On behalf of my family, I want to thank you again for your prayers and generous support for our upcoming trip to Africa. We find ourselves not only saying “thank you” often, but also growing in our understanding of the utmost importance of gratitude. Lately, I have been reading the sermons from John Piper’s Romans series for my time with the Lord in the mornings. It has been so good. (All of John Piper’s sermons and articles are available for free at desiring god.org – You can not only listen to the sermons, but you can also read them. Amazing!) This morning I read his sermon on Romans 1:16-23 entitled, “Proud people don’t say Thanks.” What a great title and what an even better sermon!!! He wrote, “Gratitude is the echo of grace reverberating through the hollows of the human heart. But proud people don't need grace… Proud people don't say thanks.” And because we love His grace and yours, and we so need, need, need His grace and yours, we shout out to the many that have blessed us, prayed for us, given to us, encouraged us and loved us a huge, unabashed THANK YOU!Our worlds have/are/will changed/changing/change… (pick your tense:)
MY JOB: I am officially done at Northlake Community Church. I will be on paid vacation until June 30 and then will begin to live and work as a missionary. I want to thank those at Northlake for the encouragement and support that they have given us to enable us to take this step of faith.
OUR HOUSE: We have signed a two year lease with a family who is moving to Bellingham to accept a tenure-track position as an English professor at WWU. They are a neat family, and are excited about living in Bellingham.
OUR LEAVING DATE: We will be leaving for Zambia on September 2, 2007 at 6:40pm on British Airways. We will fly through London enroute to Lusaka, Zambia.
OUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT: We are so encouraged by the response to our needs and have reached 100% of pledged support for both our outgoing and monthly support needs. If you have desired to give towards our trip to Africa and haven’t yet, and still feel led to, please know that anything we do receive that is above and beyond our monthly salary will go towards pastor’s conferences in Lusaka, orphanages, HIV/AIDS and other needy and worthy causes. We are excited to put God’s money to good use!
OUR SUMMER: So the question we get now is, “What are you going to do all summer?” There is a lot to do! Stephanie and I will be tag-teaming in our attempt to get everything done. Stephanie, the master-detail Jedi will be buying, packing, storing, calculating and organizing. (I love my wife, let me count the ways). I, the not so detailed one, will be reading a bunch about Africa, Church and Elders, and studying for a few speaking opportunities this summer, including a wedding of former students, Aaron and Megan. I will be transferring computer programs and software to our new laptop, learning a bunch of new, needed programs, calling and meeting with supporters and doing a bunch of other details necessary for our trip.
OPEN HOUSE(S): As of now, we have four open houses (aka celebrate and eat with us and other friends) scheduled this summer. Hopefully one of these times will work for you.
In the Bellevue area:
· Sunday, July 22 we will be meeting at Joe and Judy Rehfeld’s house from 2-5pm.
· Monday, August 14, we will be at Jayson and Julie Turner’s house in Carnation from 5-8pm.
In the Bellingham area:
· The first is on Sunday evening, July 15 as part of our church evening program called “Sunday Night Alive.” We will be sharing about our trip and have plenty of time afterwards to enjoy some great conversation. No RSVP is necessary.
· The second is at Jamie and Jenny Collin’s house in Ferndale on Saturday, August 18 from 4:00-7:00pm.
All the houses have plenty of room for kids and families, so come one, come all but before you come, please RSVP!!!! Thank you so much for your continued support. Stay updated, encouraged and/or laughing at one or all of our blogs!
Thank you again, and again, and again, and again… With much love,
The Allen Family
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