty park, hmmm, everyone's leaving – ah, they're just chicken of  a little rain.  Not us! 

 

I set out the blanket again and got Jack out and as we began unloading again, it began to sprinkle.   Ok, so we decided to feed the boys in the van and wait it out since it looked like it would pass over quickly.  We fed the boys without a drop of rain falling the entire time!  Hmmm, ok well we'll go play now.  As soon as we got out and I laid the blanket out once more, it started raining again!  By this time, Jack and I were already on the blanket and I had grabbed our big umbrella so I looked at Joel and Owen over at the van and said, "we're not going anywhere.  Come on, we'll eat our popsicles in the rain, under the ubrella.  It will be a great memory!  So that's what we did!  And when we were done, so was the rain and we finally got to play. 

 

It wasn't an ideal picnic but it was a memorable one.  Joel won't easily forget this father's day!

a long overdue update

This will be brief as it's been a long day and several more like it lay ahead.  Joel left today for California, just arriving a few moments ago.  He will be there till Saturday and tomorrow and Wednesday will be arranging for the transfer of our container which arrived last week.  He has to get it from the shipping company that shipped it from Indo to the shipping company that will deliver it here to us in Michigan.  Lucky guy couldn't get a ticket back using his frequent flyer miles till Saturday so Thursday and Friday he'll spend bumming around LA and lounging at the beach, while I, Bethany tough it out here with the boys alone!  He owes me now, don't you think? 

 

We are settling nicely to our house here in Jackson.  We feel so blessed by how God has taken such good care of us here.  We had a warm welcome when we arrived and have just been surrounded by great people.  We haven't posted lately because, well you've heard it all before, the Potters are settling in…again!  Things will pick up again when Joel gets back and we get this next round of boxes unpacked.  I am guessing that midway through next week he'll start working over at the school.  He is taking over for a guy who is leaving  so he'll be learning the ropes from him as to what his days will look like.  Joel is super excited about this ministry and can't wait to get started.  For the boys and I, the rest of the summer will just see us settling into a routine.  I am learning to enjoy being home all day with them, with only Joel, the boys and the house to occupy my time.  A few weeks before school starts, I'll begin working a few hours in the office and then when school actually begins, the boys will start into the childcare program in the mornings while I work in the office. 

 

We have already begun getting excited to see who God will bring our way as far as the students go.  With Joel leading the worship team, we think that God will probably have them be our focus for the first semester at least.  We can't wait to meet them, have them in our home and just be able to plug into their lives.  I know we'll learn from them as much or more as they will from us!

 

So that's our life in a nutshell right now.  Thanks to the annonymous commenter for reminding me to update the blog.  Sometimes we need a little kick in the pants to get us going!

 

Bethany

We're Here!

Just a short note to let you all know that we made it safely! Lots of rain, some minor car problems, a little fussiness from the boys, but an awesome welcome from our friends and teammates here at New Tribes Bible Institute. We're in the midst of settling in to our house, which we love. Bethany's mom is up visiting/helping for the week as well.

 

Please keep us in your prayers. Moving in is a tiring task and we need energy, patience, good time with the boys, finances for the transition. So, lots to pray for. And a special prayer item is for the shipment of things from Indonesia. We shipped some things back to the USA from Indonesia and as I write this, it's on a boat somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It's ETA is May 23^rd and I'm planning to fly out to Los Angeles on the 28^th and arrange to have it shipped to Jackson. Would you pray that the Lord would let it arrive timely and provide the funds needed to ship it to Jackson MI?

 

We're anxiuosly awaiting our silverware, and a lot of other useful things that are in those three crates -J

 

Ok, thanks for your interest in our lives and ministry. We're so excited to be doing what we're doing!

 

Joel for the Potters

 

Hit the Road Jack

That's what my mom is saying this morning to us as we head out the door for Michigan.  Not really but it sounded good!  I'm sure though, that she is glad to get her house back from our two little monkeys! 

 

Our trailer is loaded and we are planning to leave in an hour or so.  We'd appreciate your prayers for us, especially on this first leg (the first 4 hours or so) as we will be going up and down many hills, pulling a trailer. We plan to arrive on Sunday in Jackson.  We'll keep you posted.

