Savannah Eaton...Reporting For Duty.

Savannah Eaton

For those of you who don't know, I am Savannah Eaton. My husband and I just joined the team recently. We are really excited about it. I'm here to write my first blog. Blog is such a 21st century word. I kept plenty of diaries as a teenager so I should be pretty good at it.

So, this week I've started the initial stages of support raising. I've went through a range of feelings and emotions about the whole thing. What I have felt the most is doubt. I have found myself doubting myself, God's people and even the Almighty himself. During my quiet time, I've been praying and praying for my faith to strengthened and for my doubts to be relinquished.

God provides peace and comfort in the most unexpected ways.

Oddly enough, I've got some amazing encouragement from the book "People Raising" by William P. Dillon. I picked it up thinking it might give me some tips as I am calling people and setting up appointments to meet with missions boards. It gave me alot more than that.

One of the first reasons it gives for why support raising is important is that it stretches your faith. It goes on to give many more reason but this resonated loudly with me. Here I am, already experiencing this...the more I thought about it, I just realized that where my doubts are is the same place where my faith will grow and expand. This process is going to be a challenge, but through it, the doubts I have will turn into a stronger and steadier belief that God will meet my every need.

Through reading the book, I also came to understand that my own negative attitude could be my downfall. I can't look at support raising as this daunting task. I know that I have an amazing opportunity to share with others in the body of Christ this work God has put on our hearts and let them be a part of it. What we're doing is actually pretty exciting.

I can't say I'm feeling absolutley amazing about support raising but I can say I am not dreading it anymore. I'm looking forward to sharing Verona, Italy with everyone and giving others a chance to be a part of it.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well"- Matthew 6:33

As the Wheel Turns

So, as we are in the states, one of the objectives was to recruit the team, which really means trusting in God to form the team and listening to the Spirit as we follow Him. We hope to have recruitment finished within the next month. Then we can shift as a team towards "long-distance-bonding". So far, Angie and I are the only ones who have met or spent time with each of our team members in person! I know it has got to be strange for our team, who is just getting to know who they are going to be ministering with!

Our time for being in the states has been extended from the end of June to the end of September. Having that extra time is important for our team to get more of a base in their financial support, as well as giving us a chance to do more VBS programs and camps.

Everything we do in the states impacts our future work in Verona. It is the foundation for what we will build on as a team once we arrive in Verona. May God's will be ours.

Such Amazing Love

I have long been fascinated at the ways that God has placed himself and his message of redemption and reconciliation in the cultures of the world. In China we were often fascinated to learn of stories or traditions that gave an opening for us to share. Even within the Jewish culture, where they had so much from him, he left them messages. Things that say, "Look! Jesus is the Messiah! It could only be him!"

For several years now we as a family have been learning about some of the Jewish holidays. We are slow and bumbling as we celebrate these things, but they have such wonderful pictures and lessons in them. We have been celebrating Passover. Though officially Passover isn't for a bit yet this year, we try to celebrate it in connection with Easter- since that is the way it was for Jesus. This year we "cheated" and participated in a seder presented by Jews for Jesus.

There are so many wonderful, beautiful parts. Bryan loves the search for the affikomen. This is a broken piece of matzah that was taken from the middle of three sections of a special cloth. It is wrapped in linen and hidden away for a time during the meal. Then the children seek it out and are paid a ransom for it. Many Jews aren't even sure why the cloth has three sections....can you see the picture there?

This is the piece of matzah- an unleavened bread made so that it is pierced, has stripes and bruises, and is broken- that Jesus took and gave to his disciples when he set up the Lord's supper.

Out of the four cups of wine that are taken during the meal, it is the cup of redemption that Jesus used for the time we remember as the Lord's supper. The cup of redemption- no coincidence there!

How perfectly wonderful that in a feast celebrated for more than a thousand years before Jesus came there are these messages. I have only shared a couple with you. There are more! What love to take the time to carefully place these clues and reminders everywhere! How carefully planned! How much love and care is that! To set these things up when he set the world in motion!

What has he placed in Italy? What things in their culture will we find that are shouting about him to the dear people he loves there? I can't wait to find out!

The Spirit and the Mind

In Creole, the language spoken in Haiti, your intelligence and and "spirit" are all rolled into one concept. They are the same thing. As a child is gaining a conscience of where things go, how to put things together, the routine of things... as Americans we say, "Oh! She's getting so smart!" Haitians however say, "Oh! She begins to have a spirit!"

