It's 2017!

(Written by Mary.)
Happy New Year, dear friends!

2016 was full of surprises, blessings, and challenges. I am curious and excited about what this coming year will hold.

January is a special month for our family. It was on January 1st, 2014 that Ben proposed to me. In 2016, we met the recruiter for Word Made Flesh, we started going to the Church we are now so blessed to be members of, and little Joya's life began all in the month of January.

Now our beautiful little girl is almost three months old. Ben is an EMT. I officially have my Masters in Linguistics. And we have the funds for our Romania training trip as well as half of our monthly support for Papua New Guinea raised ($1,500 to go). God has been kind to us in a multitude of ways.

I know last year was very hard for many though. We continue to grieve with our dear friends who lost there son/brother in June. We seek God's grace and ministry on marriages that are struggling. We ask God's healing for those who have been battling illness. We pray for God's hand on our nation and our president as many are divided and fearful over his coming term. And we confess that we have not done all we might have to alleviate suffering. May we serve God and man with greater love in this coming year.

Thank you to all of you who have ministered to us. I cannot count how many times this last year we have thanked God for the gift of good friends and sound counsel. It has been humbling to know our need. Grace is easy to talk about, difficult to receive.

I mentioned before that we no longer have a set date for our departure overseas. That is still the case, but we have seen God's hand at work preparing us to go soon. With that in mind, we are gathering the supplies we will need, raising funds and prayer support, and putting everything in order so that when He says go, we can go.

May your new year be blessed, and may God give you opportunities to adventure with Him!

With love and gratitude,
The Grimms

The Adventure Continues

(written by Mary)
Dear friends and family,

It's hard to believe it is already mid December. I think I start half of our blog posts amazed at how much time as passed. Little Joya is over two months old! Can you believe it?

Here's what's been happening in our lives:
We finally got moving on fundraising, and by God's grace and provision we are a third of the way there for long term support. That means we have a little under $2,000 more of monthly support to raise.

Joya has been growing like a weed. Around Thanksgiving we were blessed with the opportunity of taking a roadtrip to speak with a couple Churches and introduce Joya to family and friends. She is a little champion when it comes to traveling!

We no longer have an exact departure date for our Romania training or first term in PNG. 2017 is a blank slate besides a planned fundraising/partnership building trip to Grants Pass, OR in January. So many times we have tried to project forward, set a date, and run with it. So many times we have been set back down again and given another piece of the foundation God is building before we leave.
This time around, I am at peace - which is a big deal for me (all of you know how impatient I can be). We are trying to be faithful to submit each step to God, follow through with the things He has placed in front of us, and trust Him to take us when and wherever He wants us to go.
That being said, my not so secret hope is that we will get to go early this spring!

We have been blessed and humbled in the process of fundraising; but I have not felt humiliated (the fear of which paralyzed me for a long while). We have received aid and advice from unlikely places, been surprised by generosity when we were most dispirited, and continued to feel the steady, affirming flow of God's movement sweeping us forward towards His work for us in Papua New Guinea. Right now, we are called to work, serve, and prepare faithfully. With your prayers and God's grace we will continue to do so.

Ben would like your prayers as he awaits news on his pending state EMT endorsement which is required for his employment with an ambulance service - this would give him continued education and practical application in the area of medical aid. He is also praying about pursuing training in computer coding as this would potentially give him a way to help support us remotely or at least when we are visiting in the states.
You're all probably familiar with the 'tent maker' model of missions - essentially, Ben hopes to be able to support our family as much as possible so that donated funds can go directly towards project needs such as printing literacy material, hosting skill training workshops, and supporting the men and women who give up there time to work with us on Bible translation and language training.  
Please pray for wisdom and discernment as he strives to balance the desire to be our family's provider with humility and trust in God's provision and direction.

We are praising God for His goodness to us in this season of preparation. He continues to provide us with everything we need and to affirm us in pursuing this path to missions in PNG. Every time we share about what He is doing and what we hope to do in the field, I remember that His plans are so much bigger than our own, His vision so complete, and His love for the people of Papua New Guinea so much greater than ours can ever be. We are blessed and humbled that He has invited us to join the work!

We can never thank you enough for all of your love, prayers, and support. You are part of the work He is doing too! May He bless you in your own areas of ministry. May you be faithful and obedient in all that He sets before you. We are honored and ever amazed at the way God works in and through His people.

