We're in Texas!

WE ARE IN TEXAS!

Thank you to each and everyone of you who covered our family in prayer last week as we made the move from North Alabama to South Texas. We had a very good 2 day trip, no problems of any kind, didn't get lost one time, the kids did great and David and I both survived driving 19 hours in separate vehicles too. The picture above was my view for the entire trip. I got to stare at the back of the moving truck the whole trip! We arrived in Los Fresnos, TX around 9:30pm Friday night. There were people in the parking lot waiting to greet us and introduce themselves which we thought was pretty neat. Inside our new apartment, was a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies with a cute little "welcome to To Every Tribe" note attached. We were so tired that we came in and went straight to bed. Saturday morning we started unloading the moving truck and had so much help unloading that we couldn't get boxes into their hands fast enough. The sense of "community" and "family" is huge here and everyone is so friendly and helpful.

We are now living on campus at To Every Tribe which is a missions agency that mobilizes and trains missionaries for pioneer church planting among unreached people groups. In particular, To Every Tribe targets the most remote and most difficult-to-reach groups where the Gospel has not yet penetrated.

The landscape in Texas is certainly different from where we grew up and have always lived in Alabama. South Texas is pretty flat and there are not lots of trees. The ones that are here do not grow very tall and the palm trees seem to be the biggest trees in this area. There are lots of cactus (which Wyatt loves seeing) and the wind blows constantly. We live so close to the ocean now that we get to enjoy that wonderful ocean breeze everyday.

These beautiful Bird of Paradise flowers are just outside our door on campus so we get to look at their beautiful colors and unique design every day. It reminds me of the words found in Psalm 104:24.

This is the door to our new apartment on campus with To Every Tribe! Yes, we brought a little piece of Alabama along with us (Roll Tide!). We are still working on unpacking, organizing and settling in. We are almost there but still have a couple of days work ahead of us. The apartment came furnished with furniture so we just have to find a place for all the clothes and stuff that we brought. Thankfully we have one more week before training classes actually begin to give us a little time to get totally done, relax a little and familiarize ourselves with our new area a little more too.

Since South Padre Island is just 30 minutes from our house we drove down there one afternoon just to see the ocean. It is a natural beach (much different than Panama City Beach, FL where we love to go) but it was still the ocean and still so beautiful and peaceful. We can't wait to go back and spend a day playing in the ocean, collecting seashells and having fun as a family. The drive over to the beach was a nice little break from unpacking and organizing too!

And how are the kids liking our new place?? They are loving it so far. There are so many kids here of all ages for them to play with and they go outside as soon as breakfast is over and only come in to eat or go to the bathroom. We haven't started homeschooling yet so they get to play all day right now but in a few weeks we will begin homeschooling so their daily routine will change somewhat.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• Continue to keep us in your prayers! Pray for us as we prepare to begin training classes and start homeschooling. Pray that everyone will continue to adjust well to our new place, new surroundings and new friends.
• Pray for us as we find a church here locally. It isn't like growing up in the "Bible Belt" where there is a church on every corner so we are visiting different churches right now and praying for God to lead us where He wants us to be the next few years.
• Pray for financial support on our behalf. We are self-supporting missionaries and we came down here literally stepping out on faith that God will provide the funds we need to be able to stay. We did not have a house to sell (we rented) and we literally sold most of what we had in our home and came down here with the money we had in our bank account. We believe God's Word to be true and we claim scriptures like Phil. 4:19, Matt. 6:31-32, Luke 12:7. We are also praying for churches that may want to partner with us in some way too. If you would like to help us financially you can donate online (choose our name under Gift Designation: Johns, David & Gretta) or we can receive mail at our new address below:

David & Gretta Johns

602 W. 6th Street

Apt. 5

Los Fresnos, TX 78566

We realize we do not know what hardships we will face as we seek to serve the Lord. We do realize much risk and sacrifice are part of this step but that no matter what we go through the joy of the Lord will be our strength - for where the cost is great, the joy is greater. Jesus IS worth it! We look forward to what God has in store for us the next 2 years as we complete our missionary training at To Every Tribe. We are already loving being in TX, are getting to know some wonderful families that are here with us and we look forward to beginning our time of training and studying the Word as we prepare to take the Gospel to unreached people groups.

We pray that God continues to bless each one of you too!

