Grace Bible Church - Women's Retreat

This weekend our home church (Grace Bible Church) had their women's retreat. We went just north of Dallas to Allen, Texas, and had a great time of fellowship and fun.

On Saturday, Mary Howell spoke. She was AWESOME. Mary grew up in Spain serving with CAM International with her family (Gerry, Dina, and Paul Parkerson), so it was really neat to hear her perspective on growing up in Spain. Her journey with the Lord throughout life inspired us all and encouraged us in how we need to always follow Him.

Her 3 big take away points were:

1) God speaks beyond silence.
2) God's NO always opens a path for His YES.
3) God will never abandon us.

What a way to look at how the Lord is guiding our lives. How many times do I want MY yes to be God's yes? Why are we so disturbed by God's silence at points in our lives? Why do we feel like we are alone in this world when God is right beside us?

Thank you for your ministry to me this weekend Mary.
Thanks to the GBC ladies who were there to chat and learn from.

I feel so blessed to have such a great church body to worship with!!!

Gas Prices: It's all about perspective!

In DALLAS, the gas prices are around $3.73.




While we were in IOWA, the gas prices were about $3.48.
While in INDIANA, we paid $3.75 for gas.



In CHICAGO, we have been paying between $4.19 and $4.35...sometimes more!



When we get to URUGUAY, gas prices are about $6.20/gallon*.
In SPAIN it is around $8.15/gallon.
(*The unit of measure for gas is actually liters, but this is the converted rate.)

Looking at just the cost of gas can give you a good picture of the sort of standard of living that we will be introduced to in Uruguay and Spain. The value of the dollar, plus the problems with gas contributes to this increase in gas prices. Right now, the exchange rate in Spain is about 1Euro = $1.51. Because of this exchange rate, the monthly amount of support that we are raising is $8,024.19. The currency rate is one of the many challenges that we will face as we serve in ministry in both Uruguay and Spain. One thing's for sure...we won't take the $3.73 gas in Dallas for granted :)

Globalization - Part I

Globalization impacts all of us.

Whether your shoes, your computer, your fruit, your car, or some other thing is made outside the US, or you watched the news and saw live coverage from other cities around the world, you are impacted by globalization.

Recently I've had the opportunity to interact with some scholars regarding the topic of globalization and the migration of people around the globe. This issue is not altogether new because people have traveled to other countries for centuries, but it is a bit different in that information and people can move quicker to other parts of the world than they ever could in the past.

Globalization impacts our ministry.

As we move towards Uruguay and then Spain, we must track trends. People are moving from everywhere to everywhere. Chinese, Moroccans, Uruguayans, Romanians, and others are moving to Spain. How should we approach ministry in an increasingly diverse mixture of people? Do we plant homogenous or heterogenous churches? Can we even speak with any degree of confidence about who Spaniards are and what makes them distinct amongst so much diversity?

As you can see I have many more questions than answers. They need to be asked. I'd like input of others and more research done in terms of how to answer them though.

What a joy it is going to be to see the current realities play out and the upcoming changes that we don't even realize are coming yet.

Incredible Iowa - Part I

We were really blown away this past weekend by all the encouragement we received while in Iowa. The people of DeWitt were amazing.



Have you ever had a time in life where although you went to serve others they ended up serving you way more than you could have ever served them? That was the type of weekend that we had. We were given almost complete access to the church, their activities (men's bible study, small groups, sunday school, youth group, spoke in both sunday am services), and were able to give away lots of prayer cards so that we could build our prayer team.



In short, the three days we spent in Iowa affirmed that this stage in our lives is a powerful ministry called partnership development. We saw true partnership at work between the local church and missionaries. We served and they served back.



For more pictures, check out our Facebook Album.

Chicago

Last week, we arrived in Illinois for some time in Chicago. We have had a busy, but great week! Kendra Cervantes one of our teammates for both Uruguay and Spain) lives in Aurora - just outside of Chicago. Lindsey has had a great chance to spend time with her, as we work on support raising together, preparing for leaving the field (aka - sorting through belongings: purging, giving away, and selling!), and continuing to build out friendship. We have also been able to spend time with lots of Kendra's family, which has been awesome to learn more about the people she always talks about!

Last Wednesday our Uruguay team leaders - Jim and Cheryl Eberline - were coming through Chicago on their way from Wisconsin to Indiana. They joined Kendra and us for some time together chatting over coffee and a yummy dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was awesome to touch base with one another, discuss future ministry and Uruguay, and continue to build our team together. You can't beat the fried okra and veggies from this place!


