Prayer Needed

Cassi and I leave with some of Team Belgium from LifePoint in 13 days. We will be there for one week. It will be a cool time because we will get to spend some time with people there that we have been talking with. There are ministers, lay people, and just plain old people. I personally am approaching this trip with great anticipation. My prayers are focused. My mind is focused. I hope to have some opportunity to help while I am there.

Our group had a session with the UpStream Collective recently. They had great insight. They gave us a lot to chew on.

Thankfully, work is going pretty good for both Cassi and I. Thanks for your prayers for both of us.

These are exciting times in the Wolski house.

So much has been happening

So much has been going on as of late. There is no way I will remember it all. Cassi and I are both enrolled in classes. I am finishing my last 3 hours of my degree. Cassi is finishing up a class on New Testament. We have a roommate again. Lauren was a bridesmaid in our wedding. She has been helping around the house. We have needed to change some doorknobs, paint, clean, etc. It has been a huge chore.

We are in French classes every week at church with a sweet teacher Marie-Claire. Claire moved to Bellbuckle, TN 32 years ago from France. She is a great teacher. French is HARD. Our ears are not used to hearing all the sounds. We also meet with the Belgium team every week. This week they are at our house. We are studying what other faiths believe including other denominations.

I have a new job. I am not playing music full-time anymore. I work at Dell as a sales rep. Some of you know that I used to do this. It has been a blessing so far. It was necessary to increase our income now to continue to pay down debt. Dell is a integral part of our Belgium plan right now. Cassi is still working at Bethel, only now they are Bethel University, not Bethel College. The school continues to grow.

Cassi and I head to Brussels, Belgium in one month. We are going to connect with some missionaries and friends there. This will be my first trip there, and Cassi's second trip. This week long trip with other Lifepoint Belgium team members will be invaluable. This trip includes a meeting with a church staff over there. That will be exciting.

Next week we are meeting with our financial planner again. This will be a "nuts and bolts" type meeting. It will help to decide when we actually head to Brussels. We should have a written plan for our debt plan.

Cassi had her first meeting with a reproductive endocrinologist last week. The doctor was very encouraging. We start some testing and possible surgeries soon.

We are still raising support for our move. LifePoint's research says that we need to raise $4900 per month to live there. It is pretty expensive to live there. That is a lot of money. This has made us trust God so much more. We cannot do all of this ourselves. We are forced to rely on Him. That is a cool place to be.

“Until the Whole World Hears”

It has been a couple of weeks since I have blogged, but I have come to terms that this is how life is going to be for the next 12 months. I promise I will try to get better at fitting blogging into this crazy life of mine. J I am more than happy to walk this road God is leading us down. Becoming a missionary and joining a church planting team is an enormous commitment, but I couldn’t be more thankful. We have to make the most of everyday from sun up till sun down. The days of relaxation are going to have to be over for the next 12 months to give this our all. I have recently changed my ringtone (lol) to a song that really inspires me. It is on Casting Crowns’ new album and really touches me. It is actually the title of their new album and my blog it is called “Until the Whole World Hears”. Here is the chorus just to show you why it inspires me during this time.

ready yourselves
ready yourselves
Let us shine the light of Jesus in the darkest night
ready yourselves
ready yourselves
May the powers of darkness tremble as our praises rise
Until the whole world hears Lord we are calling out
Lifting up Your name for all to hear the sound
Like voices in the wilderness we're crying out
as the day draws near
we'll sing until the whole world hears

I am currently taking an Old Testament class in college, and it has been an amazing blessing. During this time when life is turned upside down and you are preparing to leave everyone and everything you know, it is a comforting feeling to be reminded of the sacrifices God has made for us. It makes what we feel like is a major life change seems ill in comparison to what God has sacrificed for us. I sit in class each week with 20 other students and a facilitator. I get to hear their thoughts, beliefs and hear about their relationship with the Lord if they have one, and see their eyes light up when they learn things that they did not know about our savior. I thought this is just a taste of what we will experience in an area where God is not often spoken of. To go to an area where people are not sure what to believe in and walking around with an agonizing emptiness inside, it will be amazing to see the changes in their lives when they accept Christ. Once we realize it is not about us it is about him it is an amazing feeling.

