pete

Lately, things here have been a little hectic, but are also progressing as I have appointments with people about my ministry and continue to build my team of partners. I passed the 20% mark last week, and I'm hoping to continue to see that trend over the next few months. At this rate, I should be done with my initial MPD by Christmas.

In other news... when I returned from Colorado, Grace had rescued a bunch of kittens and was in the process of finding them homes (and that means, of course, that the entire family got to help take care of said kittens). In this case, as in so many prior, the kittens were sick and needed to be medicated frequently, which is not a particularly pleasant experience, but really isn't all that bad for pros like us. ;)

One of the kits had the tragic experience of losing its eye: it had such a bad infection that (despite the medical treatment) its cornea ruptured, which in turn nearly caused its eyeball to rupture as well, and (therefore) the only logical and humane thing to do was to have its eye removed entirely. The emergency (vet) medical clinic Grace worked at over the summer was kind enough to do the procedure for free, provided the sweet little guy had a home to go to after the surgery, so...

I'VE GOT A NEW KITTEN!

This doesn't provide a terrible problem, but is a little tricky seeing how I don't have a home of my own yet. Still, he's been happy as anything to play out in the barn or on the porch with the other kittens, and is especially glad now that his eye has healed and his stitches have been removed. Until that point, my poor kitty had to wear a cone around his neck to prevent him from scratching. What a sight!

And, of course, he now has a name: Pete (not "Peat," like moss). Easy enough, and lots of fun nicknames can be had. I don't think I have any actual pics of him that are accessible, but I did take a few on my phone cam, so if you're exceptionally curious of how he looks, I can text it to you.

back to the drawing board...

Well, after a practically post-less summer in Colorado, I'm back in Michigan working on developing my team of ministry partners. I'll probably give a few updates here and there about my percentages, but it'll most likely take a month or two before I really know how close I am currently, since I'm meeting with people who've been on my team (before) to confirm their support and catch up with them (and that takes time...). At present, I'm officially around 9% of my support, but there are still many-a-person to confirm with, and a decent number of these are faithful givers.

This week in particular has been a sort of whirlwind; I travelled up to the UP for a couple of days in the beginning of the week, and now I'm in Grand Rapids (both to meet with ministry partners). I'll be back "home" (my parents' house, so not even my own place, really) tomorrow sometime, and hit the appointment trail again there Monday.

Please pray for me! I love my job, and I love meeting with my partners to share with them what God has been doing through our ministry together, but I also can succumb to fearfulness in the process, trying to take control from God and hoping to just be done ASAP instead of trusting His timing.

One of the biggest (and most difficult, but most important) tasks I have to focus on now is gaining more contacts--more people I can call and share with about our ministry. Statistically, it'll take about 1000 people called for me to get my 200+ appointments that will turn into X amount of dollars and however many partners. Simply put, I don't know 1000 people, let alone 1000 families/couples/people to contact!

Please pray:
**I would believe God and trust Him faithfully through the whole process of developing my ministry team so I can report to my new assignment--the University of Toledo.
**My current partners would be willing to share contacts with me--people they know and would ask to partner with them if they were in my place (these don't need to be wealthy, sure-to-give people, just people who would be encouraged to hear about what God is doing in the lives of college students!).
**I would continue to walk solidly with God, growing in my relationship with Him.