BurnettBunch
Update June 2012
For those of you that have
known us for any length of time, it will not come as much of a
surprise to hear that there are big changes in the near future for
our family – yet again!
The biggest change for us
recently has been finding a new church home. We have felt God
leading us to find a different church for some time but did not quite
have the big answers yet... the where or the when. When Mike & I
took some time to really press into the heart of our Daddy God we
heard Him saying “You need to find a church that is more missions
minded”, which was something that absolutely lined up with our
hearts and what God has been doing in our lives over the last year or
so. It was very difficult for us because it was not like we were
physically moving and leaving Abilene, but it was God leading us so
we stepped out on faith, that He had a good plan for this move. Well
we had NO IDEA what God was about to unleash in our lives!!
The very next week after we
told our leadership that we would be leaving God rocked our world
(and our man-made plans)! Mike received an offer for promotion at
work – he would get to be the installation manager for a new
project. Wow! This was a great thing in and of itself, but there was
more. The offer was for a position overseas, in either Brazil, India
or Australia. Mike said he would talk to his family about it and let
them know.
I have to interject a little
side story here: Three times, not once, but three times earlier this
year Mike had plans to change industries to the oil field so that
perhaps sometime in the next
5 years he would qualify for overseas work so that (1) he could make
more money and (2) so that we could do business as missions... work
while we evangelize. We wrote this dream down approximately 8 months
ago as a 5 year goal that seemed very complicated, expensive ,and far
off. But we still dared to dream. And we watched God close the
doors we thought it would happen through. Not all that encouraging
really.
But
God..!!
He
always has better plans... more that we can seek, ask or imagine!
After we accepted the offer, Mike as offered the opportunity to
manage a new wind farm installation in... INDIA!! We are so excited
for so many reasons. This is a positional promotion for Mike within
his same industry. He loves what he does and he is exceptionally
good at it. The reason he was selected was for his impeccable
reputation! I couldn't be more proud of him! There is also a
financial blessing it all of this for us. Not only the pay raise
that comes with the positional promotion but a 30% increase for
working overseas. This is huge! Most people hope to keep up with
inflation and God is handing him a 30% increase. Thank you Jesus!
It is so
like God to offer a promotion that satisfies the desires of everyone
involved! Since returning from Thailand in March I have known that
this is what I was created for. I remember one of my favorite things
to do while spending time at my Grandmother's house was to spin her
globe and put my finger on it to see where it would stop. I had
never felt more alive in my entire life than when I was delivering
the message of heaven in Thailand.
All the
details that have fallen into place for this to happen are amazing.
Our lease for our house had just ended the week that the job offer
came. My first week at our new church (First United Methodist
Church/FUMC) I walked blindly into a Sunday school class {since I was
late}, and there was a missionary from India, speaking about the
children's orphanage that the church supports. There are so many
more of these instances I could tell you!
It
is all happening so suddenly, which is another way God has moved in
our marriage since the very beginning. Mike is scheduled to begin in
India August 5th.
We have been very blessed to have our dear friend Chloe join us as
an au pair (mother's helper) & missions partner. Mike will go
ahead of us, and to make traveling easier on the kids Chloe and I
will take a more scenic route to India via London & Paris, taking
5 days to enjoy each city, take in the 2012 Olympics and to adjust to
the time changes. A 15 hour direct flight from Newark does not sound
reasonable for a 2 and 4 year old!
We
will be using our blog at http://burnettbunchlife.blogspot.com/
to keep in touch with everyone through posts and video logs. We
should be in Gadag, India somewhere around 5 months, but we will have
to see how the project goes once it gets going. It will certainly
not be the same as a project done stateside! We are so excited about
this adventure for our family!
In
the meantime, the kids and I are traveling to Alberta, Canada to
visit with my family for the month of July. We leave June 27th
and will return around July 29th
and a week later we'll be on our way overseas. We are so excited to
meet the beautiful Ms. Molly, my brother's sweet baby girl and to
celebrate my dad's 65th
birthday and retirement. Harrison & Heidi are looking forward to
time at Grandpa's farm and camping with Grammy in the “big
bus”/motorhome. Again, I'm so grateful for God's great timing –
that we get to see everyone before we go. What an amazing, detailed
God we serve!
I am
also excited to share that whenever we are done in India we will be
spending some time in Pattaya, Thailand, where I went in March on the
missions trip. I am thrilled to go back to serve the amazing
Ricketts missionary family! I can't wait to see them all again!
Please
keep in touch with us and please be praying for our family through
all this change and transition. God has given us a supernatural
grace to handle changes that would potentially ruin most people.
Please pray for our health, for our safety and for our family to be
in alignment with God's vision for this amazing adventure.
In love
with the King,
Michael,
Jennifer, Harrison & Heidi Burnett
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