With love and immense joy during this season of celebrating our Savior,
Benjamin, Mary, and Joya Grimm

Written by Mary.
The month of September is quickly coming to a close. Ben is finishing the last few days of his EMT training, and Mary is growing rounder by the minute.

This month has been full of blessings.
For those of you who don't know, Ben has been taking a month long intensive course out in the Okanogan forest, learning about how to respond to medical crises in a remote location. When he is finished he will have four certificates: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Wilderness First Responder, Medical Person in Charge, and First Aid/CPR. We are both thankful for the security that this training will provide when we are living in our remote village in PNG. God answered our prayers for Ben to be able to focus on and retain the information he is learning in his course. He loves the information, has been diligent in his studies, and has done well in all the exams and practicals so far. His final is coming up on Thursday (the 29th), so keep him in prayer!
While Ben has been away, Mary has been staying with some dear friends in Bellingham

anticipating the arrival of the Grimmling sometime in the next few weeks.

Results are in

Written by Mary.
 
Well, I confess, I am surprised by the results of this election. In fact, I may have been in a suspended state of disbelief for the last year. This morning out of the melee on social media, a good friend of mine's post stood out:
Please pray for Donald Trump.
He will need wisdom.
Please pray for those among us who feel threatened.
They will need comfort.
Please pray for those among us who feel emboldened.
They will need humility.
Please pray for our country.
It needs healing.
This I can say 'amen' to. I will strive to encourage others to take a stance of power, love, and self-control. When you are tempted to fall into fear mongering, blaming, crowing, or complaining stand instead in the power and love of God and pray for our nation and for your community.

Two words have come back to me again and again through this season. 
FOR
and 
BOLD

If God is for us, who can stand against us? What fear has power over us?
As the body of Christ, we are for the world:
For healing, for love, for reconciliation, for abundant life.
Our part is not to fall prey to division and fear, but to pray for each other.
In this word 'FOR', I feel challenged to orient myself toward others, even when that means engaging grief and suffering. 
Do not go numb, do not give up. 
Be for wholeness. Be an ambassador for Christ.

BOLD is something I have not been.
I have not been bold to proclaim Christ to the dear people God has placed in my life.
I confess I have let the fear of rejection overwhelm my love for them.
I have not been bold to prepare financially for our mission by seeking aid from our community.
I confess I have let the fear of shame overwhelm the vision for what God will do in the village of Baku, in PNG, and here in my community.
I have beat myself up inside, telling myself I should have more courage; but when the moment arrives, I let yet another opportunity to glorify God slip away. 
A good friend recently shared a sermon with us on the topic of Boldness.
The speaker pointed out that even Paul was constantly pleading with the Church to pray for him to have boldness!
LIGHTBULB!
This isn't an attribute I can manufacture in myself. Part of a bold ministry is a dependence on the people of God. Boldness is God's gift.
So please pray for me, for Ben, for our Church to be BOLD.

To those of you who have been praying for us: Thank you, again and again, thank you!
We have had a couple answers.
First, a good friend of ours gave us the kick in the pants we needed to really get moving on fundraising. We are both feeling more empowered and focused in this area.
Second, we had a consultation with the executive director of our organization and received the following counsel: 
- Do not deplete your savings to buy tickets for Romania. Start a fund drive specifically for that purpose and see what God does. Tentatively, keep the plan to go in February.
- Hold the date of April for departure to PNG loosely. Keep praying, keep raising funds, but be willing to push the date back. It may be that the timing of a later date will be better for everyone involved.
- Keep seeking prayer and advice from your community.

God is good. When we call, He answers. We trust that He will work His own purposes through all of this, and that He will provide for us to walk in His will.
We do deeply believe that He loves the people of Baku village and the people in the surrounding language groups and that He will provide for them to grow in the knowledge of Him and in healthy community. So we continue to press forward to answer the request that they have made of us, in the hope that God will use us as His tool to bless them.
Will you please pray about being a part of this long term ministry through prayer and financial support?
Will you consider being a part of sending us to our training in Romania? We need to raise roughly $3,500.
We know that this has been a rough year for many, and we ask that if you cannot support us financially that you would continue to support us in prayer - that is exponentially more important!

