Praise God Its Offical!

We had our introduction to the Board of Directors. We were a little nervous as you are not official until you have met the board and they sign off on you. We went in and were please to see such a diverse group. Business men, some of the International Directors both women and men, young and retirees.

They asked why we has a desire to serve with Crossworld and why Kosovo. We answered with the Lord had laid upon our hearts and we overjoyed when they wished blessings in our service and prayed over us. So we are now officially appointees with Crossworld.

In His Grace
Melodye

Last day...

Today is the last day we finished our last classes this morning and will meet with the board of directors for our final appointment this afternoon. These two weeks have been stretching and enlightening in a lot of areas. I have made friendships that the Lord has ordained to flourish. Families that from here on out we will pray for growth spiritually as well as for the countries the Lord has put upon on their hearts.

In our venture here we encountered different cultures, different theologies and through our bond of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ we found a family, a community, a unique body that we will never be able to forget. That as we each are off to the fields He has chosen for us we know that although we are not together somewhere in the world we will have each other praying and loving one another

Tomorrow we will take the boys into the city for site seeing. They are excited they have waited for the past two weeks for this. Then early Sunday morning we will be on a plane home. We are excited to share with you all the things God has enlightened us to.

In His Grace
Art and Melodye

Days flying by....

Art, the kids and I attended The Blue Church on Sunday with Josh Mills being encouraged by the awesome message. The body was very friendly and sought us out to introduce themselves to us and question us on how our CO training was progressing. The Lord enlightened us to the vision of their body to be a light to the nations. We were pleased to see that in their missions update they spoke of their teams/servants in Russia, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. Mark and Trish Edwards and Rebecca Schell from the team we are hoping to serve with are members of this church. Art and I were privilege to be there as they bathed in prayer their team that were preparing to leave on Tuesday to go to Kosovo and serve on the English camp team. One of the women was the teacher the boys had in Sunday school so they were able to hear her share of the things she will be doing while there.

The are quite active in their Judea/Sumeria realm of missions also. We attended a fundraising luncheon for the youth ministry team that will be going on a group work project serving in Virginia next month. It was awesome to hear these teens share how they are praying the Lord will use them and grow them to be more Christlike in their walk and provide them with a deeper understanding of his word.

Monday and Tuesday and today have consisted of a lot of classroom time to learn about support development. It is giving us a more biblical perspective of support raising.

Each morning a team of three lead us in worship whatever the Lord puts upon their heart. Art and I are scheduled for tomorrow with another young women here preparing for Afghanistan. We are enjoying the worship and devotions at the beginning of every morning really bringing our focus on what the Lord has to say to us.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God
Psalm 42:1

In His Grace
Art and Melodye

Chinatown, PA

Today was our cultural outing we split into 2 teams. 1 team walked through the community surrounding the CW home office. This community is predominately Jewish community so they walked through and observed the things that make a community unified. Art,I and the boys went on the second team into Philadelphia and walked through Chinatown. We observed the interaction they had as a community we were to look for 12 indicators. Verbal(spoken language), written(language), numeric(Use of #), pictorial(2d representation), audio(sound and tone), artefactual(furniture,clothing,vehicles), kinesic(gestures), optical(colors), tactile(touch), spatial(space building and personal), temporal(time present and past) and olfactory(flavors and scents). So it was interesting to view a culture from this form of observation. We walked through the area looking for ways their culture was implemented in this small area. It was awesome to see a Christian church on the corner that had 3 services on Sunday. One in Mandarin, one in Cantonese and one in English. This church also has a school that teaches a bible based curriculum In the midst of a community that had idols of Buddhism and Hindu and God's light is shining. I was overwhelmed at the thought of words and songs of worship submitted to our heavenly Father in a language that you and I wouldn't be able to share an understanding but because we are worshipping the same Father we share a glorious bond that will forever make us brothers and sisters in His eyes.

Fatigue is beginning to set in and the temptation for focus to falter is sometimes overwhelming but He has been ever faithful in renewing our hearts and minds. We try not to let the loneliness of not being home near family to upset us. It is very hard to be missing worship in our home Church being feed by teaching of the word but as I have said we will be attending church with Josh Mills tomorrow.

May your worship before our King be full of praises to His holiness.

