Limited Time Opportunity!!!

Since January the mission team in Honduras which we will be joining has been constructing a two-acre ministry center in the super poor community of Armenia Bonito. On this property we are building a high school, a medical clinic, a church and a covered soccer field.

We are asking you to prayerfully consider giving a one-time financial gift to help us meet the construction costs. Here are two exciting reasons why we are asking now:

1) For a limited time MTW strategic funds has agreed to match every gift received 1:1. If you give $100, $200 will go to our project.

2) Any gift you give is tax-deductible. Giving before December 31st will help your 2010 taxes.

Honduras has the 2nd poorest economy in Latin America. The average Honduran makes only $3,000 a year and the unemployment rate is above 30%. The people of Armenia Bonito cannot afford to take a bus into town for medical care and only 1/3rd of the kids attend school beyond the sixth grade. This ministry center will greatly address the physical and spiritual needs of this 3,000-person community.

There are two ways you can make a onetime contribution:

1) On-line:
Use your credit or debit card at this address:
https://www2.mtw.org/donations/donate/default.aspx

Please make sure you enter  92410  as the designation.

2) Check:
Mail your check to:

Mission to the World
P.O. Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
 Attn: #92410

Make sure you write "#92410" in the memo of the check.

If you would like to learn more about this ministry center you can watch this 3 minute 20 second video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rVhcsf-yYs

Travels

It has been a busy last few weeks.  Here is a quick recap of some of our adventures:

Nov. 21. - Share at New Valley Church
Nov. 21-26 - Thanksgiving and vacation with Ashley's family in northern AZ
Dec. 4-5 - Sierra Vista, AZ - share with Grace Church
Dec. 11-12 - Las Cruces, NM - share with Grace Covenant Church & University Presbyterian Church

In between these events we have been meeting with individuals, saying good-bye to friends, enjoying our home church's annual progressive dinner Christmas party, and preparing to move to Costa Rica for language school.

We will be traveling to PA between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve to spend with Mike's family.  After that we will have just a few days back in AZ before heading to language school.

Support still needed

We still need more financial support to get to Honduras.  We have been approved to go to language school in Costa Rica, but we must have all of our support before we can go to Honduras.  

We currently sit at 74% of our monthly need.  We still need about $1500 in monthly pledges.  This is our biggest need and we ask you to consider being a part of helping us hit 100%!  

If you would like to join the team that is sending us to Honduras, please let me know.  Here is our website that has more information about financial support.

Praise the Lord for the 74% that has come in already!  

I've got two tickets to

...Costa Rica!  Don't think its paradise (although I have heard it is beautiful) and we don't leave tonight.

We have been accepted to language school in Costa Rica and tonight I booked our flight to get there!  We leave Phoenix on January 3rd and orientation for school starts on the 5th.  We will be living with a Costa Rican family and will be fully immersed into the latin culture and Spanish language.

17 more days in Nov. + 31 days in Dec. + 3 days in Jan. = 51 days till we move out of the US.

Another Good-Bye

Today we said good bye to our house: our home of almost 3.5 years.  

It was an odd feeling as we drove away.  Not sad.  Not overwhelmingly happy.  Hard to describe.  

We loved our house.  It has been a house and a home for us for most of our married life.  It helped bring my brother Jake here to Arizona.  It allowed us to take care of 5 kids for a few months.  

This is a huge answer to prayers!  We put the house on the market in April and got an offer at the end of May.  Since it was a short sale, the bank had to approve the sale.  That took longer than we thought it was going to, but the sale of the house will actually go through tomorrow and we will be one step closer to heading to Honduras!  

Thank you for everyone who responded and offered to help with our living situation!  We found a great place here in Phoenix to stay until we leave for language school.  Unfortunately, we have not yet found a home for our dog Trippy.  If you are interested in an 11 pound Chihuahua with lots of energy, please let us know ASAP!  

Addition to the Team

I had a plan for what I was going to blog, but things changed...

We went to dinner with some friends and when we got home I had an email in my inbox that had some exciting news.  Another church has joined the team sending us to Honduras!  New Valley Church has approved supporting us.  Amen!  Thank you God and thank you New Valley Church!

This is the second church that has pledged to support us monthly (our home church was the first).  In the last few months especially, we have been calling/sending information/emailing/visiting lots of other churches.  It is awesome to see God use the work we have put in and surprise us with this support.

I was going to write about school supplies in Honduras, but just had to share this good news!  I may just have to blog 2 days in a row.

