A Miracle Today

We have been so blessed by the generosity of others, and one of those ways has been a home for our family. Adjusting to the new life of becoming foreign missionaries and all its heavy preparations can feel like a tidal wave at times.  So having a stable place live while getting ready can make the difference between success or failure.

As you know, we've been at the "Barn" on Wadmalaw since September.  It's a peaceful, beautiful and comfortable place, of which we don't feel deserving to get to live in.  The boys have been able to get excited about Uganda here, as they have seen how well their Heavenly Father provides, even in the midst of the disappointment and sadness of leaving their home at St. Christopher rather abruptly.

As I've shared before, we are living here by the generous offering of the Rudolphs (who wouldn't tell anyone that themselves) They have a heart for missions, and they don't just talk about it!  They use their own resources to support missions as well as serve as missionaries themselves.  So we are grateful receivers of their gifts.

Recently, God has graciously  provided a way to knock down a large chunk of debt, but with the rest, we formulated a five month plan to aggressively attack it.   To achieve our goal  we need Peter to make a set amount per week doing home repair projects.  So he needs steady work, in which, so far we've been blessed.  And a part-time job I can do aside from home schooling would help too! The second thing is to find a place to live that would allow us to keep our expenses down considerably.  With prayer warriors, we petitioned God for a trade-rent-for-work situation.

Only God could make this happen!  Time kept ticking, and as we are two weeks away from our move out date.  Nothing was opening up, no matter how much we tried.  My dear friend, Margaret, who prays for us like it's her job, rode around Rockville on a rusty bike yesterday praying with expectation for God to reveal an answer to our dilemma.  I knew God wouldn't abandon us now, but He was making us wait to the last minute it seemed.

Then, like a lightning bolt, Peter remembered this place where our missionary friends, Dave and Jen Carter lived on Johns Island, while they got ready for Peru.  The owner is from Mt. Pleasant, but he uses the house to minister to Christians by renting it for a lot less than standard.  Peter took a shot, and emailed him last night.  He remembered that the renters had signed a 6 month lease and that it was coming up.  "They're probably renewing Peter.  Who would pass up that deal!" I said, but hoping for a miracle.

This morning we got a message from the owner saying our email was a miracle.  The renters were moving out in January, exactly when we needed it!  He also wants to arrange a trade for upgrades on the house for cutting the rent down.  It's close to town and church as well, which will be a blessing.  Did I mention that I was on his work team on my recent mission trip to Manasquan, NJ?

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!  Jesus, I praise you today because you never cease to amaze me with your wonders.  Thank you for meeting my little family's needs that are big to us, but never too big or small to you.  He says this is His vision in Uganda, and if we are willing and obedient, He will provide all that is needed to bring His vision about.  We are trusting Him!

Please pray for provision of good jobs and for us to stay focused on our tasks as well as our relationships with all who partner with us.

“Sister Cities”- A Bridge Between Manasquan and Charleston

 “If I get a chance to help, I’m going,” I said to Peter as we watched the news reports of Hurricane Sandy. Maybe it was that we had just left family in NJ or that I lived in NJ as a kid, vacationing in Ocean City and Avalon in the summers, or that I went through Hugo. Whatever it was, I felt compelled to go and be an encouragement. Not long after, a mission trip, organized by Holy Cross was posted on Facebook.  At the last minute, with the volunteer list full, I emailed Chris Donovan, the organizer, on a slim chance, and God opened the door for me to go.  Thanks to the Body, I had prayers as well as work gear in tow.

The outpouring of our churches and community was great.   As the Johnny Come Lately, I wasn’t able to contribute much to the effort, but to show up .  So many hands, other than me, did the big preparations.  Still, I offered up my prayer, “Lord, I if can do one thing, use me to encourage someone.”

You see, I know, by the often cruel circumstances of life what it is to desperately need encouragement…when there is no control, when help is delayed, and when you’re made vulnerable.  I know the power of a loving person showing up out of the blue with a gift card or an offer to pack your stuff.  Oh, what a touch and a sincere prayer can do to lift a broken spirit!

So, in the small town of Manasquan, NJ, ravaged by a flood, God blew the doors open for 18 volunteers to minister in the name of Jesus. Where the signs all over read, “Jersey Strong”, people allowed us to tear down the walls of their homes and the walls of their hearts. 

The young woman, who touched my heart the most, was named Renata.  Every day, I observed how she put her elderly neighbor, Marie’s needs first, while she tried to put the pieces of her own life together.  She put on a strong face for us saying, “Don’t worry about me.  Take care of her first.”  But something told me she had a great need that could not be overlooked, no matter how things appeared.  The message in the air was saying, “There’s just not enough to go around.” 