In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on the throne high and exalted and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs each with six wings, with two they covered their faces, two they covered their feet and with two they flew And they were calling to one another

HOLY HOLY HOLY s the Lord Almighty; and the whole earth is full of His glory.
Isaiah 6:1-3
In His Grace
Art and Melodye

The Lord is blessing us

Thursday brought a day full of information as well as a day of examination for the two of us. We met with or psych counselors and the general flow was definitely with the spirit of the Lord. We were evaluated by the testing we sent into them before the CO and it was interesting to see the results. The they spoke with us about using a few training modules as a preparation for the field. They did say that there are some experiences that I had as a child being raised by my mother that I truly need to grieve over I had never thought of as being a stumbling block I thought the Lord had allowed me to forgive her for the life she subjected me to but as they pointed out to me I had hardened my heart to the prospect of dealing with that heart issue. Please pray for me that He will be firm and enlightening on how He would have me to draw out that issue and seek His healing hand in that area of my life.

The children are enjoying their time in the MK program. The are raising funds for children in Guatemala and then preparing a package to go to those children. The curriculum is Young Peacemakers and I am thankful that they are learning it in relationship not just to the conflicts they may encounter at home but also in the field.

Wednesday night we listened to a speaker by the name of Dave Scoville that had served in Papuya, Indonesia for over 30 yrs and the stories he shared were enlightening to the Lord's plan for the nations He can take a people that has never encounter the words in a Big Book and use them to call to him a people that had in the past be one of violence and idols. Dave has written a book entitled The Incredible Dani and is leaving soon to go back so that a film can be made depicting the field as he was there. Art and I were amazed once again at the provisions of the Lord.
We are doing our best to not be homesick but we are missing the teachings and fellowship at home as well but we are resting in His hands as to what He would have us learn while we are here.

In His Grace
Art and Melodye

Lord give us strength

Day 3 consisted of more teachings but best of all we had to take a language aptitude test(yuk) I always thought the Lord had blessed me with the abilities of learning phonics well but He taught me yesterday not to lean on my own understanding and find strength in Him and boy did He show me that when I do I am subject to fail and the numbers showed. Art(Jimmy) is fellowship with the men here and enjoying the deep theological discussions. The women have such a sweet love for the Lord and His purpose in their lives I am enjoying sharing prayer and discussion time with them.
We miss you all and will write again soon
Art and Melodye

day 2

Greetings to everyone,
This is Art and Melodye is letting me post todays blog. I must say I am very excited about what is happening here and how God has already seem to grow each of us in such a short amount of time. There is alot of work that goes into this training and we have several (and I mean several) assignments to complete. We have both already had a one on one interview, and we have a psycological interview on Thursday. (We are not excited about the psycological).
Well James and Bobby have made some friends who are their age. It is exciting to see them help their new friends and welcome them into the family like they have always been their brothers...
Melodye is doing fine and is also making friends with the ladies. Its nice to have this time away from home and to be in the "Grace Camp" environment. No TV, no radio, no sheriffs office, no anything but God time and being in Him...
Well it is time to go, I have another study to complete on purity...
Please continue to pray for us as we are being stretched and molded at this time. There are cool things happening and some very strong and difficult things happening. I still can't believe we are at missions training and that we are going to be missionaries. That sounds so foreign to me...
It is all for HIM and may He be PRAISED...

In His Grace,
Arthur

Happy Fathers Day

Yesterday was a long day but we enjoyed every minute of it. We had a late night visit from Josh on of the young adults that served in Kosovo with Art and we spent an enjoyable time remembering our time together in Kosovo. This morning we had worship and prayer and what a sweet sound of a group of believers that though small in number singing richly and joyously in praise to our Father. We heard a lesson from the president of Crossworld Jim ONeil. After we spent time sharing our testimonies and why we where here. I am amazed at the backgrounds of all that are here I am still in awe that God chooses people from all walks of life, all nationalities, all ages to serve His purpose. Most of the people have attended bible college and have been on many missions trips in their lives. Then I look at my self someone with no college degree or formal biblical training, a mother, and a wife but yet He has laid the people in Kosovo on my heart He is calling me out to share and build relationships in a land that has suffered great tragedy and loss pain that is beyond my understanding a land that is desperate need of hope. My prayer is that all I do and say would be honoring and glorifying to Him that I would not lean on my own understanding but fall prostrate before the King crying out that His will for my family be fulfilled as He would have it. I long for Him to pour in to me His mercy and grace His love and wisdom to fill me with peace and understanding I desire to be molded into the image of His son and be a tool in the hand of my heavenly Father.