May Update

Today we traveled to Gardendale First Baptist to worship there and to get to hear David Sitton, President of To Every Tribe (our mission board) speak during Sunday school. David delivered a powerful message that showed the need for taking the Gospel to unreached people groups, showed the difference in unevangelized and unreached people groups and challenged us with the words of scripture found in Matthew 9:35-10:1. He reminded us that we all have a role in missions....some are the "goers" the ones who take up the call themselves to pierce these areas of darkness with the Gospel, some are the "senders" who help get the "goers" on the field through prayer or by being a financial martyr to help send missionaries by financially supporting their work. No matter what role you take on, we all have a part to play in mission work.

After church, we enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Jim & Nick's BBQ with David and 4 members of the board of directors of To Every Tribe. Not only did we enjoy delicious food but we got to spend about 2 hours talking with them personally. We had a great time laughing together, sharing and being encouraged by them as we learned more about the ministry and the needs throughout the world. We are now even more excited to be moving to Los Fresnos, TX in just a few months to begin our missions training.

We are praising God for those of you who have already financially sacrificed to help support us and our upcoming mission work. To date, we have raised $1200 toward our mission work and we thank you for your financial contributions and sacrifices so far! We still have a long way to go before we move. At present, we still need to cover the remaining tuition costs: $12,500 and we still need monthly supporters to help cover monthly living expenses/on-campus housing. Would you prayerfully consider being a financial martyr and helping support our mission efforts with To Every Tribe? You can donate online (choose our name: Johns, David & Gretta under gift designation) or you can email us at Bamagv@aol.com and we will be happy to send you more information about how you can partner with us as well.

Our prayer cards have arrived also and if you would like one of those, please email us as well and we will be glad to send you one in the mail. These are great to post somewhere that you will see them frequently so you can be reminded to pray for us, our mission work and the ministries of To Every Tribe on a daily basis. Even if you can't financially support us, we'd love to have you on our "prayer team" praying for us each day!

Thank you for praying for our family as we seek to follow God's calling in our lives and we can't wait to be updating you from south Texas in just a few months! Also, take just a moment and watch this great video: Jesus is worth it!

Arise and Go

Our family is preparing to embark on an exciting journey as a full-time missionary family and we would love for you to come along with us! For the past few years, we have been involved in various ministries within our church and local mission work. However, God has burdened our hearts for mission work on foreign soil and taking the Gospel to unreached people groups throughout the world.

Unreached people groups are those among whom Christ has not been named; there are no self-reliant churches and no meaningful access to Christ and the Gospel among them. The Joshua Project has identified 16,689 different people groups on the earth today. Two thousand years after Jesus issued the Great Commission, 6,898 people groups are still considered unreached. This means that approximately 2.8 BILLION people currently have little or no access to the Gospel message! These are the people we want to live and work among.

In July, we will move to Los Fresnos, Texas (near Brownsville) to become full-time missionaries with To Every Tribe. They are a mission agency with a rigorous, 2 year missionary training program called The Center for Pioneer Church Planting (CPCP). We will live in an on-campus apartment and will go through various training classes. In fact, approximately 40% of our training time will be spent outside of the classroom - with on the job training in the countries of Mexico and Papau New Guinea (above Australia). We will be able to put into first-hand practice the church planting concepts we have been taught in our classroom studies by working in these areas of unreached people groups.

First and foremost, our family needs your prayers! Transitioning to a new state, new friends, new home, new environment and leaving our family and friends will be hard....especially for our 3 children. Beyond that, the emotional, physical and spiritual rigors of attending training classes, studying new languages, investing in the community, homeschooling our children and going into Mexico and Papau New Guinea to serve is not something we would ever undertake without prayer! Please pray for our family as we transition into this new role that God has called us to.

Second, there are financial needs that we are trusting the Lord to provide. We will be sending out support letters very soon and we are currently seeking churches that would allow us to come share our passion for mission work with their congregation either on a Sunday, Wednesday or in a small group setting. The cost of tuition for our 2 year training program is $13,700. We will also have a monthly housing bill of $625 as well as basic living expenses (food, insurance, gas, etc.) that total around $700 per month. Will you please join us in prayer that our financial needs will be met and that Christians hearts will be touched to support our mission efforts?

As we prepare to train, study and reach out to people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, we want to keep you on the front lines with us. By asking for your involvement, we are committing to you as well. We will communicate regularly to you with updates and prayer requests through this site. We will be transparent and accountable to you and To Every Tribe with every aspect of our finances. We will study diligently, work hard, invest deeply and live passionately and we will do it all for the glory of God ~ because Jesus IS worth it!