We have completed and submitted our “new updated” applications for GEM and have requested assignment to the February 2012 New Candidate Orientation session.  We are now one step closer.   

When we first applied at GEM, early 2012 sounded so far off it was hard to allow ourselves to get excited, but not now.  Now February 2012 is just around the corner and we are excited. 

We are continuing our Bible studies and pray for God’s guidance through this journey.  Your prayers are welcomed and needed.

To God be the glory

Since my last posting we have continued to move forward with our Mission focus on early 2012.  We are planning to attend orientation in February at GEM’s campus in Colorado.  And hope to be assigned to GEM’s Rapid Response Team to work in crisis situations in Europe, northern Africa and Turkey which will open opportunities to teach the Gospel. 

Our faith continues to grow and our commitment to missions grows along with it.  Events keep happening in our lives that make it clear to us that we are on the path God intend for us and He continues to facilitate our transition from our current mission to our next.  We were able to move our house off of our plate, only through the work of God.  That has been a major relief as we continue to down size our material world.  Live Simple has become our goal. 

We continue to pray for and communicate with Courage House, which is moving forward and has been blessed with much good fortune.  Please keep them in your prayers.  We have not completely ruled this out as a possible mission but the Rapid Response Team at GEM is where we are feeling most strongly led to serve.

I have just recently finished a complete reading of the Bible and have also started a weekly Bible study group in Dublin.  I am enjoying this and find it interesting and rewarding.

Carl is going to the University of Georgia in Athens beginning June 26, he is enrolled in the freshmen college program which will give him a jump start for the fall semester.  We sure are proud of him and his choices. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

 

 

 

God’s timing is rarely what we expect; we want things to happen on our schedule, no such luck.  We heard very little from GEM from September to this week, in fact the little contact we have had was all initiated by us.  Through researching the GEM website we learned about L’Arcada, a Christian Camp for youth and families in Spain.  This was a mission assignment that also looked like a good way for us to serve, so we let them know of our interest.  

We receive some guidance from an unexpected source, Rev. Stanley and Katy Key, Stan Key was leading a revival at our Church and in our conversations with him and his wife Katy we discussed missions.  They had been missionaries in France for 10 years and are now active with missions in Ethiopia. Katy mentioned a group called SIM, Serving in Missions, they have Guest Houses throughout the world and she felt we would be very good Guest House managers.  We researched this as well and decided to apply for a Guest House manager position in Accra, Ghana. 

 As a result of our preliminary application to SIM we were contacted by a field representative from Augusta that is available to help with the applicantion process.  “In our conversation he asked me what my work experience and job skill set was.”  When he found out that I had 25 years of law enforcement and 14 years of HR he immediately began to tell me about a mission program in India that serves young girls that have been forced into the sex slavery trade and how my skill set would be a good match for that type of work.  He asked if we would consider this mission assignment as well since there is such a great demand for people willing and trained to work in this mission field.

God has put a heavy weight question on our hearts; please pray that we will be guided to the mission which will allow us to serve God’s children where we are most needed and qualified.     

I’m sure that I did not break any records for the longest time between postings on a blog, but I have been derelict.  Today I will try to update things in less than a novelette.  Maybe several updates would be best.

On September 24, I headed for Michigan to visit my family, do some work on Val’s house and attend the wedding of a dear niece.  The trip was great, stopped in Atlanta on Friday to have lunch with Jessie and Ben on Jessie’s birthday, and then on Saturday I had lunch with Neil and friends at Great Lakes Naval Station. What’s better than that?

Arriving in Kingsford on Saturday night I learned that my brother-in-law Rick Klinglehutz was back in the hospital in Marquette, he had been fighting an issue related to an infection that was causing fluid to accumulate around his heart.  On Monday I drove to Marquette to see Rick, he looked great, he sure didn’t look like he needed to be in a hospital, we had a wonderful visit and made plans for the weekend “at Camp”.

 On Wednesday evening my family, minus Rick and my sister Sally (she was in Marquette with Rick) were gathered at my parents’ home to celebrate my brother Don’s 65^th birthday.  While we were there, Sally called to say that she had good news and bad news, the bad news was that Rick had a clot in his heart and the good news was that he was going into surgery to have it removed and should be back in his room resting in about an hour.  We all stopped to pray for Rick and Sally. My niece Jeana, who was with us, expressed her desire to go to Marquette to be with her Mom and Dad.  I offered to drive her there, it was cold and dark and 75 miles away and she did not need to make that drive alone.  When we were about ten minutes away from the hospital Sally called and wanted to know how close we were and asked that we not delay getting there since Rick had taken an unexpected turn for the worst.  When Jeana and I arrived the Doctor had just come out of the operating room to tell Sally that Rick had passed away.  God puts us where he needs us.

 That night, September 29^th, changed the Klinglehutz/Edens family forever.  Rick was 52 years old, a husband and father of three wonderful children, and friend.  He will be missed by everyone that ever knew him.  He was especially close to my brother Don, they were neighbors and I think it would be safe to describe them as brothers and best friends.  We love you Rick.  

