As January first rolled around, the United States was in a place of turmoil and unrest, so many unknowns, so much fear…but as the world rippled, God was still on His throne working out His will. The Stellhorn’s, us, were hard at work making big changes in our life and preparing for the next page. As January came, we began full force preparing for a move. We were moving to a house with plenty of room and space for the whole family to spread out to a 1200 sq a ft apartment with little to no privacy.
As each day of January ticked by new steps were taken. The first weekend we acquired the new apartment and spent the next few days moving loads and setting up. Weekend number two some great volunteers gathered on Friday morning and helped us load a U-Haul truck with our big items (which were few because it’s a small apartment) and some small items and deliver them to the new abode. From there we spent time preparing our house for the market. There was a lot to do, from final garage sales, to cleaning and repairs.
The month of January was definitely about transition. As the country transitioned, so our family transitioned as well. The month of January in our country was filled with so much emotion and January for our family was the same. It’s exciting, yet hard to make such big decisions without knowing the full road ahead! It takes a lot of trust, because without it, fear can throw a party.
As we moved into the final week of the month it came time…pictures of the house were taken, and a few days later it went live on the market. Almost immediately, people wanted to see the house. Within a couple days, we had over 30 showings and multiple offers. By day three, we had a signed contract for more than our asking price. It was a blessing greater than we could have imagined.
And that was our month, at least in moving, but there was much more taking place than just a move!
We welcomed some new members to Clan Stellhorn, made some new friends and some new church connections as well!
A Couple of our January Videos
January's News
The Goals!
In January, you, our Clan, helped us get closer to our monthly goal. Our awesome church started their support this month, in which they agreed to take on a percentage of our monthly supporting us and this work we are preparing for.
We ended January at about the 35% mark and the first days of February it jumped to 38%.
As of January 31, we are at about 25% of our upfront cost budget raised.
The People!
Moving into the apartment has provided new opportunities for us to love on folks and be present in others lives. We have since moving in have slowly begun to make connections with folks here in the complex. Folks are not outside much, but opportunities seem to present themselves little by little.
I (Chris) had never really considered apartment ministry, but have been giving it thought about how I may be Jesus to those in this community.
Pray for us as we consider these new possibilities.
This is a video made by a member of our New International team, Josh. Check out some of his other work as well. This video is a tour of the NI facility in Ft. Myers, Florida. The entire facility was bought and paid for from rental income. The buildings owned by NI have space where several small local businesses office out of, plus a Jimmy Johns. Not a dime of the facility is paid for or kept up with from funds raised by missionaries.