I will love them freely

I will love them freely.  -Hosea 14:4

"This sentence is a body of divinity in miniature. He who understands its meaning is a theologian, and he who can dive into its fullness is a true master in Israel. It is a condensation of the glorious message of salvation which was delivered to us in Christ Jesus, our Redeemer."  -C. H. Spurgeon

I was greeted with this message this morning.  It was a great way to start my day.

God loves freely!

Housing Need

We are moving closer to selling our house!  The bank has approved the sale and we had an inspection and an appraisal.  We should know in the next few days when our closing date will be.  It looks like it will be sometime between October 26 and November 5.  A lot of it depends on how fast some paperwork can be done.

We are so thankful that this sale is finally going to happen.  It has been quite a long time since we first put the house up for sale and also from when we got the offer.

This does however present a challenge for us.  We do not have a place to live from when we close on this house until we leave for language school in January.  We are asking the Lord to provide for us a place to live here in Phoenix.  If anyone reading this has a place where we could stay or knows someone who may be able to help, please let us know.

Praise the Lord!

The sale of our house has been approved (verbally)!  We have been waiting to hear from the bank for about 4 months, when we initially got the offer.  We should have documents by the end of the week and will soon have a closing date!  

It looks like we will be closing sometime around Nov. 15th.  This is a huge answer to prayer and a big step in our moving to Honduras!  

Thank you for your prayers regarding this matter.  We appreciate it so much!  

Wheeler Peak - Great Basin National Park.

Google Reader

We are closing in on a year since we fist got accepted by Mission to the World to be full-time missionaries to La Ceiba, Honduras.  In that time, we have met a lot of other missionaries.  We have spent time with many of these people at some of our different training conferences and some we saw almost every day of July in NYC.

The people we met at these events have been at different stages of their journey to get to the mission field.  Some have now left for the field and some are still traveling all over to raise support just like we are doing.  Some of the families started the process long before us and some after us.  We have been able to build relationships with other missionaries and hopefully those relationships will be long lasting.

One thing I realized today is that I follow/subscribe to a lot of blogs and/or monthly updates from a bunch of different families.  This is great because I can 'keep up' with them and know what is happening in their busy lives without actually seeing or talking with them.  There is no way I could call or meet with all these people regularly (especially since lots of them are in other countries/continents/time zones), so I am glad to get an email once a week or month in order to know how to pray for them and what the Lord is doing in their lives.

There is a negative to this as well.  I subscribe to the blogs of all my teammates on my google reader and so I get to see what is happening with all of them.  That doesn't sound so negative, but part of it is.  Two of my teammates, Shannon and Bethany, are in Costa Rice in language school.  Yay for them!  It is sometime hard to read about what they are doing because I really, really, really want to be there learning Spanish so I can make the next move to La Ceiba.  It can sometimes be discouraging for me to not be there and to see that they are getting closer and closer to being in Honduras.  Don't get me wrong, I am so happy for them.  It is just that they are where I want to be.

I know the Lord is in control and that He has a plan for Ashley and me.  I know that His timing is perfect and there is a reason why we are here in Phoenix a little longer than we hoped.  I can see this clearly with regards to our house.  We have been praying, and asking for prayers, that the sale of our house go though.  The Lord has planned for it to happen when he wants it to happen and not us.  If the house would have sold when we thought was a good time, we would not have a place to live right now.  He has provided us a comfortable place for us to stay!  Praise the Lord!

I love technology and the internet and skype and blogs.  I love being able to keep in touch with so many people that are in so many places all over the world.

The sun setting over Lake Tahoe.

I took this on my road trip across the country.  It was just one of the incredibly beautiful scenes I was able to see.

The Loneliest Road in America

Last week I helped my college roommate move from Philly to San Diego.  In other words, I kept him company (and drove A LOT) for the cross-country road trip.  We had an awesome time.  We saw lots of stuff and here are some thoughts on some things I saw/experienced:

   1. Philly and San Diego are far apart.
   2. Detroit is underrated.
   3. Portable DVD players are great.
   4. So are easy point & click digital cameras.
   5. 10 days are too many to be away from my beautiful wife.
   6. I get goose bumps when the Penn State football team runs onto the field.
   7. I wish I saw my family more.  (especially the nieces and nephew)
   8. Iowa and Nebraska are very wide states - seriously, look at a map.
   9. Great Basin National Park is really cool.
   10. A windshield takes a lots of lives. (we hit a lof of bugs driving 3000+ miles)
   11. Colorado is a beautiful state. (not so much the eastern part that looks just like Iowa & Nebraska)
   12. Hiking in the Desolation Wilderness is awesome. 
  
Those are just some off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts.  What I really want to share is that we are made to be in community. 

