The Latest on Our Missionary Journeys

It is official.  We received a call this morning from Maged Kalta, the Egyptian born leader of the King’s Lodge in Nuneaton, England.  Tara answered the phone.  With a thick accent he asked “Is this the home of Bryan and Tara (pronouncing it Tah-ra instead of the more southern U.S. “terra”) Riley?”  Tara is thinking…when shall I hang up on this sales call, but she answered “Yes.”  You can imagine how she said it, with some length and ending in a higher pitch indicating the question in her voice and heart.  Then, he said, “Is this Tah-ra?”  She is now convinced it is a sales call and is just preparing to say no thanks and hang up.  I can’t remember what she told me he said next, but it furthered her dilemma until finally he said, “This is Maged, calling from the King’s Lodge,” and suddenly her heart jumped into her throat and she came running to find me. 

Maged and Rose Kalta, with their children, Daniel, Madeline and Jackson.

We both got on the phone and heard the great news that we were accepted for the Crossroads Discipleship Training School at the King’s Lodge, a YWAM base in the United Kingdom.  What this means is that we will be in England in April, May and June 2007, and then we will travel to Cagayan de Oro on the Mindanao island of the Philippines for July and August.  We will be ministering and receiving training in England and then serving churches and communities in the Philippines.  We will be providing education, health care, professional services, preaching and teaching, and the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Mindanao.  Listening to Maged talk about what they did a year ago in the Philippines ignited the passions of our hearts as we envisioned going with about 100 others, all aflame with the desire to serve Jesus in another culture. 

Add to our excitement this:  I asked whether we would have the ability of recruiting friends or family to join us in the Philippines for mission work while we are there and he said “YES!”  I hope that many of you who read this will pray about whether God might be calling you to this, and we will continue to pray that if the opportunity is right that others will join!  We so want our ministry, through FJ Ministries, to enable others to join in the work. 

We meet tomorrow (actually it is now today given the fact I’m still at my computer at 1:00 a.m.) with our Board of Directors to discuss all the plans.  Mike and Charla Roberts, RJ and Kimberly Hoelzeman, James and Krissie Dunn, and Scott and Dianna Alaniz will all join us in fellowship and prayer tomorrow to establish our guiding principles, policies, budget, accountability (financially and spiritually) and plans.  We cannot wait!  At this time we can purchase our flights to England and handle the initial fees because of the generosity of so many supporters (THANK YOU!!!), but we will be needing continued prayers for us and additional finances as we go.  The flights and travel from the UK to the Philippines will be costly, and it is difficult for us to anticipate what our incidental expenses may be as this is our first trip overseas.  Please pray for us, and as you do, ask God whether He is providing funds for you to provide funds for us.  Please know, though, that because of the amazing faith journey he has placed us on, and the incredible ways He has shown us the power of prayer, that we mostly long for your many prayers and need those most of all.  Don’t ever hesitate to shoot us an email or give us a call with a word of prayer or encouragement (our email address and other contact information can be found at the link provided in the newsletters tab of this site)!