April's Thoughts

Adam and I wanted to let everyone know how God has been leading us and about our plans to move to Diego Suarez, Madagascar, on October 5 of this year. The preparation for me began years ago as God obviously knew I would need much preparation before I was ready. After the 2004 tsunami, I felt an overwhelming call to take a short-term mission trip to India. My heart was so broken for the people there considering the great loss of life and knowing there were many who didn't know Jesus. Emma was very young and I didn’t want to leave her, but couldn’t get away from it; I would even wake up at night with dreams about it. After four months of praying and struggling, I surrendered to the Lord and God provided all the money I needed for the trip. I was fully intent on going until three different trips were cancelled or postponed because there weren’t enough going.

For a while, I couldn’t understand why God didn’t put it together. During the worship time at church one day, I even had a vision of myself ministering to ladies of different countries. I was then at peace, confident that God wanted to use me someday, somehow, somewhere in foreign missions, I just had no idea of the details. Adam felt really burdened about overseas missions last spring (2010) and couldn’t get away from it for long after that. We really began to discuss and pray about whether international missions is what God had for us. I had a great desire to serve those in physical need and those who don’t know about Jesus, but at first, I had a hard time thinking about going overseas for an unknown amount of time and was very concerned about leaving my mom.

We found out about the 2+2 program through Southwestern Seminary, which is essentially where seminary students to two years of their MDiv studies on campus, and then finish up their course work while serving on the mission field. (Adam’s situation is a bit different, but he can explain that part later). Thinking of serving in another country for a two year term was something I could actually wrap my mind around so we pursued that and felt strongly that it was what the Lord was directing us to do.

It took me a little while to work up the courage, but I finally told my mom and she responded surprisingly well. She said it would be hard, but she wants us to do what God wants us to do; she even said she wasn’t that surprised and had thought we might end up going overseas. (I was very thankful to the Lord for this since I had prayed He would prepare her heart.) Since our discussion, I have been at peace and excited to go serve the Lord in another country. We began talking to the International Mission Board last fall about going overseas with them to share Jesus' love with people who don't know about him. (And yes, we know there are HUGE needs in our own country, but this is something God has clearly put on our hearts and we want to be a part of the nations knowing and worshiping God.) We really didn't have a specific place to which we felt called, but we did tell the IMB of several countries we were praying about, including Africa. Not long after they called to tell us about Diego Suarez, Madagascar—labeled a “high priority" job—we began to pray and feel at peace about moving there.

As I look back over the years of how God has prepared me to serve people in great spiritual and physical need, I can see how it began long ago in my early years as our family struggled financially. Even later in life, I can see how God used the time that Adam thought we would go to serve in Austin as preparation to pull away from our very settled situation in our home in Alabama. I can also see how the time living with Mom and Alex was beneficial as it gave us the opportunity to get out of debt, and it prepared me for our move to Texas. Most recently, God has used our time in Texas to grow me into a more spiritually strong woman and He has taught me to be okay with having less and living in a small space. (Our washer and dryer are in a washroom outside, we have no dishwasher for the first time in my life, and our apartment is 624 square feet). It's amazing what God uses to mold and shape us.

We plan to move some things to Alabama the first week in July, which is where we will be until we go to training in Richmond, VA, for eight weeks (starting July 25). We will then fly to Madagascar on October 5th, 2011; we will visit our city for a short time, then go to Antsirabe, Madagascar, for language training for four to six months.

We ask that you will please pray for us, specifically for:

-Our preparation to go. (We will have a yard sale soon to get rid of some things and store some other things at my mom's.) It will be very hard to say goodbye to our friends here in Fort Worth. We have really enjoyed our time. It will also be hard to say goodbye to all our friends and family in Alabama.

-The missionaries already in Diego Suarez- Michael and Michelle; and the Berry family, who are in language school in Antsirabe now, but will be moving to Diego soon.

-The Antankarana people to see Jesus' love through the missionaries there and believe in His truth for salvation from their sins.

