August 2020
The Launch We have officially launched into full-time deputation as of August 14! I resigned from my job on August 6 (Ramona’s birthday), and we moved everything from our house to our minivan by the 14th heading down to Georgia. It was a challenge, but we worked through what to sell, what to store for Hungary, and what to take on the road. Although everything we packed for the road fit in and on our van, we discovered that it was not that practical or comfortable. We were able to locate and purchase a cargo trailer in Georgia that holds our luggage and leaves us more space in the vehicle during travel. Thank you for praying for us during this transition. God’s Protection We are thankful for God’s protection and safety. We had two close calls right before we left that could have been bad, but we saw the hand of the Lord protecting. The first was with our vehicle. I recently had some standard maintenance done on our van at a dealership, including a tire rotation. After that we drove to Minnesota and back (4+ hours) and a missionary friend replaced my rear brakes when we returned. He noticed when he went to take off one of the tires that two lug nuts were missing and the other three were loose! That could have easily been a disaster, and we are grateful to God for keeping those lug nuts on and letting us find the problem without a crisis. The other obvious protection was on our children. While moving out, my daughter climbed on our now empty bookshelf which fell over towards her. It slammed to the ground narrowly missing our eight-month-old Mark, and somehow Abigail got out of the way of the shelf without being hurt. These stories should show you how much we need your prayers! God’s Provision We have been blessed even in the beginning steps of our full-time deputation. Our support has gone up a bit to 12%, and we have several churches that have let us know they plan to take us on or will consider us for support. We have had some friends, and churches give some very generous gifts that helped meet our needs as we transition to this new phase of deputation life. God answered prayer above what I expected for our schedule this fall. Every Sunday ended up filled in August, and we just had our last Sunday filled for this fall, leaving us no Sunday holes in our calendar until December! I feel that God is showing me that He is taking care of us by filling out our schedule. We are enjoying meeting many great people who love the Lord and have a heart for missions. We love sharing the burden of Hungary and the need for laborers. We trust God will stir up more laborers for missions around the world and for missions right at home. Prayer requests - Continued health and safety on the road - Meetings to fill some in December and openings next year - God to call laborers into His harvest - Our support to come in as quickly as God desires so we can get to the mission field of Hungary! Jake and Ramona Allen