Cheryl and Lindsey - Rocking on the porch at Cracker Barrel


Jim and Brad - what a duo!


Jim, Brad, Lindsey, Cheryl, and Kendra

Missions Pizza Dinner Night!

Sunday night we had a great time with some friends from church. Ben and Anne Britt, as well as Dick and Ina Ericson, organized a dinner for us at the Britt's house. Several members of the Britt's Sunday School class at our church - Grace Bible Church - were invited and we had a fun evening of dinner, fellowship, and sharing about missions. We were able to meet some great couples from our church that we had never met before, as well as reconnect with some couples that we have known for a while. They had some great questions about missions, Spain, and ministry in Europe. It was a blast to share the evening with them!





Thank you to the Britts and Ericson's for making it possible!!!


Would you like to support our ministry by hosting and event like this one? It could be at your house, your church, a park...anywhere really! We'd love to talk with you about getting it organized...please email or facebook us!

Last Days and First Days - Part II

This post is the second part of posts entitled "Last Days and First Days." Don't forget to read part I after reading this post.

Friday entailed a couple First Days that are particularly memorable for us:

Welcome Home Jackie - Our friends Aaron and Carrie Kraft welcomed home their little daughter Jackie Kraft from Guatemala. (http://www.bradandlindsey.com/blog/2008/08/welcome-home-jackie.html for the complete report).

When it comes to bringing your baby daughter home for the first time after many, many months of wading through government paperwork, there aren't many better feelings in this world, I am sure. We are all excited for the Kraft family as they are enjoying getting to know, hold, and play with their daughter Jackie (as well as get up in the middle of the night when she's crying :).

Partnership Development Ministry - Friday was our official LAUNCH into our ministry of partnership development. Some of you have asked what in the world we are talking about when we say the words "partnership development."

Our ministry from now until we leave for the mission field is focused on providing opportunities for other people to get involved in missions. We've outlined some of the ways that you can become involved on our website (www.bradandlindsey.com/partner.htm). Check it out!



We have the privilege of welcoming you onto our prayer team, our financial team, or our service team. Some of you want to pray for us and those we'll be serving and serving with. Others of you want to contribute towards our monthly financial support that we'll live on as missionaries (it is our only means of support). Yet others want to use their talent of encouragement, crafts, video editing, writing, or some other gift to serve on our team. We've already gotten to know a few of you who are serving in all three ways. THANK YOU!


Join the journey. Be on our team. See God work!

Learn more at http://www.bradandlindsey.com.

Last Days and First Days - Part I

Friday was a pretty significant day for Brad and I as well as our family.

Brad's Last Day - A couple months ago Brad notified his boss at CAM that we were going to apply to become missionaries with CAM. This meant that Brad would soon be resigning his position at CAM to begin our ministry of partnership development before leaving for the mission field. Well all of that became a reality this summer when we accepted as new missionaries and then a few weeks ago when Brad turned in his official resignation. Finally on August 29th, Brad worked his last day at CAM International's Dallas Headquarters.


As much as it was a bit of an emotional day to be leaving a place that we had come to love, it was an exciting day to see God moving us forward as a couple towards what He has in store for us in the future. It is mind boggling how much God has done in our lives and in the lives of others to confirm his direction for our lives. From some close friends of ours who have five kids sending us a handwritten letter of encouragement from each member of the family, to some family friends taking us out to dinner and donating an old laptop to us for Brad to use, to a friend of ours allowing us to serve them by walking them through the issue of deciding about infant or believer's baptism, we've seen God at work each step of the way.

Enjoy the video of my last day on the job!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYW2xfcECY8



Bill's Last Day - On Friday August 29, my father Bill Bridges finished his last day of work for Bank of America after 37 years of work. Imagine beginning your career at 22 and finishing it with the same company (after a few name changes) just before turning the big 60. We are proud of Brad's dad and encouraged by his example to us of a loving father willing to work hard to provide for his family.



We found out that Sidney and Wesley along with their families all went and celebrated Bill's last day with the bank of Friday. Also many of Bill's current or previous boss's as well as others that he had trained or worked with came to visit him from various locations North Carolina. Imagine leaving an imprint on your organization or field in general big enough to; A. work there for 37 years, B. have old and current bosses come visit, and C. finish your career as the top performing Bank of America branch in NC. AWESOME!

Next (Last and First Days - Part II)