-The few new believers to continue to grow in Christ.

-For our eight weeks of training in Virginia; we desire for this time to be beneficial.

-Our language study.

-Emma and Corinne to adjust well to having much less toys, no air conditioner, living in a different country, making new friends, and seeing family on Skype rather than face to face.

Emma's Notes

Madagascar sounds really,really super awesome,and I'm super exited,nervous,curious,and amazed,because I really want to see Lemurs,and especially chameleons,because they are colorful.I'm going to get used to it,I bet.We'll have fun in Madagascar.I know that we are going because we are going to teach people about Jesus.We have a French book,so we can know some French because we need to.I learned some French on Rosetta Stone,something on the computer.I had fun learning French on the computer getting eager to go to Madagascar and learn Malagasy,and French. I'm intrestead about the food they eat. -Emma Carol Mitchell

why not?

On April 12, 2010, I (Adam) wrote this question-in prayer form-for the first time in my life, "Could You be wanting us to live in another country?" That question marked the beginning of the whirlwind of a journey we have been on for barely over a year now, and it is on this journey that we will make our way to Madagascar to work with the Antankarana people later this fall. In some ways this seems so weird, and in others it seems so natural, even normal. We believe in a sovereign God who has a heart for the nations. He is the One who desires praise from all peoples, not because He needs it, but because He deserves it, and because it proves to be most satisfying to those who do it (read John Piper for more on this; just pick any book of his and you'll see). For this very purpose, namely, that we might live "to the praise of His glory," we believe God saves people, freeing us from slavery to sin and releasing us from His wrath. All this is accomplished through Christ, who died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, taking the place of us sinners so that we might be reconciled to God. This belief, this truth, is what drives us to follow God, and we believe He is leading us to Madagascar.

A couple of questions that I'll answer now is Why us?, and Why Madagascar? I'll answer those questions, first by asking it another way, "Do we feel called to Madagascar?" My answer to the first two questions is simply, Why not? Why not us and why not Madagascar? If you ask me if we're "called" to missions, specifically referring to international missions, my answer will be (at this point) something like, "I believe so." But what we do know is this: God has given us a desire and granted the opportunity to do missions, so based on the information available to us at this time, both in desire and opportunity, we believe the Lord wants us in Madagascar.

We were introduced to the need in Madagascar through the International Mission Board (IMB). Since we have so little experience from an international standpoint, we've never felt a "pull" to a particular nation or people group, so we decided that we would wait to hear from the IMB about where they were sending missionaries, and that would help us make the decision on where to go.

During our interview process (which is by far the most grueling process we have ever been through, but also one of the most productive as well), I received a call from the IMB about 3 jobs in Africa: one in Malawi, one in Madagascar, and one somewhere else I can't recall. Before this all happened, Madagascar had not even crossed our mind. All we knew of Madagascar was talking lemurs and some displaced zoo animals. However, what really caught my attention was that the job in Madagascar was listed as "high-priority" by the IMB because of the state of lostness of the Antankarana people. There are approximately 330,000 Antankarana, and only a few are born-again Christ followers.

Currently, there is a missionary couple (Michael and Michelle Allen) working with the Antankarana, and while they have seen several come to know Christ, there are still so few true followers of Christ among that people group. For April and I, that immediately turned the question of Why? into Why not? We believe wholeheartedly that we have a God-given desire and a God-ordained opportunity to go, and so we will.

(Side note: We will live in Diego Suarez, a city of about 120,000 on the northern tip of Madagascar. Also, we have met Michael and Michelle through Facebook/e-mail, and have enjoyed getting to know them electronically. Michelle is from Alabama; weird, huh? We have also met another couple, Andrew and Christina Berry, another missionary couple who will be living in Diego Suarez as well. Can't wait to meet them all on the ground in Madagascar!)

More to come later. April, my wonderfully detailed wife, will soon fill in some of the gaps I've left. If you have questions, we'd be glad to answer. Leave a comment and let us know what you want to know.


--Adam