OutBound - Day 1

Inside the central OM USA office. There are 6100 missionaries worldwide representing about 118 countries.

We traveled on the road for about 15.5 hours yesterday, leaving our house around 6 am and pulling into the OM property at about 9:30 pm. It was a long day, but Michelle and I really got a great opportunity to talk together and dream together. Since the kiddos are with Michelle's family this week (Thank you Mike, Donna, Meredith, and Nathan!), we actually had quiet time to process through all that God has done and is doing in this missionary process.

If this is all new to you, let me just explain a little about what is going on. Michelle and I are participating in a job interview/orientation/training conference with Operation Mobilization (OM) called OutBound. These conferences take place about twice a year. We were invited to be a part of this week because we have applied for their long-term missionary program. We have been praying about going back to Europe, and we really feel like this is the next step for us. So far we've had to fill out loads and loads of online forms and paperwork, take personality tests, get references, get physicals, and do phone and face to face interviews. This week is another part of the "getting to know you" process. We are exploring OM and they are doing the same with us to see if we would be a good match together.

Michelle in front of the OM USA Headquarters in Tyrone, GA

Without a doubt in our minds, God has lead us to this place, and we are simply taking the next step. We are still praying about where to go exactly (even though we have some idea in our minds), and we're praying about how we will integrate the kids into their roles on the mission field.

Today we had about a 2-hour interview with the Member Support team. They asked all sorts of questions from, "How do you fight?" to "How do you make decisions?" and "What is your greatest fear about this process?" Michelle and I both walked away feeling really good about their approach, and about how we will move ahead with OM. After this conference is over, they will get the sending committee together to review all of the interviews, applications, and notes from the week and come to a decision on whether or not they want to invite us to be part of the team. So even though we are a few weeks away from knowing what will happen, we feel more and more confident that this is right.

It may be a sign from God...

We can't thank you enough for your prayers and financial support that you've already given to us. We literally couldn't be here without it. Please just continue to pray that God makes things very clear to us and to OM this week on how to move ahead.

Feel free to check out the OM website for more info on their organization at www.om.org.

Thank you all!

-ted