Might be an odd thing to say after a road trip, but it is one major thing I am taking away from my last 2 weeks.  God is 3 persons and we are made in His image.  I think that shows clearly that we are made to be with others.  I found out I like to be with others while driving on US 50. 

 As you can see from the sign, US 50 has the name of the loneliest road in America.  Well, it lived up to its name.  It could be partially that we had been driving for 4 or 5 days, or that we were about to get to Lake Tahoe, whatever it was - the drive along this road was not fun.  We were on 50 for about 600 miles I think.  Some of it wasn't too bad.  Well - the part in Utah wasn't too bad anyway.  In Nevada, it was LONELY.  Over a 300 mile stretch, we drove through one town.  I use the word town, because I have a small vocabulary.  This "town" was tiny.  We passed a car every once in a while.

Anyway, all that to say I do not like being alone too much.  Like most people, I need some good alone-time, however I much prefer to be with people.  I was VERY glad I was not making that drive myself.  It was good I had my old roommate (and Arrested Development) to keep me company. 

Where's Mike?

Here is what I will be doing for the next ten days or so.

Well, its the plan at this point anyway...

I am (mostly) ready to get on a plane tomorrow morning and head to the east coast.  My mom will be picking me up from the airport and I will get to stay with my parents tomorrow night and hang out with them all day Friday.  I will also get to spend some time with my brother Matt and his family.  My nieces are going to be a lot bigger than the last time I saw them back in April.

Friday evening, Brent Glova (my college roommate) will pick me up and we will head to State College: home of Penn State.  I will go to my first football game since graduating from Penn State in December of 2006.  We play Kent State and better win!  I will get to spend some time with another brother, Josh, and his family.  They live in State College.

Sunday morning I will share with the adult Sunday School class at Oakwood Presbyterian Church (see the note about the guest speaker!).  It is RUF Sunday and I get to share about how the Lord is calling Ashley and me to work in Honduras!

After church its ROAD TRIP time!

Sunday - State College, PA to Detroit, MI.
Monday - hang out in Detroit - Windsor, ON Canada maybe - attend KC Royals vs. Detroit Tigers in evening
Tuesday - Detroit, MI to Lincoln, NE
Wednesday - Lincoln, NE to Denver, CO
Thursday - Denver, CO to Baker, NV (click here for a laugh)
Friday - tour Great Basin National Park then Baker, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA
Saturday - hike/hang out/enjoy nature in Lake Tahoe area
Sunday - South Lake Tahoe to San Diego, CA

San Diego is where I will meet up with Ashley and we will stay there Sunday night and head home (Phoenix, AZ) sometime Monday.

I am excited to see a lot of the US that I have never seen.  It will be a great time for me to catch up with my college roommate and enjoy the road.

Road Trip

Ashley and I have been spending a lot of our time doing support raising things.  As I have written about before, this consists of lots of phone calls, emails, get togethers, and stuffing envelopes.  We have not seen a big increase in actual support, but we are getting the chance to share with lots of people.

Just in the past week or so I talked with church leaders, met with 2 potential supporters, set up meetings with 2 different churches, and got a verbal commitment of $50/ month from someone I just met the first time!

In other news...

This Thursday I will be flying to Philadelphia to help my roommate from college move from Philly to San Diego.  In other words - I will be road tripping it with him all of next week!  In the process, I will get to see family (including 3 nieces), attend a PSU game (fist as an alum), spend time with an old friend, and see lots of places across the country I never had before.  I will also get to share about going to Honduras with the church I attended in college.  

September

We are now into the 9th month of 2010.  This year is moving along quickly.  It has been an awesome year so far and we are so excited for the next few months as we finish raising support and head out on the field.

Here is our monthly support letter:
http://www.weebly.com/uploads/3/6/9/0/3690607/prayer_letter_september_2010.pdf

If you do not receive these via email each month and would like to, please send me an email: michael.a.troxell@gmail.com

Still here...

Quick update.  

We are still in Phoenix raising support.  

I am now working only 3 days a week so that I can concentrate more on raising support.  

Ashley is busy cleaning out our house in preparation of moving.  

Our house is still ours...

The bank waited 2 months to tell us we need to do more paperwork.

God is good!

Ashley is going to be a substitute at her old school tomorrow.  

We have attended a different church each of the last 5 weeks.  

This Sunday we are going to CovCom!  (our home church)

 It has been way too long since my last post.  

We have less than 1/3 of our support to raise.  

More NYC Pictures

Here are some more pictures of things we were involved with during our time in New York. 

Mike working on pronunciation in our English class.

Some of the English students practicing what they have learned.

Front door to our apartment. 

Ashley waiting for a subway.

