One year away!
May 2020. That's our goal of when we would like to move to Italy!
We know that it isn't a very long time but we believe that it would be the wisest timing for us to go. It would give us a few months to get settled before school begins early September. It would also give the kids the chance to learn the language a bit and perhaps even to be able to experience a classroom setting for a few weeks.
Many have asked exactly what needs to happen before we are able to move. Of course, there is a lot of planning that must take place as far as getting documents in order and deciding what things we should bring with us. But there are a few financial things that must be in place before our mission organization will allow us to go, in fact, there are three in particular.
1) We need to have 100% of our monthly support coming in.
This means that until we are at 100% we will not be allowed to go. Many have told us that they want to support us and are not quite sure when to start. In short, the sooner the better because this allows us to not only know exactly who is joining our team but it allows us to build up a little bit of reserve before we leave.
2) We need to have 3 months worth of our monthly support saved up in our account.
This ensures that we don't live month to month and if we did lose a significant amount of monthly support we would be able to stay ahead and wouldn't have to leave the mission field all of a sudden.
3) We need to have 100% of our outgoing costs
This includes the tickets we need to purchase for the flight, various moving costs, the purchase of vehicles and various home needs. This can come through one-time donations or even through those who plan on supporting us monthly starting early and letting it build up over the next year.
If you like more info on ways to partner with us please click on this link. https://standridge.org/partner-with-us/
Please pray for us as we go through this process of raising partners. We are so thankful that people are excited about people getting to hear the gospel in Italy. Even though talking about money can be uncomfortable for us, we have realized a couple of things. That it is not only an opportunity for us to be able to raise life-long friends and partners who are investing in the Lord's work in Italy, but also, it is an opportunity for people to invest in eternity and to be blessed by the Lord (Phil. 4:17). That's pretty cool!
Thank you to those who have given and thank you for praying for us as we plan for the future. We need the Lord to direct our path.
Two big praises to report!
Our kids will be attending ICS this next year!
We have been given a scholarship for our kids to attend Immanuel Christian School this fall! This is an extraordinary thing and a big sacrifice for the school. We are extremely thankful and excited that our kids will be able to attend such a fine institution. This will also free up Jenny from the time and effort of home-school and will give her the opportunity to plan for our move and to study Italian.
We have been accepted as Consortium Missionaries!
Immanuel belongs to a consortium of churches that get together to help send a missionary once a year. When we first moved to Immanuel we knew about the possibility of one day being the consortium missionary but so many things had to fall into place in order for it to happen. Well, last week it happened! This means that we will be supported and sent out by Immanuel and will have the opportunity to meet with and to potentially be supported by four other churches around NOVA.
These are huge blessings! We are so thankful for how the Lord blesses.
Please pray for:
-Our support raising: that we would glorify God in our actions and thoughts as we go through this process.
-Our planning: that the Lord would help us think through all the logistics of what needs to happen over the next year.
-Our trip to Italy in June: Jordan is leading a mission trip in June and Jenny will be joining him in Italy for a one-week scouting trip. There are many decisions to be made so please pray that God will guide Jordan and especially Jenny as we plan our move.
By the way! Jordan had the opportunity to make a guest appearance on pastor Mike Abendroth's podcast called "no compromise radio" to talk about Italy. You can listen to the episode here!
Thanks so much for your partnership through giving and prayer!
The Standridges
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