We went to San Francisco, to Tokyo (itchy, knee, itchy knee son) and now we’re in Bangkok. With one more flight to go the longest trip ever is going well. God has been providing in incredible ways! We love everyone who helped make this happen and we want to hear from you guys things that we can be praying about.

Love Jen & Dave

MORE LORD!

God has done a miracle! He has exceeded our goal that we had for ourselves in fundraising for our DTS! “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23). God was faithful from the beginning. He promised that he would provide…and he did!! 🙂 We wait, joyfully expectant, to see what else he has prepared for us!!!! We thank each and every one of you for your prayers, encouragement, and support. The Lord heard your prayers and used every one of you for his glory! Thank you!

Jen hasn’t slept in 3 days. Pray for rest and dreams! (I’m thinking we will definitely need those prayers between the 14 hour flight over the Pacific and 9 hours in the BKK airport)

In other news, the BBQ Fundraiser and Raffle is NEXT Saturday, September 3rd, from 5-7PM at Bethany UMC. So come NEXT Saturday!

“Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

The Lord is SO faithful! A month ago, had you asked us how support raising was going, things looked bleak. Relying on our own strength wasn’t working so good. We needed a miracle. And the Lord gave us one! We have raised 75% and then some over three weeks! To help raise the last bit, we are co-hosting a

BBQ Dinner and Raffle with world-renowned Cajun chef, Dennis Anastasis (with Divine Catering) and his daring assistant, Bryan Quisenberry on
August 27th
from 5-7PM (pick-up meals only)
at Bethany UMC, James Island.

Local artwork and a Kiawah Island Getaways package will be raffled off, as well as some tasty baked goods for dessert will be for sale to complete your to-go meals of savory BBQ, sauteed green beans, Cajun red rice, and rolls.

We give a really big shout out of thank yous to our friends at Bethany UMC, St. Johns Parish, Church of Our Saviour, Faith Baptist, and The Good Shepherd who are helping us in so many ways. Keep praying prayer warriors…your prayers are being answered 🙂 and the body of Christ is truly coming together to help us get to Thailand. Thank YOU for all of your love, prayers, encouragement and support. Thanks Daddy God for all of your wonderful provision and surrounding us by a community of love!

Also, something that we just put together today…the reason why He called Laney Spigener (my grandfather) into the Navy so long ago, was because His future generations (us) would be traveling (a lot) overseas internationally and He knew to set us up with the generational USAA account that is literally saving us from the storms of insurance bills. Thanks Papa and Mom for keeping us legacies! The Lord knew we would need it!

should be sent to our parents at

David and Jen Carter
PO Box 190
Swansea, SC, 29160

we leave camp in 5 days

Continuation of the story…….

 

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This is the story of how our host in Romania, Cornel Fedor, survived persecution under the communists government.

Part I –  More to come soon!

Physically, one can say that international travel does something to your insides.  For whatever reason, your body is thrown off schedule and doesn’t work right.  2 hours into our flight home, we land at the Munich Airport in Deutschland. Keep in mind we are sleep deprived, woke up at 4AM, I feel nauseated and sick, and the idea of getting on another airplane for 9 hours trans-Atlantic does not sound like “fun”.

So, I’m walking around the terminal in a soul-crushing Eeyore-like mood, saying to God, “God, I don’t know if I can do this. I can’t even stand 9 hours of torture, let alone the 14 hour flight and 9 hour layover that awaits us in trans-Pacific. I don’t even know if I want to go to Thailand anymore. This is hard. Whaaaaaaaaa.” And so forth.

As I’m crying out to the Lord of the Universe in my head in the terminal, I come face-t0-face with another gripping confirmation. In front of me is one of those wall advertisements to cover up whatever storage closet is parked in the middle of the airport. And what country could it be advertising? “Thailand, Thailand, Thailand….the land of smiles!”. What is Thailand doing in the middle of Germany? The Lufthansa airport has a sister airport in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Thailand. Who knew? God knew! And I laughed all the way back to our gate to tell David. God has a hilarious sense of humor sometimes to get our attention.

Time in Romania was well spent. We will have to post some videos soon. A few highlights about Romania:

1) Europeans love their round-a-bouts. Traffic is no longer a problem. However the lines in the roads are merely suggestions to follow.

2) Cornel, our host, defied the Communist Regime…twice. (video of that story to come for sure)

3) The WC does not always have TP.

4) We got invited by Joseph (a pastor/shepherd) to shepherd his sheep …unfortunately we had to decline to prior obligations, but we all wanted to!

5) God bless our translators, the Fedors, Lidia, Melinda, and the power of body language/charades! But I think in total, we learned a dozen Romanian words. (My favorite, “ce pace” (chay-pach) or “what’s up”)

6) God has a HUGE heart for the Gypsies of Romania! In the past 5 years that FBC has been operating in Hasdate, there is no more crime in that village! Cornel has started another church plant in Gherla. The children are beautiful. The ladies are hospitable and welcoming. The men were curious about our digital cameras.

7) The Lord healed Michelle’s ankles and saved Sidor’s life (a Gypsy man needed medicine for his kidney operation and couldn’t afford it…and the Lord used us to bless him and the medicine probably spared him from infection and we got to pray for him and his family)

8 ) The Lord is working in many elderly widows who all have  powerful encounters in their villages by praising the Lord and serving Him in joy daily. Maria sang us a song.

9) The Lord used our testimonies to witness to others multiple times throughout the week.

10) The Lord is supernaturally blessing the land. The mountains and countryside are gorgeous! People’s wells do not dry up in times of drought (i.e. Alunis) and people get ridiculously huge chickens and crops (i.e. Gusti’s tomatoes are the size of pumpkins….and it’s all organic farming…and praying)