Mexico Trip 2012

Have you ever been at an exotic resort destination and taken time to notice the surroundings beyond your hotel? What about the concierge at the front desk or server at the restaurant? Have you ever wondered where they go home to? What is their life like?

This coming June the four of us will be joining a group of families from Jubilee Fellowship Church and traveling to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to serve the people who often go un-noticed in the hubbub of tourism. About 2 blocks inland from one of the most popular hotel destinations in Puerto Vallarta lies a community of families living in the city dump. Their homes are made of tarps and trash, their children run barefoot through broken glass, and they dig through garbage for anything they can find to live on. Many of the adults are the very same servers who deliver drinks to sunbathing beach-goers, but their income is not enough to change their circumstances.

From June 13th-20th our team will work to complete several tasks. We will be working on building projects to provide shelter, minor medical care such as cleaning feet and providing first aid, and a vacation bible school for the children. Our children will play with theirs and we will cook meals to share with them. It is perhaps during these simpler moments that we will have the greatest impact in sharing Christ’s love.

We are excited about this chance to serve as a family and for our children to gain an invaluable perspective of the world outside of our own.

We would like to offer the opportunity for you to be part of this team by praying for the trip, the team, and the people we will serve. We ask that you would also consider partnering with us financially. We need to raise $5,400 as a family. This amount will not only cover our travel, accommodations, and food for our family, it will also contribute to the materials used for all service projects, meals, and activities for the community. In addition, we will be leaving behind a significant financial contribution to Ric and Joy Lehman, who are full-time missionaries there. We have already dedicated a portion of our income toward this trip and are working to raise funds with garage sales and fundraising events.

You can go online to www.jfc.org, click Give.Online and in the Missions Memo section designate “Hynum-Mexico”. You will receive a tax donation letter for your contribution.

Thank you for your support. We'll be keeping you up to date here as we progress.

Cherry Hills Spring Event

This year instead of selling wrapping paper or cookies Kendyl and Caedon will be the hands and feet of Jesus serving the community during Service Week at their school and are looking for people to sponsor them for this event!

Click this link for more details...

http://championevents.donordrive.com/participant/hynum

Any amount is GREATLY appreciated and is sure to touch lives!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

As we've shared before, the past year presented some personal challenges that affected us to the core and shook the very foundation of our marriage. This anniversary we decided to renew our vows to each other in a casual private ceremony. We wanted to share this with you because we believe it is a testimony to how God can bring healing and restoration and new life, more abundant than ever before!

Here's a little slide show of the pics we took (with help from the delay timer and a gorillapod) put to a song by Dave Barnes "God Gave Me You".



9 years ago, I pledged my commitment to you with all my heart.
I offered myself to you with all my strengths and weaknesses.
I told you I would love you enough to risk being hurt,
That I would trust you, even when I don’t understand.
I promised to try to see you as God sees you, and to put my faith in Him to help our marriage grow.

Since that day, you have been by my side as we created a family
and so many beautiful memories together.
Our friendship has grown deeper and even more comforting.
Being parents together has been an adventure and watching you be a mommy/daddy
Makes me cherish you even more.

Together we’ve also encountered our share of challenges
And the vows we made have collided with the realities of life.
I acknowledge that I have not always done what I promised to you
and I regret the ways I have hurt you.

Now we have endured a storm, and we stand together, triumphant,
And more confident than ever, in our love for each other,
A living example, to ourselves and others,
Of God’s merciful forgiveness and enduring love.

Today, in the presence of God and surrounded by His beautiful creation,
Having more knowledge of myself and a better understanding of who you are,
I want to reaffirm my love and commitment to you.

I do love you enough to risk being hurt, and I do trust you.
I adore the way you look through God’s eyes,
And I am confident He will continue to help our marriage grow.

God is Good!

Have you experienced a time when you took a leap of faith, and just trusted God that it was the right thing to do? Something big in your life like taking that job offer, or selling your house and moving, or getting married, or..... the list could go on and on.

Then, have you ever felt the incredible astonishment as things worked out smoother than you anticipated (I mean, come on, when does THAT ever happen) and everything just seemed to fall into place, like it was meant to be?

I've heard other people share stories like that....and once again God has shown that He is Good!

Would you believe that when we moved here to Highlands Ranch, CO our apartment was even better than what we were told and a neighbor showed up just in time to help move the heavy stuff. Within 4 days God provided a job for Nathan. Within a week, an awesome church and Christian school that the kids WANT to go to. Within 3 weeks a part-time job for Jamie that doesn't start till the kids are in school (is your jaw dropping yet?) and within a month, financing on a house that is absolutely perfect for our family for way less than market value! WHAT??!!

There's actually even more things too, like the incredible peace and contentment that comes along with knowing that you are in the hands of the almighty creator and that He loves you and cares for ALL your needs (and apparently even some of your wants!)

Out and About in Highlands Ranch

There's lot's of cool things about living in Highlands Ranch....but one of the coolest is the fact that the whole community was planned with hiking/biking trails and green space winding in and out of the neighborhoods. We just hopped on our bikes after church on Sunday and headed out for a ride. We passed 4 different playgrounds and countless mountain vistas. We rode for a total of 2 hours and had enough uphill stretches to get in a really great workout! Especially Nathan who had the extra weight of the kiddos and picnic paraphernalia! :)

An Update..... Finally!!

First of all, we want to thank you for patiently waiting to hear from us. Sorry it has been so long, but we are thankful that this has been such a remarkable time of transformation for our family. Words can't express how much we appreciate you supporting us through it.

