WE MADE IT TO OUR GOAL!!! God is so good! He has provided through new and old friends and family who have continued to contribute to our financial support! We are now sitting at 64% of the total support that we need to raise for our first year in Nigeria. GLO gave us a goal of 60% that we have to raise before we could fly to Nigeria. We made it to that goal, so we won't have any delays in our fly out date due to not enough funding.
Thank you to Our Savior Lutheran Church - Nashville, TN, Faith Lutheran Church - Corsicana, TX, Mount Calvary Lutheran Church - San Antonio, TX for hosting us in this past month! We very much enjoyed sharing our story with you, meeting so many wonderful people and even catching up with old friends from Heather's childhood! For reasons that we will explain later in our newsletter, we still most likely have some more room for presentations this month. If you live within 4-5 hours of the Dallas area and have an interest in having us coming speak at your church on either July 18th or 25th, please let us know. We also have room to speak at midweek evening Bible studies or LWML groups. If you have such a group that might be open to hearing us speak, please let us know. You can send an email to this address: [email protected] We made it to our departure goal, but we still need to raise the rest of our first year's support as well (the other 40%). If you feel led to help us get closer to being fully funded, you can find details on how to do that (online or by check) at the bottom of this newsletter. |
Speaking of Nashville above, we were incredibly blessed in our travel to and from Nashville. A couple days before we arrived, on the major bridges over the Mississippi river into Memphis was shut down due to an emergency with the bridge's structural support. On our way in, traffic out of Memphis was backed up for miles, while we got in with no issues. On the way out the next day, we encountered a small detour and a 5 minute slowdown but otherwise had no issues with traffic, while those trying to get into Memphis experienced as much as a 3 hour traffic jam. God is truly good.
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In response to the request of some of our friends, GLO now officially has a way that they can accept stock donations to our ministry support fund! Working through Thrivent, they can accept the stock, liquidate it and put all of the funds that come from that into our support account. Since you would be donating the stock to a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code and not cashing out the stock yourself, you don't have to declare that stock as income or pay taxes on that donation at all.
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If you are interested in donating this way, please email [email protected] to get further information on how to do it.
In last month's newsletter, we mentioned that VISA applications are the next step that we need to work through. We have had some complications with that. We were not able to find an appointment to start the application process until July 14th. We are checking for appointment cancellations every day to see if something opens up and we can get started earlier, but that's where things are right now. If we don't get VISA paperwork started until July 14th, it is very unlikely that they will be approved and physically with us in time for us to arrive in Abuja (Nigeria's capital) by July 24th as planned. We would appreciate your prayers for this process to go smoothly and as quickly as possible so that we are able to arrive before the school year starts.
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We are working on finding a buyer for Nathan's little Chevy Spark. It's great for going around town and is fuel efficient, so if you know of someone who is looking to buy a car, please let us know. I, Nathan, drove this car every day for 2.5 years, starting with a 15 minute commute then up to a 30 minute drive to get to the Panera Bread corporate offices, and it handles everything in stride. This car would make a great daily driver for anyone.
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Happy fourth of July to our fellow Americans! We celebrated a day early with grilled brats and a fireworks show with Heather's mom in the Denton area. We will have to find a new way to celebrate while in Nigeria, so it was nice to have a traditional American fireworks show before leaving.
One of my long-standing 4th of July traditions that Heather and her mom have is wearing the same matching 4th of July shirt every year. They finally had to switch shirts this year because their shirts that they have always worn were finally at the end of their lives. They didn't realize this though until the day itself, so they scoured multiple stores looking for cute shirts for the event and found the 4th of July shirt sections empty everywhere. We need to think further ahead next year so that we have more to choose from than mickey with patriotic ears. |
God has blessed us with a great country with many freedoms that we take for granted every day. We know that not everyone in the world gets to exercise that freedom that we have here. Thank you, Lord!
We are down to the nitty gritty of our packing, having to decide what to leave here in storage vs. what to take in our limited space available on the plane. Having to make so many decisions so soon after getting rid of so many of our household items in Nigeria is leaving our brains fried these days. At the time of writing, we are working mainly on sorting Heather's teaching resources that she has collected over her first 3 years of teaching, by which ones are the most critical to bring out with us immediately.
We also have to sort our wardrobes out for the hotter climate we will experience over there. Goodbye, winter clothes!
We also have to sort our wardrobes out for the hotter climate we will experience over there. Goodbye, winter clothes!