Maybe we as Americans need to start thinking more with our spirit and the Spirit within us along with our smarts.

Welcome Brandon and Savannah

As you know we have been recruiting for the Verona team while we are in the states. In fact, it is us along with many of you praying that God forms the team He wants in Verona. About a week ago, we welcomed aboard the latest team members, Brandon and Savannah Eaton. Brandon and Savannah will be leading in the areas of youth and children, which includes outreach, disicipleship ministry, etc... I look forward to sharing more about them as we go along. Praise God for bringing this team together.

The Agon

As you know, this year is an Olympic year. I’m looking forward to watching them on TV because I love the Olympics, but also, because they’re being held in Beijing. I’m anxious to see how China cleans up its capital city for the event.

Recently, I watched a documentary about the early Olympics. The first recorded Olympic race was held in 776 BC and the games continued until AD 394. They were renewed in 1896 and have continued (excepting three years during World Wars I and II) to the present time.

The early games included foot races, jumping, discus throwing, javelin throwing, wrestling, boxing, and chariot races. These contests were called agon in Greek.

This word is also used in the New Testament. Hebrews 12:1 says, “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” The word “race” here is that same word, agon.

Similarly, in I Timothy 6:12, Paul encourages Timothy to “Fight the good fight of the faith” and in II Timothy 4:7 and 8, Paul, in his later years, declares, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” In the phrase, “fight the good fight,” the Greek verb is agonizo and the noun is agon from which we get our English words agonize and agony. Paul states that he has “agonized” and won the “agon.”

Sometimes, I think I can really relate to Paul. Life seems like agony at times. I hate support-raising. It seems like agony to me. But that’s the phase I’m in right now in my life and ministry and that’s what’s needed for us to be able to go and share the good news of God’s grace with the Italian people.

Struggling with sin. Struggling “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). These are all a part of the agon we are called to fight, too.

I’m know that what I’m going through is nothing compared with what Paul went through with his beatings and imprisonments. But, I still find a kindred spirit there.

And, what of Christ? Luke records (in 22:44) his struggle on the Mount of Olives: “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Anguish here, is – you guessed it – that Greek word agon again. Jesus was in agony, but not just agony, he was in agon. That is, he was in a fight, a struggle, a competition for a prize. And do you know what that prize was? It was us. It was our salvation.

For the Christian, the goal of the agon is always salvation, whether ours or others'. Let us agonize the good agon together, for the salvation of many around the world!

The Upside to Suffering

I have always hated the thought of suffering. The big stuff kind of scares me. You know....someone I love dying, having some terrible disease, or facing major persecution. But I am beginning to see, just the corner mind you, of the good side to suffering. I am contemplating how it brings us closer to God. I wasn't sure it made sense to me till yesterday a couple of things helped to make that clearer.

My kids have been sick. They are big kids these days and having them sick doesn't entail all it has in the past. But my energetic 9 year old boy, Bryan, who is the most likely to forget to kiss Mama goodbye, crashed. He just needed a nap so badly. He wanted to snuggle and have me read him a book. Not that he doesn't like that sort of thing on other occasions, but it's not his first choice for an afternoon activity on an average day.

It reminds me of when Jessica was little. She was my shadow. She was happy as long as she could see me. But when she was sick, she wanted to be held. We read stories and watched movies, over and over, but she wouldn't do that alone. She wanted to be on my lap. Then she was content and it didn't matter how yucky she felt, life was okay and everything was going to be fine.

Being sick and feeling bad pushed my kids to want to spend extra time with me. It reassured them that life was still going along well and comforted them. Wow! That's how I am with God. When things are good I spend some time with him and I think of him from time to time throughout the day. But when things get tough I need him right there. I'm talking to him for long periods and just taking comfort from his promises and his word.

So, I'm finally getting it, to a small degree. Suffering has an upside. It's getting to spend extra time with my heavenly father!

Tit for Tat

I'm trying to imagine how my life in Italy will be different that it is here in Haiti. I most often think about this in the kitchen. Here, I make things in bulk and freeze them in the big deep freezer downstairs. Because we get things shipped in from Sam's Club, when I open a bag of chicken, it's a BAG of chicken. So, I just go ahead and use a lot of it. Then, I have nice little individual servings of lasagna, enchiladas, or whatever. I even make huge batches of bread dough and freeze them in little balls - perfect for individual buns or pizzas.

