To answer your question…
We get a lot of brilliant questions during this journey of becoming cross-cultural workers. It’s our desire to share all the amazing testimonies, the fun times, hard times, and the strange stories. But some of our posts may only bring more questions. Some of you have asked specific questions for a deeper look into what we are going through, and so we thought… what better way to share than by answering some of those questions. Tell me more… Will you be in a dangerous area? While Madagascar has its fair share of corruption amidst an unstable government, the Malagasy are known to be a very peaceful people. Although, as is common among areas of extreme poverty, we still need the presence of security and protection. We are not living in a bunker or compound, but we will employ a few security guards at our home that will prayerfully be an extension of our family and community. What will your living quarters be like? When we first arrive in Madagascar we will be living with a Malagasy family to truly immerse ourselves in the culture and customs of Madagascar. We believe this is a great opportunity for us to be dependent upon a Malagasy family for proper cultural cues instead of relying upon our field partners for everything. We are amazingly blessed though (testimony) to have a house being built for us, as we write, in an area where it is extremely hard to find adequate housing for rent. We will be living but a 3 minute walk to the kids school in one direction and 3 minute walk to our ministry sites in the other. We can’t wait to get there and begin to set up home. Do you have a prayer update about Liva? Click Here to read about her story Absolutely! Liva is doing great right now. She spends half of her time in Mahajanga taking care of her family and the other half serving with a ministry in Antsirabe caring for those with disabilities. I am sad to report that the son lost out at sea was never found. She and her family went up and down the coast in a similar outrigger canoe searching for any sign of life. They had traditional funerals to mourn all who were lost, once time revealed the reality. Simply unfathomable for any mother to go through, but a far too common event in Madagascar. Thank you for your prayers as she continues to rely upon the hope and comfort that only our Savior provides. What is your timeframe for heading overseas? We get this question almost daily and I think we have come up with about a million different ways to respond to it. We would love to give an exact date, and trust us, when we know we will be shouting it from the rooftops. We are completely done with all of our trainings and are now at the mercy of our support. So… If you know someone (friend/relative/pastor/co-worker) that might be interested in what we are doing and how they can be involved, please share with them, encourage them, pray with them to partner with us. What are your family members’ birthdays? This is an easy one: Neal – Oct 14th Danielle – Jan 9th Braiden (6) – March 17th Jacy (4) – October 29th Jolie (1) – Feb 26th What language will you be learning? Once we arrive, we are diving head first into learning Malagasy. What is Malagasy you ask? It is an austronesian language that is only spoken by the 22 million people who live in Madagascar. So they haven’t quite...
Read MoreSave the Date and Mark your Calendars!
We are absolutely blessed to announce that Skip’s Kitchen in Carmichael is generously offering 15% of their proceeds on Tuesday the 13th from 3-9pm to help us with our one-time expenditures to get on the field! Please feel free to share with all of your friends, we’d love to see you all there. All you will need is this flyer (physically or electronically). The food is amazing, delicious and they are definitely family friendly! What an opportunity, we can’t wait to see you there!! Check out the Menu Here, you can even order online! Skip’s Kitchen 4717 El Camino Ave Carmichael, CA 95608 It’s a great excuse for a night out to dinner. Everyone has to eat, and now you can help us out a little while enjoying some awesome food! We recommend the B.O.M. sliders. Hope to see you there. If you have any questions Please Contact us at: nealanddanielle@gmail.com 916-712-3864 – Neal...
Read Morea pair of ducks
A pair of ducks Our month long training at MTI was very beneficial in giving us some tools to equip us for the field. We loved our time in beautiful Colorado where we shared our similar stories, fears, frustrations, hopes, dreams, struggles, tears, laughter and love with 50 people going to over 22 countries. The first two weeks we spent in the “pilat” language acquisition program, learning great methods, applications, and phonology we can use for understanding Malagasy. The last two weeks were a bit more personal with “digging deep” (as they call it) in the Splice program dealing with cultural integration and our stress management, conflict styles, spiritual vitality, etc. Some of these tools we won’t be able to use until we are on the field. But other tools are meant for the transition we are in right now. We learned how our lives as missionaries are like “a pair of Ducks.” This pair is comprised of some awesome, exciting, positive “yay ducks,” and bummer, sad, hard, difficult, negative “yuck ducks.” These “pair of ducks” represents the reality of the “paradox” (par-a-ducks, get it??) that we cross-cultural workers face daily. It is a cute analogy that addresses some deep core emotional roller-coasters that we are on. Because good inevitably comes with some hardships, and if we avoid acknowledging the pain we sometimes insulate ourselves from true joys. It has been great for Braiden and Jacy to understand and be able to express some of their yuck ducks and yay ducks while on the journey into another culture. Because it is exciting and fun to meet new people, play new games, and explore (yay duck), but it doesn’t mean we are not sad or miss family and friends, and comforts from home (yuck duck). We need a chance to express (not suppress) both in order to have a healthy understanding of what we are going through and how God can walk with us through it. This analogy really works for everyone; as most of us are not void of sacrifice, as we are all commanded to daily pick up our cross and follow Him. We also learned how we might suppress each other by always talking on the positive side of things, which doesn’t help the other person grieve, process, or feel validated in the hardships they are going through. So our family now processes some of our busy full days with sharing our yuck ducks and yay ducks together. We hope this helps explain a little of the daily paradox we are walking as we are getting closer to leaving. We are excited and proud to be serving God in this capacity (yay duck), but have painful moments of realizing this means we are missing out on huge milestones with family and friends (yuck duck). Please feel free to share with us some of the yuck ducks and yeah ducks you are going through and how we can be praying for you! Hitting the ground running. We are officially done with all of our trainings and ready to go on the field!!!! Wait. oops. There is that money thing. I know some of you have been asking “When are you going?” This is a loaded question and believe me, we would love more than anything to give a clear, direct, confirmed date of departure. But… there are a lot of variables and loose ends that need to come together before we have that kind of clarity. We can project a time frame, but I think God just laughs at us when we make those kind of assumptions. Here...