If you have been keeping up with our blog you already know that we are working in so many areas of our lives that our heads are spinning. We are meeting with ministry partners, learning French, constantly seeking God and praying, cleaning out clutter, selling unneeded items, meeting with a financial counselor, plus everyday normal life. Our biggest plan for the coming weeks is to get our house on the market by next weekend. We have been advised from our financial counselor to try the for sale by owner thing for a couple of months. If that doesn’t work then we will seek the help of a realtor. Please pray for us as there is so much to do to have the house ready.

Thinking of leaving my family is one of the hardest things I will do in my life. I have amazing Grandparents, Parents, and siblings who I will leave behind. I also have amazing in laws, nieces, and nephews who we will leave as well. This is a sacrifice we are willing to make. We have families who love us so much and we are so thankful, and we are lucky enough to have families who love the Lord so I know they will understand why we have to do this. When God is calling you to something it would be easier to look the other way and go on about your normal life, but answering that call is the right thing to do as Christ followers. My main goal is to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and be obedient to him. I ask you to pray for our families during this time. I pray that God will give them understanding. I know they will be a constant support in our lives no matter where we are at. To our Mothers we will be home once per year and you can come visit whenever you like. J We love you all.

I was reading a team members blog and it was talking about how we started this process 7 months ago. I cannot believe how these months have flown by. I cannot believe that I have had the blessing of visiting this country to help make plans for the coming year. It is scary and exciting all rolled into one. Even though I got to spend a week there I still cannot imagine what all God has in store for when we get there. We are trusting God through it all. Please join with us in praying for the missionaries serving in Belgium now and for the people of Belgium, please pray for us along with our teammates as we work harder than ever before to answer the call.

Matthew 28:18-20 (New International Version)

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Life In the Fast Lane!!!

Hello Everyone,
Sorry it has once again been a while, but our life has been in the fast lane since I have returned from Belgium. Bryan was out on the road with Casting Crowns, and I have been swamped trying to catch up at work, help my mom move, and I am still working toward my degree. We had a family reunion last weekend which was lots of fun and Bryan is on the road with Jacobs Road this weekend.

In the midst of normal everyday life we are constantly praying, preparing, and having weekly small group meetings with Team Belgium. I have recently started a new devotional book by Beth Moore called Voices of the Faithful, and I am loving it. It is so inspirational and starts my day off right with some words of encouragement, scripture, and prayer. It is written by 300 IMB missionaries who are currently working in the field. Since we are all called to be missionaries I would recommend it to anyone even if your mission field is not overseas. In the evenings I have been reading a book called Sister Freaks by Rebecca St.James which is about women who risked it all for God. I guess you can tell what is on my mind. The truth is I am taking the advice we received from the missionaries while we were in Belgium. One thing we heard from all of the missionaries was to know how to feed yourself, and I don’t mean food I mean spiritually. When you are in an area where Christians are literally nonexistent it can be easy to get knocked down. By keeping ourselves in the word and uplifted we will be focused and ready for the constant challenges we will be facing daily. Sometimes it can be hard in the US to stay immersed in the word, but in the US we have our church(LifePoint), Christian friends, Christian radio, and tons of Christian organizations to be a part of. We have resources and support all around us. When we are an ocean away from everyone and everything we know I want be as ready as I can be so that nothing will distract me from the work I will be there (Belgium) to do. My husband constantly says you are what you eat and he is referring to spirituality as well. It really does make sense if you know how to feed yourself then you maintain a strong relationship with our Father. When I feel closest to God no other feeling can compare. I am so blessed to have grown up in an area where I can join with others and worship our Perfect God. I can’t wait to get to Belgium to share the good news. I can’t wait to start a church where hopefully everyone will feel free to worship and get involved and build that personal relationship with God and eachother that I know so many are longing for and just do not have the resources or the knowledge on how to start it.

I also want to thank ALL of our ministry partners. Without you this would not be happening. So thank you, thank you, and thank you! If you are or are not joining us in this ministry please know when we move to Belgium our door will always be open. You will always be welcome to come and visit and get your hands dirty with some of the mission work we will be doing there. The financial support is huge, but if Belgium is tugging at your heart you are welcome to get on the ground once we get there and help out. I also want to say a special thanks to our friends Keith and Kerri who gave us Rosetta Stone French Version, a book on Belgium, and a heating blanket that will work overseas. Since Kerri just moved back from Luxemburg she is an amazing resource. We have so many friends that are stepping up to help in many ways so just know how much we appreciate you.

