A very special Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day. Mine was a special Mother's day for many reasons. One was because my baby turned three years old on Mother's Day. We went out to eat and went to the Zoo. We had so much fun. It was 90 some degrees out that day. I got my official start on my tan for the season. Then that night my husband took me to Spiderman 3 at the IMAX theater. I got very spoiled. We had some friends volunteer to babysit for us that night for a mother's day gift to me. The people we are in school with are so wonderful. We are going to miss them very much. It is a blessing to know that all of them are here for the same purpose as us. On Monday we had a little party for Zoe. We had many friends come from all over the world. We had a couple that sang her a Norwegian birthday song and dance. She had to stand on a chair as people dances all around her and sang in Norwegian. She was all smiles
Zoe also had a dream on the morning of her third birthday that we will all remember forever. She woke up and told us about it. She said that she woke up in the middle of the night and was scarred so she prayed to Jesus because she wanted a huge from Him. She then went back to bed and in her dream she seen Jesus, He came and gave her a big huge and told her that He loved her. She said that there were angels all around them and Jesus also told her that He love her mommy, daddy, and sister also. She was so excited when she woke up. She looked like she was really glowing. I have never seen that much joy in someones face ever in my life. It looks like we could also learn something from Zoe. Jesus always wants to reach out and have a relationship with us. We just have to ask Him. He wants also nothing more than to hold us close to Him and protect us from harm. She told this story many times within the last few days and she has not changed anything. She has been right on in telling everyone what happened. She also gets that amazing look of joy on her face every time she tells it. All I can do is give praise to the Lord, because He is so faithful to answering all our prayers. Later Mandy

Mommy ducky

Well I officially became a mommy duck a couple days ago. We found a orphaned mallard duckling that just about got ran over. We had it at the house for three days and two nights. It followed me around every where I went. It cried if it didn't go with me. The girls were like its sisters. We had fun with it. It showered with me, napped with me and went everywhere with us. We finally found a wildlife rehab shelter. This is suppose to be the best one in the nation. It was a hard lesson for Alyssa to learn about. She had to let go of something that meant a lot to her. She learned to think of someone else more than herself. She did very good. It was hard but she did good. We pretended to be like Go Diego Go. She and Zoe were real life rescuers. This place was amazing. We were also able to go for a walk were it would eventually be let out into the wild. This made it a lot easier for the girls. We all have such big hearts. The duck became a family friend. Thank God we found out about this beautiful place. Alyssa also became a little bit more grown up today. This is something that a mommy is always proud of. Thankfully daddy was also able to be with us during this fun adventure. He is such a wonderful dad!!! Sorry ladies the best is already taken!!! Better go it is late. Mandy

My baby is going to be three

I cannot believe Zoe is going to be three on May thirteen. We are going to be able to celebrate her birthday and Mother's Day together. What a great blessing for a mommy to be able to celebrate. I sound like I am old, but I didn't think that it would go this fast. Both girls are going to be in school this fall. Alyssa is going to be in Kindergarten and Zoe in her first year of preschool. How the time flies. Mandy

Fun times

Ross and I are taking a class this week called Preaching and Teaching. This has been one of the best classes that I (Mandy) have taken so far this year. I love getting up and preaching the Word of God. The teacher has been such a huge help in explaining different ways to preach. I just gave my 10 minute sermon in class today. I spoke about Luke19:1-10. The story about Zaccaheus. I asked the question "Are you one of those people that would go out of your way to find out about whom this Jesus person is that causes so much controversy in our society?" I lite up with the authority of the Holy Spirit and hit all the points that I wanted to get across to the class. I was complimented by the teacher and my class mates by them saying that I am a true Evangelist. I was humble that the teacher came and gave me a pat on the back and said well done. I will try to get this on the blog page. When I was up preaching all I could keep thinking was I want to be in Thunder Bay preaching this to the people that really need to hear this the most. My heart is so ready to start on the road that God is leading us on. This is what I was created to do!! What even makes me more happy is to know that I have a man that will stand right next to me and encourage me through out it forever. Ross also has a heart of an Evangelist. I am so proud to be his wife. I can see how God has favored me in this. I also just wanted to take a minute and thank all of you that are keeping in touch with us through out this journey so far. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement. I better go know to my girls. I realize that my kids come first before ministry, and I have been gone from them all morning and worked on my sermon last night, so I better go. Being a mom is what I love and I am eternally grateful that the Lord is allows this special blessing to me.

