| Hi! Just to let you know, I've moved the blog to LucasGentry.com, so all of my Costa Rica updates can all be in one place. Just click on the link below to see our newest update information! http://www.LucasGentry.com |
So here I am, laying on the floor of a room that is completely empty other than this laptop. Yesterday morning, we practice-packed everything that we are planning on taking with us on our trip. Today, I'm trying to schedule someone to take away our bed. My goal is to have it completely taken apart later today, and waiting in the living room for someone to take it. We've packed up the last of our dishes, and going with paper plates and plastic spoons for the last couple days. It's sure getting close to departure day!
I have to admit, I think that it's finally starting to feel more real to me over the last week. I've said my goodbyes to all my coworkers, we've gone to our last Wednesday-evening service at our church, and we've arranged for the cancellation of our utilities already. I talked to my dad the other day and told him, "Well, it's really starting to feel real, huh?" And he said, "It's felt real for years. I just didn't know the time or where you would be going." When Liz and I first mentioned to my parents that we were considering going into missions, he told me that he had known it since I was young. He said that whenever a missionary would come to our church and tell us what God had been doing around the world, I would be so excited to hear them tell their stories. I would always be one of the ones who would always stay behind and talk to them after the service.
Over this past week, I got to see some of those people at a couple of the churches in Eastern Indiana. One of the churches had ice cream after their missionary night, and it was so neat to see the mission-minded people who would make the effort to come find us and talk to us for a while, or the people who made sure to fill out the little tickets that we brought, checking the boxes saying that they would give financially, pray for us, or encourage us in our travels. The other church gave us an opportunity to speak in two different services, across town from each other, so that was exciting too! In total, including all of the people we've talked to in previous weeks as well, I think we've got around 375 people (give or take, again, Liz knows exact figures) who are on our monthly updates list, and about 70 of them that have committed to encouraging us throughout the journey. Those people are (and are going to be) invaluable to us. With all the craziness that comes from living in a culture that is so different than what you are used to, we thank God for those people who are partnering with us and the people that are giving of their time and their resources to help us. I've said it before, but it's so humbling to know that so many of these people are giving sacrificially, so that we can do this. It's amazing.
My wife is in the other room, just humming away some happy tune, while she makes one last loaf of bread before we go. I sure am glad that I've got such an encouraging wife. God really has shown that He has had all of this planned out, even from before we met. He's really been making us for such as time as this, you know? One neat concept that Liz and I have been working with a lot lately has been the concept of "Equipo de Lucas y Liz" (Team Luke and Liz). When it comes down to it, we never could have made it this far by ourselves. But both of us inspire and encourage the other one of us, and build each other up in a way that builds up confidence to step out of our comfort zones. With each others' help, we grow Spiritually as well as socially, mentally, etc. One of my favorite Bible verses is Hebrews 3:13, where it says that we need to "...encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today,' so that none of [us] may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." I think that this sums up a lot of the Christian walk. The Pastor of the church I attended during college used to always say, "We're all in this together," and a couple weeks ago, I heard my current Pastor use that phrase. It's so true. If I can encourage you, and you can encourage us, then we'll both be better off than if we just try to keep our heads down and doing this stuff alone. Thanks again for encouraging us!
(By the way, for those of you who don't know it, on the LucasGentry.com website, there is a page specifically to make it easy to send encouraging messages to Liz and me! Just fill in your name and type a message in the box!)
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