 

Joel and Bethany

Jack and Owen

 

And the word is...

Michigan it is!  Yes, we got word while in Michigan last week but were waiting to "announce" it till we got a letter together to send out via snail mail.  Well, it was a nice idea but alas we ran out of time and after about the 20^th person asking us today at church, we decided to let the cat out of the bag! 

 

Here's the scoop.  We have all our stuff packed up and it's awaiting the big load up tomorrow.  A good friend who lives in Michigan offered to drive down in his van and bring his 12 foot trailer with him to transport all our stuff up to Michigan!  Can you say, "WOW"?!!  He is literally on the road somewhere between St. Louis and Springfield as I type this and should arrive around midnight tonight!  Did I mention what a good friend he is?  Thank you Adam! Oh and I might add, he also got the award for driving the farthest to attend our wedding – all the way from Portland, Oregon.  Ok back to the business at hand. 

 

Tomorrow morning we'll load up the trailer and his van and send our stuff up north.  We'll be here in Springfield another week or two and then we'll head up there ourselves to begin the next phase of our journey in our lives.  We will definitely move up there by the 18^th but we're hoping to do so next weekend, if all the details work out.  In the mean time, we have every evening this week booked solid, spending time with friends and family here in Springfield and the days are filling up too.

 

The next question to answer then is "what will be our ministries up there?"  Answer:  Joel will be wearing several hats as he organizes and plans the chapels that happen three mornings a week, leads and disciples the student worship team, and teaches a class called Hold the Ropes.  This class involves introducing the students to what is happening in NTM worldwide by way of research, praying and communicating with missionaries and the works they are involved in.  There is also regular Day of Prayer where the whole school focuses on praying for the various regions of ministry around the world for an entire morning.  Joel will be in charge of planning out this day.  Bethany will be working as an administrative assistant to the head of the Academic Development Team.

 

We are super excited about this opportunity as it's so much more than just "jobs" to do.  Yes, these things need to be done to have a functioning Bible School but the best part about where we'll be is that we get to be a part of shaping hundreds of students' lives each semester as they study God's Word, get to know Him better and seek His direction for their lives.  DISCIPLESHIP is the thing that will motivate us.  That God would use us is an honor and we are thrilled to be a part of training those who will take the Gospel to those who've never heard! 

 

We are confident of God's leading in this new step in ministry.  Many have asked us how long we plan to be there.  Our answer is, "The mind of man plans his way,but the LORD directs his steps". (Proverbs 16:9)  If we have learned anything at all in the past few years, it's this truth from Scripture (I think we finally got it, Lord!).  So for now, for however long God sees fit to allow us to be there, we're going to be in Michigan.  Should God have other plans for us down the road, we will follow where He leads, when He leads.  We're just going to take it one day at a time!

 

So thanks for taking an interest in our lives, for investing in us with prayer.  Never a dull moment in the lives of the Potter 4!

NTBI JACKSON

This is a shot of the Bible Institute from the front of the building

Heading North

I write this from our van somewhere in central Illinois. We're on our way to Michigan!  We got a call on Friday from the leadership at our Bible Institute/Training Center asking if we would be able to come up there to meet with them about us possibly serving there!  We were very excited and more than happy to make the trip.  Some of you may recall that this NTM training center is were I, Bethany served with New Tribes for 5 years and also where Joel and I met.  We are excited to see what will happen, how God will lead us.  We'd love your prayers that God will reveal His will to us and the Bible Institute regarding our future ministry. 

 

We will stop tonight in Bloomington, Il and then head on up to Michigan tomorrow, arriving around 1pm.  We plan to stay there till Thursday morning when we will drive south to Indiana, where Joel's brother and sister in law live.  It just so happens that Joel's sister had already planned to spend several days there in Indiana and so we'll all be together again; all the Potter children and grandchildren!  We are super excited to see them all again and for the boys to see them too!

 

Thanks for praying for safe and enjoyable travels for us!  We'll let you know if we get any concrete answers from our visit this week!

 

Bethany for Joel, Jack and Owen too!