This morning, as I was putting my frozen breakfast taco in the toaster oven, and thought... oh, I'll really miss being able to freeze so much. With European sized freezers, a month's worth of breakfast tacos will not be an option.

But then I took the salsa out of the fridge and thought, "Oh! But I will get to make my own salsa with fresh peppers and huge tomatoes!"

It seems that for every thing I imagine I'll loose, there will be something else knew to discover.

I think this is how God works. There are always blessings... always surprises... always little prizes waiting for us when we obey Him. For me, I can't wait for those fresh vegetables!

You're invited for dinner. We'll have a salad with artichokes and beautiful bell peppers and the freshest of olives. And soft mozzarella cheese. Don't even get me started talking about the cheese.

Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting

We have involved in several facets of the ministry since the first of the year. We have already started visiting churches to talk about our ministry. Last week we started taking a semester long class called "Perspectives". It is really good and you can read more about it on our personal blog (http://www.thecrossers.com/blog/2008/01/perspectives.html). But the aspect of our ministry that is taking the most time right now is recruiting. As you can see on our team's website, we are still recruiting for youth ministry, children's ministry and music outreach/worship ministry. We are spending hours on the phone and writing emails. It is receiving applications and reading them. It is calling references and checking with others who are involved in the decision making process. I love it! I think we are almost at a point of having our initial team formed though and that is a good thing. It allows us to focus on all the other things that need to get done before the initial team is ready to go to the field.

Gifts and Giftings

Here we are entering into a new year. So naturally our thoughts turn to new beginnings, fresh adventures, but most of all...finishing our year end reports. Ugh. As you know, I have been struggling with getting our mission finance records in order since we arrived back in the States. I won't go into the details, but it has been a fiasco. (Is that an Italian word? If it's not, it should be!) Anyway, I finally told Ann I needed her help. As she sat down next to me and started to put the pieces of the jigsaw mess together, she said something to the effect of, "You know, I really like doing work like this." Good Lord! I *hate* doing work like this. Figures, numbers, paperwork. I'd rather slash my wrists! But, God in His infinite foresight -- and mercy -- gave me Ann. To each one, God has given various gifts and talents. Mine is definitely not figures and finance. But, praise God, Ann's is. She definitely compliments me in many ways, and believe me, that's a *big* job! I think we just might be on track by the 15th.

A World Heritage Sight

851 properties are included in the World Heritage List. These are cultural and natural sites that are considered "having outstanding universal value." The city of Verona was added to the list in 2000. That's the city as a whole!

A Lot to Look Forward To

I've been reading Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. What a fantastic place to be! Oh the people we'll meet and the things we'll see! Best of all, we get to hug Jesus!

I was recently reminded of another great aspect of Heaven. One I'm truly looking forward to. Jessica was dusting and perusing my Grandmother's books that were on the shelf. She found this: It is Benjamin Franklin's Epitaph on Himself.

The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.

What a fantastic thought! It goes for all of us! Isn't the love, grace, and faithfulness of God something else!

Help My Unbelief

In Junior Worship, one of my co-workers told the story of how God provided for the Israelites as the wondered around for half of a lifetime: water, meat, sweet honey bread… even clothes and shoes. She closed by saying, “If God can take care of the Israelites with all these miracles, can He take care of you?” Their feet didn’t even swell or get blisters. Yes, I know He can take care of me… and the long list we think has to be done before this GoVerona mission gets started.

Preparation for Verona

Since arriving back in the states on October 30, 2007 we have been extremely busy. We have done much in the way of preparing for the ministry in Verona. We have been involved in recruiting and promoting the work at the National Missionary Convention and it went really well. Hopefully, soon we can announce some of the news regarding that. Angie and I went to the bi-annual Team Leader summit hosted by Team Expansion where we were trained and encouraged in leading a team. Now we are back in Tulsa and are moving into a new apartment tomorrow morning. In January, we will start giving formal presentations to many churches around the country. If you are interested in having us come and speak just email us and let us know, mcrosser@teamexpansion.org. Thanks for reading!

A Lesson Learned

by April

In my college English class, I have always been a tough grader. One tiniest mistake made the whole answer wrong. Perfect or nothing.

