Good afternoon everyone!
This week, we received our first financial support update. When I opened up that spreadsheet, my mouth dropped open and I started to cry. Not full force, because I happened to be in Coffee Bean and couldn't bring myself to crying like that in public. But I was so overwhelmed and moved to realize that in just one week, God provided for us in a HUGE way: We received 32.5% of our funding! In just ONE WEEK!! Is anyone else just completely baffled by this reality?! Beyond that, I am humbled by the incredible generosity of so many of you. Knowing that everyone has their fair share of bills to pay, rent due, and so many are working jobs that allow them to just get by, I cannot express how thankful I am for your generous sacrifice. This reminds me of how Paul describes the cheerful giver in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15:
"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"
Now when I read this passage, so many of you come to mind, and I am overjoyed. I am blessed by how you live out the Gospel, and how richly you will be blessed as a result of your generous giving! I am certain He will bless you all 100 fold for your sacrifices.
Another wonderful update I wanted to share: We have purchased our plane tickets!! I know your thinking, "wait . . . I thought you needed 80% of your funding for that to happen?" and yes, that is true, as that is normally Encompass' protocol when it comes to purchasing flights. However, praise God, they decided to make an exception for us as they believe God has shown He is providing for us already and wanted to honor that by purchasing our plane tickets now! To say I am amazed, is really an understatement. I never even thought that would be a possibility! When I prayed, I said "Lord, I trust that either you will bring in 80% of our funding in a week, or bring in the additional $2,000. Either way, I trust you." I didn't imagine this alternative! God likes to show up in BIG ways, doesn't He?!
I am so full of joy and thankfulness right now. I hope you all can join us in praising God for how He is reminding us that He has a plan and will see it through!!
Blessings,
Ali
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Graduation and Financial Update
Big news in the Cottrell household: I graduated from EBC
this weekend! It was wonderfully surreal receiving my diploma and being prayed
over by our amazing staff. Yvonne almost made me cry when she prayed over me,
and I definitely had my fair share of tears hearing prayers of fellow graduates
and reflecting on these past 3 years. God has been so good to me as He has
molded me and made me more and more like Him through my time at EBC. I am so
thankful! I’ve included a few highlight pictures from the day at the bottom of the post.
In other news, we received an update from Encompass, the
mission organization we are partnering with, concerning purchasing our flight
tickets for Argentina. The system Encompass goes by for ticket purchasing is
that missionary’s need 80% of funding before they purchase our flight. For us,
that 80% is $4,800. Originally, we had hoped to reach that number by the end of
June, beginning of July. However, as of late, flights to Argentina during the
month of August are becoming less and less available, which leads to the
possibility of ticket prices rising anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to
an additional $2,000. In hopes of avoiding such an extreme price increase, we
are now aiming for purchasing the flights by the beginning of June. If you are
thinking, isn’t that a week away? You are right! And it is definitely much
sooner than we anticipated needing that 80%! I fully believed God could provide
for us the funds within a month, but a week is a bit more of a challenge for me.
I have been meditating on and praying through two Scriptures
that are a great source of encouragement and hope for me since we learned of
the new goal:
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope
without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Mark 10:27 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘with man it is
impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’”
These are the two truths I am clinging to right now: that I
can hold fast to God because He is faithful, and because He does the
impossible!
We wanted to share with you this financial update to let you
know what is currently an urgent need for us. We want to avoid any additional
expenses related to airfare, and would ask those of you who were interested in
supporting us to please make your donations as soon as you are able to! We are
so thankful for your generosity and desire to partner with us as we pursue the
possibilities of long-term ministry in Argentina! You can either mail in a
check written out to Encompass World Partners to this address:
Encompass World Partners P.O. Box 80065 City of Industry, CA
91716
OR you can go to the Encompass website, encompassworldpartners.org,
and go to “Give” or “Give Now” to
make a donation via credit or debit card. That will bring you to a page where
you can choose “Give to a Missionary”, type in our names since we are not
long-term through Encompass just yet, and enter in a donation amount. The site
should walk you through the rest easily!
We hope you will join us in praying, as we trust God with
our needs related to ticket purchases now! We are waiting on Him and excited to
see how He will provide!
Blessings,
Ali
Thankful for all God has done during my time at EBC, including bringing this wonderful man into my life!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Beginnings
I'm going to start off this blog by saying that I always envision myself a brilliant writer, and it never translates into reality when I actually sit down to write. All the same, we wanted to create this blog as a way to share with our friends and family about this next season in our life, as we explore the possibilities of ministry in Argentina. So even if the words are a bit sloppy, full of run-on sentences and maybe even a few random ramblings, it's all done in the hopes of giving you a glimpse into life as we know it.
This is Ali writing, by the way. Martin is sitting next to me reading Game of Thrones. He's been devouring the series since he got the first novel at Christmas. Of course, considering his love of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, it comes as no surprise that he would be so engaged in this newest fantasy fiction. Most of my reading these days has consisted of volumes of Biblical commentaries, Greek word study encyclopedias, and exegetical articles. Thus is the life of the Bible College student, I suppose. I enjoy the occasional break in reading The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog.
Many of you reading this probably wandered over here because you received our newsletter in the mail telling you about our upcoming trip to Argentina this August. Surely you are curious to know more about how we came to the place we are at right now, so I will try to inform you a bit on how all of this unraveled.
