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Home Before Christmas
Thank you for praying for Melodee’s Italian citizenship process.
We feel very loved and prayed for at this moment. ❤️
The good news is that Melodee does not have to go to Minnesota. (She hasn’t lived there since she was a baby)!
But she does have to go to Michigan and Pennsylvania to get background checks (plus apostilles). And it has to happen fast, before her FBI background check and birth certificate apostilles expire in January.
The other good and bad news is that she leaves tomorrow.
I’m excited that she will be with her family over Thanksgiving, but we are praying that she can get everything done in time to return home for Christmas! Eva in particular is struggling with the idea of missing her mommy.
We realize that we are asking for a small miracle, considering the holiday season upon us. That’s where you enter in!
There are so many things I could add to the prayer request list, but I am sure you can imagine the domino effect of being gone from us for a whole month (if she gets the paperwork done in time.)
What more can I say? Thank you for caring! And especially, thank you for praying! God is good.
PS.
Special thanks to Daniel Ransom and my neice Sara, who are also heading out for Thanksgiving with family tomorrow morning, so Melodee can get a ride with them to the airport!
And for my BFF Shawn Gurk who suggested that “Background Check” sounded much better than “Criminal Record”!
Posted in Special Prayer Request
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Rejected!
A couple weeks ago a little bird flew into our window. We didn’t know what to do.
Was it alive? Dead? Did it need first aid? Mouth to mouth?
Gradually it came back to its senses and flew off as if nothing had happened.
Today we feel a bit like that little bird. Although we are still in the “stun” phase.
And more than a window it feels like a big wall!
Since this summer we have been working (and you have been praying) as we gathered all the documentation that we needed to request Italian citizenship for Melodee. It’s kind of like life insurance for missionaries: if something were to happen to me, she would have to leave the country without it.
Melodee is the only one in our family that does not have Italian citizenship!
We even hired a lawyer to get it right.
Yesterday, after getting everything in order, we sent in the request, at the lawyer’s office.
And today we received news that Melodee’s Italian citizenship request was flatly denied on the grounds that we did not have state criminal records to go along with her federal criminal records. Unless something drastic happens, all the money and time will have been for nothing, especially considering all the expirations dates on many documents
The lawyer said she would go speak with the office where the decision was made to see if something can be done..
Now what? Only God knows! It’s not quite like in 2006, when Melodee got kicked out of the country…but the feelings are similar.
Would you pray?
- Pray for deliverance.
- Pray for wisdom.
- Pray for peace.
Proverbs 21:1 says: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
May God’s will be done in our lives and His name be glorified through it all!!
Posted in Special Prayer Request
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Spreading the Truth, Spreading the Hope
One of the frustrating things about ministering in a “religiously Christian” country such as Italy is the blatant contradiction in beliefs that people live comfortably with every day.
Not too long ago, I spoke with a very well-educated man who was trying so hard to get his religious beliefs to coincide with his scientific beliefs. He wanted to consider himself a Christian, but he was dogmatic about his Darwinist beliefs regarding the origins of the world.
The average Italian we speak to does not even go that far…he or she would say they believe that God created the world, but also that it created “itself” by chance.
The Italian religious system could be summarized with the following motto: “Don’t ask too many questions. You might not like the answer.”
Italians need to find a more solid foundation than the ones they have been relying on so far: Catholicism and Evolutionism.
- Both of them rely blindly on the changeable word of man instead of the never-changing Word of God.
- Both of them demand that you believe them without questioning their faulty assumptions.
- Neither of them are founded on truth, and neither of them can give hope.
For this reason, I am asking you to pray for these seven things with us:
- Pray for this weekend’s meetings, when our missionary friend Massimo Mollica (the former rocket scientist) will be coming to our church to speak on the theme of Science and Faith.
Massimo has specialized in this field and will be a great help in equipping Christians in our area and evangelizing the many unbelievers of all ages that we have invited. - Pray for Massimo and their family, as they come minister to us this weekend.
- Pray for our church people to come, and bring their friends.
- Pray for our students, who are bombarded every day with false teachings in their schools.
- Pray for the many people to the event, to actually come.
- Pray that people will embrace the only Truth and only Hope: Jesus Christ, creator of Heaven and Earth.
- Pray that in our hearts we may honor Christ the Lord as holy, and always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in us; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (I Peter 3:15)
Posted in Outreach
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Living between two worlds
Just a few days ago, Eva expressed a deep realization, one that defines so much of the life of missionaries and missionary kids (a.k.a. MKs): “Daddy, it stinks…wherever we are, we are missing someone!”
I know it’s not just a problem for missionaries. Maybe you are a grandparent with kids and grandkids in different parts of the world, or maybe you’re in the military, or your job has you living far from family and friends, or maybe you are in a ministry that has you moving around a lot. Either way, Eva’s right: it stinks to be missing someone all the time!
I guess it’s a good reminder of the tension between living in this world, but looking forward to the next!
One of the ways this tension shows up is when we are planning a summer furlough (and all the missionaries said “Amen!”). We can’t wait to come and be with so many of you, and to share face to face all the blessings that God has been giving us since last time we were together. It also means we still have meetings to schedule, presentations to prepare, airline tickets to purchase; all the while being blessed with a fruitful ministry that we care not to stop until the very last minute!
Just today, I began preparations on my sermon for next Sunday, which just happens to be a great missions message. Last week we were blessed with discipleship meetings, informal get-togethers with people from church, prayer meetings and coffee with unbelieving friends! The weekend before last, Daniel and I even were able to help out in a conference for the Italian Theological Academy, while my Dad preached at my brother Josh’s church plant in Imola!
Praise God for all he allows us to do, and the people we get to do it with, including our co-workers/family and brothers and sisters in Christ!
Needless to say, we love feeling useful, but also we’re a bit tired! I think I can speak for all of us when I say: Would you pray for us to get it all done?
Praise God that we are not alone in this! We can’t make it without you!
Thank you for your faithful prayer and support!
Posted in Monthly E-letter
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Time Flies When You’re Having Fun… And It’s Time To Head Home!
It seems like yesterday that Melodee was packing our suitcases as we prepared for our summer furlough in America…now she is packing them again to head home. We will leave with joyful hearts for all the blessings received and hopefully a few of them given along the way.
Also, a bit of sadness as we say goodbye to family and friends.
Monday, as you celebrate Labor Day, we head back to our labors of joy for the Gospel.
If we were able to connect in person, you know that our message has been simple: Battle in Prayer! Are you battling? Are you striving?
Have you set a time or two a day to pray the Lord of the Harvest to send our laborers into his harvest?
Please pray for us as well:
1. That we can find daily joy in our labors.
2. That we can be safe in our travels.
3. That we can be wise and faith stewards of all that God has committed to us.
A busy schedule awaits us, as we jump back into a routine, but God is faithful.
May we also be found faithful.
Soli Deo Gloria
Jon and Melodee, Noah and Eva
Posted in Monthly E-letter
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