However, now that I myself am learning another language... I find myself relaxing on my grading. I'd like to think of it as "having a little more grace". Yet, I want to teach my students to strive for excellence.

Isn't that the balance all teachers - all people - face? To reach high and forgive wide.

Pumpkin Provision

We haven't been in the US for the past 5 falls. In Hainan, where we have been, there isn't much to recognize about autumn. There, the weather cools off a bit. The kids know the season has changed when Mama gets out her fall decorations. We have been enjoying the sight of the leaves turning and, while Colorado's blue and gold autumns don't draw the crowds that New England's do, we have been thrilled by the spectacle.

Bryan, who was 4 on our last American fall, has been thrilled about every aspect of the experience. He was eager for the chance to dress up and attend the Harvest Festival at our home church. But he was really excited about the prospect of carving a pumpkin. They have pumpkins and various relatives in Hainan, but they pick them quite green. We never saw one of those big, bright orange pumpkins the entire time we were there. So you can see why Bryan was excited about the prospect of his own designer pumpkin. The other kids were looking forward to it too, but not with nearly as much anticipation.

Having some experience as a Pumpkin Carver, and as a mother with a few falls under her belt, I determined that we needed to wait till the end of October to get the pumpkins so that they would not rot too quickly. So even though there were piles of lovely orange pumpkins from the beginning of September on I was waiting patiently. John suggested contacting the local pumpkin farm and letting the kids pick their own. We both tried to contact them, but were unsuccesssful. Meanwhile, I had in my head that we needed to take everyone and let them pick a pumpkin.

I imagine you can guess the next part. That final week arrived and so did a dozen extra things to do. The 31st came and we were hustling out the door when Bryan asked if we were going to get pumpkins then. There wasn't time. We figured we'd go the next day. The next day and the one after that I called all over trying to find even one pumpkin for my very disappointed little boy. I had really let him down.

But we serve a tremendous God who loves us in amazing and lavish ways. He provided the perfect payment for our sins so we could be with Him for eternity. He provides for our daily needs; a roof over our heads and food to eat. He has seen to it that we have a vehicle, a place for our big kids to take Chemistry and other things that interest them, and violin lessons for Avonlea. He also loves Bryan enough to make sure he got a pumpkin.

The big kids and I were at the store today. There in a small bin in the produce section were, not one but FOUR, pumpkins. That was all that was there. There weren't three or five, but four. You can't imagine the smile on Bryan's face or the relief in my heart. Not just one for Bryan, but for each of our kids. It was as if God had saved those pumpkins just for them.

God gives us what we need when we trust Him. He even gives us what we want sometimes. And He loves to find a way to say, "You are very special to me. I love you, see!"

On the Road Again

Well, Angie and I arrived in the USA last Tuesday night and we are busy packing our things in order to head out once more. Tomorrow morning (Monday), we take off for a fifteen day trip. First we will go to Louisville, Kentucky where every two years, Team Expansion hosts a Team Leader Summit. This is an opportunity to grow, prepare, be encouraged, etc.... in the role of Team Leader. After that we stay in Louisville for a few days of fellowship and meetings. Then on November 15th we leave for Cincinnati, Ohio for the National Missionary Convention. We will be there for three days before we return once more to home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thanks for your prayers as we travel!

Xs and Os

I love to-do lists. I'm the kind of person who writes down things I've already done today that are normal every day things (wake up, brush teeth) on my to-do list just so I can mark them off.

Matt has arranged for our team to use not one - but two - on line sites that help us list and mark off our to do lists! So, first I get to write it with my permanent marker on my paper and then I get to put it on line, twice if I want. So, it's double, even triple, the pleasure when I get to check it off. Fun, fun!

For the last few months, Italy has seemed so far away. I've been telling people that Italy will seem more real when my to-do list has more Italy things than Haiti things. And lately, I've been doing a lot of Italy things.

I have a giant tic-tac-toe board in my classroom. I think you're supposed to throw beanbags at it. I use it for math games. I put cards with math facts on the front. Answer the question right, and you're team gets to turn it to the X or O.

Last night I dreamed that the cards on the board were things from my to-do list. Then, the Xs were for Italy and the Os were for Haiti.

Hmmm... someone would have a field day interpreting this dream! I'll leave them to it. As for me, I'm going to mark off "post on blog" on every to-do list I have.