Heather's family does have one big bit of news that just changed in the last couple of days. Here is the announcement from her dad:
"One of the main reasons that Jennifer and I left LCMS World Mission in 2014 was so that we could be in Denton to help Mom and Michael." Heather's uncle (dad's brother), Michael has muscular dystrophy and has to stay hooked up to machines that help him breathe all the time. He has to have three 3-hr respiratory treatments per day and have someone there at the house with him all hours of the day. "When I applied to teach at Coppell Independent School District, I was direct and up-front during my interview that if anything changed in a way that Mom and Michael needed it, I would resign from teaching on the spot. I shared the same thing during my interview with Denton Independent School District in 2017. This morning I had that phone call with my principal… It’s not that anything drastic has developed with either Mom or Michael. In God’s mercy, He continues to give them health beyond any expectation. But we have struggled all year long to find people to work for Michael. The way things have worked out with support programs from the government, people are usually better off receiving support for not working than they are for working for Michael for the wages provided by Medicaid, and the law does not allow us to supplement those wages in any way to provide additional incentive to potential workers. |
A result from Michael’s annual review early this year is that Medicaid has increased his support program from 50 hours per week to 72 hours per week – we just can’t find people to hire for those programs. Neither my principal nor my department chair was happy to hear this news from me, but they have both been incredibly supportive – and because of my open communication with them from day one, they really were not surprised. They do not want to sever ties with me, and they have asked me to let them know if things should change in the future in ways that would allow me to return to teaching – they would like me back! Please pray for all of our family as we work through necessary changes. Specifically, ask for God’s peace for each of us. Because He Lives! Ivan Rasch" |
That is going to be a huge adjustment for the family since dad loves teaching so much and we definitely didn't see him retiring from teaching any time soon. It'll be hard seeing him taking a break from the career that he loves so much. Please keep him and our whole family in your prayers as we adjust to this new normal and continue to look for people who can take care of Heather's uncle.
On a positive note, Heather's brother proposed to one of her friends from college at the end of June, so that's super exciting! Heather is very excited to have a sister soon. It'll be a little bit harder to come to the wedding from all the way in Nigeria than it would be from Belleville, but we'll figure something out.
Congratulations, Timmy and Cristina!!! <3 |
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray that we find more groups that are willing to hear us speak about our coming mission work.
- Prayers of thanks for all of the congregations who have extended invitations for us to visit them and tell them about what we will be doing in Nigeria.
- Prayers of thanks that we got done with the initial move down to Texas.
- Please pray that Nathan has a smooth transition into his new GLO tech support duties that area already starting now even before we get there.
- Please pray that everything gets figured out immigration-wise to get us out there by the middle of July.
- Prayers of thanks for those who have already been so encouraging and supportive so far.
- Prayers of thanks that we found great homes for our 3 fur babies.
- Please pray that we would find a buyer for Nathan's car.
-Prayers of thanks that we reached our initial 60% goal so we are able to leave as soon as our VISAs are processed.
- Please pray that we reach our full 100%.
- Please pray that our VISAs are processed quickly.
- Please pray for Heather's dad in this time of transitioning to be a full time care taker for his brother.
- Please pray for Heather's family to find someone else who is able to move into that care taker role so that Heather's dad can start teaching again.
- Please pray for Heather's brother and his fiance as they prepare for their wedding and life of marriage together.
We are truly blessed to be in so many people's prayers during this process. Thank you so much for your continued prayers.
- Prayers of thanks for all of the congregations who have extended invitations for us to visit them and tell them about what we will be doing in Nigeria.
- Prayers of thanks that we got done with the initial move down to Texas.
- Please pray that Nathan has a smooth transition into his new GLO tech support duties that area already starting now even before we get there.
- Please pray that everything gets figured out immigration-wise to get us out there by the middle of July.
- Prayers of thanks for those who have already been so encouraging and supportive so far.
- Prayers of thanks that we found great homes for our 3 fur babies.
- Please pray that we would find a buyer for Nathan's car.
-Prayers of thanks that we reached our initial 60% goal so we are able to leave as soon as our VISAs are processed.
- Please pray that we reach our full 100%.
- Please pray that our VISAs are processed quickly.
- Please pray for Heather's dad in this time of transitioning to be a full time care taker for his brother.
- Please pray for Heather's family to find someone else who is able to move into that care taker role so that Heather's dad can start teaching again.
- Please pray for Heather's brother and his fiance as they prepare for their wedding and life of marriage together.
We are truly blessed to be in so many people's prayers during this process. Thank you so much for your continued prayers.
HOW TO SUPPORT US
To support the Pittmans’ ministry online, click here. One-time or automated contributions are available.
OR
Mail a check to:
Global Lutheran Outreach
6709 Ficus Dr.
Miramar, FL 33023
Put "Pittman" on the memo line of the check.
Global Lutheran Outreach is a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code. Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by the IRS.
OR
Mail a check to:
Global Lutheran Outreach
6709 Ficus Dr.
Miramar, FL 33023
Put "Pittman" on the memo line of the check.
Global Lutheran Outreach is a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code. Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by the IRS.
Thrivent Choice Dollars® can help missionaries!
Are you a member of Thrivent Financial who's eligible to direct Choice Dollars®? Choice Dollars charitable grant funds can make a world of difference to our organization as we work together to send missionaries! Your Choice Dollars directed to Global Lutheran Outreach support missionaries who are underfunded or experience a temporary shortfall in funding.
Directing Choice Dollars is easy. Simply go to Thrivent.com/thriventchoice to learn more and find program terms and conditions. Or call 800-847-4836 and say "Thrivent Choice" after the prompt. If you have donated your choice dollars to GLO and would like them to be earmarked for us specifically, please email us at [email protected] with the amount that you have donated and express that you would like to donate them to us. We can forward your email to GLO, and they will get those funds out of the general GLO pot and sent to our support account. |