With other missionaries after July 4th fireworks.

Sights from New York

Here are some of the things we saw in our month in NYC.

Times Square

Fireworks!

Subway Trains, lots of them!

Lady Liberty (she's tall)

The Brooklyn Bridge

Chewbacca

That is just a start of what we saw.  More to come (soon?).  

Broadway

Before Ashley and I came to New York, we decided that during our time here we were going to work hard and play heard.  What we meant by that was that during our down time from training classes and field ministry, we were going to see and experience as much of New York as we could.

This past weekend we experienced Broadway for the first time.  On Friday we stood outside in the rain to get discount tickets for Memphis.  Memphis takes place in Memphis, TN in the 1950s.  It was the 2010 Tony Award winner for Best Musical.  We really enjoyed the singing and dancing and the story of forbidden love.

On Saturday, we went to see The Lion King.  The Lion King was a very different show, but we enjoyed it as well.  We know the story from the movie so it was the set and the costumes that made this a fun experience.  We had a great time at each of these shows and were so glad we had the opportunity to take in this aspect of New York City!

Here we are just after seeing The Lion King. 

Language

This week in our trainings, we studied language learning.  That may sound odd to say that we studied language learning and not that we studied language.  Well, since there are people in our classes that are going all over the world, we cannot really study each language we will be learning.  The idea of these classes are to help us to know how to learn a language. 

As part of our training, we were put in groups and spent a few hours with a language helper.  My group used a few different methods to learn some Portuguese.  It was so encouraging that we could remember words and even form some sentences.  It has given me confidence that I will be able to learn Spanish well! 

Here I am with Alex, one of the students from our ESL class.  We are practicing a phone conversation. 

I need to remember to get the camera from Ashley because she takes most all of the pictures which means she is not in them. 

Teaching English

We are almost finished with our week of teaching English at Astoria Community Church.  We have hosted a week long intensive English class each weekday this week.  Students from Russia, Korea, Macedonia, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, Peru, and Spain have learned new vocabulary, grammar, practiced pronunciation, and had a lot of time to converse in English. 

Our prayer is that the Lord will use this ministry to impact the community of Astoria and each of the students that attends the classes.  We hope we benefit the students by helping them to grasp the English language a little better and to feel the love of Christ through our words and our actions. 

Washington Heights

Ashley and I are living in Washington Heights, Manhattan, NYC, NY for the month of July.  We are here for cross-cultural training.  I can't imagine a better place to study cultures and to prepare for cross-cultural work that NYC.  So far it has been an awesome experience for us. 

We were told that the community of Washington Heights where we are living is 75% Dominican.  To be honest, I didn't believe it until Friday night.  We have been walking all around where we live to go grocery shopping, to catch the subway, to do everything.  We have noticed many people of different nationalities, but it did not stick out as 75% Dominican. 

This was until we crossed Broadway.  (Yes, THAT Broadway.  Although THAT Broadway is really a few miles south.)  What we have come to find out is that Broadway (runs North-South) is the dividing line between Washington Heights and "Dominican" Washington Heights.  It was amazing.  Everything, except the road signs, changed.  Spanish is the language we heard.  The sidewalks were filled with people.  The music was different.  The color of skin of all around us was darker.  I felt as though I could have been in any large city in any Latin American country.

I cannot wait to go to language school and learn Spanish.  I am so excited to be able to speak 2 languages.

Dinner was a fun experience.  We went to La Casa Del Mofongo.  It was supposedly 'the place' to get Dominican food.  We learned that mofongo is plantains and pork mashed together and served with whatever you want.  I got mine with cod fish and Ashley got chicken.  Good food!  Our waitress had to get a helper to communicate with us because we don't speak Spanish and she doesn't speak English.

I know believe that Washington Heights is 75% Dominican.  I so much enjoyed our cross-cultural experience in this almost foreign country. 

English teacher

As of Monday, I will be an English teacher.  This is a little scary seeing as I really don't know how to speak/write this language correctly.  From Mon to Fri next week, Ashley and I (and another couple and a mentor and some interns) will be teaching English to whomever comes to learn.  We may have some people who a close to fluent and we may have some that know only a few words.

We are praying that the Lord will bring 20 people from the community of Astoria (in Queens, NY) each day to take part in our free classes.  He may bring 5 and He may bring 50.  We will teach anyone who wants to learn.  We also pray that these people would be open to hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I will be leading the advanced class.  We expect there will be some students who are mainly there to practice their English.  This will provide time for us to talk and get to know each other. 