We love you all and are, as ever, overwhelmed with gratitude for you and for God's hand in our lives.
Stand FOR each other.
Be BOLD in the faith.
In Christ,
Mary (and Ben and Joya) Grimm

Written by Mary.
Dear friends,
The last few months have been so full - Ben going to EMT School, me farming through the summer, and of course us getting to meet our beautiful Joya Tov - that it's been easy for me to put off the question of funding for our mission.

Unfortunately, despite my greatest hopes, this question doesn't disappear with neglect. Neither does the process of funding magically become easier if just I slim our budget down to bare bones. While consulting with a veteran missionary (per. our pastor's advice), I was told with blunt honesty that this is going to take as long as God wants it to take in order to teach you what He wants you to learn.

I'm pretty sure He has a doozy of a lesson coming up because at this point three out of the four Churches that we were hoping might support us have said that they are not at a place financially to do so. If I could predict the future in my current mood of apprehension, I would say the fourth Church will probably have a similar response to our inquiries.

So, here we are again, hoping so very much that God gives us an open door to go to PNG in April and craning our necks to try and see the top of the wall that seems to be blocking the path.
Meanwhile, we are faced with the decision of whether or not to go ahead and purchase the tickets for our training trip to Romania. We have enough money set aside in savings to do this out of pocket if we do it soon and if we don't mind slimming our buffer fund down to a sliver.

TRUST. I do, but....
WISDOM. Are we just kidding ourselves?
ACTION. Do we take our current situation as a sign to back off and wait or to step forward boldly in faith?
Your prayers would be much appreciated... as would a monthly pledge (just being honest).

I know that getting into each others business is generally frowned upon in the Northwest, but we really, truly want your feedback on this one. Pray and tell us what you believe God would have us do. We are trying to listen to Him and to His people, the Church (that's you).

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support.
As ever, we are full of gratitude to God for the good people He has placed in our lives. Whatever comes of this season, we are thankful for you.
Love,
The Grimm Crowd

Written by Ben.
Well friends, our new child finally came to see us after nine nonths of waiting in anticipation! Say hello to our hairy, barrel-chested daughter (I could not possibly make this up) Joya Tov. Born 08Oct16 at 0825 in Bellingham WA. And weighing a whopping 9lbs 2.5oz!

I am struck by the little and great blessings surrounding our Joya. Things like our next door neighbors when we were house guests who were foster parents, around our age, loved board games, became good friends, and even hosted our baby shower. This is just to name a few!

Other things come to mind like our prayer that Joya would be an easy pregnancy, that she would be an easy delivery, an easy baby, and healthy too. All these things were answered. ALL of them. Joya was commented on by the midwives multiple times even before she was born, her heart was metronome solid and she stayed head down to the left side for three months. (For those of you not familiar, this position is the ideal one for delivery) She delivered in less than eight hours, an oddity for first time mothers. She delivered on time, another oddity for first time mothers. When she came out and I caught her she coughed once, upside down mind you, and sang out just long enough for us to slide her up to Mary. There is a rating system used to determine the health of the baby just after birth and Joya was 100% from her first breath. Even the day after was a blessing since we found her constant feeding through the night meant an inconsequential loss of weight. Newborns are expected to lose some weight the day after up to about 10% of their weight. Joya lost three ounces. Three.

Being new parents is something we feared to screw up, shuddered at the responsibility for someone's soul, held each other in blind anticipation, looked up countless stupid parenting myths and rumors, and ultimately came to see it the way most parents and experts like our midwives have told it: babies are intuitive. Analytical minds need not be present. This is tough for me; my mind wants a digital, on-off, itinerary, sub divided by category, color, date, and relativity.

Realizing that Joya is miming what she wants sometimes and ticking off the two or three other things it could possibly be makes a crying baby just a signal that there is something needing fixing. It isn't stressful, or awful; even for an introvert like me. And how can you ever get past the in-your-face example of God to man in the simple act of holding your daughter? I don't know if Daddies get that oxytocin rush when they hold their babies, but you know what? Chemistry can go thrombosize. I love holding my Joya and I grab her anytime Mary isn't feeding her because I love her so much. I love watching her sleep, I love holding her, I love changing her diapers, I love her downy little blonde hair; I love all of her. And that is exactly how God loves me.

