Support Status

We are at 71% of our current monthly support pledges. However, we are averaging 80% of our monthly support, thanks in large part to several special and year-end gifts. Thank you for your partnership and support!

If you'd like to make these gifts a recurring pledge, please visit http://gemission.org/donate (Gifts only count towards our monthly goal if GEM receives notification of a recurring pledge, or faith promise commitment).

Questions? Please email us at matthew.huber@gemission.org!

50 in 5

Join us by giving and going to share the good news with the "'new' least-reached continent on Earth."
Greater Europe Mission
www.gemission.org

2012

Putting down roots near the rivers...

Our verse(s) for this year; to plant our roots in Him.

All things new...

This time of year is often the best time of year to reflect, try new things, or plan for the future. The beginning of 2012 has been a time for us to do all three:

• reflect on the last 18 months stateside, the year of training and development, the 6 months of full-time support raising; 
• try out some new habits, like menu-planning and early morning devotions (I'm two days in!); and 
• plan out and pray for our hopes for the future, preparing mentally, practicially, and spiritually to return to the field.

One area we are really focusing on as we start this new year is prayer. Deep, intentional prayer. Why we don't always practice this discipline diligently, I'll never know (actually, I do know: laziness, pride, frustration, distractions, etc.). But each one of us - Matt and I together, and with the kids and friends - are trying to seek out long periods of time for communion with Jesus.

A practical way I've been trying to do this is by asking myself the above question: "What three things are you thankful for today?" I don't always write it down, and it doesn't always lead to lengthy, inspired prayers, but it is a great reminder to praise Him, the giver of all good things, every day. Even on the not-great days.

Here are my three things today:

1. A long naptime for Asher, allowing me to rest, do some design work, and watch some basketball with Matt.
2. A sweet movie we can all enjoy together (Mr. Popper's Penguins).
3. A little boy who doesn't need stitches after a brutal lip-splitting incident. 12 hours later and he's good as new (apart from the fat lip and a mother's increased blood pressure).

He does indeed make all things new... big and small.

What we did this year...

January: God provided us with a van (through Missionary Motors) after ours was totaled the week before Christmas.

February: We celebrated Jackson's 8th birthday with a blizzard!

March: Matt visited supporters and family in California (on his 35th birthday).

April: Matt had his first gallery showing at the Arts Incubator, and Karen's "grandma" joined Facebook for a very fun, very lively April Fool's Day.

May: Karen realized how lucky she was to be the kind of mom who can chaperone field trips and throw class parties, even with 30 2nd grade girls singing (read: wailing) Justin Bieber songs.

June: We celebrated 12 years of perfectly imperfect wedded bliss, rededicating our family to serving God overseas.

July: Our first extended-family vacation! A week in North Carolina with Karen's family and visiting dear friends and supporters along the way! An extra bonus: the discovery that Karen is capable of baking banana bread.

August: A brilliant surprise visit from an Irish friend! Katharina spent three weeks in Kansas City training for a job back in Dublin. We also celebrated Asher's 2nd birthday and Karen's 30-ish birthday!

September: Matt & Karen attended the Sentralized Conference for missional church planters.

October: Ella turned 5 and we travelled to pert'near-Canada-Minnesota to share with a new supporting church, also visiting extended family and GEM friends.

November: Spent Thanksgiving with Matt's family in Wisconsin.

December: Matt had the honour of overseeing a"Blesschristenication" (baby dedication) for wee Claire, the delightful daughter of family friends.

Most asked question: "So, when do you leave?"
Happiest day: July 2nd, when we saw the ocean again.
Hardest month: October
Miles travelled (outside of KC): 8,000 by land; 4,000 by air

We continue to be so thankful for you: our faithful support team, who have been praying for us for years and investing in God's work in us and through us in Ireland.

Thank you for praying for us this year...

• for lifting up our ministry with artists and with our church here in Kansas City...
• for praying for our not-yet-believing friends, our Irish coworkers, and GEM colleagues in Ireland...
• for ministering to us through your friendship, encouragement and wisdom.... 

We almost literally cannot wait to "take you with us" back to Ireland. So pack your suitcases, because 2012 is the year we all go back!