But my God always has enough for His children.  In two days, our small team, lovingly tore the mold infested walls and floors out of Marie’s house, completing our task.  We had to stay focused in the midst of great need and trust God would care for the others.  All the while we prayed for Renata and the chance to touch her heart with the love of Jesus. So before we left, we found her presented her with a box containing assorted things, a purse, slippers, a cute hat, and a book on how to read the Bible.  Then Bruce, our leader, who just has a way with people, gave her a family Bible, “For your home when it’s all new again.” Then the best part, we were able to lay hands on her, bless her and petition Father God to protect and provide for her. 

Renata later told us that no one had ever prayed for her like that and that there was something “special” about us.  She even said she wanted to look for a church family.   She was touched by the love of Jesus; it was felt. 

We were only in Manasquan for three full days, but many have said, “Were we there a month?”  Jesus’ love is so amazing!  I went, asking to encourage, and as He gave me the chance me to do so, it was me who came home the most encouraged.  “Oh, how He loves us!”

                                             The Tetrev Family is enjoying the "Barn" 

                                             on loan to us by the Rudolphs, some of        

                                             our greatest supporters.  This has been 

                                             an incredible blessing to us as we are able 

                                             to focus, work, prepare, rest, pray, be and 

                                             become a closer family, all important 

                                             parts of preparation for Uganda.

                                            .

                                   

Why Uganda?

Peter was nudged by God almost three years ago to go with a team, including Fr. Greg, on our church's second mission trip to N. Uganda.  They would be serving Bishop Johnson Gakumba by observing, listening, and discerning what God is doing there and how He was inviting the church into His plan.  Peter came home with a burning passion and the seed of a vision planted inside him by Bishop Johnson.  After some stubborn resistance, God drew me to the next trip to Gulu this past June.  It was on that trip that God started to turn my world upside down and show me a  much bigger picture than I had had for His world and my life as it pertained to His plan.  Through prayers and encouragement, divine circumstances, and scripture, we cannot silence this call of our family, Peter, Karen, William Henry (9), Peter John (5), and Emory (3), to a new world in Christ.  We're not going to tell you it's because we are so immensely talented or that we have great resources (you'd know we were lying), but God's ways are not our ways.  He will use whatever He chooses in our lives to accomplish His purposes.  We pray for all our senders and our families, for the strength of our church, for us to trust Him in everything, for protection and provision and for God's will to be done.  As a family we are excited as we have embarked on another BIG ADVENTURE!  It's all about Jesus; let Him get all the honor and glory!  Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that He is the one God!

More Gratitude

What we are finding out, in this crazy journey of answering God's call to Uganda, is how the Lord must become much bigger in our hearts and our notions of who we are and what we think is so important must diminish.  Everything in this life competes for His place, which is the throne of our hearts.  At every corner we find there is something else that sits on that throne and needs to be unseated.

Pride is one of God's biggest competitors.  When you have a good job and a steady paycheck, you can help others and yourself, people admire you, people don't have to know the embarrassing weaknesses and shortcomings of your life, you feel your future is secure, you can feel you are providing all the "good things" for your kids, you're good at keeping your family safe and comfortable, etc, etc., they can become our security, our protection, and what we worship in place of God.  These desires are not evil in and of themselves, but we and these valuables must take their rightful place at the feet of Jesus.  He must be King.

How can we be sure what we worship is Jesus and nothing else?  Tithing is one way of knowing.  If we find ourselves giving begrudgingly and hesitantly, these things may have us.  God loves a cheerful giver because He knows their heart has been captured by Jesus and He rules over everything else in their life.

Another way of discovering who sits on the throne is by losing or being faced with the choice of giving up in order to answer a higher call.  The competitors don't give up easily, that is pride, security, comfort, status, public opinion, and possessions. As soon as they are threatened, a fierce battle arises, to keep you wanting them over God's sovereignty.  It takes a conscious and intentional reordering of things.  You withstand criticism and naysaying, you cut things loose, you let your desires go, you experience loss and loneliness, you stop having the answers, you cease being the center of attention, you learn about failure.

There was a vision seen by a Godly man just after we received the abrupt blow that we were leaving St. Christopher, where Peter worked and our family lived and served for some time. It was of a door swinging wide open at the end of a hallway.  It was interpreted that the door was the will of Father God and His invitation to us to be used in His plan to reach the people of Uganda with more of is love.  There were many doors down the hall that were closed.  These were doors of our life which had been closed along the way, careers, opportunities, wealth, and even our identity and paradigms. But we've come to know that God requires many more doors to be closed in this preparation.