ALMOST home

Well, as I said Joel made it to US soil but he's not home yet. His flight that should have left Minneapolis last night at 9:15 got cancelled due to a mechanical problem on the plane and was rescheduled for this morning with one stop along the way getting in around 11am. I just checked email and got a notification that the flight out of Minn. is delayed an hour, causing him to miss his connecting flight and now is re-booked to get here this afternoon around 4pm. We are anxious to see him again and after flying for 4 days, Joel is more than ready to be home.

Like I said yesterday, waiting is not easy but we know God will encourage us as we do. Thanks for praying!

Bethany

On His Way Home

Joel landed in Portland about an hour ago and has made it safely back to US soil. I'm sure he's exhausted by now. He said he had just finally adjusted to Indo time and then it was time to come home again.

Thanks for your prayers for us this week. Joel was able to do everything he needed to there. He sold much of our stuff with just a few items left that a friend will try to sell later. The rest of our belongings are waiting at a port in Indo for the ship to bring them across the Pacific to LA. The cost for shipping the crate once it arrives in the US was so costly that it looks like Joel will likely fly there to get it and drive it home in a rental truck. Anyone interested in a 3 day road trip?

Jack, Owen and I have held up well here. There were a few days that the Mommy in me had had enough but God... the boys are still alive and I think they still love me and I am alive and still love them. I guess we could say then that it was a success and we survived. My hat definitely goes off to those mom's who parent alone every day!

We still haven't gotten any word on our next "assignment", if you will. Waiting is one of the hardest things to do, but we are convinced that waiting on God's timing is so much more peaceful than trying to push ahead of Him and then landing in something that is outside of His will. So, we wait. Please pray for those involved in making the decisions. There are many variables to consider and we know they are also waiting on God and His direction.

Thanks for waiting with us and we'll keep you posted!

Bethany

Safely in Singapore

Joel just wrote - 1:30pm our time - and he made it safely to Singapore. He'll be there till about 10 pm tonight and then he'll fly on to Indonesia. Thanks for praying for him as he travels - so far so good!

Bethany

April update

Joel left this morning for Indonesia. He will arrive there sometime in the middle of the night tomorrow night but since he's flying alone this time, hopefully he won't be too worn out when he arrives. He'll be on a different island than we lived on for a few days taking care of some paperwork so he can leave the country again without having problems if we should ever want to return again. Then he'll fly to java where our stuff will be waiting for him. A good friend in Papua shipped what we had left there to Java. Joel will sort through some of it, sell what we can't bring back and then ship home what we would like to have with us here again.

This will be a bitter sweet trip for all of us. We didn't see this coming, but I suppose that is true of all of our lives. We can't see around the next corner but we as believers have HOPE because we know the One who created us and we know for SURE that He knows what awaits us. We still don't completely understand all that happened to bring us to this point in our lives but we trust that God will never leave us or forsake us and we are holding tight to His promises to provide for our every need.

The boys and I and my Mom will hold down the fort for the 10 days Joel will be gone. We told Jack this morning that he is now the man of the house while Daddy is gone. His response was, "I'm a man!"

If you feel led to pray for us in the next week or so, we'd love that. Joel will be traveling a lot in a short amount of time and then still has to choose a shipping company, have a "yard sale", sort, pack and head home again. Here at home, I have 2 little ones that will need a bit of extra love and attention while Daddy is gone and I'll need extra doses of God's grace to handle being a single parent for a while. Please also pray for me as I strive to live according to what is true and not what my mind sometimes wanders toward; feelings of guilt or insufficiency are always lurking around trying to discourage me.

Things are continuing to move forward for our future ministry. We have met with some folks from one of our training centers here in the states and hopefully will get some word on whether or not that will work out some time this week. Please be praying for that too!

We are blessed beyond measure by God's love for us and your love for us. Thanks for all the encouragement and love!

Bethany for us all

Update after St. Louis

We were on the road over the weekend, leaving Sunday afternoon for St. Louis for Jack's appointment with the specialist. The trip went well. The Dr. was really nice guy who actually has been in the part of the world we were living in, doing some research with vaccines, he even knew where the capital city of Papua was and stuff like that.

