Ministry Change For Josh Austin...

Dearest brethren, 

It has been quite a month.  Let me begin with this news:  we have decided to move back to Arizona to work with the Native American population!  If the Lord wills, in June of 2013 we would like to plant a church on the Pima Reservation in the Phoenix metro area.  There are over 100,000+ natives living in Phoenix with only a few handful of Christians.  Over 60% of the Natives who live in Phoenix are Navajo, which is the group of people we have been working with since 2002.  

We will continue to work with Bear Valley in training preachers in Cameroon at least until June of 2013.  Over the next 10 months we are going to be living in Morenci, AZ where my parents live.  They have graciously agreed to allow me to preach there until we make the move to Phoenix.  This move to Morenci will be happening August 15th.  By moving now instead of in June, it will get us closer to Phoenix to do the research to get ready for this new work, it will also get us closer to my parents and it will get us back on our feet financially.  

We are planning a trip in September to start visiting congregations to try to raise new support.  We have not been on full support since we arrived in Denver.  If I have not spoken with you yet, we would love to come and share with you the much needed work or reaching the Natives.  If you are able to meet with us, or know of someone who might be interested in meeting with us, please let us know.

Now on to the news from July:

The first week consisted mostly of family time.  After being gone a month I tried to spend some good time with the family.  The second week of July is when we made the decision to move, so since that time we have been taking the steps to move.  This includes: having yard sales, packing, “craigslisting,” and planning.  

The new convert that we have been working with, Travis, is continuing to make some progress.  There are obvious struggles being a new Christian, but we have had several good studies over the month.  I have also had a couple of Bible studies with Michael.  He is my neighbor who is about 19 yrs old.  He is really showing some promise.  

I have also been preaching at the nursing home this month and trying to get someone to fill my spot to preach to these precious souls every week.  We are praying someone to step up.  

This month I have been doing a part time job of selling Cutco knives to try and make some extra money.  I have been seeing people who own them already and seeing people who have never heard of them.  I am grateful for their time and helping me out.  

We took the kids to another VBS this month.  Living in a big city gives you the opportunity to take the kids to multiple VBS’s throughout the summer.  It has been great.  We also held Alayna and Josiah’s Birthday party this month.  It was a lot of fun.  We had about 35 people come to share in the celebration.  There was a lot of fun, food and fellowship.  

As far as the work in Cameroon, they are doing great.  They held their entrance exams this month to get ready for the new class in January.  We are making plans for the graduation in December and also the teachers getting ready to go over in September to teach Denominational Doctrines and Hebrews.

We continue to thank all of you for your continued interest in our family and the work we try to do for the Lord.  We have been so blessed here at Bear Valley and are ready to get back in the mission field.  We miss the work, and I know that I have been uniquely blessed to work with this group of precious souls.  If you would like to know more or talk with us in more detail, please give us a call. 

In His service, 
Austin Family

To view Josh's report with pictures, click here.

Posted on August 5, 2012 .