Who is an MK? I am a combination of two cultures. I am neither and I am both. I am the brat who throws a temper tantrum and refuses to dress native for the American church. I am the six-year-old who cries herself to sleep the first two weeks away from home. I am the one who complained about eating oatmeal everyday of my life, yet I am the one who orders oatmeal at the restaurant just for old times' sake.
I am the one who desperately worries about fitting in, but I am the one who wears my native wrap around the college dorm and doesn't care what anyone thinks. I am the one who has lived under strict school rules, and I am the one who returns to America and questions what my real values are. I am the one the churches make a saint out of, and the one some people pity and laugh at. I am the one who traveled halfway around the world before I was four, and I am the one who has no home. I am the one who promises to write, but never does because it's too difficult to deal with the reality of separation. I am the one who has seen the devil dancers, and I am the one who has seen the rock concerts.
I am the one who knows and understands world missions, life and death, heaven and hell. I am the one who has seen God work miracles. I am the one who knows prayer works, but I am the one who sometimes finds it difficult to pray.
I am the one who has learned to live with a politically unstable government, and I am the one who waits impatiently by the phone for news that everything is safe. I am the one who has spent only three months a year at home. Yet I know, beyond question, that my parents are the best in the whole world. I am the one who speaks two languages, but can't spell either. I am the one who has devotions from a Spanish Bible.
I am the one who wears a thousand masks, one for each day and time. I am the one who learned to be all I'm expected to be, but is still not sure of who I really am. I am the one who chooses my college by where my friends are because nobody understands an MK like another MK. I am the one who laughs and cries, sings and prays, gets angry and doubts, fears and questions, expects and receives, hopes and dreams. And I am one who cares.
I am an MK, and I am proud of it!
--Anonymous MK
Hola from Union mills N.C.!
We are learning so much at C.I.T.! Good training for going on the mission field. We have learned more about our personalities, culture, and how to relate to the local people on our mission field.
We have also learned about what to do and not to do in our new mission field. We just got some training on what to do if you get kidnapped in a forign country.It was very sobering to see and learn about how dangerous the world really is. We are almost finished with our 15 page paper on Guatemala that is due this week. It has been very informative.
Hannah is doing well, and Solomon still has a cold, but is making a lot of new missionary kid friends here. It's so great to see all of these missionary kids running around and playing together. They are going to have a great life ahead of them!
Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! Thank you for enabling us to do God work!
"The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever." Pslam 121:8
So, we've made it through week one of CIT. We started out rocky with Hannah getting food poisoning and Solomon getting a bad cold, but I think we will make it :). We have already learned so much in one week!
Much of our first week was orientation, getting to know our teachers, and homework. We also looked at our different personalities and how each one of us deals with transitions, stress, working with others, etc...This will be so helpful when we begin working with so many new people in Guatemala.
This week we have begun the difficult class on Transitions. The reality that we will soon be leaving our "home" and going to a new country is really setting in. It is going to be more difficult than we can imagine! We are so thankful to be learning about how to make the move the right way.
We have also been blessed to spend our time here with other missionaries who are going through the same things that we are going through. We are looking forward to all that God is going to teach us during this time!
Big News!
We are going to our pre-field training! We have reached 75% of our monthly support needed and will be attending training in Union Mills, NC from February 9th through April 16th. We have waited a long time to get to this point! We are so thankful to be going now instead of after the baby gets here.
We are going to our pre-field training! We have reached 75% of our monthly support needed and will be attending training in Union Mills, NC from February 9th through April 16th. We have waited a long time to get to this point! We are so thankful to be going now instead of after the baby gets here.
As soon as we got the ok from CAM we started planning our trip. We had a few issues that we started to worry about, but God worked them all out in no time. We were going to fly because our car is unreliable for a long trip, but a couple in our Sunday school class has graciously given us their vehicle to drive for the whole nine weeks! Another member of our church has offered his BP gas card to pay for gas for our trip and we have many more people praying and doing other things to help us while we are away. The most important thing that I have been learning over and over these past couple of months is that God will not ask you to do anything that He won’t provide the means for. He is truly able to do so much more than we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)!
