In our last post, we spoke about the possibility of delaying
our departure to the Bronx. Well, let’s have it out:
We are postponing our
departure to the Bronx.
You may have guessed this already, what with the ominous hints in our "Crunch Time!" post. Yep, it’s disappointing – we’ll be honest about that. We’ve
known for a month or so that delaying was not just possible, it was probable, but since we saw it coming it didn’t devastate us. As of this writing, we have
raised 50% of our required monthly support, and that’s simply not enough to be
able to make the move. Priority 1 Ministries is a small organization and does not have
large reserves we can draw from. Thus, if we’ll need it, we have to raise it.
Looking back, it was rather an ambitious goal to raise what
we needed to raise in the time we had. Now, because we’re postponing, we can
spread the word even more, get more people involved and on our team, and do a
better job preparing for the task we believe God is holding for us.
In fact, there are a number of significant advantages to
postponing:
- Ginny can attend 1st grade at her current school, and has a whole year to prepare mentally and emotionally for switching schools
- We can gradually get rid of our excess stuff (Amazing how it accumulates, isn’t it?)
- We can gradually replace what needs to be replaced or purchase what needs to be purchased
- We don’t have to clean our house just yet :)
- Juliet will be a year older and we won't need to keep all the baby clothes we have
- We can visit more churches, Sunday School classes, small groups, etc.
- We can prepare spiritually for the job and life awaiting us in the Bronx – when there’s a specific goal, preparations and practices that often become rote take on new meaning and urgency
- We can give more to the people in our lives right here, right now
So now the plan is to move in the summer of 2014, probably
in June. Since we have more time to prepare, we can plan to move at the
beginning of the summer instead of the end, and we’ll be able to work with the youth
groups who come up to run Bible Clubs. The school we found for Ginny said that
they would hold our deposit for next year – which is a real blessing, because
we didn’t know how that would work out.
To those of you who have pledged regular support: If you would
like to wait to continue your giving until we get closer to our departure date,
that’s completely fine with us – we understand entirely. If you would like to continue
to give, while we plan and prepare here in Pennsylvania, you are absolutely
welcome to do that as well. We only ask that if you choose to hold off on your
giving, please send us a quick note, so that we can keep track of our pledges
more accurately. Either way, THANK YOU for your generous support!
We are truly grateful!