Read MoreVideo: a glimpse into “The Red Island Project”
Check out a preview of our lives and ministry in Madagascar!
Read Moreit’s getting real
We are in the midst of our last training, a 4-week long training, that brings us that much closer to reality. A reality that means we are packing up some stuff, quitting our jobs, saying good-bye to ministries we have invested into, leaving family and friends we love, and starting anew in a foreign land, with different languages, customs, ministries, and people. Some might not understand what would ever make us think to do something so extreme. We probably even have family who don’t fully understand why we would choose to leave home, our comforts, relationships, and security for the unknown. But the answer for us is simple: to share the Love of Christ that He has shown us. For those who may not understand: We hope and pray that our leap of faith is a testimony of His love and provision on our lives. That they may also come to have the same understanding of grace and forgiveness through Christ that we are compelled to share with the “least of these.” Because honestly…. We enjoy traveling, but not enough to leave the foundations of a loving family, church, and community. We are fascinated with different cultures, but not enough to transplant our family into a broken poverty-stricken community. We enjoy letting the kids explore and learn new languages but not enough to leave an awesome Christian school where the kids thrive. But we know that we are blessed to be a blessing to others, not that we may be more comfortable. Personally, our tendency is to create the most comfortable, convenient life, striving to limit the amount of hardships, struggles, and pain. It’s easier to get caught up in working towards happiness than resting in His everlasting peace and joy. We are reminded daily that the Holy Spirit is our comforter, but we have a hard time seeing Him work through our lives when we settle for worldly comforts. We long to see God work in our lives in ways that we can’t muster upon our own efforts, our own works. This whole step of faith has been the biggest example of this for us (you can read more about this in Used By God). We have already seen God move in powerful ways just by being obedient to His call. We have a ton of Thank you’s for everyone at Pathway Fellowship who were involved in the Missions week and commissioning service. We thouroughly enjoyed spending time at the small groups sharing How God called us to this, and how you have been such an encouragement to us. The Commissioning was truly a moment in time which we will cherish as the foundation of our cross-cultural ministry. We are still processing the magnitude of that day, and are thrilled to be sent out by our family at Pathway, so that those who have not heard may “call upon the name of the Lord.” Then after all the festivities we Jumped into our jam packed car and drove 20 hours straight to Colorado Springs area for our last training at Missions Training International (MTI). Yep, we piled 3 kids in the car and drove through the night over 1,300 miles, 5 states, and 7 stops. It was quite the road trip, with a few snow storms that slowed us down, but we pushed through and made it just in time to collapse in our new beds for the month. We are loving the time here preparing ourselves to transition into the Malagasy language and culture. MTI has a great staff of people who are dedicated to coach...
Read MoreUsed by God
Used by God… We are continually amazed at the process to become missionaries and serve on the field. As most of you have probably heard us say, “it’s like being on a roller coaster, you have huge swings of highs and lows, but it’s an incredible ride!” We’ve come to realize that our low days are those we don’t begin by giving Him control, surrendering our will by praying “God, direct my path today, use me for your Glory, may I be an encouragement to others with the people you put in my path”. It is amazing to see how much freedom there is when He is in control. We wish to share how many of you have been used by God in ways you may not realize and I am not just talking about those that have partnered with us financially (even though that has also been an incredible, mind-blowing blessing and humbling experience). Living in a culture where money tends to drive us, even control us, many of you have shown us what sacrificial giving is. I am also talking about those of you that have said a word or two of encouragement that has been exactly what we need to hear to keep pressing on, you are being used by God. Those of you who pray with us or share you are praying for us in specific matters, you are being used by God. Those who welcome us into your homes and share stories, experiences, laughter and tears, you are being used by God. Family and friends, who have embraced us with a hug, whispering “I’m going to miss you,” you have been used by God. Those of you who have invested a part of yourselves through your own time, money, gifts and talents in helping us make it to the field you are a part of the Red Island Project community and are being used by God in amazing ways. The highs of this ride are when we learn how God is preparing and equipping us to serve in a foreign land. It’s when and how He provides in ways that are beyond our own control. It’s when some of you join this incredible journey with us and we begin to get a glimpse on how God will accomplish this awesome work in Madagascar! We are amazed through it all, and often wonder why we don’t always seek to live like this....
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