Update from Dec. 26, 2011


Merry Christmas!

We are very excited to report that we have received 100% of the needed financial support for the mission trip to India!  Not just the Golling family, but the entire India Mission Team.  We want to thank all of you who have partnered with us in prayer and giving.  THANK YOU so much!  Please continue to pray for the trip: for spiritual preparation for the entire team, for the hearts of those who will hear the Gospel message, and for all the many details of the trip itself.  

God has taught us so much already in this process.  Trusting in him to bring in the financial support is just the tip of the iceberg.  Through our training classes and reading assignments we are learning so much about Indian culture, sharing the Gospel, growing in our walk with Christ and in deepening our relationships with others on the team.  

We have our final training meeting on January 8th, then we leave for India on February 15th.

India Mission Update: Nov. 22, 2011

Wow, God continues to teach us and grow our faith through this process of raising prayer and financial support.  We are now at 88% ($12,358 in with $1,642 still needed).  God used a recent experience to teach us a valuable lesson about missions.

We have received three support gifts from people that we don’t actually know, but who were given our support letter from friends.  These individuals chose to support this mission and our involvement in it without ever having met us.  When we opened the envelopes we were humbled by their generosity and faith.  God has obviously moved on the hearts of these brothers and sisters to give toward His work, in spite of the fact that we are strangers to them.  What an act of faith and obedience on their part!  What an example they are to the rest of us in terms of stepping out at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  And on top of that, as I thought about their gifts, it was as if God was sending me a message: “John, I know you doubted that you would be able to raise enough financial support for this mission trip, but you need to remember, my mission does not depend on you.  I have connections that you don’t.  I have people and resources that you know nothing about.  I have children who will give generously to the mission because they are led by me, not because they know you.  I have the power to provide for my Kingdom to be built and it will be built.  I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  So, John, don’t worry, I have everything under MY control.  If I send you and your family to India, I will get you there.  Just trust me and obey.”

India Mission Update: Nov. 17, 2011

We are learning so much in our preparation.  As you may know, both Beckie and Megan made commitments to Christ when they were small children, so they don't remember all the details of when they first came to Christ.  They both have a strong sense of faith today, but like a lot of others who accepted Christ as children, they just don't remember NOT having faith in Christ.  This has made writing out their testimony somewhat difficult for them, but it is all part of learning to verbalize their faith and what it means to be a follower of Christ.  It has spurred many good discussions.  The articles our leader is having us read are written at a college level.  After reading a couple of them, I contemplated asking if the girls could have a "replacement" assignment, but again, reading a difficult article will be much easier than what they will experience when we get to India, so being stretched in this way is just one aspect of the training process.  

Our last training session focused on culture, lifestyle, and learned a few greetings and words in the Telugu language.  We also continue to practice giving our testimonies and our presentation of the Gospel at each training session.  Although the essential elements are the same, each person is required to write out and practice their own Gospel presentation, so it is more personal and not "canned".  The training sessions are 3 hours long and we have 1 per month.  

We have not yet gotten our shots.  I am still doing some research to find out exactly what shots are recommended or required.  

As for financial support, we are currently at 82% (we have $11,547 with $2,453 still needed).  We are so thankful for all the generous support from so many brothers and sisters in Christ!!  It has been so humbling for us to see the sacrificial and selfless gifts given for Kingdom work.  We have raised enough support to purchase plane tickets!!

Prayer requests:

1. That God would be preparing the hearts of those who will hear the Gospel and they would respond in faith.

2. Pray that they would understand that there is only ONE true God, the one who sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world.  We know the people will be "spiritually open", but we must pray that they will trust in Christ alone and not go back to the many other gods that are worshiped in that culture.  

3. Pray for the pastors and workers of Lone Star Church who will be following up with every person who prays to give their life to Christ.  That communities of believers would be formed in each of the villages and they would have support and teaching that they will need. 

4. Pray for all our preparations, that we would be as ready as we can be for the adventures and trials ahead.

5. And ... adapted from Eph. 6:19-20 ... Pray for us, that when we speak, words may be given to us so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which we are ambassadors ... Pray that we may declare it fearlessly, as we should.  

"Oh, ye of little faith!"

God is truly challenging our faith in the process of preparing for India! Last week, I started to worry that we would not make our next benchmark for raising support.  We are suppose to have $8,000 of the needed $14,000 by October 22nd.  Within a couple days of me starting to fret, we reached the benchmark - two weeks early!  Thanks, God, for being patient with me.  So we are about $6,000 away from the final goal.  We are so thankful for all of you who have prayed and given!

Other preparation for the trip has included: reading through the Gospel of Mark, reading an article about defending absolute truth, specifically the claims of Christ, in an increasingly pluralistic culture, writing our personal testimonies, and writing out how we plan on presenting the Gospel.  All of these assignments and training have led to some great conversations as a family!

P.S. If you feel led by God to support us financially: please make the check out to "Jane's House" and do not put our names anywhere on the check (per IRS guidelines), that can be sent to our home address or church address (with my name on the outside of the envelope).

For more information about our trip, click here to read the previous post.

Why India? 

Why now? 

Why the Gollings?

Until recently I didn't realize that leper colonies still existed. But they do. I also did not realize that approximately 31,000,000 (yes, that’s 31 million) children live in orphanages in India.  But they do.

Over the last several years, our church has sent 3 short term mission teams to India and our relationship with the local believers has grown, resulting in effective evangelism and discipleship.  In the trip in 2010, over 4,860 people prayed to give their lives to Christ, and were introduced to local, national pastors so they could learn more about what it means to follow Christ.

Something very unique is taking place in this part of India right now and the openness to the Gospel is unprecedented.  Jesus encouraged us to be looking for such opportunities when he said, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.  Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life” (John 4:35-36).  God is working, and He seems to have opened a window of opportunity at this time.

As a family, we have participated in praying and sending these teams.  This time, we believe that the Lord is telling us to "Go!"  Yes, it seems crazy to think that we can raise the needed $14,000 of support for all four of us to go.  To be honest, I am not really sure how we are going to pull this off.  When Beckie and Megan first came to us and asked if we could go, all I could think of was 14 thousand reasons why we couldn’t go.  But as we prayed and sought God together as a family, I was convicted of my lack of faith and sensed that God was calling us to trust in Him in a way we never have before.

Our trip will be in February of 2012 and will include village evangelism as well as ministry with a leper colony and Jane’s House orphanage.  We know that the ministry of this team will have an eternal impact on those we are reaching.  We are also looking forward to seeing how God will change our lives as we trust in Him and serve Him together as a family by reaching out to some of the least fortunate people in the world.

As I mentioned above, we are trusting God to provide the needed $3,500 per person for each of the four of us to go.  Our goal is to have this support in by November 30, 2011.

We would like to invite you to participate with us on this adventure of faith and passion for reaching the lost with the love of Christ.  If you would like to help, you can send a tax-deductible gift to our home address, listed below.  Please send the gift to our address, but make the check out to “Jane’s House” and do NOT put our names anywhere on the check per IRS guidelines.

If you would like to pray for us, we would like to send you periodic updates via email.  Simply put your email address on the slip below, and we will add you to our distribution list.  Or, you can just email me at jgolling@comcast.net and say, “I want prayer updates about your trip to India.”

“And pray for us, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”  Colossians 4:3 

Respectfully yours,

The Golling Family

Donations can be sent to:  9634  191st Street Court East, Puyallup, WA 98375

Thank you for your support!!

WHITEWATER!!!

Riding the rapids of the Payette River!
What a day!