exactly where we are

Well, we haven't updated where we are exactly so I thought that we should let everyone know. We are now fully accepted by IMF a missions sending organization. We are now labeled as faith based missionaries. We are one summer term from graduating Bethany, and God is opening door for us like I have never seen. He is directing our steps, and showing us the plans that He has laid out before us. I am working on getting our presentation online so that everyone can see exactly why we are doing what we are doing. I would love to hear from people that are keeping up with us. We are going to mailing out newsletters and would love for people to send us there mailing address's, and e-mail address's so that we can be sure they are informed as to where we are. Thank you to all of you that are praying for, and supporting us in every way.

YAAAAAAAAAA

Wow this spring break has flown bye. Were are home starting our fundraising and it has been crazy busy. We have not seen our family much but I am thankful to be able to see them in August. We are going to be giving our presentation in church on Sunday during both services at New Hope church. Please in in prayer that the peoples hearts would be open to hear about our ministry and to get involved some how. Through prayer, monthly support or even encouragement. God has opened so doors for us since we have been home in Williston. We were asked to give our presentation to the board out in Trenton and we were also able to get in tho speak at Trinity school. This has been a little bit of a blood pressure raiser but I know that God will provide because we are doing this for Him. I have never been so sure of anything in my life. The girls have had a great time being back with family. They are our little social bugs. Thaks all of you out there for keeping up with our family. I pray all is well in each and every one of your lives. God is GOOD. Mandy

test time

Thank all of you for the prayers that you have been sending up for us. God really heard your prayers. We took our psychological test yesterday and it went well, we are just as screwed up as everyone thought!!!! Just Kidding, it went well, they were very happy to see us, we took around over 800 questions and 2 hours of counseling, and it really went well. The lady convinced us that Mandy and I are a great match, she told us both our strong points and weak points. They told us that her weakness is my strength, and my weakness is her strength!! God is so amazing in how He does things!! God has had His hand in our ministry since we first met each other. We will have the final report by Friday, and then one last meeting and we will have the approval by the missions department!!! God is so amazing in how he has been moving us. Sky and Angie, and Chris and Jo were here this weekend for Easter, that was fun!! It is always a good time when we get together. We opened our house for the weekend, and we had about 25 people show up. We ended up with more food at the end of the meal than we started out with, because people would bring things as they showed up. This was amazing, and so was the food!! We had food from India, Thailand, Brazil, and normal BBQ brats and hamburgers, etc. We are so blessed by how God has provided for us, and others that are here on campus!! Please keep us in your prayers as we are starting into the summer term, I hope that it is a bit slower than the last trimester. We have had a busy, fun time, but now it is time to reconnect with our families.