Most of you know that I am fluent in spanish. For those of you who don't, I'll tell you right now, it is slightly awkward when someone finds out and says "You never told me you spoke spanish!". Well, that's not exactly how my mother taught me to introduce myself, I guess. Sorry. I knew God gifted me with fluency in spanish for a reason, and I have prayed for some time that He would use my abilities in this regard to spread the Gospel. This fall semester at EBC, I was in my Worldview class (one of the best, by the way!) when we had guests from Argentina come in to speak with the class. I loved hearing from them about their passion to see their country learn about Jesus, empowering the people to evangelize and share God's love. I spoke with Jorge and Pola, the guest speakers, after class for sometime and we clicked very quickly. They invited me to visit them anytime, which, in latin culture, is basically standard. So of course I said "oh, sure! We'll see", as we exchanged emails and went our separate ways.
Oddly enough, I learned in an email later that same month that they weren't just trying to be nice; they were serious. They asked me if I ever desired to join their ministry in Argentina, they would be thrilled. So, Martin and I discussed what this could mean for us. We both knew that if God called us to the mission field, we would love to go, but also didn't want to try and "force" the calling. So we decided to pray about it. After about a month, we both felt that God was calling us to trust Him and let Him lead us.
God taught me a lot during that time of waiting on Him. I tend to over analyze everything and think ten years in advance. I usually get over-excited and start thinking about how my kids will have dual citizenship if they are born overseas, and those types of silly daydreams. Yet, by God's grace, He didn't allow me to get ahead of myself this time. I didn't know what was coming next, if and when we would even be going, what that would look like for us, and yet I wasn't anxious or worried about it. Well, maybe a teensy bit, but nowhere near the amount that typically involves any minor and major life changes for me. God really showed me that trusting Him with each little step brings the greatest joy as I get to see Him work and bring things together.
We originally thought that, with timing and preparations, we wouldn't be going to Argentina until potentially December or later. Both Martin and I hoped for a summer trip, as we had things that worked out best for us time-wise to take a trip during this season, but instead of trying to hurry things up ourselves, we prayed "whatever You know is best for us, we trust in." Low and behold, God "expedited" our travel plans and we were told our trip would take place this August! I think God just loves when He gets to show up in a big way, because He gets all of the credit and I just get so giddy.
So, here we are. I'm finishing up my last semester in Bible College, reflecting on how much God has shaped me in my understanding of who He is and what it means to follow Him. So I am excited to follow His leading in whatever He has next for us. Starting with a glimpse into what He has been doing in Argentina and how we may get the privilege of joining with the rest of His faithful workers there.
This is Ali writing, by the way. Martin is sitting next to me reading Game of Thrones. He's been devouring the series since he got the first novel at Christmas. Of course, considering his love of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, it comes as no surprise that he would be so engaged in this newest fantasy fiction. Most of my reading these days has consisted of volumes of Biblical commentaries, Greek word study encyclopedias, and exegetical articles. Thus is the life of the Bible College student, I suppose. I enjoy the occasional break in reading The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog.
Many of you reading this probably wandered over here because you received our newsletter in the mail telling you about our upcoming trip to Argentina this August. Surely you are curious to know more about how we came to the place we are at right now, so I will try to inform you a bit on how all of this unraveled.
Most of you know that I am fluent in spanish. For those of you who don't, I'll tell you right now, it is slightly awkward when someone finds out and says "You never told me you spoke spanish!". Well, that's not exactly how my mother taught me to introduce myself, I guess. Sorry. I knew God gifted me with fluency in spanish for a reason, and I have prayed for some time that He would use my abilities in this regard to spread the Gospel. This fall semester at EBC, I was in my Worldview class (one of the best, by the way!) when we had guests from Argentina come in to speak with the class. I loved hearing from them about their passion to see their country learn about Jesus, empowering the people to evangelize and share God's love. I spoke with Jorge and Pola, the guest speakers, after class for sometime and we clicked very quickly. They invited me to visit them anytime, which, in latin culture, is basically standard. So of course I said "oh, sure! We'll see", as we exchanged emails and went our separate ways.
Oddly enough, I learned in an email later that same month that they weren't just trying to be nice; they were serious. They asked me if I ever desired to join their ministry in Argentina, they would be thrilled. So, Martin and I discussed what this could mean for us. We both knew that if God called us to the mission field, we would love to go, but also didn't want to try and "force" the calling. So we decided to pray about it. After about a month, we both felt that God was calling us to trust Him and let Him lead us.
God taught me a lot during that time of waiting on Him. I tend to over analyze everything and think ten years in advance. I usually get over-excited and start thinking about how my kids will have dual citizenship if they are born overseas, and those types of silly daydreams. Yet, by God's grace, He didn't allow me to get ahead of myself this time. I didn't know what was coming next, if and when we would even be going, what that would look like for us, and yet I wasn't anxious or worried about it. Well, maybe a teensy bit, but nowhere near the amount that typically involves any minor and major life changes for me. God really showed me that trusting Him with each little step brings the greatest joy as I get to see Him work and bring things together.
We originally thought that, with timing and preparations, we wouldn't be going to Argentina until potentially December or later. Both Martin and I hoped for a summer trip, as we had things that worked out best for us time-wise to take a trip during this season, but instead of trying to hurry things up ourselves, we prayed "whatever You know is best for us, we trust in." Low and behold, God "expedited" our travel plans and we were told our trip would take place this August! I think God just loves when He gets to show up in a big way, because He gets all of the credit and I just get so giddy.
So, here we are. I'm finishing up my last semester in Bible College, reflecting on how much God has shaped me in my understanding of who He is and what it means to follow Him. So I am excited to follow His leading in whatever He has next for us. Starting with a glimpse into what He has been doing in Argentina and how we may get the privilege of joining with the rest of His faithful workers there.
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