Training & Trains

This morning we were able to go to curch at Astoria Community Church in Queens, NY.  This is the church we will be serving during our time here in NYC.  This coming week we will be helping to spread to word about their upcoming ESL intensive class.  Next week, we will be helping them with the actual ESL class.  Fun stuff! 

In addition to serving the church, we are also attending classes to teach us about cultures, language learning, team work, and church planting.  These classes are mostly in the afternoons and are held at another church in Queens. 

Living in NYC is much different than Phoenix (or anywhere else I have lived).  It is a very fast-paced city and we take the subway everywhere.  So far I think we have taken the A, 1, N, and S trains.  I think we will be taking the C train this evening as we head to Central Park for a picnic and some fireworks to celebrate July 4th. 

Here we are at the subway stop under Times Square.

Changes and New York

This past week has yet again brought on some pretty significant changes in our lives. 

For one, we sold the 1 and only car I ever owned.  It was a 2000 Acura 3.2 TL I bought just before Ashley and I got married.  We drove it across the country in the first week of our marriage and have loved it ever since.  We hope Jay enjoys it!

Yesterday, June 30th, was my last day of work (at least for now).  I have worked at Evans Newton for the last 10 months doing a host of different tasks.  I enjoyed the work and the people.  I am hoping to be able to go back there some in the fall. 

In the mean time, we are going to be in New York City!  We are currently awaiting the second leg of our trip to NYC.  We will be staying in Manhattan in a neighborhood called Washington Heights.  We will be in New York for the whole month of July for cross-cultural training with about 10 other families of missionaries.  Keep an eye out for some pictures and most likely some fun stories. 

World Cup

Most of the world is going crazy over soccer right now.  The Fifa World Cup is being held in South Africa from June 11 - July 11. 

The Honduras national team made it to the World Cup tournament this year for the first time in 28 years!  Unfortunately, they did not fare so well.  In three matches the team lost 2 and tied 1.  They failed to score a goal in their three games. 

I have never been a big soccer fan - even when almost all of my high school friends were on the team. 

In the past year I have started to pay more attention to soccer and to understand more of the strategy behind what the guys are doing out on the pitch.  Soccer is a HUGE deal in Honduras and I cannot wait to get my butt whooped by 6 and 7 year olds when I get there!

PS.  The US plays Ghana tomorrow morning in the round of 16 at the World Cup.  Lets go USA!

Living in Grace

Last week, Ashley and I attended Living in Grace, an MTW conference for missionaries that is mandatory before going to the field. 

The week was full of teaching, small group time, fellowship, and of course the NC mountains.  It was a great time to dig deep into many aspects of the gospel and be challenged as to what our idols are and if we truly believe that the God of the universe loves us.

It was also fun for us to meet other people who are going through the same process we are and will be serving in many different places throughout the world.  Many of those we met will also be attending other trainings which we will be a part of.  It was a time for us to begin building life-long relationships with other missionaries.   

Grace

Ashley and I are currently sitting in Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix.  We about to take a red eye to North Carolina in order to attend our week long MTW training, Living in Grace. 

Living in Grace - what does that mean?  I guess I will find out this week...

When I was younger I heard something interesting in regards to mercy and grace.  Mercy is when we do not get what we deserve and grace is when we get what we do not deserve.  How awesome it is that the Lord is not giving me what I deserve and instead giving me life through His Son!  Will this free gift affect the way I love Ashley?  Will it change the way I think about my coworkers?  Will it cause me to react different when another driver cuts me off?

I know I will not spend a week in NC and come out the other side with all the answers.  I pray (and ask you to as well) that the Lord will open our hearts and teach us in a new way how we can live our 'everyday lives' for Him and in light of what He has done for us. 


  

We got a buyer!

On April 22, we put our house on the market.  Just this past week we got our first offer (full-price) and accepted it!  So, we have a buyer and are moving forward with the sale.  Since we are doing a short sale, it is now time for us to wait to hear if the bank will approve the sale. 

Please pray the bank will accept this offer and approve the sale in a timely fashion.  We expect we won't hear anything from the bank for about a month.  Hopefully we will have a closing date sometime in early-mid August. 

We love our house, but know that it is time to move on.  We hope the new owners will take care of it and enjoy it as much as we have the last 3 years.

What we have been doing.

When raising support, what is it that you actually do?

I am glad you asked (or that I asked on your behalf...)

It is May 1, the 121st day of 2010. 

Ashley and I really started our support raising at the begining of 2010.  So, in the last 121 days this is what we have been up to:

Mailing information - over 350 pices of mail have been sent out
Calling - we have made 135 calls
Email - 130 emails sent by Mike or Ashley

(That is more than 1 call and 1 email everyday just pertaining to support raising)

All in all we have been doing a lot in order to go to Honduras.  Just this week I booked our flights for one of our trainings this summer! 

