Too a land far away...

Sitting down to write this blog is so weird....NEVER in a MILLION years did I think that this would be my journey. So many unknowns, so many questions, so much excitement, yet SO much peace. G is doing something in the lives of the Jett family and I am so happy to be a part of it.

Okay so now that I have your curiousity....let me explain.

It is no secret to anyone who knows us that this past year has been a bit of a challenge. We have had our ups and downs and highs and lows. But we look back on our time in California and would not change it for anything. Afterall it is how and why this next journey begun.

Richard resigned from the church in California in April and in June when I finished up my teaching school year we moved to.....well....honestly I am not really sure where we moved too. (ha ha). Our stuff went to Knoxville, Tennessee but we went to my mom's in Joplin, Missouri. The reason that our stuff went to Knoxville was because that is where we were hoping to end up by the end of July. My mom and step-dad graciously opened their home to us for several weeks and then on July 5 we headed north to Indiana to see and spend some time with Richard's family.
But let me back up a little bit...
Over the past several months Richard and I have been crazily applying for jobs. He hasn't heard one thing and I finally was able to get in contact with a principal at a school in Knoxville who was willing to give me an interview on July 23. We were thrilled!! So we relaxed at my moms and continued to P that G would open doors for us. On July 3 I got an email from the principal in Knoxville saying that the positions that she thought she was going to have open fell through. She still wanted to meet me but wasnt sure she would be able to have anything to offer. I was so upset. I was so sure that this was the job that was going to take care of us...that this was exactly what G was lining up for us. As we left my mom's house on July 5 I was very discouraged. Richard parents had graciously offered to share their hotel room with us, pay for our food, and other expenses if we wanted to come spend the week with them at the NACC. We had orginally planned to attend the convention but only for one day (to hear Francis Chan speak). But since they offered and we didnt have anything else to do we thought "what the heck, if nothing else it will be a nice little vacation". So we met up with them in Indianapolis on July 5. That next morning at the NACC we where hanging around the IDES booth when M friends John and Ruth Chesnut (no relationship to me...but so weird we spell our last name the same) came up and asked Rick if he knew of anyone who might be interested in going to K for a year to teach. Rick said jokingly, "Yea, maybe my daughter in law" (pointing to me). They came over and asked me and I responded "sure I will teach anywhere but you have to convince him" (pointing to Richard). Richard heard the convo but was on his way to do something else so he just said "talk to Tiffany and she will give me the info". So I stood there and listened, the whole time feeling this knot in my stomach. I told them I would talk to Richard and let them know. At that point though, I already knew the answer (NO), but I mentioned it to him anyways. We didnt really talk about it the rest of the afternoon and then that evening headed to the main session (Ben Cachiaras spoke). That message is the message that forever changed our lives. It totally kicked our butts (he even used that illustration). He challenged us to P this P "Dear G, Disturb me!" As I sat there I began to cry, I looked over to Richard and he was crying. We were both saying "G we want to be distrubed" We were tired of living the comfortable life, we were tired of playing it safe, we wanted to go. How could we expect others to go if we ourselves werent willing to go? So as we walked out of the session that night Richard whispered "So, wanna go to K?" We both knew that, that was not the time to make a decision. Our emotions where running high....we wanted to take several days to pray, talk to our families, seek wise counsel, and just listen to what G was telling us.
Over the next several days we meet with the M to get more details and we discussed what this would mean for our family and for our relationship. G was working! We both (along with our parents) felt such a peace about the whole situation. So on Saturday (July 10) we called the M and the state-side representative and accepted the invitation to go and teach in K for a year.
K is a Muslim country that desperately needs Jesus. It is North of Macedonia and Greece and East of Albania. It is about the size of Connecticut with a population of 2 million people. We will be living in the capital city of Pristina. Our plan (besides teaching) is to build relationships with the people through English converstation (they all want to learn to speak English).
We do not know the exact date that we will be leaving the country but we assume it will be around August 16 because school orientation starts August 23 and school starts August 30. We have so much to do in the next month but we know that G is working and HE will provide.

Will you please P for us!
Here are some specific P requests:
*P for our marriage and our family
*P for spiritual attacks against our family
*P that we can raise the monthly and one time giving support we need (if you are interested in being a monthly supporter please email me)
*P that we sell our car
*P for the school, for the children, and for the people that we will be meeting

As we embark on this journey let me leave you with these two thoughts:

"If we are going to be followers of JC we cannot be stuck or stagnet--we have to be on the move"

"If you want to go beyond, you have to leave some things behind"

So I ask you friends and family....
What holds you back? What keeps you from being 100% abandoned to our L JC?

Much Love,
Tiffany

(Please add this blog to your favorites....both Richard and I will be documenting our journey and our thoughts here.)