Accepted At Last - The Next step in the process

Hey- well we finally got the word, we are accepted by IMF!! Praise God, now the last and final step is to undergo the psychological evaluation!! Yikes!!! Actually we should be good to go!! As soon as the results are in, and we are cleared to be missionaries we will be completed, except for the funding, and the last couple months of school!! God is so amazing, I just cant wait to tell you more stories about the people that we are going to!!
God's hand is moving more and more, the more that I look around and talk to people about Him, and see what He is doing in my life, the more that I realise how much He loves each and every one of us. I was talking to one of the guys that is located where we are going, and He was telling me about the miracles that are taking place up there!! Wow, God is really becoming pro active in the field, calling people unto Himself! We meet another friend and he was telling that there are Muslims that Jesus Himself is visiting at night while they pray to Allah. Jesus Himself shows up and tells them that He is the one true God, and they must worship Him!! There is no words to describe the fire that they are carying in there hearts. There are people that are praying for God to answer there prayers, but God does not just answer, He blows there doors off!!! A man that we know is building Hospitals in the middle east, and the way that God is using Him to witness to people is nothing short of a miracle!!!! Satan trys to take our eyes off God, and onto the things of the world, but the more that I push on towards God, the more that we render Satan inneffective. I have just recently seen that when the attacts happen, just push hard into God, and He will supply all out needs!! I am starting to get a glimps of what God meant when He said that the harvest is ripe, and the workers are few! I had no idea how ripe the harvest is, but I praise God to know that He is not willing to let me, or them go. There have been a million times that I should have been turned into a pillar of salt, but because of His great love for us I am still standing, and we will stand. In one of the class's that we are taking now, we are studying church History, and what that looked liked, and because of that I have been meditating on what kind of love would you have to have to sit there, while you are being burned to death, and praying for the forgiveness of the peopel that are doing it? Also, not being mad at them!! I wonder how people would react to christians in a society where you have to drive past the gallows every day, knowing that they are built to kill Christians like us! We have meet some people from here that have told us about the Chinese Church and how it is literally taking your life and throwing it out the window to say that you are christian!! What kinda love must you have in your heart to keep going every day??? God please help me keep fighting this fight until its won.
Please pray for Mandy and I as we go into this last evaluation, we should know if we are accepted by as soon as friday, or as late as the 17th. Thank you to all of you that have been praying for us, and supporting us over this last 8 months!!!! Only 4 more to go!!!!!!!! Later guys, please e-mail us and let us know how you all are doing!!!!

Pushing on

Well, Mandy and I have been really busy lately, we are working on getting our newsletter out, doing class, planning Easter, and most of all we starred in a movie. Well, it is kinda a movie. When it is finally online I will post a link to it. We are going to mail out our newsletter in a couple days, hope you all enjoy it.
We got snow last night, SNOW! What in the world is going on? I thought this was over!! I am going to write a letter to God and let Him know that this is just not right!!! I was mowing grass on Friday, and shoveling on Wednesday!! What In The World!!???!!
Sky and Angie showed up Monday night at our house, we were overjoyed to see them again! They updated us on everything that is starting to move in the Bay area. God is drawing people unto Himself, and miracles are happening. The devil better watch out because when God is in the equation, things start to happen. The Rock is really doing great things, and God is really getting us ready. He is walking us through the valleys, equipping our minds, and really strengthening our faith so that we can stand! Without the Holy Spirit strengthening us we would just fall on our face's. Through Him however, "All things are possible". I cannot tell you how miraculous of a God that we serve, every time that I know God is going to do a miracle, He just blows our doors off. I look forward to seeing what God continues to do in us, and with us, as we move closer and closer to the step out. Thank you to all of you that are praying for us, and with us.

God is still in the business- Zoe's healing

Matthew 16:18-19 On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven!!
I thought it would be beneficial for me to put this online, and let the world know what happened last night. I pray for forgiveness for doubting what happened, and waiting until now to post this, but I am only human. It started a little while ago, Zoe was complaining that she was hurting, as we soon figured out, she had some sort of bladder infection, or something like it. We were wanting to take her to the doctor, but because of the money, or lack thereof, we decided to wait until we got home where she could go to TISA and therefor be way more affordable. Well, she kept complaining about it, and then last night it came to a head. She was awake most of the night complaining about it. We decided that we would take her in on Monday, irregardless of what it cost, and we would figure out how to pay for it later. It went from a nuisance, to bad in literally a day's time. I was sitting up with her and just rubbing her back in the middle of the night last night, and began to pray. I told God that He needed to take care of them, because there is nothing that I can do! I don't remember everything other than I was really sincere! I began to pray for healing for Zoe as she sat there and whimpered. This is quite possibly the worlds worst feeling, knowing that there is nothing that you can do for your child!! I poured out my heart to God, and kept asking Him to just touch her. Then I began praying for His peace, and comfort to fall on her. I noticed that as I was praying she first began to cry, then within 5 minutes she fell fast asleep. I prayed a while longer then stumbled back to my bed and fell asleep. Zoe slept in this morning and I just waited to see how she felt. She got up all chipper and I asked her if she was still hurting and she laughed at me and said no. I was shocked, this was the first time she had said no since all this started!! Then as the day went on I asked her a bunch of times about it, and she just kept telling me that she was fine!! No pain!!! Thank God, He healed her when there was literally nothing that we could do for her!! We serve a big God, that cares enough to comfort us no matter what we are going through. That is the reason that we are doing what we are doing, waiting for His return, with eternity on our mind!!! We do not serve a god made of feathers, or a rock that just sits there, or a god that might strike us down with fire at any moment, we serve a loving, kind God that is always there for us no matter what!!! AMEN

