Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dear Praying Friends,
This has been a very busy month!  God has blown the doors off as we have been preparing to leave for the field.  He has provided a place to live in Australia, a vehicle, and now He has provided tickets!  We are leaving on February the 12th.  We will leave out of Champaign, IL. early in the morning with stops in Chicago and then Los Angles.  Our arrival date in Melbourne will be on Valentines Day because we lose a day traveling over the International Date Line.
Packing has commenced with the potential to have ten checked bags.  It will be the only things we will have until the shipping container arrives.  Speaking of shipping container, I received a call yesterday from our shipping company and he told me that if the east coast shuts down due to the union strike so will the west coast.  Well...that could be a problem for many people not just us.  We know the Lord is in control of this whole situation, and that He will meet our needs.  The packing date is February 7th around 11am CST.  Please pray that we can pack it well, and that the strike will be resolved so that our shipment can be made.
Recently I read this verse in my devotions, Psalm 31:14 "But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God."  There is still much to do, and many questions about what will happen.  My trust is in Jehovah God, the One who is in control.  Thank you for your prayers and taking the time to read this update.

In Christ,
Mark Pitts and Family

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Dear Praying Friends,
I am so sorry for not updating the blog recently.  There has been so much that has gone on, that honestly, it has slipped my mind.  Well, where do I begin?
We received our visas on the 21st of December, and the Lord has been working on our behalf all over the place!  First He has provided us with a vehicle that will meet our need of having 7 seats.  Also, we have been looking online at a house to rent and we have been coming to dead ends.  Each house that we applied for has fallen through until today.  The Lord has provided us with a place to rent that will meet our needs and is only ten minutes from the church!  These have been huge answers to prayer.  Truly the Lord knows our needs before we ask Him.
The recent problem we have been dealing with has been our shipping container.  There will be a possible strike taking place at the end of this month of all the shipping workers on the entire eastern seaboard.  This will shut down all import and export.  This strike has been pushed back twice already, once in October and the other time was in December.  If we were to pack a container that would be sent out of the east coast it would get stuck in a ship yard until the strike was over, but in the mean time we would be paying extra for it while it sits in storage.  The Lord has worked again in this area.  We have moved our shipping date back to February 7 and we have an agent that has two companies available to ship either from the east or west coast depending on the strike.
God has been good to us.  Please pray that the move goes smoothly.  Now we look for tickets!  Thank you so much for all your prayers.

In Christ,
Mark Pitts and Family