Friday, October 19, 2012

Wanna Help?


If you are looking for a way(s) to help, we have three main areas you are able to help in. We have a prayer team, a financial team and an outreach team. Each team plays an important role in the ministry and is important to Matthew and myself. You get the opportunity to join in this ministry by joining one or more of the following teams! Matthew and I would be so blessed for you to join any of these teams! Yippee!



The Prayer Team: is committed to praying for us, the ministry and families of our military. Matthew and I need consistent prayer for our relationship to grow and deepen as we start this new journey. Pray also that we would trust God and His provision in this current faith building season. Pray that God would continue giving us dreams and a vision for the future children’s ministry. Our military families and military personnel  need your prayers as well. When military personnel are deployed, he/she leaves their families making the other spouse act a single parent. That spouse needs strength to balance the day-to-day “to-do” list as well as take care of the children. Our military personnel who are deployed need prayer just as much, they go through more than one could imagine while missing their friends, family and home life in the midst of it all. Once they return, it can be hard to adjust to “normal” life again. Some of our military personnel even struggle with connecting with their children.

The Financial Team: In order for us to officially get on the mission field, we need to raise our finances. We are required to raise $7,600 a month, which is a lot of money! We have to raise money to get us and our household items to Japan, to start up and run our ministry, for health insurance, a house/apartment, a car and everyday living. You are able to choose from different options within the financial team. You can choose to support us monthly, give us a one-time gift or “one-time” gifts periodically through the year. You may be happy to know because Cadence is a non-profit organization, your gift(s) are tax deductible. You can support us by using your debit/credit card, use an electronic funds transfer (EFT) or by writing a check. To invest using your debit/credit card or to set up an EFT, you can visit the Cadence International website, also found on a separate tab at the top of our blog. You can also look in the right column of our blog and click the link under “investing.” If you choose to write a check, you will need to make it out to “Cadence International” not to Matthew or myself. To have the check go to us, write our account number, which is 10790, in the “for” section of your check.

The Outreach Team: The outreach team involves people who desire to help us get our name known to the public! You can share our blog via Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Email, word of mouth or all of the above! We have “share” buttons that allow you to share with social networks easily. We also encourage you to share our ministry with your church; see if your church is willing to let us come share our hearts, lives and vision!

In the future, we look forward to having people join us on the field! We hope that you will come join us for a week or two and serve the kids with us! More on this will come once we have officially made it to the field! =)



**If you make the decision to join any of the three teams above, please let us know. We love knowing who is supporting and investing in this awesome ministry! We would also like to personally thank you for jumping on board and impacting lives alongside of us! =)

Monday, October 8, 2012

Made Alive In Christ

    When I (Sarah) think of where I would be without having Jesus Christ in my life, I cannot help but rejoice!! Before I became a Christian, I experienced some extremely difficult events. The first happened when I was five and my parents divorced. The justice system decided my dad was a better fit for my brother, my sister and myself. I saw my mom every Wednesday and every other weekend. My dad was my security, constant and the absolute best. Three short years later, my dad was diagnosed with esophagus cancer; he passed away two weeks before starting second grade.  In these two weeks, we had a funeral, packed up my things, said goodbye to my childhood house; friends and moved two hours away from all I had ever known. My siblings and I moved in with my dad’s oldest sister and her husband. They were gracious enough to buy a new home that fit three children and change their lives entirely. As an eight year old, I did not see their sacrifice; all I knew was that my life had changed and I wasn't too happy. My security was gone and the only thing familiar was my mom, who now lived two hours away. Needless to say, my siblings and I were not the nicest children; we made life a living nightmare for my Aunt and Uncle. In fact, it was so terrible, a year and a half later they let us move in with my mom. Shortly after moving in, I started realizing why my dad wanted us to live with his family and not my mom.  Once I hit sixth grade, I started hanging out with kids who “had connections,” students that were in high school or drop outs. I picked up smoking and drinking and did some drugs. I was so young, so lost and walking down a path full of nothing but destruction. I kept this up for two years, until I started to realize none of it really satisfied me.
    My brother went to church and he seemed happy, so I asked if I could go to youth group with him. Once I started going, I didn't stop. A few months later, our Pastor taught us about cold, hot and lukewarm Christians, using Revelation 3:15-17. I was the lukewarm Christian, which was worse than not believing in God. That very night, I decided to give my life to Christ. I also decided it was time to not just go to church for youth group, but also go on Sundays. Going to church on Sundays, turned into also going to prayer on Wednesdays, this later turned into going five and six days a week. I did not go because I wanted everyone to see me as a “Super Christian,” I went because it was a safe haven. I did not like being at my house, I didn't feel secure.
    I cannot tell you that since I became a Christian, my life has been a walk in the park. I continue to go through hard seasons of life and I still have bad things come my way, but I now have a place of refuge to run to. I can, however, tell you that after becoming a Christian, my life has been completely turned around. I do not turn to drinking or drugs when things aren't going well, instead, I turn to the only One who can fix my problems and my pain. I believe there will be children in our ministry that will come in with pain, some similar to my own experiences and some that aren't. Either way, I am confident God has given me the ability to relate to them. He will make a difference in their lives by using mine.
“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5