As we continue to prepare we are looking at apartments online to figure out budgets, getting our house on the market, paying off debt, getting prepared spiritually, raising support, learning French, and much more. I ask that you pray for us and the rest of our team during this intense time. It is very exciting and we are trusting God to get us there. We have an amazing Team that God has put in place. Everyone brings something different to the table, and including children we have 19 people going and one more college student who will be joining us a few months after we get there for a total of 20. I am so happy to be going with such an awesome group of adults and children.

Please remember that even though so many view Belgium and Europe as a country with everything it is one of the hardest mission fields out there. There aren't as many physical needs to be met in Belgium as in some countries, but the spritual need there is endless! We have been told this by many. People are so closed off from one another that they are a tough country to get through to. Please pray for God to start working and preparing their hearts now. Please pray for the missionaries who are currently serving in Belgium. We thank all of you for your support!

Belgium Mission Trip Update#1

I am so sorry I am just now getting the chance to post a blog. We have had limited access to the internet because the wireless isn’t free unless we are at a café that has it. We have been incredibly busy and it has been amazing journey thus far. It definitely involves a huge amount of walking which is nice but tiring. We have literally fallen asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow which is another reason I am just now blogging.

Although it is so beautiful here you can definitely tell something is missing. While on public transportation (Tram, Train, or Bus) no one makes eye contact. Everyone is quiet and very guarded. Lots of people have IPODs with Earphones or are staring at their phones as a barrier. We have had a chance to speak with a couple of people none of which are true Belgian, but do live here. We Were lucky enough to have a great conversation with one lady and she told us that she believes Belgians are so guarded due to being used as a battle ground in past years. She said that most conversations are very general on the surface conversations. They typically do not invite you into their homes unless you are family or a very close friend. She said it may be a couple of years before it would be appropriate to have a conversation with a Belgian about politics or religion. We have been trying to communicate and observe as many people as we possibly can.

We landed in Brussels around 8:00am (Belgium time) after flying for nearly 9 hours. We were all exhausted, but really wanted to have a productive day. We needed to keep ourselves busy to stay awake and get acclimated to the time difference. They are seven hours ahead of us(Central Standard time). We checked into our hotel, grabbed breakfast, and started our day. We mainly just got our bearings and attended a church service. We have been using a method that consists of prayer walking, observing and connecting. We are trying to use every minute of daylight to get as much done as possible. No doubt the scenery is beautiful in some areas and you can’t help but snap a picture we have a much bigger mission in and on our minds constantly. Although we would love to spend many hours doing only mission work while we are on this trip, the fact is we also have to make time to see different areas and scout out potential areas we may need to live. We want to be in the area we feel we could really have good opportunities to connect with and meet many people and share God’s word. We want to be in his will 100 percent!

On Monday we were able to visit an area called Stockel. It was very much a suburban feel and family friendly. It was a nicer area of Brussels. We walked around most of the city and were able to view an apartment. Tuesday we went to an area called Gribaumont which personally I loved. There were a couple of great parks where meeting people would be easy. They have walking trails, exercise equipment; skate park areas with concrete hills, and lots of shady sitting areas for reading. People have dogs everywhere in Brussels. It is not uncommon to see dogs walking through the mall or any building. Lots of people are at the parks walking dogs or playing with their children. There are lots of bike riders as well. Any of these would be a great way to make friends. They have lots of mom and pop owned shops which a nice change. Wednesday we will be traveling to Namur to do more research and mission work.

I cannot tell you how thankful and blessed I am to be on this trip. I will admit when I first started feeling like God was leading us towards Brussels I thought of the glamour and beauty of this place and most importantly a huge population of people that do not have a personal relationship with our Father. They are walking through life not even realizing they have a savior who is ready to step up to bat for them and do amazing work in their lives if they will just let him in. Through speaking with the British lady that I mentioned earlier we learned that a lot of people claim Catholicism through status not practice. Meaning they baptize their children because it is the popular thing to do for your friends and family not out of love and obedience.
Many people cannot fathom why we would do such a thing as to move to a foreign country with all of the beautiful historic art, rich chocolate, diamonds, and lace. The truth is they have many things, but God is not one of them. The British lady also said something that really touched me and made my desire to be here even stronger. She said that although has lived in Belgium for a while and although she was married to a Belgian, life here can be lonely. Everyone is so guarded that they are not only missing out on a relationship with God they are missing out on relationships with eachother. Our job as Christians is to love, to encourage, and to be missionaries (in your area or an area you may be called to). Most Belgians do not even acknowledge others presence. It is sad to think in such a beautiful area full of people there are many people who are walking around sad and lonely. There is so much I want to share from this trip already. I will try to post again in the next day or so depending on how busy we are and what access to internet we have. If you have questions please feel free to email me or post them on here. We are trying to learn ourselves. Please pray for Team Belgium as we continue this trip that God will use us as his hands and feet and show us his ultimate plans. We are praying for everyone at home as well. We miss you and we love you all.