IMF missions application

We have officially submitted our application to International Ministerial Fellowship and we are awaiting an answer. Thank you to all of you who sent in references for me. We should have an answer by the time that we get home for spring break. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting us in prayer, and everything else while we are here.We now have the church covering, the ministry covering, we have been showered in prophecies, and we are very excited to go!! To explain it best, I feel like a caged up animal ready to get out. God now is just teaching us patience! God is really doing good works in what we are doing, we are seeing lives transformed in the youth that we are teaching, and the students that sit in class around us. We are not the same people that left home, and neither is anyone else that sits here with us. God is still in the business of changing and transforming lives, and I am blessed, and humbled to be apart of it. I am continually excited to see the growth of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the youth that we are teaching. We are studying the history of the ancient church and looking at how God directed His disciples, and how He worked in the lives of the early people, and it is so exciting to see Him doing the same thing today!!!! We will be sending out an update letter so if you want to send us your mailing address to receive this please let us know, otherwise it will be online hopefully by Monday.

back again- few days off, or on??? Not sure!!

Hello, It has been a few days, I have been sick again. I just slept, and slept, and slept. Then as soon as I got better, Mandy left for 3 days to go to a ladies retreat, and the girls and I stayed home. We had fun, we went to a dog adoption deal where they were giving away all these dogs that were abused, and taken away from there owners. Then we went and hit a bunch of pet stores just looking around. We got to play around with some birds, and bunny's and other stuff. As I sit here at Caribou Coffee this morning reflecting on the week-end I am not sure how Mandy does it everyday, but that was a blast!!! We are blessed to have 2 of the best kids in the world!!! We are going into Isaiah for the next three weeks now, so this should be interesting, and informative. I also have to meet with the church here in Minneapolis today and see what they decided about being able to take us on with the administration details. This will be a turning point for us, once this is complete, we will start to push hard on our immigration details, and getting this done. I will keep you all updated as God keeps pushing us, and stretching us in the direction that He pushes. Thank you all for the prayers that have been prayed for us, God is hearing you!!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The last few day's Mandy and I were blessed to have one of our friends stay with us for a few days. She was flying back home and we told her that she should stay with us for a few day's, and she accepted. We had fun hanging out, and visiting, and just relaxing together for the last couple days. She left this morning from the airport, and it was hard to say goodby, but we know she will be blessed, because she is following in God's direction. We stayed up late, and had to get up before 5am, so this day is going to be long day. It was worth every minute of it!
Please pray for us as I meet with a local church tomarrow about using them as a conduit to be able to funnel our funds to Canada. We need a local church to handle the donations in America, and then pass them on to Canada, because the church up there can only accept funds from another church to pay its employees. I know that Bethany Church is wonderful when it comes to helping out missionaries, so I dont see a problem, we just need to pray for everything to go through. Thank you to all that have been praying for us, as God has really been opening doors, and pushing us in His direction.

Sunday- The day of rest

Well, today was the day of rest, with a house full of friends, and food. We had a friends birthday today, and we made some food and invited a few people over. The next thing I saw, was a house full of people, and a table full of food. We are so blessed to have all the things that we get on a daily basis. God just multiplied, and multiplied, until everyone is happy, and full. People just showed up at our door with food in there hands. Thank you Lord for blessing us. It was humbling to sit here and watch people laugh, and talk, and play with the kids. I feel like I got a taste of what Sundays are supposed to be. Mandy got to relax and enjoy baby Jonah, and baby Jada, and just have fun. We have been sick, and locked in this house for about a week, so this was nice to have the windows open, fresh air, fun people, and good conversation. The conversation went towards the end time's and I got a book that I am going to read, I will let you all know how it is going as I read it. Thank you to all the people that have been praying for us, as we are still seeing God move in our behalf while we pursue our trip to Thunder Bay. Thank you all, and good night. Ross

Our Flickr account

For those of you who want to follow us on our photo journey, we have finally made a flickr account. I will post a link here, but if you go to www.flickr.com and do a search for rossandmandy you will find it as well!!!
I do not have to upload many of them, so I will do it as I have time. Check back often.

