I just went in for donuts...

Hello!

We wanted to share some exciting changes we expect in the near future. It's a long one so go get a cuppa and have a seat.

The first week of July I went with our church youth group to a denomination (CMA) youth conference. It's called LIFE and it's put on by The Alliance. As I prepared for it, God lit up a passage in my reading. It was in 1 Samuel 9:23-24

23 And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, “Put it aside.’” 24 So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Saul said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.”

As I read that, some specific hardships in our family came to mind and I praised God and agreed with him that the appointed hour was now and it would be wonderful if he would miraculously redeem and restore these broken relationships! I sensed him saying well there’s more than that and I thought of the Life conference and prayed for all attending to received the fullness of what he had for us there! Then I moved on.

Life conference was far better then I imagined. It was 5 days of incredible speakers, seminars, times of worship, and connection. Throughout the week we had gone through the "experiences" they offer, (Prayer, Missions, & Justice). On the morning of the 9^th, the last day of the conference, we went through the Justice experience which is a way of exposing our youth to the reality of suffering and injustice in the world. I stood in a room of sewing machines with pictures of the child that worked each machine, their name, location, how many hours they worked/day and how much they were paid per day. The average was 14yrs, 15hrs for $2/day. It's heartbreaking and crushing and only a small glimpse into all the forms of trafficking and slavery that exist in the world. Knowledge of this is what originally was our heart in going to Mongolia. 

I stood in that room weeping and told God if he wants me to go he knows I will, he just has to show me where and how. If not, then please give me peace, my heart hurts so much. We have not looked for overseas opportunities or considered it for a few years. I feel like God has us here in Muncie for this season and I don't see that changing. By the end of that encounter I did have peace and went about my day. 

I met up with another adult with our youth group and then noticed a few kids coming into the activity hall with large boxes of donuts. I asked one of them where they got the donuts? At these conferences people are often giving away lots of things. We had 5 boys in our group and I knew I could score points with them if I brought donuts! They told us which room and that there were thousands of donuts! We headed off very hopeful. When we arrived the room was mostly empty, other than 4 people in the far corner folding empty donut boxes. I said "Aww, you're out!" and they replied "Nope, we have one box left, do you want it?" I immediately said yes and we headed to their corner. When I got there they gave me the donuts and one person asked where we were from. I told them and then asked (purely out of obligation and politeness) where they were from? As I looked at him I recognized he had brought bags of coffee to the leader’s meeting a prior morning. So I said, "you're the coffee guy!" He said, "I'm not the coffee guy, he is." and pointed to the other man packing up their things. I turned to him and said "Cool, my husband ran the coffeeshop UBean in Mongolia for almost 2yrs." He looked at me, stopped what he was doing, and said "What?!?" I repeated, "My husband ran a coffeehouse in Mongolia called UBean. We were there almost 2yrs, he roasted, barista'd, and was the director over it." By the time I finished his eyes were wide and tearing up and the others with him were giggling! I had no idea what was happening, but all of a sudden it felt vibrant and important. I said something along the lines of what's going on and he replied "We were literally just praying that God would send us someone to run our coffeeshop in Costa Rica! Do you think  your husband would do that?" By now I'm weeping, I can feel the Spirit of God in the room and on me! I was so overwhelmed that I was stuttering and struggling to process my thoughts. I said "I don't know, but I'll ask him. Who do I give my contact info to?" and struggled to remember how to add him to my messaging app. As we walked out, donuts in one hand and an invitation in the other, my friend prayed for us. I went to call Chaz, who was not at the conference. He surprisingly, said yes he would. I went back and found Jake the coffee guy. We had a good conversation and he told me that if we applied they (Inca Link Org) would fast track us because they needed us yesterday. That was July 9th, since then we have had video calls and an interview and have been hired to move to Costa Rica full time and run Tucantico Cafe in San Jose. 

It's all been a bit head spinny and quite overwhelming! We went through pre-field training with Inca Link and it has been so obvious the ways that God connected us into this organization. It is so good to be aligned with people who are like minded. So now we are prayerfully seeking full time support so that we can be fully present with the people there. There are 300 million youth of Latin America that Inca Link wants to share the love of Jesus with and we get to be a part of that. The hope is that the coffee business will be profitable enough to support the local organization and no longer need to request support from the US. I absolutely believe this is the direction God is moving. I've been praying that God would gift Tucantico a 10kg coffee roaster. It's always the beans that bring in the most profit. We are excited to see all the ways God will use us with boots on the ground. The main focus for us will be to make the coffeeshop a sustainable income stream for Inca Link Costa Rica (and maybe even beyond) and to the college students. The current likely location will be within blocks of the University of Costa Rica, with an enrollment of 37,000 to 40,000 students. We are hoping to make connections and be a safe space reminiscent of our time working with international students at BSU in Muncie.

So now our focus is getting to 100% fully funded. For a short time I had hoped to work remotely and support us that way. God closed that door and even gave me excitement about working in the coffeeshop with Chaz. I love that he gets to take all the expertise and vision he has had filling his head and put it in play! There are so many ways that God has stacked the deck and I can’t wait to see him show off! We lay our requests before him and wait with expectation to see how he will move.