PS.  If anyone is interested, our house is now on the market.  :) 

House

It is feeling more and more real as the days go by that we will be moving.  In my last post, I talked about one reason this reality is becoming more clear:  50% of our monthly support! 

Thursday brought another reason.  We officially put our house on the market.  This is the place that has been home for us the last 2 and a half years.  We love the home the Lord provided for us.  We are so thankful that we were able to spend these years in this home.  We are also so ready to be in Honduras. 

Selling our house is another major step in the direction of becoming full-time missionaries.  By no means is our house sold, but we have it on the market and are hoping that the Lord will find a buyer within the next few months. 

1/2

Today is a big day in our support raising lives.  We officially hit the 50% mark of our monthly pledges! 

I was going to write some more about our time in PA and the churches we shared with..

I guess I still can.

Thank you to:
    ~Covenant Reformed Church - New Holland, PA - we got to share after church on 4/11 and we were 'called back' to share with the leadership on 4/13
    ~Pine Grove Church - Bowmansville, PA - we were able to do our longest presentation yet (about 40 mins.) at the Wed. night Bible study and meet with many people who remembered Mike from years ago when the Troxell family attended this church
    ~Christ Presbyterian Church - we spoke to the adults during the Christian Education time

Did I mention we have half of our monthly support???

     

Busy week in PA

It has been great to get back to PA for me.  It is where I grew up and where I know a lot of people.  Ashley and I flew to PA last week in order to attend my brother's wedding.  It was an awesome ceremony and we are so glad Alana is now officially part of the family! 

In addition to the wedding, we have been here in PA meeting with churches and individuals sharing about our upcoming adventure into Central America.  So far we met with 2 churches and talked with a handful of individuals.  It has been busy and relaxing at the same time. 

This coming Sunday we are speaking at Christ Presbyterian Church in Reading, PA.  After that we will head back home and back to our 'normal' routine.

The Purpose of This Book

It is Easter morning.  It is awesome taking time to reflect that Jesus came to this world and died for me.  He not only died, but he beat death so that I no longer have to die. 

In reading John's account of the resurrection and the following events, I came upon this:

The Purpose of This Book.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  -John 20:30-31

I am so thankful that I have the book of John as well as the rest of the Bible so that I may believe that Jesus is the Christ and I may have life in his name. 

April

Into another month we go.  April has arrived.  We have been looking forward to this month for a few special reasons.  For one, my brother, Jake, is getting married in about a week!  Since we are heading to Pennsylvania for the wedding, we are going to do some support raising there as well.  :) 

We are speaking in 3 churches in the week we are in PA!  We are also getting together with firends and individuals to share about Honduras. 

Today we sent out monthly prayer update.  If you are interested, here is a link to the pdf of what we sent:  http://www.weebly.com/uploads/3/6/9/0/3690607/prayer_letter_april_2010.pdf

Our support continues to come in and we continue to be overwhelmed at how the Lord provides.  As of March 31, we have 42% of our monthly pledges committed!  We are staying on track with what we feel is the Lord's plan for our departure. 

Pennsylvania

I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania and we will be heading back that way in a few weeks.  The main reason is becasue my brother Jake is getting married!  The ceremony will actually be in western PA, but Ashley and I are taking advantage of vacation time from our jobs and staying in PA for an extra week in order to spend time with family, catch-up with friends, and share about our future! 

Just in the last few days we have been able to set up meetings with 2 churches!  The Lord has encouraged me by setting up these meetings.  I have been somewhat stressed about the support raising part of our trip because we were not getting the response we were hoping for.  The Lord has His timing and out trip is coming together really well and we are still 3 weeks from going.  Thank you, Jesus! 

What to say...

It has been quite awhile since I have posted on here.  There are a few reasons for that.   We are busy and blogging kind of gets moved down the list of priorities.  Also, I am not very good at sharing about the sharing.  I am enjoying talking with others about what the Lord has for us in Honduras, but I am not so good at typing out those conversations and making them interesting and followable. 

I am looking forward to our month in New York as I am sure we will have a lot to share about our experiences there.  Also, language school will for sure bring with it a lot of stories.  I am mostly looking forward to actually being in Honduras and sharing with the world the awesome work the Lord is doing through Ashley and me and our team! 

Anyway, we are very close to reaching the 40% mark of our monthly support which is just awesome.  We are also in the process of registering for the two trainings we have left to do before we leave. 

I will try harder to keep blogging and sharing.  I know the Lord is working in an amazing way in our lives even now as we raise support.  It is for His glory that I even do this.  He is awesome!