Thanks and love you all!!!!!!

The J's

THe Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossandmandy/

God opens doors--HUGE UPDATE

wow, I do not know where to start. I have been sick with the flu the last few days doing nothing but sleeping, at the same time God was moving miraculously in front of us. I got an e-mail on Wednesday telling us that the missions agency that we were going to go through is going to shut down, because there is not enough American interest in it anymore. They are moving to Europe, because there is more of what they need there. On Thursday I contacted my teammates in Thunder Bay asking them about what options we had for moving up there, that were still available. He said that he would talk to the church that he is going to start pastoring, and get back to me. He got back to me on Thursday night and told me to call a lady by the name of Pauline on Friday or Saturday night. So, tonight I called her and we started talking. She had heard about us, but before we could even tell her our story, she started telling us about how people that she knew from all over the world had prophesied from weeks earlier about us coming up to Thunder Bay to help her, and the church. We had already known that Thunder Bay was our calling, but this was just another boost to clarify what we are to do up there. We are still going to have to raise support because there is no money in the church. This is a recently new church plant, and it is just trying to maintain financially. We will be there faith based financially, and any money we raise after our living expenses, will go to the church to help build the life skills center. The church is in an area of Thunder Bay that has no Bible believing church's in the area. Anyway, Pauline told us how we can come under her and work on the streets, and have accountability, correction, and approval of what we are doing. She will take both Mandy and I together as a team, and not just one of us. With the Bethany class's and one year of hands on training, we will receiver out license as pastors. Both Mandy and I will be licensed, and also we will be running the life skills center, under Sky and Angie. This is exactly what God has placed on our hearts since we have been here at Bethany!! God closed one door, but opened a huge door for us to walk through. The church has pledged 100% help in not only providing a covering for us, but also help with all the paperwork, and legal stuff that is needed to get us into Canada as permanent residence. That is the only way that we are guaranteed to not have to walk away from our ministry, because of legal issues. We could get a temporary visa, but that would have to be continually renewed, this was we can just settle in, and make a home in the community. We also will be in charge of the summer teams that come up, to help do projects in the area. She has teams from all over the world that come on one or two week missions trips, and Mandy and I would oversee all that, and make sure they are producing positive, acceptable, results while increasing the knowledge of the team, and producing lifelong results for the beneficiaries. God's hand is moving, and now I just sit back and marvel at what He is doing. I am humbled that I am chosen to fulfill this calling that God has placed on our lives. I pray that I am willing and able to persevere in the face of trials, as Satan also knows what a willing vessel, in the hands of God, can accomplish

Relief & Development

We are two days into Relief and Development and we are seeing how this is a big issue in our christian church. I never realized the difference between them before. I am thankful for the teaching that we are learning, but the God encounters have been amazing! I had been struggling with some internal mental attacks, but through the grace of God I have been delivered. Now I know what it feels like to have the freedom in Christ that the Bible talks about. Every time that something hard happens I look at the scriptures and remember what the Lord said about the correction of His children. The Lord desires the very best for us, and a lot of times that takes spiritual correcting for the Father himself. I now feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in my body, and I can feel the love of the Father, and the presence of Jesus around me and my family. As the psalmist David said, "My soul longs after you" I know what that longing feels like. There is no place on this earth that can fulfil that longing, except in the presence of God. I just pray this love, and fire is never quenched in our souls.

another week

Well, Dad and the family made it to the train, He only grabbed for the seat about three times while I drove through the traffic, I must be getting better. Last time I drove my passengers closed there eyes and laid down because they didn't want to see what was next, he he! This driving thing is great, especially in the snow, because then I have an excuse!! Oh well, the kids were happy to see grandpa and Lynette, now that is over, and back to school. Human relief and development is next so pray for me. I know that there will be allot of anger issues to deal with when learning about the oppression of people that are just innocent people trying to provide for there families. If any of you would like to hear what we are studying about just e-mail us and ask us, at rossandmandy@yahoo.com. I better get to bed, I have to get up early. Later all.