Today I spoke with Bob Till from GEM.  We had a pleasant get to know you conversation and discussed some of the preliminary steps in the application/acceptance process.  We shared ideas and experiences and we seem to be on the same wavelength.  It is now Val’s turn to complete the Ministry Exploration Form.

Keep us in your prayers.

Today I submitted my Ministry Exploration Form (MEF) to Greater Europe Missions in Monument, CO.  Next they will contact me and discuss what my goals are and where I can serve.  The entire planning and training process could take up to 1 1/2 years.  The application was long and very detailed.  Wish me luck and please keep us in your prayers.

For years I have been praying that God would show me how He wants me to serve Him and for years He has been telling me to finish the mission I am on.  That mission is loving, teaching and providing for the four beautiful children he has blessed Val and me with.  So being a faithful believer I have focused on the current mission.  Through all this there has been a persistent feeling that there was more in store for me as the current mission is winding down. 

Then in March, I cashed in a Christmas present from my family, a 15 day visit to Rome, Italy. A trip that has been a dream for as long as I have been a dreamer.  I saw this as an opportunity to drink in a City and it’s people that I have read about, viewed in pictures and observed in movies so many times that I sometimes felt as if I had been there before.  Rome did not disappoint this visitor, in fact Rome captured my heart and called out to me to stay and become a Roman.  However there were a couple of problems with this idea, the first being that Val was not at my side and then there was that unfinished mission waiting back in Georgia so to the airport I went.

Before I left for Rome, a friend Arturo, had asked me to make a personal delivery to a friend of his currently doing missions in Rome, I did not ask what the item was, I just accepted the package and granted the request.  Arturo provided me a name, address, email and cell number for his friend Joe and said he had let Joe know I was delivering the much anticipated package.  As the finale Sunday of my visit was approaching I thought I had better get this package delivered, so I mapped out Joe’s location and sent an email asking if it was okay to deliver the package on Sunday afternoon.  I did not receive a return email advising one way or another if Sunday was good, but decided to go to Joe’s anyway and if nothing else just leave it in his mailbox or door, some place just so I could fulfill my commitment to Arturo.  Sunday came and off I went, Joe lives just north of the Vatican so I planned to be in St. Peter’s square in the morning to hear the Pope’s weekly public address and then go onto Joe’s.  Finding Joe’s home was easy and so was ringing his doorbell, understanding the confusion in Joe’s voice when he answered the intercom was a different story.  It seems there was some disconnect between Arturo saying he would let Joe know I was coming and Joe actually receiving and remembering that part of the scenario.  As it turns out Joe and his wife Mary are two wonderful missionaries doing God’s work in Rome, and fourtuntly they are not that fussing about who they invite in.  So having been granted admission I was able to explain who I was and why I was there, he had received my email but was clue less as to why so he ignored it.  Oh yes and I delivered the package, a CD with pictures from a visit to Spain where Joe and Mary met and interviewed Arturo,  they wanted to add a youth leader to their mission team in Rome and Arturo was recommended for the job.  What followed this awkward introduction is what I really want to share with you.

I stayed several hours with Joe and Mary, though my intent had been to simply deliver and run.  We had lunch, spoke English, shared stories and I was moved by these two Americans doing mission work in Rome.  As a matter of fact when I finally did leave, only because they had to go to a meeting and kicked me out, I had an experience that is now changing my life.  I was touched by God that day on a street in Rome, so much so that I had to stop and lean against a pole to remain upright, I stood there for about 40 minutes trying to understand the message God was sending me.  What I came away with that day was that God wanted me to go back home and work on behalf of Arturo in his fund raising effort for his planned mission to Rome. 

It was not until Saturday, September 18, six months later, that I figured out what God’s message to me that day had really been.  God gave me time to figure it out on my own but I was missing His message, so as He does when we fail to understand Him correctly, He sent a messenger to help me get it right.  The messenger this time was  my wife, Val.  She was at our Church preparing her Sunday school lesson and I stopped by to see how she was doing and to support her with my company, believe it or not she likes my company, she read to me part of her lesson, knowing it would be meaningful to me.  You see she knows I have been praying and trying to workout just what it is God has planned for me to do, in service to Him, a question that has been nagging at me for a long time now.  After hearing the message God sent through Val the picture became very clear and the fact that I had misunderstood the message in Rome was also clear.

It was me God was calling to serve in Rome, it was God working through my family, and their Christmas present to me, and my friend Arturo that put me at Joe’s doorstep, I was blind to this until yesterday when a simple parable from the Bible, God’s words to us, made it all so clear.  And the messenger God choose this day was the one person most trusted by me.

I want to make one thing clear here, this new revelation in no way diminishes Arturo’s calling to missions in Rome, nor my pledge to support him, in fact God willing I will be able to support him and his family first hand in Rome.

Now that God has provided me the clarity I have asked for, He has put the ball squarely in my court and I must respond.  Val and I are moving forward to answer this calling and we are asking for your prayers.  I will provide a journal of this journey through this website, please follow along; your companionship and support are vital to our success.