Our plan from here on out is to complete our training, finish our support raising, and then depart for Guatemala a few months after the baby is born. We have a lot to do in the next few months, so please continue to pray for us. Our supporters continue to amaze us as they give so unselfishly during such hard times. Thank you, thank you thank you!
In other news, we found out that we are having a baby GIRL! We are so excited to have one of each. Her name is Grace and she will be arriving sometime around June 5th.
Thank you again for your prayers and support. If you would like to contact us while we are at training you can email us at jself@caminternational.org, reach us on our cell phones (205)218-8262, or by mail at:
Jordan Self
c/o CIT
P.O. Box 250
Union Mills, NC 28167
UPS:
Jordan Self
c/o CIT
6494 Hudlow Rd.
Union Mills, NC 28167
Jordan Self
c/o CIT
P.O. Box 250
Union Mills, NC 28167
UPS:
Jordan Self
c/o CIT
6494 Hudlow Rd.
Union Mills, NC 28167
Picnic at Turkey Creek
Solomon is getting so big!
I guess to begin this newsletter we will announce that we are expecting baby #2 in June of 2010! We are so excited! Of course there will be a small amount of rearranging things around the due date, but for the most part we are moving forward as planned. Since Hannah had to have a c-section with Solomon, we will be here for the birth, but if all goes as planned we will depart for Guatemala a few months later.
Our next major goal in our fundraising is our pre-field training. Once we reach a certain percentage of our support we will go to North Carolina for nine weeks for some intense training specific to Guatemala. After that we will only be a few small steps away from Guatemala. We think it is important to go through pre-field training and have most of our other preparations ready before the baby arrives so we will be very busy in the next few months in hopes of making that happen!
Our home church, Meadowbrook Baptist Church, just had an amazing missions conference that we were able to be a part of. At the conference we were able to hear from other missionaries from Lebanon, Zimbabwe and Moldova. We are so blessed to be a part of a church that is so involved with not only their community, but the rest of the world. The body of Christ is doing amazing things all over the globe!
Our next major goal in our fundraising is our pre-field training. Once we reach a certain percentage of our support we will go to North Carolina for nine weeks for some intense training specific to Guatemala. After that we will only be a few small steps away from Guatemala. We think it is important to go through pre-field training and have most of our other preparations ready before the baby arrives so we will be very busy in the next few months in hopes of making that happen!
Our home church, Meadowbrook Baptist Church, just had an amazing missions conference that we were able to be a part of. At the conference we were able to hear from other missionaries from Lebanon, Zimbabwe and Moldova. We are so blessed to be a part of a church that is so involved with not only their community, but the rest of the world. The body of Christ is doing amazing things all over the globe!
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We couldn’t do it on our own. We pray that you have a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
God Bless You!
Jordan, Hannah & Solomon Self
God Bless You!
Jordan, Hannah & Solomon Self
P.S. Throughout our journey of fundraising we are asked many questions. I would just like to take a few moments to make the process a little clearer by answering some of our most frequently asked questions:
When are you going to Guatemala? We have to have 100% of our monthly support pledged before we can go. Even $10 a month gets us closer to the field! We are at about the 60% mark right now. Since we are not in Guatemala yet, the funds given monthly roll over into our “one time” fund that will cover things like a car, furniture, etc. Money given now is needed, but it is also ok to give once we actually depart for Guatemala. The most important thing is to send a pledge card to CAM so we know what support to expect.
How much do you need monthly? When we sat down with our friends at CAM to discuss our support needed, we were terrified at the amount given! We need around $5,000 a month. That seemed like a ridiculous amount to us, but when it was broken down we realized that it was necessary and that we were not going to be living the “high life”J. Much of the funds go toward health insurance. Unfortunately insurance is difficult to get for a missionary in a foreign country, but is absolutely needed. Other expenses include a small percent that CAM uses to run things, living expenses and ministry money.
