I "met" Lynda on one of my many email groups. She mentioned that she and her family were moving to Ethiopia to minister there, and if people were interested in their plans to add her as a friend on facebook. I was intrigued so I added her.
A few months back I started reading Tara Livesay's blog about her family in Haiti. She has a great sense of humor, a lovely family, a big heart for God and His work in Haiti, and her husband takes amazing pictures of it all. I have kept up with her blog faithfully and been very blessed by it. It gave me a great heads up about traveling to a developing country and what to expect. I have been praying for them, and supporting them in any way that I can.
When Lynda sent out her message God had prepared me to listen. I would love to move my family to Ethiopia and serve God there, but that is not what God has for me today. Today I can serve those families that are headed off to foreign lands by praying for them, supporting them financially and let other folks know that they are out there serving.
Lynda is a photographer. She is planning to use her experience as a photojournalist to help ministries in Ethiopia. She is planning to volunteer at AHOPE while they are living in Addis. Tom is planning to teach history, social studies, and Bible at Bingham Academy. They are taking a big leap of faith, in leaving their home, their community and moving to Ethiopia. It gives me hope knowing that families like theirs are going out to do God's work.
This is a small introduction from the Steuer's, and how you can help them in their mission.
"I always thought to be a missionary you had to be a doctor, a pastor church planter or a construction worker. I never imagined God would allow us to use our gifts to impact His kingdom! It was through volunteering at several of our church's missions conferences and meeting "real missionaries", many with young kids, that I found they are not necessarily more gifted than others but are available and obedient to God's will in their lives and I began to pray about serving cross culturally in about 2004. It was when we went to Ethiopia in 2006 to adopt our son that Tom felt the call to missions. Ethiopia is one of Africa's oldest countries with an amazing culture and history but it also has one of the highest population of orphans in the world. UNICEF reports there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia alone-more than all the people in the greater Boston metro area. Tom will be using his background as a coach and mentor to teach middle school and I will be using my background as a photojournalist to support SIM's ministry efforts in Ethiopia.
Being a missionary is a lot like volunteer work in that we receive no salary...we are relying on God to provide our salary and living expenses through donations of people who want to be a part of our ministry. We so appreciate your prayers and if we can share with you in person over the phone, speak at your church, or visit your group we would love to share more about how God has brought us to this point in our lives! We are praying specifically for monthly supporters 200 people who will pledge 20 a month for the 2 years we will be in Ethiopia but any amount is appreciated one time or on a monthly basis. All donations are tax deductible and SIM is a member of the ECFA. You can contact us for more information or give securely online atwww.sim.org/giveusa (our account #28532 /Tom and Lynda Steuer)."
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