If it's been the same with most of you, this summer has flown by!
Now that our car is officially packed, we have an itinerary:
Tuesday, August 28th: leave Ohio and arrive in Knoxville, Tennessee for my brother's graduation from an Air Force training he's been in for the past 6 weeks
(5 hours).
Wednesday, August 29th: leave Knoxville and arrive in Little Rock, Arkansas. On our drive there, we plan to meet up with our friend Jenn who is moving to Mexico at the same time as us. Know anyone who lives in the Little Rock area? (8.5 hours)
Thursday, August 30th: leave Little Rock and arrive in Houston, Texas, where we will hopefully finish up another step of our visa process. We have some friends in Houston who are willing to let us bombard their place for the evening as well, so that will be nice to catch up with them and get a good night's rest (7.5 hours)
Friday, August 31st: stay in Houston as we do visa work. Another friend from Missouri who's also moving to Mexico at the same time will be meeting us in Houston.
Saturday, September 1st: leave Houston and arrive in Harlingen, Texas where we have friends who are letting us stay at their place for the evening (5.5 hours)
Sunday, September 2nd: leave Harlingen and arrive in Monterrey, Mexico! Staff from Back2Back will meet us in McAllen, Texas, where we will then all caravan together over the border and arrive at Back2Back's campus (3.5 hours).
To see our planned-out journey on a map, click here.
Please pray for our drive towards Mexico and for a smooth border crossing as well. It will be an adventure-filled journey! Once we get to Mexico, we'll update everyone on the road trip and what it looks like as we get settled in.
We're filled with so many emotions right now, but we are extremely excited for this opportunity and what God has in store... We are so grateful for your partnership of support and prayer! We couldn't be doing this without you.
--Nathan
24 August 2012
14 August 2012
Love Is Like War
“I’m not sure I’ll ever end up settling
here,” Whitney shared over our fourteenth cup of coffee. And that’s the day we
fell in love.
It was a classic tale of boy meets girl. I
liked him, but didn’t think he liked me. Well, he liked me but didn’t think I
cared for him. And so the story goes. Fast-forward past the awkward “how do we
go from friends to dating” conversation, the month separated while studying
abroad, one letter for everyday apart, a winter-eve proposal, a 6-month
engagement, 14,000 cups of coffee, 80 weekend trips to Columbus, the “I do’s”—and
BAM! Here we are today…
15 days from moving to Monterrey, Mexico.
It’s not your fairytale post-wedding
destination. Mexico is more dangerous than it is glamorous. You see it in the
news everyday—and while much of the news you hear IS biased—we do have our
reservations. BUT, we couldn’t be any more certain that this is what we were
made for. Yes, Mexico is war-ridden. But I think H.L. Mencken said it well when
he wrote:
“Love is like war: easy to begin but very
hard to stop.”
So that’s our plan. To shower Mexico with love—with the love we
were so freely given.
How you ask?
We will be working with a group called
Back2Back Ministries in pursuit of the hearts of the orphaned and widowed.
Back2Back’s name comes from just that—we partner with Mexican nationals who are
already doing orphan care by supporting them with resources and manpower to
keep doing the work they originally felt called to do.
Mission: Back2Back Ministries is an international Christian
non-profit organization that is dedicated to being a voice for orphans. We
exist to love and care for orphans and impoverished children, by meeting their
physical, spiritual, educational, social and emotional needs that they may
overcome their life circumstances and break free from the cycle of generational
poverty.
Vision: We desire for every orphan and impoverished child to have
the opportunity for success through “care for today and hope for tomorrow.” Our
goal is that each child would experience restoration to a life of purpose in
which they can become fulfilled and mature Christian adults.
We cannot wait to have countless stories of
changed lives to share with you. We cannot wait to attack Mexico with love and
a hope for a better tomorrow.
We realize there is need EVERYWHERE. As
would-be followers of Mother Teresa we can all take her advice well:
“Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the
suffering and the lonely right there where you are — in your own homes and in
your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. … You can find
Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever
you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected
by society — completely forgotten, completely left alone.”
--Blessed Mother Teresa
Mexico will be our Calcutta. What will be yours?
-Nathan &Whitney Reiter
07 August 2012
Ready, Set, Pack!
 |
| Time to start packing |
We're leaving in 22 days.
Yep, you read that right. The time is almost here!
Over the past three weeks, Whitney and I have been to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey--all in preparation to get ready to leave. Time has been flying by so fast! Since it's already August 7th, we wanted to fill you in a little more on the details.
We're planning to leave August 29th in order to get to Monterrey on September 2nd. We have another friend who will be driving to Monterrey at the same time, so we are going to caravan there together. Like we said in the e-mail update, instead of driving the 27 hours non-stop to Mexico, we'll make it a several day journey to enjoy the process a little more (and maintain our sanity so we're not crammed in the car for too long).
If you have some other questions, check out our FAQ post or ask us! :)
Yep, you read that right. The time is almost here!