Not where you are, but what you are.

As I was having prayer time today I started to study into the subject of following God and how we are supposed to live our lives for Him. He told me that He was far more concerned with how we live our lives, and not where we live our lives. I have always looked at the Matthew 28 and thought that I was supposed to travel to the other side of the world, and then I would make a difference, but that is just not the case. I was praying and God gave me Isaiah 41:9-13 and it all became clear how some people are definitely called to do this (mission field), but others are not. I have heard it said many times that in order to follow God we must sell all our things and follow Him. This is true in one aspect, we do have to be willing to do that, but in another aspect God called us where we are, and not where we should be. He did not call us and say, "come over here to find Me", actually He runs to where we are! Then I was directed to Ephesians 4:1-2 and I realised that we all have different callings, some are missions, some are workplace, and some are living in the garbage dumps with the bums. The fact is that there was a savior that took upon humanity, became flesh, walked this earth, was beaten, bruised, kicked, mocked, shamed with the highest shame, and died naked, wounded, and marred so that we could have an eternity of joy and peace with Him. I just pray that I live a life worthy of the calling that is placed on me by Him. Never again will I look at someone and question whether the are living the life that God intended for them. I fear that too many times it is preached, that if we are not across an ocean, we are not following God's plan for us. I also fear that because of the person at work that is dieing on the inside, and is overlooked, and may spend eternity without Christ because I was too busy making my plans to go leave here, and change the world. I caught a glimpse of this the other day when I was sitting at a red light rushing from one place to another for the college when I saw this guy holding a sign next to the road saying "Homeless, need food, please help" and I thought to myself "If I only had time" and then God humbled me and asked me if I was in too much of a hurry training to be a missionary to help the helpless? We need to have a transformation in our church's and lives. The first step is to seek God with all we are, and realize that missions starts within OUR hearts, then it expands to the person standing next to us at the grocery store, or our 9 to 5. We just need to share our faith with those around us, and if it is our calling to do missions let's be willing, but if it isn't, don't look down at yourself as any less of a person, because the kingdom of God starts in the hearts of those who are willing to take the time to listen!
Sorry about going off on this post, I just feel like there is someone out there that needed to hear this as much as I did.

Sis This Ones For You

Hey, sorry I have not been writing lately but here is a little story that I owe to my sister so here I go. There once was a princess that had the coolest sister in the world. This princesses name is Kim. Kim said "my sister Mandy is so cool I am going to buy her a huge amount of chocolate because that is her favorite". Well after that Kim said " O coolest sister when are you going to send me that sweat shirt you owe me?" Well the cool sister Mandy said "o in good time." Then they had Indian tacos and that is the end of the story. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA This was a inside joke. If you are not Kim please realize that we really are normal it just might not look that way!! Or maybe you need to look up normal in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Mandy the cool one in there. OK here I really go. God has been doing such amazing things in our lives. He has shown me what real love is. He has shown me His love. I never really understood this before. It is like He and I have gone to a whole different level in life. Please pray that I can show this kind of love to everybody. This is what friends are for, to hold each other accountable in all areas of their lives. If you are to ever hear me talk against someone or not give them a benefit of a doubt please confront me. Because I also as a friend have to confront you. We are all called to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind. Then to love our neighbor as our self. These are the greatest commandments. Mathew 22:37
The girls are doing amazing, they are busy being little social bugs around campus. All the students say that they bring life to the campus. I will take that as a compliment. They are very busy and loud but then I guess that is exactly how we are so they never real had a fighting chance to be normal. But remember from the story what the definition in Webster says about that!! HA HA I am very proud of my husband there is nothing more attractive than to see a man that is searching after God like he is. When the man of the house does this all family life just falls into place (thank you God for your perfect order). Well I must go I have to go to the never ending chore of laundry. Chou Mandy
(I am not the great "I Am" (Exodus 3;14) " but by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10)