Okay. So. Someone told me just the other day "I realized I don't actually know what it is exactly you're doing..." and I realized that she's probably not the only one. I will elaborate. (Do I actually know what we are doing?) Hopefully without boring you all. Its not such an exciting story...
To begin with, we are very non-traditional in our beliefs. We believe in reaching people on their level. Instead of expecting them to come to us, we will go to them. On the street corners, in the parks, in their homes. And in our experience we've seen that people respond much better when a relationship is established BEFORE sharing the gospel. They also respond better when they are invited into our home. Where we (people) live is very personal, and when someone comes into the place that is very private, it establishes a bond, and sends the message that they are important, and that they are special in some way...
We also feel the beating hearts of the more crime infested areas. I don't know if we are supposed to be living there, but we love the people very, very much in those areas. Jesus didn't come to save the righteous. He came for the lost, and we want to be living among the lost... among the dirty and the wretched. Of course, all people who do not know Christ are in need of His saving blood... but sometimes it seems that the people who are marked as throw-aways are ignored, and feared. Sometimes the need for Christians to be living in these places is greater, because nobody is willing to do so. We are willing.
Sometime last year we signed a lease in Marin City. It was a horrendously looooong process, and we began renting an apartment (at a low-income price, and then that price was discounted) for $1400.00 a month. The lease was for 9 months, and for 5 months we wondered what we were going to do when our lease was over and the price went up more. (Most of you know that Peter doesn't make much money. We were stretched at 1400.00 as it was.) Once we had 4 months left I said "What are we doing?!?!" and then we began to brain-storm.
Ever since I've known Peter he's wanted to move out of California, so of course this was an option. Except, Peter is still in school, and there was absolutely no way I just spent 3 years of my life living the seminary experience for nothing. We have also moved at least once a year, for the whole time we've been married. (7 years) I wasn't excited to move again, and I knew that another in-state move would only result in something temporary and more long term goals put on hold for "just one more move." We want to be somewhere long enough to establish relationships with people. So, we decided that we were going to jump in and GO! Our plan was to get here, (hopefully with a job waiting for Peter) and find a place to rent for a year while we researched the house buying process... then after a year to buy a home. We (I) researched the cost of living in each of the states that have campuses for Golden Gate, and also demographics, and statistics, and crime rates... so on and so forth. We narrowed it down to 2 states, and then emailed our "contacts." (I say contacts because it makes me feel important.) We were told to just come on over to Colorado, because workers are always needed.
Denver was where we wanted to be. It is culturally similar to California (Though there are some big differences too!) And there is a lot of crime and spiritual upheaval.
Once we decided that Denver Colorado was the place for us, we started applying for jobs. (Since we knew we were moving I had already begun packing before we were settled on a place to move to.) After a frustrating while, and no job interviews or responses I asked if we would go even if there was nothing. Our answer was "yes." We trusted that everything would be taken care of, in God's time. Not our own.
Two days before we left we got a phone call from some of our friends. Apparently there was a family in Greeley that was trying to rent their home. We needed a house, so we decided that we would go to Greeley. There were no job leads in the Denver area, so it was not an issue to move the search a bit more North. The day we arrived in Colorado Peter got a phone call from a school district near Denver. They wanted to interview him. So, he went. We didn't know that it was so far away from Greeley. As it turned out, the hiring process happened faster than it took for us to sign the lease on the house in Greeley (plus, Greeley=Podunk Colorado) so we are living in a hotel in Aurora, closer to where Peter works!
So, skipping a bunch of not so important details... we are here, living in a hotel room. We recently put a bid in on a really large house. There was a lot of potential in it, but our bid was turned down. Tomorrow we will go look at some town houses. They are cheaper, and have more square footage than the houses in our price range. We are planning to choose one and put in a bid. Hopefully we will get out of here soon! We are anxious to start ministry, and to start moving closer to our other goals!
Peter has 1 class left before he gets his degree. We are thinking about sending him back (Noooooooo!!!!!) to get a teaching credential. He cannot move up in the pay scale as an aid, and because of the size of our family, and because of the nature of our ministery we need more money! We will start homeschooling Sarah next school year. We will also begin to really, really advertise and establish our baking business. (This means getting permits to work out of our kitchen, or find a kitchen to use. I heard a rumor that some places rent them.) We also want to pay off all of our debt, (and stay out!) except for the house loan. We are also going to research and pray really, really hard about foster parenting, and possibly adopting. Even though all of this seems like a lot, I believe that the life we are living, and have been living, has prepared us for all of this. We can do all things through Christ! And this is all stuff that will help us to build onto the Lord's Kingdom! We will take one thing at a time... these are things that will take awhile! But please be praying for us to have wisdom, and to make good choices that will reflect our beliefs!