"If My People": A Day of Prayer for Ireland 11/11/11

From Evangelical Alliance Ireland:

If you and your church would like to take action to break down walls between you and Christians culturally different from you, you might get involved in “If My People”, culminating on 11/11/11.Each of us is convinced in our hearts that unity is a key to God’s Kingdom being expressed fully in Ireland. We believe the way forward is together. This is made clear in such verses as: 

“You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with oneness.” Ephesians 4:4-6

Equally, we’re convinced that prayer is the foundation for the movement of God. Thus we are seeking to move together in a prayer initiative, culminating on a day of prayer on November 11, 2011. (11/11/11). What new relationships can you forge that will express unity and move us corporately towards prayer?

Ebenezers

ebenezer : Stone of help, the place where Samuel erected a monument, in grateful remembrance of the divine help, given in answer to prayer, in a great battle with the Philistines. The same place had before witnessed the defeat of Israel and the capture of the ark, 1 Samuel 4:1; 5:1; 7:5-12.

Several years ago I was encouraged to keep track of my "ebenezers": metaphorical stones marking a path of promises kept, a history remembered, of God's faithfulness. I haven't yet set up those stones, but I do have a different sort of ebenezer.

The prayer letter.

I've been spending a bit of time poring over those letters. Prayers asked and answered, babies born, a windy road towards Ireland and back, opportunities to love and to serve and to wait on Him, mercies new every morning. So amazing that He called us to this, and so many amazing ways He's provided. I'm so glad I have this paper trail of ebenezers cluttering my desk and my hard drive. So thankful to have been able to share them with you along the way, even if it meant a little extra clutter on your desk or hard drive. Sorry about that.

On the other side : a brief support update

The only thing holding us back now is reaching 100% of our monthly support. We only have about 35% of our monthly support left to raise! Our GEM Ireland team is ready to have us back, our Irish co-workers are anxious for us to join them, and our kids are so ready to return home.

Please continue praying for new people to join our ministry team through prayer and monthly support. And please consider if God is asking you to join us in His work in Ireland. If you've thought about support before, but didn't know when or how to do it, now is a great time to start!

To donate online via credit card*:
visit https://dlq4.donatelinq.net/qv10/donation.aspx?MerchantID=gemissionorg&lnk=

1. fill out your information
2. select "Missionaries" in the drop down menu
3. under "choose a subcategory", select our name - Huber, Matthew & Karen #23230 
4. fill in the amount 
5. check the "Make this a recurring transaction" box, then select frequency. 

*According to GEM's website: "The following is based on a credit card charge amount of 3.00%. If you want your missionary to receive $100.00, you will need to give $103.00. If you give $100.00, your missionary will receive $97.00."

We can't wait to take you all back there with us!

The beginning of the endings

We recently found out that the the artist cooperative where Matt spent the majority of this year working at and serving in, as well as where our church met had permanently closed its doors due to unforseen financial circumstances.

Serving, loving, and "being Jesus to" a community of people who don't yet know God was a critical desire for us in shaping our hearts for church planting in Ireland. Thank you so much for praying for our ministry within this community (and the Crossroads Arts district) over these past 10 months. We were greatly blessed by our time there, we believe important relationships have been built, and we know that God is wooing the hearts of those He brought us into contact with.

Still, we are sad as we say goodbye to this sweet phase of ministry and relationship, while still looking forward to continuing this gospel-centred culture conversation on the other side.

Family Purpose Statement

A bit of our Home Ministry Assignment has been spent nurturing our family and growing closer to Christ together. It's been a sweet time, one that we have tried not to take for granted and praise Him for. Sometimes it's almost too easy to get caught up in the frantic business of change when one is moving overseas and starting full time ministry. We realized this hard fact back before we left Ireland and sought to slow down and further develop our family's identity in Christ.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you our family purpose statement. I got this idea from Tsh Oxenreider's book Organized Simplicity (a great read for the mom who finds herself overseas and back again, struggling to simplify and declutter between international expeditions and ministry assignments). We've had a mission statement for our ministry with GEM for a few years, but wanted to incorporate our vision for being a family following Christ and what that would look like near or far.

It's a small thing really, just some words on paper, hopes for the future, desires for a family. But we're finding that, as we follow Him back to Ireland, He's refining who we are and we are still discovering how He has called us to live.

Do you have a family purpose statement, mission statement, or dream?