Greetings Friends!
It has been quiet some time since I have written. We have
been home for about a month and half now and in some ways it feels like we
never left, and in others it feels like just yesterday we were living a
completely different life!
God has been so faithful to us though. Jody is blessed to
have his job back and we were also able to get back into our old rental place
because an awesome friend of ours was willing to stay in our place while we
were gone. So as far as logistics go,
coming back home has been pretty much seamless.
Many have been asking us, “So, what’s next Goodwins?!?” One
thing I can answer with certainty is that God has set our hearts on fire to see
the great commission fulfilled and be an active participant with his Spirit in
reaching the remaining unreached peoples of the world with his love. The great
commission is found in Matthew 28:18-20:
“18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age.”
During our time in Southeast Asia we realized how very
fortunate we are to have access to pretty much every spiritual resource we
could ever want. We could attend a bible study or church service every day of
the week if we wanted, listen to a plethora of amazing teachings on YouTube in
our own language, pick up one of the many Bibles in our home at any time of the
day, and openly gather with friends to discuss our faith in Jesus. In many
places around the world, this simply isn’t the reality. Even if the Spirit of
God was prompting you to seek him, you may not have access to scripture in your
language or any body of believers who could share the Good News with you. This
broke our hearts and made us realize that we may not have a degree in missions,
but we certainly are willing to participate with God in his mission to bring
the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation. Isn’t it amazing that God cares
so much about humanity, culture, and ethnicity, that he will not stop pursuing
the people of the earth until every people group has a chance to hear about the
Creator in their heart language?
The good news is that the fulfillment of the great
commission is closer than anytime ever in human history!!! YWAM missionaries in
collaboration with many other organizations have a plan to see at least a
portion of scripture translated into every language on earth by the year 2020!
Friends, this is so exciting!
So what is next for us? Well, we have said “Yes” to God. We
will go. We will be a part of this exciting mission. We are just in the process
of finalizing all of the details of what exactly we will be doing and I can’t
wait to share them with you! That however, will have to wait for just a few
more days and another blog post ;) I am
in the process of starting an official email list for our missions updates so
if you would like to be a part of that please follow this link to sign up. Its quick, easy, and secure :) http://eepurl.com/b1SWdX Love
to you all my friends!
