Thursday, September 27, 2012

Where are you from?


Sometimes in life the most simple of things are the toughest of things.  When growing up as a military child, you were always the new kid in school or neighborhood. As the new kid, you were always asked a bunch of questions; what’s your name, how old are you, what do you like to do, where are you from? In my opinion, “where are you from?” was the toughest question to answer for me as military child.  The question was loaded; a military child isn't from one place. Most move every two and a half years.  The question becomes another constant reminder that they are different from the other kids. 
How does one normally answer the question, “where are you from?”  When asking people, the normal response is “I’m from... a place they have known their entire life.”  For a military child, they don’t have the luxury of saying “I’m from…” They have many choices on how to answer: Do I tell them where I was born or do I tell them the last place I was or do I tell them I’m a military brat or do I tell them I’m not from anywhere?  For a child to have to figure this out as well as developing who they are can be tough.  It makes you feel disconnected, never having a definite place to call home.    
For me, being asked “where I was from” always turned into a more in-depth conversation.  I always liked to talk as a kid, so I would tell them that I was from nowhere.   This type of response always made people ask, “What do you mean nowhere?” and it made me laugh.  I would tell them that I moved every 2 ½ years because my dad was in military.  Most people would say “oh, that’s cool, where have you been?” I would tell them that I had lived in Oklahoma, Germany, Texas, Hawaii, Washington (state), Germany, New York, and Maryland. Most people would say “oo, that’s awesome! When I was a kid, I would agree by saying “yea, it’s pretty cool!” always wondering to myself what it would be like if I had the same friends, the same school, and the same house.  I was always curious about what it felt like to be in the same place your entire life. It was a foreign concept to me.  As I grew up, I asked people what that felt like, most didn't have an answer; they would shrug their shoulders and say I don’t know.  Others would say it felt normal because it was the only thing they had ever known.  After hearing that from a few different people, I came to the realization that moving around for me was normal; it was all I had known.  
Now that I am older, I began to wonder why God put me in the lifestyle of a military brat. I believe it is so I can show God’s love to as many people as possible.  He has given me a heart to love people. My hope is that I have done that and I can continue to do so. 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Start of Something New!


 
 When something changes in your world, whether it’s a new job, new car, new house or new relationship; the ones who love you want to know ALL the details! They want to know everything, the effects that will come from this new change, your excitement (or non-excitement), if you are truly happy. As for us, our big change happened a little over a month ago, when we were officially appointed as Missionaries by Cadence International!! (whoooo hooo!) This non-profit organization is dedicated to reaching United States military communities and those of the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ. (to learn more about Cadence, check out their website at www.Cadence.org) We are very honored and extremely excited to join Cadence! We plan on sharing our hearts, emotions and what God is teaching us in our new journey through our blog. As for now, we know there are many questions to answer and we hope sharing the following information will answer some of those questions! =)

WHO: Cadence has four main ministries: Adult Ministry, Student Ministry, Children’s Ministry and Foreign Ministry. Our main focus and ministry will be with the children and families of our United States Military.  There are 1.2 million children whose parents serve in our military. These children will move about every three years and most of them will have a parent deployed for a year at a time.

WHAT: We are going to be sharing the Gospel as well as our lives with the U.S. Military. Our hope is to be an influence of God’s love in the lives of our military, so that they too, will share their lives with others and become ambassadors for Jesus Christ!

WHEN: There are a few things that will take place before getting onto the mission field. First, Matthew is required to complete 30 credit hours of Bible (he’s ½ way there whooo!!) Second, we were given a "Growth Plan", this has been designed to better equip us for the field. Finally, we need to raise funds for the ministry, taking anywhere between 6 months to 2 years for this to happen.  

WHERE: As of right now, we do not have a absolute location. When we are closer to getting on the field, we will know for certain. The decision is based upon the greatest need. We do know, however, that Japan has a great need for children's ministry, making Japan a possible location.

WHY: It is heavy on our hearts to share the gospel and our lives with the military.  They sacrifice so much for our freedom, not only the soldiers but their families as well!  It’s incredible what they do and go through. Our desire is to show them God’s love and how that will never leave them if they are deployed, get re-stationed, lose a family member, or say Good-bye to their friends time and time again. The military is a unique group to minister to; they are constantly on the move, which gives them the opportunity to share the Gospel all over the world!! How awesome is that!?

How can you help? PRAY PRAY PRAY and please PRAY! We will be doing what the enemy hates, spreading the Good News. The enemy will try everything he can to keep us from accomplishing this. Pray against it! Pray for God to continue giving us dreams for our ministry as He prepares the way. Pray for others to invest in our ministry, investing their prayers, words of encouragement, finances, and/or time. We believe our ministry doesn’t belong to “Matthew and Sarah,” but our ministry belongs to God. Our ministry consists of every believer who invests in whichever way(s) God calls them to!


If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us...Matthew.Annanie@cadence.org or 443-472-2242 or leave us a comment =)