We spent our last few months at Link Care Center in Fresno, CA seeking godly counsel and focusing on some much needed personal growth and restoration. After spending many many hours in prayer and hearing from God, we have decided to step down from our position with Operation S.E.N.D. and will not be returning to Costa Rica at this time.

Although this comes as a bit of a let down for us, we recognize that the past year in ministry cost our family in certain ways. By remaining stateside we have been able to focus on the rebuilding of health for our family and are already seeing GREAT changes.

Our time in Costa Rica was precious to both of us and a part of our hearts will always remain there. During our time in language school we not only gained Spanish but developed a great love for the culture and people there that will remain with us for a lifetime. We developed wonderful relationships with nationals and other missionaries alike that we have continued long distance. We many never know the extent of God's purpose for all we experienced in such a short time but we rest assured that His plan is perfect.

As we continue to surrender our plans to Him, we will be relocating to the Denver area in Colorado. We have both applied for jobs there, Jamie as a nurse, and Nathan using his Spanish as an interpreter. We anticipate a season of continued growth and stability for our family, learning to love and receiving God's unconditional love not because of the service we do, but simply because we are His.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we served in missions as a family. We'll continue blogging about our journeys because after all.....
LIFE is an ADVENTURE IN FAITH!

What Next?

First of all, we want to say thank you to everyone for understanding our need for down time right now. We've had a lot of space to just breathe and reflect. Plus, we've received so many encouraging emails that we know we have an army out there praying for us, and we're incredibly grateful to have so much love and support. THIS is what being in the body of Christ is all about.

So what now?

This coming Monday we will head out to Fresno, CA to a Christian counseling center where we will attend their Restoration and Personal Growth Program designed especially for pastors, missionaries...anyone in full time ministry, and their families. We will be living in a campus apartment there and anticipate staying around 2 months. Seeing as this is now mid-November.... yes, that means we will be there over the holidays. We are not sure yet as to the campus policies on travel or visits, but considering the intensity of this program, it will likely be best for us to just have a simple, quiet holiday season, just the 4 of us. We will be sad to miss out on spending quality time with all of you, but we are grateful to be given this time to reconnect as a family.

And we'll gladly accept any belated get-together invites in the new year!! :)

We will have limited access to internet while we're there. Please feel free to continue to send messages and updates and we will try to check them as often as possible. Just know that while we are focused on what God brought us here to do, you may not hear from us a lot, but we NEVER forget about all the wonderful people God has brought into our lives and how much you mean to us!

Oh, and if you just happen to have an extra Christmas card to send out...
(Was that subtle enough?)
Here's our mailing address until January:

Nathan and Jamie Hynum
1734 West Shaw Ave.
Fresno, CA 93711


And as our Pastor Paul reminded us...

Even though we may not agree with God's tactics, or understand them, I trust that in the end we'll look back with Him from an eternal vantage point and say,

"Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay Him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:33-36

Off the Radar Screen

We just wanted to let you all know that we arrived safely in Southern California late Friday night. We've been unpacking and settling into Jamie's parents house for an undetermined length of time. Things are still kind of up in the air for us, so we are just remaining flexible and allowing the Lord to guide our next steps.
Since we want to use this time to focus on our family we will be "flying under the radar", so to speak, for a little while. It's very tempting to start scheduling visits and catching up with friends and family now that we're back, but we need to keep things on the down low for a while. We hope you understand.
We also want to thank you for so many encouraging emails and prayers. We had so many we couldn't respond to them all.... we felt seriously loved and supported! It's more encouraging than you can know.

Isn't It Ironic...

Wouldn't ya know... just two days before we are scheduled to leave Costa Rica, we officially receive our residency!

Even so, we are thrilled about it. This is no small feat. The fact that we were approved by the government only 1 week after turning in our paperwork is nothing short of a miracle (considering it has taken some people 3 months - 2 years to complete this process).

We also have to thank our small Costa Rican church and specifically our beloved Pastor Alex for allowing us the honor of applying under the church's jurisdiction and for all his hard work and patience in gathering the necessary paperwork.

We know God has a purpose for making us residents here so quickly and smoothly....
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

A Hard Letter to Write

This is one of those letters that you just don’t know how to start, so we’ll just get right to the point.

After much prayer and counsel, we feel that God is asking our family to leave Costa Rica at this time. Recent stressors and events here have highlighted some areas of weakness in our family’s emotional and mental health. Although it is truly tearing at our hearts to have to leave this country, especially after the Lord has so clearly guided every single step, we understand that at this moment in time we are not as well equipped to continue in ministry as we could be. God has specifically shown us that we need to make our family’s health priority in order to serve to our fullest potential.

We believe without a shadow of a doubt that this is still part of God’s big plan for us, even though it seems like a detour. The honest truth is we very clearly see God’s hand in this timing… He brought us here, drew us near to Him, provided trusted counsel, and allowed deeper truths to be revealed…all so we could learn to die to ourselves and learn to trust Him more.

Even though we are confident in what the Lord is asking of us, the actual “doing” of it is very difficult. Please join us in prayer for this unexpected transition back home and all the logistics and adjustments that it entails, for this season of peace, restoration, and healing, and most of all, that no matter what, God’s infinite grace and glory will be revealed. Our hope is to return to full-time overseas service as the Lord directs.

Thank you all for your prayers and support of our family.


To our Financial Supporters

We can’t say thank you enough for your faithful prayers and financial support during this last year.

We want to be clear that any financial commitments are free to change along with this temporary change in plans. We ask that you seek what the Lord would have you do. You may decide to cancel your commitment, or put your commitment “on-hold” until regular ministry begins again. If you wish to continue financial support, your donations will help offset living expenses and counseling while at home or be placed in a savings account to provide for reassignment costs when we relocate to the field once again.