One step closer to reality!

One small envelope for the postman and one giant milestone for the Shinars!





We sent in our application to the Evangelical Covenant Church to be real missionaries! Finally!

And what a humbling process that was! The first few questions were easy- name, birthday, address, and that kind of stuff and then height and weight (ouch). I guess they have to make sure you can fit in an airplane or boat. Then the meaty questions (here are some of them):
- Give a statement of your conversion experience and your Christian experience.
- How have you participated in the life of the church?
- List your practical experience in Christian work.
- What plan do you follow in maintaining your devotional life?
- Explain your personal position and practice regarding the use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics (unless prescribed by a doctor).
- How does your life style differ from the life style of the world?
- Are you willing to give up personal habits or attitudes which might irritate or offend fellow missionaries or national Christians and which might lessen your influence as a missionary in certain situations?
- What influences have led you to consider overseas involvement in the mission of the church?
- What motivates your missionary concern?
- What is the extent of your financial indebtedness, including school loans?
- How are you planning to meet this obligation while you are abroad?

So we have completed the first step of many! What’s the next step you might ask? Well, our application will get reviewed. If we meet all of the requirements, we will have further interviews, psychological and health testing, and then we would need an invitation from the host country (the mission already established in the country). The ECC is working in 7 counties in Africa- Burkino Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, South Africa, and Sudan. Hopefully God will lead us to one of these! Once we have a destination, we need to raise money and have orientation. With the ECC, we will work for the first 2-3 years as “short term missionaries” or “project missionaries.” After that time, we can be considered for positions as “career missionaries.” That is our goal- we want one way tickets!