The following is a collection of posts written as we prepared and then went on our journey. Comments have been left open if you would like to comment on anything that you read.

As many of you know, Brent and I are leaving in a few weeks to film a documentary for Gospel Light Worldwide www.gospellightworldwide.com. This blog is our attempt to share our adventure and what God is doing with those who want to journey with us. For those of you who did not receive the prayer letter continue reading. For those of you who have please keep praying for us!!. Our plan is to update this blog as much as possible with specific prayer request and stories about the process.

Gospel Light Worldwide publishes children’s curriculum in many countries. Their One Million Children campaign has set a goal to help one million children enter and grow in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by the end of 2007. In an effort to raise awareness and money for their cause, we are filming a documentary that shares the stories of God using this curriculum to change the lives of children and their families in these countries. We will be leaving June 24 traveling to China, India, and South Africa then returning to Indiana on July 15 where we will stay for one more week. Our children will be with their grandparent’s in Indiana while we are gone.

Brent and I are very excited and honored to be a part of this project. A brief story how this is a “dream” come true for us. As some of you may remember, Brent and I first met in Feburary, 1999. A month or so within meeting, Brent wrote a proposal to do a documentary showing what God was doing in other parts of the world. The proposal was inspired by a documentary he saw at the Santa Barbara Film festival called Mega Cities. Mega Cities documented the lives and depravity in cities around the world. After seeing it Brent thought, “Where’s God in all of this?” and therefore wrote the proposal for a documentary about what God is doing despite the depravity and sent it to World Relief. We talked excitedly about how wonderful it would be to travel together and shoot documentaries. But alas, life took over and with children, mortgages, and work we forgot our dream. Until this year. Brent has been doing Gospel Light Worldwide’s website for years and through conversations with GLW’s president, Marc Stein, they came up with the idea for the documentary. I have never seen Brent more excited. I am thrilled (as well as a little nervous) because this project will bring together our love to create and our desire to see people lives changed by Christ.

Please pray for us as we prepare and go on this journey. We expect that there will be trials while we attempt to contribute to the growth God’s kingdom and in effort to lessen the trials we ask that our friends and family lift us, our family, the families abroad, and the project up in prayer. Here are a few specifics we would be grateful if you could pray for us.

1. Much of the success of the documentary relies on the children and families who will be filmed. Please pray that God brings us together with the families that He wants to use to share what He is doing in these countries. Also that God would prepare the heart of the children and families so that they feel comfortable and excited to share what He is doing in their lives. This is especially important in China where it is illegal to evangelize to children under the age of 18. The teachers and families are worried that their identity will become known. Of course, we are planning to be very sensitive to these concerns and in no way put them in any danger. With that, we asked that God gives us an extra measure of creativity when we are filming in Beijing.
2. Our safety and health while abroad. Please pray we get over jet lag quickly b/c we must have clear minds. Please pray for our health and, of course, safe travels.
3. Please pray all our luggage gets to the places we need. And that the camera and equipment work properly.
4. Please pray for Nathanael, Noah, and my family in Indiana. While I know that they are in the best of hands these three weeks, we are very nervous to be away from them this long.
5. Please pray for NimsMedia. As you know Brent supports our entire family wholly through Nims Media. It is important that his clients are still happy while we are away and business continues as much as possible. He is under GREAT stress trying to wrap up projects before we go.
6. Please pray against my real fear of flying (by the end of the trip we will have been on an airplane over 68 hours and traveled around the world!) and the fear of leaving my children.
7. Please pray for our preparations. We have to pack very strategically since we are using most of our bag allotment for video equipment. Also, we specifically need someone to watch our little black cat Sunny. He is a very SWEET well-behaved indoor only cat. Our dogs have some temporary parents. If you or someone you know would be willing to take him for 4 weeks we would be GRATEFUL!!!

Thank you for taking the time to read this entry and most importantly thank you for the prayers.In Love,Brent and Jenn

We are still busy getting things prepared. I went to the Doctor today and she wrote all of my prescriptions but one…she was worried about liability or something. I guess I shouldn’t be asking for Morphine for the flight No seriously, she didn’t say no but said she would have to talk to the main doctor and I haven’t heard back from her as of yet.

Please continue to pray for Brent, as he is under TONS OF PRESSURE. I wish I could do more for him, but I can’t, seeing I don’t know diddlysquat about design programs. He is staying up really late, so please pray against sickness. And he hurt his shoulder lifting weights, (we think it is just a strained muscle), but it wouldn’t hurt to say a prayer for healing. I know all this makes him sound like a mess, but he isn’t. His strength, focus, and ability to perform under stress amazes me.

Nathanael and I were at a thrift store this afternoon looking for some cargo pants for the trip for me. He was so cute helping me, going down the racks looking for pants with cargo pockets. Unfortunately, every pair he found was either way to big or way to small. It was still nice to hang out with just him. At one point I kneel-ed down and looked into his little face and told him how much I was going to miss him. I asked him how he felt about us leaving and he responded by saying he was upset because….he wants to go to China too. It’s funny but he has been talking about China all year. Just loves Chinese inspired things too. For instance there are a bunch of track houses around here that have Chinese inspired roofs where the corners curl up and every time we pass one he points out the “china house”. Today he saw some pants with some brocade on the hems and was so excited, “mom look china pants.” He also loves “china fans”. The coolest thing though, is from time to time he wants to pray for, or at least shows interest in, the missionaries in China. Boy we are going to miss these little guys so much.

Thank you so much to those of you who have been praying for us. Your prayers mean so much to us.

Love,

Jenn & Brent

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has contributed to the gift fund. Please pray that the order I placed with Oriental trading today arrives before we leave. It is supposed to be here by Thursday using overnight shipping. These are the gifts I have purchased so far:

For the children we will be filming- Tote bags each filled with a jump ropes, hackee sacks, puppets, baseball caps, and sunglasses.

Sunday school supply kits for the churches we will be visiting. In these kits are glue sticks, crayons, cross bracelet kits, Christian themed foam stickers, pencils, scissors, and paper.

We also bought lots of candy, Jesus bracelets, and stickers to pass out to the children we meet.

We still need to purchase gifts for our hosts and “family gifts” for the families we will be filming. The Teva outlet has offered to let us buy sandles at $5 a pair. Depending on how much money that comes in and room in our luggage we would like to purchase a bunch to give to the our host to distribute to the children in most need of new shoes (sandles). Once again, thank you so much for your generosity.

We are getting more excited day by day.

Love, Brent and Jenn

UPDATE:
The order was delivered yesterday. Two large heavy boxes. Now pray we can figure out a way to get all this stuff in our luggage… : )

love, jenn

Thank you so much for your prayers. I got some sweet text messages last night before we left that helped put me at ease. (I also realized some of my friends don’t get nearly enough sleep!!) It feels wierd knowing my children are on the other side of the world…this is a real test of my trust in God. Please pray for our next flight to Beijing. Pray our luggage gets there and we get through customs. Pray that we don’t collapse and wake up to have our carry-on luggage disappear.