Support Update

February was a busy month.  For us it was busy in a good way.  We have been able to share what the Lord is doing in Honduras with a lot of people.

This month was filled with emails and phone calls and even some presentations.  We met with some families and got to share with 2 churches outside of our home church.  On March 1, we sent our first official monthly prayer update.  If you want to see it, click here.  If you would like to be added to the list to receive these every month, please shoot me an email (michael.a.troxell@gmail.com). 

We also launched our new website!  www.troxellmissionaries.com

I will continue to update you all through this site, but we have included much more information about us, and Ashley now has her own blog to share what is going on in her head (if you think you can handle that).  :)

It is exciting to see the Lord open the hearts of friends and family, and even of some people we barely know.

We met our February goal of 30% of our monthly pledges.  We actually passed our goal and finished February with 32% of our monthly support!  We are so thankful to the Lord and to all of you who are supporting us!  

God is Love

For the last month, I have been co-leading a Bible study for high school guys.  I was hesitant to say I could help because it is a time commitment which takes away from support raising and 'Mike & Ashley' time.  I am so glad I am a part of it.  We have been talking about relationships. 

A lot of what we've looked at comes back to love.  So, God's love has been on my mind quite a bit.  I have to admit that it is awesome to have the idea of God's love stuck in your mind. 

The last few days especially, the idea of not being able to lose God's love has jumped out at me.  Hit me in the face you could say. 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  - Romans 8: 38-39

Nothing in all of creation will be able to keep God's love from me or keep me from God's love.  AMEN!    Thinking about that makes me want to love the Lord all the more.  I pray that I will stay in this place where God's love is 'stuck' in my head.   

Divided heart

I've always seen my job as my mission field.

When Mike and I first responded to God's call to serve as full-time missionaries, my heart was torn. I spend 9 hours a day on my mission field plus an additional 1-2 hours each night planning and praying for my mission field - my class, co-workers, boss... Now God is giving me a new field.

This past November, we were accepted by MTW as short-term missionaries. The tear in my heart grew. Now I began to realize the reality that I would not be returning to my classroom next year. I'm going to have to let it go.

Christmas flew past. January - where did it go? Mid-February.

Last weekend, I began organizing our "stuff" into 3 piles: To Honduras, Store, and Get rid of. Clothing - no problem. Personal effect - sure thing! Then came the school supplies. Dead end. These supplies have been my mission field resources the last 5 years!!

We now have a hallway and extra bedroom stuffed with random educational supplies. Do I part with them? Do I keep them? Do I take them? I can feel God shifting my ministry focus from teaching to the people of Honduras.

I love my job. I love my students. God is sending us. I LONG to go. My new mission field approaches but I know that teaching (and Freedom) will always have a place in my divided heart.

-Ash

Mighty to Save!

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

This morning we worshiped with our brothers and sisters at our home church CovCom which was awesome. Since we are raising support, we do not attend our home church every week.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Savior;
The Hope of nations.

Both Ashley and I love CovCom. We enjoy the Sunday morning worship service and the various ministries we have had the opportunity to be a part of. Mostly we love the people and the relationships we have built here.

Savior, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

This morning I realized I will miss our church and its people a lot when we head overseas. I am glad that is the case. We know the Lord wants us to go to Honduras and serve His people there.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

I realized my biggest 'sacrifice' will be leaving the people I care about. I may miss some of the things I have here in the US, but giving those up will be nothing compared to leaving friends and family.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I pray these words. Lord, take this messed up person and make me whole.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

Laying at the foot of the cross is an awesome place to be. I pray I follow Christ there daily.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

For those who don't know, the italicized words are lyrics from the song "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong. We sang this as our closing song this morning. I love this song. I pray the Lord will use these words to draw you closer to Him. Praise the Lord we have a God who is Mighty to Save! -M

Presentation

This past Sunday, Ashley and I got to give a presentation about Honduras at a local PCA church. This was our first opportunity to do this outside of our home church. Thank you Covenant Presbyterian Church for inviting us! For 5 minutes during the worship service, we shared about our call to Honduras and the vision of our future ministry there. We were also able to mingle with those who attended after the service, handing out prayer cards.

This was a great experience for us and we look forward to sharing with more churches and individuals in the coming months. -M

Haiti

Our team leader's wife, Erin Pettengill, has been in Haiti for the last week. She is there with Mission to the World's disaster response team. Erin is a nurse and is using her skills and training to help the people of Haiti just as she regularly does for the people of La Ceiba.

Please pray for her and the rest of the MTW team. Ashley's aunt, Maureen Kyle is on her way to join this team for the upcoming week.