God be with you, your friend in Christ,  Mark

 

 

 

I feel compelled to write about my perspective on some popular topics.  Faith, children, work, travel, music and books are just a few of the subjects I will start with and then we will see where it goes from there.  I am an avid reader and from the books I have read I will draw some of my ideas, I have also been involved with people for my entire adult life, and this is another fountain I draw from.  I know we have all “been involved with people”, that comes with the gift of life, but my people experience has come from 40 years in law enforcement and human resources which has given me some unique perspectives and has helped shaped my outlook on how things could be.  I share these ideas with you in hopes that you can benefit in some way from my perspective.

I also want to share with you a journal of my personal faith journey and favorite readings.  

Thanks for being at my side.

Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it. Ezra 10:4

It is hard to believe but it has been one year since our first arrival here in Rome.  It has been some kind of year, WOW. I came with ideas and plans and as I sit here today I can say I have gained love and faith. God didn’t necessarily have the same ideas and plans as I did but He did have a plan and in retrospect I must say His was much better and I am glad to have learned that. 

Val and I have kept a journal where we share our thoughts each day. Val keeps telling me I should share my experiences with all of you and I keep saying it is hard to (at least for me) open my heart and share the emotions of daily life as a servant of God.  And honestly most of my journal entries are too long. So I will pick a few parts of a few entries to share with you.  

    I spent a several hours today with …. We had our deepest conversation yet about Jesus and the teachings of the Bible. Very open and honest. They are clearly desiring a closer relationship with Jesus ….  Good way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. Love you, miss you and thank you for your understanding and love. To God be the glory. M

    Last night I went out with the Angel Squad to reach out to the Treasures (women enslaved in a life of prostitution) on Via Cristoforo Colombo and Viale Guglielmo Marconi.  I served as the “watcher.” The ladies of the Angel Squad go out in teams of two, the watcher goes with them but keeps a discreet yet safe distance and monitors the activity surrounding the visit. The driver remains with the car ready for a quick departure if one is needed. The ladies share God’s love with them as well as applicable  scripture, snacks, convenient toiletries, and information regarding local services that available to help them. It is a very simple and effect outreach. All but a few welcome the encounter and openly share their stories, none are in this situation by choice. They are glad to hear that God loves them, they feel that because of their life style God has/would reject them, so when scripture that tells the story of Jesus compassion for the lost is shared with them it gives them a glimmer of hope. You could see it very clearly in their body language. After each encounter the team records the context of the exchange and the name, country of origin and age of each Treasure. Many of the Treasures were know by the team from previous encounters, some asked for bibles in their native language so the team provides one, in cases where one was not immediately available they would get one and keep it until the Treasure is located again. Last night we had one where they had been looking for this Treasure for more than two months. She was very excited to receive her bible. None of the Treasures were Italian. To God be the glory. M

    I am going out Friday night with the ladies to reach out to trafficked women. Remember the Sunday night we had so much fun riding the buses coming home from Peters and we ran into a bunch near St. Paolo’s? Well that’s where we are going. We will be meeting at McDs at 10:15 PM. Another new road on my life journey. “Not all who wander are lost.”  M

    Good day at JNRC, the guys all know me now and know why I am there. I get a lot of friendly hand shakes, hugs and greetings, they know I care about them and their well being. Even those that were hostile in the beginning have now become friendly. M

    At bible study today we read the passion. I am thankful for this group and their faithfulness. I did not ask but during the prayer time one of the ladies said a prayed for you and our family in the US, and gave thanks for your sacrifice which has allowed for me to be able to be here and serve.  Several of the ladies were talking about volunteering at St Andrews where they pass out lunch to refugees, they mentioned the man that is always on the street selling scarves with the rolled up hat. Of course I had already shared with them about Nasim, so when I told them that was Nasim they were all excited. It’s a small world. Danielle sent me an email and said my phone should be here tomorrow (for those of you that don’t know my iPhone was stolen). Miss you, love you, and thank God everyday for you. ✌️M

    “He’ll be coming and going he had said. One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down–and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.” (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) C. S. Lewis 

    Today Nasim showed me pictures of his Mother and Father. He was so proud. He was able to have them sent to his tablet from his uncle in Atlanta. M

In a recently conversation with one of the men at Il Soggiorno the subject of why am I in Rome came up again (as it has many times before). He said, “I see you everyday in different places and you are always giving out food and cloths and things, why?” In response I told him that I was here to share with him God’s love, through my service and care for him and others.  He then asked me “well who cares for you while you are here, like when you were sick last week?”  
The answer that came to me, I am sure from the Holy Spirit, was first, God.  But, I add, there are many people in America that also care about you and me. And those people pray for us, love us, and support us with their hard earned money. Without them I could not be here to share Gods love with you.  This concept was difficult for him to comprehend, and in many respects it is hard for me to grasp as well. 

I can not express the gratitude and love I feel for those of you that have prayed for me, stood with me, trusted in me, and through your love and generosity have allowed me to serve our oppressed brothers and sisters in Christ. 

I have grown and learned so much this past year here in Rome and as Val and I go forward in our service to those whom God continues to bring to us throughout His Kingdom, we do so because of you and your partnership.  Your love and support humbles me.  Grazie Mille. 

In His Service,
Mark