Cassi

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all of the earth.
Isaiah 12:5

Tuesday in Brussels and Home Base

Cassi and the team are going on a prayer-walk today through Brussels. They also plan on surveying more of the city to find out more of where we can move and make an impact. They also plan to engage people today by starting conversations. They hope to find out about society, the community, their spirituality (as we call it in America). I hope that today will be a fruitful day there. They are 7 hours ahead of us here in the central time zone so there day is mostly over by now.

At home: This past Friday was our first meeting with LifePoint members to talk about being financial partners. That went well. Sean and Shonna Harrison, and another LifePoint couple (name withheld-I did not ask them if they cared if people new they were sponsoring us) have come on board. I have also had 2 conversations in the last two days and had interest from both of those. So, in the last five days it looks like we have gotten our first 4 monthly sponsors. God can work fast.

Please continue to pray for the team in Belgium for safety and clarity. Also, pray for me. I am putting the finishing touches on the Casting Crowns music I am learning. I leave tomorrow afternoon for a stint with them.

Peace

Belgium Trip update: breakfast and such

I talked with Cassi a few times today. We Skype'd at our small group today, so we got to see each other too. The entire team is exhausted. Cassi had a waffle for breakfast and pizza for lunch/dinner. They are most likely sleeping right now and will be up around 9 am Brussels time. That is 2 am central. This is one of many little chocolate shops around their hotel and surrounding area. Godiva is Belgian.

34,000 feet and steady

Cassi and the team going to Belgium are currently cruising at 34,000 feet above the Atlantic ocean. They have been on this leg of the flight for 5 hours and 36 minutes. Cassi snapped a few photos of the team as they loaded the plane. Unfortunately there are none of her, but here is the team. Jordan, the girl in the bottom picture, is going to be Cassi's roomate this trip.

Peace

Belgium Update #6: Introducing...

Today the Belgium and Thailand teams were brought up in front of the church for a formal introduction. The two teams took up the front of the stage. There are quite a few of us being sent. Once the video is up of this service you can see the introductions here. There is 1 song and some baptisms. We are directly after the baptisms.

The purpose of the introductions was to let the church who is going overseas to represent LifePoint. It was also to explain that we are vocational missionaries and need support in many ways including funding. It is estimated that a married couple like Cassi and I will need to raise $4900 per month to survive. It is very expensive. Our Bangkok, Thailand counterparts will need about $1500 per month to survive. As you can see, it is very expensive to live in Brussels.

Cassi and I are very thankful of those who have already stepped up to make a commitment to partner with our ministry. For those who received a letter from us already. Please pray about your role in this. For those who have not yet been contacted, you are free to contact us if we don't get to you soon enough or at all. We have a lot on our plate and are trying to keep all the things going that we need to.

Today was another baby step. How many are left? 1500? 2000? Who knows. We keep plugging away though.

We had some great conversations with some people today who are wanting to make more of a commitment to reaching out with their faith. That is exciting! I can't really go in to much detail, but "stuff is stirring".

Peace

Brussels update #5: Introductions and cleaning

This Sunday our pastor, Pat Hood, is introducing the families that were placed on the Belgium and Thailand teams. I think there are 10-12 families total. This will be a chance for LifePoint to see who is going overseas to start the first international campuses for LifePoint. This is a week to show your support for these families if you are a "Life-er". Just another step in the process.

Cassi and I and getting our house ready to put on the market. We have some interest already and are pursuing that. We have been doing the typical cleaning and such that it takes to get a house ready to show. I guess we are about 35% there. It is so much work. Cassi's family is coming in this weekend to help get the house ready. They are going to help clean the baseboards, floors, walls, concrete, etc. That is a huge help!

It is getting closer. One week at a time.

Peace

Why Belgium?