How long will you be in Guatemala? We plan on being in Guatemala for many years to come! Our terms last for 4 years and then we have a year of “home assignment” to reconnect with family and supporters. After that we will return. We may be able to visit for a couple of weeks during the summers, but we haven’t worked that out yet.
If you have any other questions, feel free to call or email us at any time!
When are you going to Guatemala? We have to have 100% of our monthly support pledged before we can go. Even $10 a month gets us closer to the field! We are at about the 60% mark right now. Since we are not in Guatemala yet, the funds given monthly roll over into our “one time” fund that will cover things like a car, furniture, etc. Money given now is needed, but it is also ok to give once we actually depart for Guatemala. The most important thing is to send a pledge card to CAM so we know what support to expect.
How much do you need monthly? When we sat down with our friends at CAM to discuss our support needed, we were terrified at the amount given! We need around $5,000 a month. That seemed like a ridiculous amount to us, but when it was broken down we realized that it was necessary and that we were not going to be living the “high life”J. Much of the funds go toward health insurance. Unfortunately insurance is difficult to get for a missionary in a foreign country, but is absolutely needed. Other expenses include a small percent that CAM uses to run things, living expenses and ministry money.
How long will you be in Guatemala? We plan on being in Guatemala for many years to come! Our terms last for 4 years and then we have a year of “home assignment” to reconnect with family and supporters. After that we will return. We may be able to visit for a couple of weeks during the summers, but we haven’t worked that out yet.
If you have any other questions, feel free to call or email us at any time!
“Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, but for the sake of My Holy Name.” Ezekiel 36:22
I was reading this passage in Ezekiel to prepare for my Bible Institute class the other day when this verse stood out to me. God was about to help Israel once again even though they had profaned His name and done nothing to deserve rescue. It is easy for me to roll my eyes and wonder why the Israelites couldn’t get their act together. It’s even easier to wonder why God kept bailing them out.
I was reading this passage in Ezekiel to prepare for my Bible Institute class the other day when this verse stood out to me. God was about to help Israel once again even though they had profaned His name and done nothing to deserve rescue. It is easy for me to roll my eyes and wonder why the Israelites couldn’t get their act together. It’s even easier to wonder why God kept bailing them out.
Thankfully we serve a merciful and gracious God who loves us enough to save us even when we make the same mistakes over and over again and when we don’t deserve to be rescued. It is a beautiful picture of the fact that God does love us very much, but ultimately it is not about us. This life is about God and He created us to glorify Him in everything we do.
We are not going to Guatemala just to minister to youth. Most importantly we are going for the sake of His Holy Name! When you go to your job, or when you are raising your children or anything else that you do, you should not merely live out your day, but do those things for the sake of God’s Holy Name!
We have been very busy and have a busy summer ahead of us. We just finished a mission conference at New Covenant Fellowship that was very encouraging. We will be speaking at other churches throughout the next few months. In July we will be taking a road trip to visit our out-of-state supporters and speak to some of their churches/Sunday school classes.
Bible Institute is wrapping up for the summer. It has been a great opportunity to give Jordan more teaching experience and it has helped us to do very well playing against other family members in Bible Trivia :)!
We had a lot of success and fun while teaching the kids of the English as a Second Language classes. Our main kids were the three sons of a young woman named Montse. Kevin, Dalles and Dennis were the sweetest boys! Montse just recently gave birth to a baby girl so they are taking a break for a while. The ladies in our Sunday school class were able to throw her a really fun baby shower.
Thank you so much again for your support and prayers! I know that we say that every newsletter, but we sincerely couldn’t do this without you. This waiting period of support raising is very encouraging, but it is very difficult to wait when we want to be in Guatemala. Please pray that we would continue to be patient and content with God’s timing!
May God Bless You!
Jordan, Hannah & Solomon Self
May God Bless You!
Jordan, Hannah & Solomon Self
It's hard to believe that Solomon is a year old!
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