Over the past three weeks, Whitney and I have been to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey--all in preparation to get ready to leave. Time has been flying by so fast! Since it's already August 7th, we wanted to fill you in a little more on the details.
We're planning to leave August 29th in order to get to Monterrey on September 2nd. We have another friend who will be driving to Monterrey at the same time, so we are going to caravan there together. Like we said in the e-mail update, instead of driving the 27 hours non-stop to Mexico, we'll make it a several day journey to enjoy the process a little more (and maintain our sanity so we're not crammed in the car for too long).
In case you missed the e-mail, we're having 2 different going away parties before we take off.
The first one is August 12th at noon in Columbus (1055 McNaughten Rd.). If you can't make that one or don't live nearby, the second one will be right before we go on August 25th from 4-7 in Middletown (3628 Fiesta Way). If you can, we'd LOVE to see you!
If you have some other questions, check out our FAQ post or ask us! :)
It's really happening!
--Nathan
04 August 2012
It's so heavy we could sink!
Have you ever been given a gift that is so hard to accept--either you feel you don't deserve it or it's just too big of a gift, or you name it: ________________ ?
This week, that happened to us. Beyond the financial costs of the gift, it was just extremely generous and quite unexpected. It blew us away.
And all we could do was accept it. We tried to argue with him, but he wouldn't have of any of that. But then I realized that every time I give a gift, I don't want the receiver to argue with me or not accept it--I genuinely WANT to give it to them. It's true what you've heard and read: "It's more blessed to give than to receive." We've felt the blessing on both sides--both the giving and receiving.
Who are we to rob anyone of their joy? So all we could do was say "thank you" (about 1,300 times). I'd have to agree with Winston Churchill on this one:
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
Let me share a little story with you. It was the changing of winter and spring seasons. Whitney had saved a little money and was excited to buy some new clothes from Pacsun. When she got to the store, all she could feel was that she wasn't supposed to use that money to buy herself anything, even though she really wanted to (and even saved for it!). She decided to go to the checkout with only a gift she decided to buy for a friend of ours.
"Do you have about 10 minutes to do a quick survey? Our appointment canceled on us and we need someone else to do it. You'd get a $50 gift card too," the cashier said to Whitney. She smiled to herself and accepted. It's just a small example, but we've experienced numerous encounters similar to this one. When you give or choose to bless others when you either aren't planning on it or it's difficult to do, it seems that Jesus may have another plan for how he wants to bless you for being obedient.
I'm not saying it will always look the same, but regardless, many blessings are reserved for those who give.
Even though sometimes it looks like it may be hard, or hurt, or stretch us thin, Whitney and I have decided we want to live a life of giving. As we've always said, we've been blessed with so much that we have the responsibility to give. Holding out on giving to others makes it so much easier to only focus on ourselves. It even goes against our nature to give, which means it has to be a conscious choice many times.
Is God asking you to give something to anyone else--small or big? It could be time, love, a listening ear, a gift of some kind, a smile, hope, or again, you name it __________.
"Thank you."
Nathan
 |
| It's for you. |
And all we could do was accept it. We tried to argue with him, but he wouldn't have of any of that. But then I realized that every time I give a gift, I don't want the receiver to argue with me or not accept it--I genuinely WANT to give it to them. It's true what you've heard and read: "It's more blessed to give than to receive." We've felt the blessing on both sides--both the giving and receiving.
Who are we to rob anyone of their joy? So all we could do was say "thank you" (about 1,300 times). I'd have to agree with Winston Churchill on this one:
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
Let me share a little story with you. It was the changing of winter and spring seasons. Whitney had saved a little money and was excited to buy some new clothes from Pacsun. When she got to the store, all she could feel was that she wasn't supposed to use that money to buy herself anything, even though she really wanted to (and even saved for it!). She decided to go to the checkout with only a gift she decided to buy for a friend of ours.
"Do you have about 10 minutes to do a quick survey? Our appointment canceled on us and we need someone else to do it. You'd get a $50 gift card too," the cashier said to Whitney. She smiled to herself and accepted. It's just a small example, but we've experienced numerous encounters similar to this one. When you give or choose to bless others when you either aren't planning on it or it's difficult to do, it seems that Jesus may have another plan for how he wants to bless you for being obedient.
I'm not saying it will always look the same, but regardless, many blessings are reserved for those who give.
Even though sometimes it looks like it may be hard, or hurt, or stretch us thin, Whitney and I have decided we want to live a life of giving. As we've always said, we've been blessed with so much that we have the responsibility to give. Holding out on giving to others makes it so much easier to only focus on ourselves. It even goes against our nature to give, which means it has to be a conscious choice many times.
Is God asking you to give something to anyone else--small or big? It could be time, love, a listening ear, a gift of some kind, a smile, hope, or again, you name it __________.
 |
| the power of giving |
Thank you to everyone who has taught us through both example and lifestyle of the importance of giving. Your pouring into us means more than we will ever be able to say. So in simple words, but with deep gratitude, we say:
"Thank you."
Nathan
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