We have sold or given away so many possessions, and God says, "More!"  We have destroyed what was our identity, He asks for more. We have gone from an independent spirit to dependency for every single need.  We have been made to rely on the generosity of others, on God's approval and not man's, on the kindness and prayers of God's people, on the safety and protection of Father God and the comfort and revelation of the Holy Spirit.  And God will not be satisfied until we belong totally to Him.

We praise God today because He is wise so far beyond human wisdom.  He knows what is best for His people and His love is so great, it consumes, like fire, every part of us that will not produce His glory on the earth.  We praise Him because after all the battering storms, raging fires, the wars against us, and the casualties of my life, He reigns more than ever in our hearst.  More than ever, He has caused us to want Him to be worshipped and praised throughout the earth.  We have lost our life in many ways, all the dreams and expectations, looking good to the world, the predictability of the future, being able to not let others down, and our self-reliance.  I praise you God because new life is springing up inside us...character and perseverance, the ability to love across borders, humility, a quiet spirit, a well-spring of truth and inexplicable joy in knowing you God, experiencing Jesus become King overall, and peace that passes all understanding.

God has a better dream for us.  The cost is high, but it's a dream so worthy of embracing. 

Gratitude from Karen

September 29, 2012

By now, most of you know that God has closed the door to Peter's employment and our being residence at St. Christopher.  Yes, are in the grieving process, with all the normal emotions.  You don't grow to love a place and people like that without feeling a great loss. But overall, we are grateful to God for Peter's 4.5 years of getting to serve the Lord there with the skills, experience, gifts, and compassion he was given in order to make an impact on others' lives.  Our family has gained memories and relationships which will carry us through a lifetime.  William, Peter John, and Emory have received the love and modeling of a life lived for Jesus that will forever shape them.  We are so thankful to all the people we've gotten to know at the Camp. Oh what God has done to transform, heal, train, and prepare us there!

Two years ago, God began to turn our eyes to Uganda in the gentlest way.  He has increasingly made it clear to our family that He wants to use us there.  After Peter's 1st  mission trip, God showed him a vision through Bishop Johnson Gakumba.  After some stubbornness, I opened my heart to what God might be doing, and He showed me so clearly that I was to go with the next team in June, including Peter.  There, we felt drawn to God's desire to show the people in Uganda how valuable, loved, and important they are to the Kingdom and that they have a destiny to change the world.

Just an aside, one of the ways God showed me his direction for my life, was that he kept putting women named Karen in my path, all the way from Charleston through Uganda and back.  I think I counted 6 Karen encounters.  We later realized we had had about the same Peter encounters, including 3 on our team alone!  God said to me one day, after our return, "Don't you see, I'm calling you by name?"

So many have witnessed the supernatural things God has been doing in our life over the past years, that Peter's job loss created an almost unanimous response. "Oh, you must be going to Uganda!" is what we heard over and over.  God's revealing His plan to many. And have you noticed that it has come in the form of hardship and suffering?  You pray for God to close doors, and they may close abruptly and unexpectedly.  

Some dear friends prayed for me recently, helping me to close the doors of our past.  But one of their prayers was that too many doors have closed too abruptly.  They prayed that God would let this leaving be a gentle process.  We receive that prayer!

Where are we now in this great adventure with God?  First, we are secure in the knowledge of God's love, provision, and protection.  He isn't promising days when we won't know weariness, confusion, or distress.  But this is where we get to see how He always comes through and His love never ends.  Physically though, we are staying on Wadmalaw, due to the grace and compassion shown to us by a most wonderful Christian family, the Rudolphs.  Rhett and Emily are both missionaries around the world as well as strong senders to many missionaries.  They have a gigantic heart for taking the light of Jesus into a dark world, and they demonstrate it through sharing their time and resources.  So we are in their "barn" for the time being, as we prepare for this next chapter of the adventure.

Here at the "barn" (you can now refer to me as "Barn Karen", previously "Camp Karen"), we are enjoying the bounty of what we call the "Promise Creek", where colossal crabs practically jump in the net.  Emily grows sweet potatoes the size of your arm.  One night we fed our family of five off one of them!  Peter is working on getting a deer, but in the meantime, he's good with a cast net.  These are just a few of the ways God has been meeting our needs.

On the second floor, where there is no TV, when the kids are put to bed, Peter and I are studying the Bible, reading the stack of missionary books we need to prepare, writing, listening to worship music, and talking about the many challenges ahead.  The barn is giving us time together to learn to be a better unit and to grow closer to God and each other.

We are praising, crying out, and wrestling with God, but we are hearing His voice in ways we never have before.  It's the most challenging and exciting time of our life.  We have chosen to follow God on His adventure.  We are so grateful to all of you who are standing with us in this journey.  More to come...