You THINK you're ready when you've babysat enough kiddos and worked in social services for children. None of that prepares you for holding YOUR baby; the human you and your soulmate made. I think too that placing this little life second to Mary feels odd yet after discussing it with Mary and some other people in terms of parenthood and Godly behavior this priority makes sense. I'll tell you why: Placing Mary first sets an example to Joya of what a healthy relationship is. I will be a living demonstration of what she will seek in a husband and Mary will be the template she will model herself on as a woman. Second, placing Mary first is healthy in our relationship. Just like our relationship with God, we don't let anything come between us. It says with our actions where our priorities are and shows our love with our hands. And by this, the second point reinforces the first.

I really want to ramble on but I realize I am making a wall of text! Besides, I need to demonstrate my love for my wife and child and get back to them! Blessings on you all in pursuit of God's will in your life. May he bless and challenge you far beyond your capacity to guess. May His design for your life color way WAY outside the lines you drew.

In His Grace,

Benjamin, Mary, and Joya

P.S. I am now a certified Remote EMT...praise God for that too!

Automobiles and Overbooking

(Retro Post - Ben wrote this right before heading off to his EMT course September 4th)

One last post for the road! It is time to prep for school and get to Leavenworth. The last two weeks have been adventurous...even by our standards! Our car broke down a few weeks ago while Mary was hiking with a friend but managed to limp it home, we then had it repaired in anticipation of driving to Portland to see her sister in town from New York. The battery was not the issue, but was replaced anyway(250 bucks).
    I told you that to tell you another story: Our scheduling is tentative sometimes and not always able to be methodical and wise. Two weeks ago was that day. We had planned on: working for our friends at their deliveries, attending a wedding, going to the reception, visiting another friend, cleaning the church and dashing down to Portland. Keep in mind, we had not PLANNED to do all this together. Sigh! Someday...
    Thus by 5pm, blithely driving through Seattle traffic in the heart of downtown (you know; the place where you drive in the tunnel?) we experienced a familiar stutter in the car. Not unlike what had caused us to replace the battery. With power gone, we shut it off, got a jump and limped a few more miles down the road to the Boeing Field exit. A call to the parents got us a guest membership to AAA ( zero bucks!) and a long wait in the car for an incredibly cheerful tow truck driver who claimed he would wear a cape and a mask if they let him. He was very happy about his job being a hero. We got the car 3 miles away to the mechanic where, in the dark, he sadly informed us his boss had told him he could not drive us to the airport. (He even told them Mary was pregnant! Wonderful man, bless him.) After a few minutes figuring out the Uber app, we summoned a ride (23 bucks) who happened to be a native of Mali and a great conversation about Seattle and the culture shock here. Then we found out our chosen rental company did not take debit cards...off to the next line (90 bucks). And dashed down to McMinnville. We got in around 0230.  Loooooooong day. Five hours later we are having family time.
    It turned out very well to have a time to spend with a family member we don’t see much. And we got to have most of it together for a picnic in Newberg. For all the difficulty in getting down there, neither of us would have traded it for anything else. You only get so many chances for family time. Then at 1530 it was time to go. So at 1700 when we left the coffee shop (12 bucks) it was time to dash back to the Sea-Tac airport to drop off our rental and meet our friend in Bellingham who (God bless him) drove down to meet us and take us home.
    Next Friday we finally had our alternator replaced and were dashing down into the maelstrom of I-5 traffic to retrieve our beloved car (500 bucks). Six hours of round trip fun!

So what do we learn from this little adventure?

1. Time to go never ever means time to go. It’s more like a 1 hour warning.
2. Scheduling works better when you talk to your spouse about plans (I am SO guilty). It also works better in a utopian perfect world.
3. We are not making any more cannonball runs to Portland in the middle of the night.
4. It ain’t about the money; we had a great adventure

Let our adventure inspire you too. Look past where you’re at and forward to the bigger picture. How can you bless somebody right where you are, right now?

May God bless and challenge you so you will share the gospel with your work, your words, and your thoughts.

In His Grace,

Benjamin, Mary, and the Grimmling

(Note from Mary: This whole adventure was pretty stressful for me, especially in the area of finances; however, God provided ahead of time for this mishap through the donations of a few wonderful friends. It was a blessing to experience again how He anticipates our needs and takes care of us. Thank you to those of you who blessed us in this way, and to all of you who are praying for us as we prepare for ministry in the field.)