For the Lord gives wisdom from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.(Prov 2:6)

In Christ
Melodye

We've arrived!!!

We're here. We arrived in Philadelphia ahead of schedule. Praise God that the boys did well on the flight. James was a little nervous when we took off but did fine when we landed. He is actually looking forward to the return flight so he can visit the captains cockpit.. We are now at Crossworld HQ waiting to go out to the Traber Ctr where we will meet up with the rest of candidates going through CO. The weather here is nice. The boys are enjoying playing outside. The HQ is an old 1950's mansion and the architecture is unreal. We shared lunch and had a sweet fellowship with two women, Ursula who is from Germany and has spent several years serving in Columbia in a compound that is now being closed. She is patiently waiting on the Lord and where He will have her serve. The other women's name is Savannah and believe it or not she graduated from the same high school(Northside) as Art(Jimmy). She also is quite close to Mr Keller and his family who was his science teacher. They had a wonderful time sharing with each other and talking the progress at the church and school.
As I listened to these two women speak of Savannah's recent trip to Germany and the heart her team has for the Turks I was remind of how inferior I am in the my deep understanding of Islam. I have realized that Muslim religion is a fast and growing and is extremely prominate abroad. As Ursula pointed out the German Christan's have become lazy and tolerant, I wondered have I become tolerant? am I standing firm and speaking out against false gods in the name of our one true God? Pray that He will stretch me and my husband and mold us to be bold in His name.
We had dinner and a quick orientations tonight. We have met a sweet family, the Alsbrooks, training to go to the eastern Europe. They are a family of 3 boys and 1 girl. James and Bobby hit it off immediately and having been playing ever since. The size of the # here for CO is less than we thought (about 40) so it will more intimate. The Traber Ctr is beautiful it is owned by BCW ministries and fits our needs perfect Art says its like being at Grace Camp for two weeks away from the hustle and bustle and down to the meat of God's word.
We miss you all
In Christ
Art and Melodye

Were Off......

Well the journey has begun. Daniel and Katie brought us to the airport hotel and shared dinner with us. The boys enjoyed the extra time with Daniel watching all the planes land and take off. I think that Daniel's excitement to see it all has rubbed off on the boys and they seem to be looking forward to the flight. Please continue to pray that the Lord will strengthen our minds as well as our bodies for this trip. I seem to be suffering from ear pain which I know from experience will get worse once we are up in the air. Art and are excited that we are embarking on the next step in our family going into the missions field. Continue to pray for Kosovo as the long term team is preparing for the English camps for the children. Pray for a good turn out from the Serbians as well as the Albanians. Pray for continued relations between the long term team and the municipalities during both camps as well as their follow up with the families after. Pray that the Lord will soften the hearts of the children and their families to be receptive to the volunteers teaching and visiting their homes.
Art and I will miss you all and will continue to update you on our progress and growth.
In Christ
Art and Melodye

Summer is here

Its hard to believe its summer the year is just flying by. Things have been quite busy the boys just finished basketball and enjoyed every minute of it. Its hard to believe that they are growing up as fast as they are. James will be starting 5Th grade in the fall and Bobby will be starting 3rd grade. They both love school but are looking forward to homeschooling while we are on the missions field in Kosovo.

Art and I have been finding strength in our Father with all that has been going on. My father had a heart attack in March and needed cardiac stenting he is recovering well but seems to be more aware of his age now(64). I have returned to work full time to help satisfy our debtors so that we may leave for Kosovo at an earlier date. The office is busy but I love those people I see as well as my co-workers. Art is glad for the summer and needs the extra rest as each school year seems to be more and more trying. However he is ever vigilant in sharing our Father with those he encounters and offering biblical based counsel for all those in need.

We are preparing for our new candidate training with Crossworld we leave this Saturday. Pray the boys will do well this s their first time on a plane.


I will post again soon.
In His Grace
Melodye