 

His initial suspect is some kind of a parasite, so he started Jack on a funky, expensive drug as a trial, to see if it works to kill the parasite. He's not positive yet, but he is doing some tests to be sure. Beyond that, he does agree that Jack is underweight and he's doing some blood work to see if Jack has any deficiencies at all. He felt like, if the medicine didn't work, we couldn't find a parasite or if the blood tests came back clear, that jack would likely then have what's called Toddlers Diarrhea, which is bascially iritable bowel syndrome for kids. It's somehting that Jack would hopefully grow out of, but it's also an 'umbrella' diagnosis, being something that isn't really conclusive as to what is causing the problem. The Dr. wants to see Jack again in early summer to see how his growth is going.

 

So, we were pretty happy, but obviously hoping for a more conclusive diagnosis or idea. We may still have some more checking to do. We'll see.

 

For us as a family, as of right now, we still have no big plans as to what comes next. We have moved things around a  bit more in Bethany's mom's house so that we can stay sane a few more months here if need be. We were all living in one room, the four of us Potters and we were sleeping terribly, all hearing each other in the night.  Thanks to our ultraflexible mom for being willing to have her home overtaken!  We are talking with various folks in our mission who work in the states at our training centers to see what might be available for us for the next few years.  Once we know something concrete, we'll let you all know. 

 

Thanks for all your prayers lately, especially as we have fought sickness after sickness.  It seems we are all healthy again and are enjoying the first days of spring.  Soon the dogwoods in mom's front yard will burst forth with blossoms, the grass will turn green, the tulips will pop out of the ground in vibrant color and the world will look new again.  Praise God for the creativity he had in creating seasons!

 

 

 

Some News

Hi Guys,

 

In case you don’t here too much from us these next couple of days I wanted to update you on some news.

 

The not so nice news is that Bethany spent most of last night/this morning (Thursday/Friday) in the ER with a really bad case of stomach problems. We’re not sure where she got the illness but it hit her as hard as when she was sick in Papua. She’s stable now and has slept the entire day. Be praying that she really recovers and that no one else gets it. It’s been easy to take care of the boys but I’m still feeling worn down myself after last weeks illnesses. We head to St. Louis on Sunday afternoon so please be praying that we’re all feeling well enough for that.

 

Second piece of news is much better. We bought a used 2000 Ford Windstar van on Wednesday. It’s really nice and has some really fun/helpful details. It was just in the right price range and we’re thankful that the Lord led us to a great vehicle in time for our trip to see the Dr. in St Louis! Thank you to Mom Stroud for being so flexible in letting us borrow her car till know, but man does it feel good to have our own vehicle again!

 

Ok, that’s the news for now.

 

Joel for the Potter 4

An Important Update

Good Morning from cool and somewhat snowy Missouri,

 

As I sit here this morning, I find it hard to grasp the fact that we're back in Missouri and even just had 8" of late winter snow that's slowly melting outside. This is a setting that I never imagined myself being in, at least not for several years until a furlough, but none the less, here we are.

 

By now, you surely know the reasons for our unexpected return to the US. Jack's health concerns had boggled our minds and exhausted our resources both financially and emotionally, as we tried to find answers as to what his problem is. In fellowship with our field and church leadership, we decided to come home for a medical furlough to be able to seek help for Jack in a much less stressful and far more familiar environment. Along with that purpose, our field leadership also recognized the critical need for Bethany especially to have some rest and recovery from what had turned out to be an incredibly stressful and painful 6 months on the field. She was at a place where she genuinely was needing time away and so this was also a factor in our medical furlough.

 

It's been almost three weeks since we returned and so far things have been productive on the end of getting more answers regarding Jack's health; we've established a new family practitioner (because of an insurance change to a new medical network) as well as set appointments with a pediatric gastroenterologist and an allergist for future dates. And while we're pleased to have been able to set up appointments so quickly, we at the same time have no idea how long the process of really having understanding as to what the problem is, will take. At this point the appointment with the gastro. Dr is set for the 24^th of this month. We anticipate that it will lead to more appointments.