In the country of Belgium 90 percent of Belgians claim Catholicism, but almost none regularly attend any kind of religious service. In fact, less than 1 percent of the people in Belgium are practicing Christians. LESS THAN 1%. The Muslim faith is the fastest growing faith in Europe. If you have watched the news recently you probably have seen European politicians begging America to not go down the same roads they did. They see us making the same mistakes. In a trip Bryan made to England and Greece in 2005, he noticed very different fashion styles. Over the next 2 years those styles crept in to pop culture in America. What happens in Europe does not stay in Europe. It eventually gets shipped to America. This goes for fashion, politics, and religion. This post-Christian society needs to hear of God’s love so that cultural and religious exports to America are once again biblically based.

Brussels, Belgium is the heart of the European Union. People are constantly coming and going in Brussels. We NEED to reach these people to help turn Europe around. They need to understand what a personal relationship with a real God looks like.This mission cannot be accomplished alone by us and the four other families that are being sent. It will take a host of families stateside to make this possible. If you feel like God is tugging at you to join in this ministry please contact us. Several friends have joined already and we thank you guys so much! We will keep you all regularly updated.

We had our second small group meeting yesterday and I cannot fully express how excited I am about the team God has assembled for us to work with during this mission. It is truly a group of Christ followers driven to make God famous in Europe.

I want to ask all of you reading this to pray for us in the coming weeks. I and 6 other Team members will be flying to Brussels, Belgium later this month. Please pray for God to guide our steps while we are there and please pray that the Belgian people will have open hearts and minds. This is mainly a vision trip to scout out possible areas to plant the church, meet with and possibly witness to some college students, look at potential places for us to live, and plan plan plan.

When we first started feeling like God was calling us to the country of Belgium I could not wrap my brain around it all. With everyday that passes the urge to get over there and start working for Him is more overwhelming. I now know why God is assembling this team he is making it clear to us the need for Christianity in all of Europe. This is something we are very passionate about! If you have any questions please feel free to ask. We have had about a million questions ourselves since starting this process in early May. If we cannot answer them we will get the answer. I am attaching a video that shows part of the importance of having a presence and sharing God's word to a lost country. They deserve to feel the love a church family can provide, and we are stepping up to the plate. Please take a few minutes and watch the video. It blew my mind.

Au revior.

Cassi Wolski

Brussels Update 4: Find a partner

Today was great. Our first small group meeting with Team Brussels happened today. Twenty of us convened at the Goen's. Our pastor, Pat Hood, stopped by to give the LifePoint vision. You know, "straight from the horse's mouth." We had our first worship session with the Ebensberger's at the helm. Fittingly, our first song was How Great is Our God sung in French.

Also, we now have been given the green light to start finding our ministry partners. The team is pretty much firmed up and we are to be contacting people to partner with us to make this mission a reality. Cassi and I have already heard from a handful of you that want to partner with us. We want to thank you so much for that. We will be contacting you soon to work out the details of what that looks like.

Our first official ministry partners are Jon and Joy Wolski. Jon works as a web developer for a national ministry and had some great ideas in our brainstorm meeting tonight. They are going to help us integrate the technology part of what we do. It is said that the number one reason that ministry partners quit giving support is for lack of information on what is going on in the ministry. We talked about ways to keep people plugged in and to have transparency on what we are doing. We will be trying out new ideas to implement soon. We will also probably go to a dedicated domain for the mission work. This particular blog will most likely have a new URL in the near future.

Cassi's next blog will be on why we are going to Belgium specifically and what needs to be accomplished there.

Things are happening. Hop on board and hang on.

Peace.

P.S. I hijacked the picture from Women of Grace. They own it, not me.

Brussels Update 1

Busy weekend. We have visited with a lot of family. That has kept us away from the computers since our meeting we had with our church.

Big news though. We have been selected for our churches LifePoint Brussels team. There is still a year and a half of training, support raising, education, paying off debt, and much more. This will probably be the toughest thing that Cassi and I attack. Please pray for us through this process. We will be blogging about the process as we go.

Belgium; It's not just for waffles anymore

Cassi and I have hinted around and outright told some of you that we were trying to decide on starting the process of going to Brussels, Belgium. We spent MUCH time praying, talking, thinking and reflecting. We really feel that we are to answer the call for this international mission.

LifePoint Church is sending a missions team of probably 4 or 5 couples and some college singles to Brussels in January 2011. If we are selected through this process we would go there for a 3-year appointment.

We have an initial interview on Wednesday, May,13. We will know more then.