October Update

It’s been about a month since we “outed” the fact that we’re working on moving to Houston to work with Global Frontier Missions.  So I figured it was time for a little update on what we have been doing and what you can pray about.  I’ve included our stress level in brackets behind each item.

1. Support Raising (low) – Like we mentioned last time we are going to be 100% supported by people’s donations to us.  So every dollar we have to spend on food, rent, health insurance, gas, travel, etc comes from people who love and care for us.  We have started meeting with life groups, pastors, missions committees, friends, random people we meet at church… to tell them about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how they can help.  We are also trying to raise as much prayer support for this work as possible too.  We are totally confident that if there is plenty of prayer that the finances will follow.  And that’s why our stress level is pretty low.  God will provide.

We don’t have a budget set right now, but Michelle is going to Houston to meet up with our co-workers down there and see what they have budgeted.  But it won’t be cheap to live there.  It’s safe to say that our budget could be in the area of $3000 USD a month or more.  We are confident that we will have all or most of our monthly needs coming in by July of 2011.  To find out how to help us financially, please visit www.diks.ca.  There are links there with instructions on how to donate to us from both the USA and Canada.

2. US Immigration (fluctuating) – We’ve got a lot of experience dealing with various governments and filling out forms.  A LOT.  We do passports on a regular basis; four of us have to do it for two countries.  We dealt with massive amounts of red tape and bureaucracy with Katria.  And none of it comes close to the level of ambiguity and frustration that applying for my US green card has already caused.  From what we can see there are the posted rules, and then there what actually happens.  But we’ve survived so far.  We think we’re about 1/3 of the way through the process.  Next up are a couple more forms to send to Montreal, then they will let me know if I can book an appointment to go to Montreal to have an interview.  But before going to Montreal it looks like I will need to visit one of only FOUR doctors in Canada who are licensed to do physicals for the immigration process.  And I get to choose from Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal to visit the doctor.  But it looks like I can’t visit the doctor in Montreal and then do my appointment right away since it takes 48 hours (at least) for the paperwork to be created.  I guess I could just be in Montreal for 4 days.  Or a day trip to Vancouver!  So many options.

Of course, all of this is subject to interpretation and change.  So pray that things will be smooth, CLEAR and there will be a minimum of cross country flights for me.

3. Planning (low, but a forecast for increase) – We want to be moving to Houston in July 2011.  This of course depends on items 1 and 2 above happening by then.  We’re focused on that date and trust God to take care of the heavy work (and the light work too!).  So as we keep moving toward the move we know there are a lot of things that need to happen.

– re-de-cluttering the house again.  When we went to Mexico we moved all of our stuff out of the house and into storage.  That meant an extreme amount of de-cluttering.  Then we moved back into the house and saw how much stuff there was, which necessitated another round of de-cluttering.  Then this last spring we held a garage sale and got rid of more stuff.  And there is STILL too much stuff around here.  So in preparation for another move we are trying to go through all of our boxes in the basement and cupboards and closets and shelves and dark corners to get rid of things we don’t need.  You might as well mark “Diks Garage Sale” on your calendar for sometime in the spring.

– sell, or rent?  Good question.  We don’t know.  But that one will be figured out next spring.  In the meantime we have been renovating.  Painting the outside (creamy mushroom instead of faded pinkish coral), replacing the kitchen floor, changing light fixtures and whatever else needs to be done.  It’s all good stuff whether we sell or rent.  Please pray for a buyer or renter to present themselves at the right time.

There’s lots of other little stuff to think about, so much that I can’t even remember it at the moment.  Just think about the things that you would have to consider if you had three kids, were changing jobs and moving to a different country.  Then please pray about it?

And there is the update.  If you want more specific information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.  We would love to talk about what’s going on.

/RD