 

But another critical factor determining the length of our stay here in the US has also become even more of determiner. As I said earlier, Bethany was extremely exhausted and worn out when we returned home and has not been able to work through, on her own, the struggles we had in Indonesia these past months. And at the same time, I also realize that I have some personal struggles to reconcile all that has happened in these last 6 months, in my own thinking. So much of what we experienced just doesn't make sense. Our whole family needs time to recover and heal and then a time of stability. And with all things that are part of emotional and spiritual wounds, knowing the time it takes to healthily recover is not something that can be quickly or easily determined.

 

I realize though through all of this, the fact that what I am becoming as a believer in Christ, is far more important than what I am doing or have done for Him. And so, while I can't totally reconcile all those happenings, I can understand how the Father is using it to shape me. But, even with that understanding, not a day goes by that I don't often experience sadness or frustration or confusion.

 

Another and a final factor that is determining how long we will be here is our current financial status. In short, we are in a place where we have been forced, due to many circumstances totally beyond our control, to be in a state of debt, significant debt. Bethany and I from 1 month into our marriage, have always lived according to a tight pre-determined budget and have been able to live debt free since then. But during the last year, from very unexpected taxes to unexpected moving and setup costs and then another unexpected move in Indonesia as well as an expensive medical trip to Singapore and finally our return home, we are now in a place where we must consider every financial decsion with so much care and evaluate what we do so that we can pay off this debt to both our credit card, as well as an equal amount to the very gracious field of Indonesia and also to our family.

 

So, to keep this email from becoming any longer, we have made the decision, the very hard decision, to step off of the field of Indonesia. We feel that at this point in time, it would not be wise for us to return under these circumstances. Our family needs to recover from actual sickness, as well as from emotional struggles and exhaustion, and we don't feel it would be wise to accumulate more debt to return to Indonesia at this time.  Returning represents tremendous stress on our family as a whole. Please understand that this decision was made with the complete aggreement and counsel of both our church and field leadership as well as many other wise people who we've sought counsel from.

 

But, let me make it abundantly clear, WE ARE NOT IN ANY WAY RESIGNING FROM FULL TIME MINISTRY OR NEW TRIBES MISSION. We still are confident that the Lord will use us in a role here in the United States. New Tribes has three training centers that have a whole host of personnel needs and each one of those positions fills a role that is vital for our purpose of seeing unreached people groups, reached. We have always talked about how we believe that this ministry that we seek to be a part of, looks like a wheel on a bike, there is a hub in the middle (we would call that, the church), vital and absolutely necessary spokes that support the rim (the support roles both here in the US as well as on the field), and finally the tire, the part of the wheel that touches the ground (which we see as the tribal teams reaching the unreached where they live). When we were in Indonesia, we were part of those 'spokes' and now as we seek to serve here in the US, we'll again be spokes, absolutely necessary parts of this work!

 

We are at this time seeking where and when the Lord would have us step into this new role as a family. Not an hour goes by that we don't shake our heads in amazement that this is where we really are, but we have to tenaciuosly believe that our God will work all of these things out for His good! And again, let me retstate, we are still serving with NTM, only now, it will be in a different location.

 

Please Pray with and for us! We have so many unknowns on our plate right now. We'll obviously continue to constantly keep you updated on what's happening and how you can specifically pray with us.

 

We love you and can't do this easily without your support.

 

Joel for the Potters

 

update after the first doctor's apt.

We had the first doctors visit since coming home this past Friday.  It went well and we feel confident that this doctor will be a good one for us as a family.  She listened through Jack's history, agreed with the doctor from Singapore that her first thought was Celiac Disease, and then gave us some things to do for him in the meantime between now and his specialists appointment later this month.  She also let us know that she thinks the specialist may want to re-do some of the tests we had done in Singapore so we'll be prepared for that, should it come up. 

 

Some friends in St. Louis have opened up their home for us to stay with them while we are in St. Louis, so that is a praise!  We may have use of a church van for that trip as well, but we aren't sure quite yet.  God has also provided some bonus gifts financially right now to help with the extra expenses we have.

 

So overall we have had good news regarding Jack and  his medical care here.  Please continue praying for us though as we try to be patient for the specialists appointment. 

Photos from the birthday party

Here are some pictures from Jack's birthday party yesterday. We all had a great time, especially Jack, as this was really the first year he "got" that it was his birthday and all that entails!