We have been able to follow some of the happenings in Haiti through Erin's blog. Mike Pettengill, her husband, has been communicating with her and relaying the information. -M

Support Update

It is just about the end of January, which means our second month of support raising is coming to a close. Our goal is to leave the US by October 1, 2010 which is 10 months from when we were accepted by MTW. To reach this goal, we need to get 10% of our financial support each month.

I am happy to say that we are very close to our target of 20% at the end of the second month. We have received 17% of our monthly support! We also have over 40 prayer partners! Praise the Lord.

This next month will be fun and exciting for us. We have already set up multiple meetings with individuals and have at least 1 church we will be sharing with.

We'd love to share with you more about what is going on - both in our lives and in La Ceiba, Honduras. Please let us know if you'd like to get together or want more information! -M

Scholarships

The team that is currently in Honduras, which we will be joining, has just begun a new ministry. It involves giving scholarships to kids so that they may attend high school.

In Honduras school is mandatory only through the 6th grade. After that, all schooling is private, and is no longer provided free by the government. This, coupled with a very high unemployment rate, means that a very low percentage of children go to school after the 6th grade.

Our team has come up with a way to help provide for the education of some of the youth as well as share the gospel of Christ with them. The students who receive the scholarship will have to maintain good grades and also will be required to attend a weekly discipleship class.

If you would like more information about these scholarships, please see here.

Ashley and I are so excited to be a part of this, and many other ministries in Honduras. We ask for your prayers as we prepare to go. -M

Get the word out

In the last week or so, we have started to become more proactive in our sharing about Honduras. It started with the missions conference at our church. We were able to present about Honduras and our vision for what our ministry will look like to many. We also were comissioned and prayed for by our church leadership!

In addition, we sent via snail mail, over 200 packets of info and would like to provide you the opportunity to partner with us. We are continuing to work on more packets as we acquire more of the contact information for our friends and family.

This past week our team leader, Mike Pettengill, was in town and stayed with us. He introduced us to 2 other churches and numerous people!

The Lord is awesome and has been so good to Ashley and me. We are so excited to have the chance to partner with others and be used by the Lord to further His kingdom here on Earth. -M

House Guest

So, our future boss, the team leader for La Ceiba, Mike Pettengill has been staying at our house since this past Friday night. He was in town for the CovCom Missions Conference (our home church), as well as meeting up with some of his other supporters here in the valley.

It has been a pretty interesting few days. It started when I got a message saying he needed picked up at the airport. Not a big deal, but we had no chance to talk and set up the details, so we both walked around the terminal for awhile and randomly ran into each other on the curbside.

We have stayed pretty busy, which is good. Ashley and I are just starting our support raising efforts and he is someone who raised support only a few years ago and continues to look for people to support the ministry in La Ceiba.

Mike has made us dinner 3 times already and all three times it has been really good. He was the navigator as we drove to a meeting and told us to "keep going, I think there is another Chandler Rd." (we ended up being about 10 minutes late since we had to turn around after a few miles)

So far so good on having a third person around the house this week. We are very much looking forward to working with Mike and his family and the rest of the Honduras team when we get there! -M

Big Week

We are now into the first full week of 2010. It is, and has been, a big week in our lives.

1. Our official MTW prayer cards arrived on Tuesday!
2. We finished our first batch of our first mailer on Thursday night.
3. We put the finished mail in the outgoing mail.
4. I picked our future team leader, since he is here for our missions conference. He is staying at our house for the next week.
5. Saturday and Sunday is the Covenant Community Church Missions Conference! We are kicking off our support raising at our church's missions conference.

We thank the Lord for being with us through all we are doing and we thank you all for your prayer and support. -M

Back to "real" life...

After 17 days of "vacation", I (Ashley) am returning to work. I say "vacation" because it was packed full: Christmas parties, write our first newsletter, print E-giving cards and mailing labels, enter contacts into our database, eat lots of yummy food, go for walks, find a new home for one of our dogs, clean, organize, not to mention shop and wrap gifts... Ah... It was wonderful.
Alas, the time has come for life to return to the steady pace of working each day from 7AM-4PM (and sometimes more). Thankfully, I love my job - my students - my co-workers - my boss... As I've mentioned before, I love where we are. The difference starting tomorrow is that each evening I will be starting my second job - well, our second job. We are ready to find partners to support us and the ministry in Honduras as we go. This coming weekend, we will be speaking at our church's mission conference - our first "talk". We will be sending out our first mailing this week or early next week.
The excitement is building. Anticipation is growing! My favorite verse today: "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" -Ash