POST: DEC. 31, 2017
Chelsea and I are so excited to share details about the missions adventure we are about to go on as a family of seven! Keep up-to-date with our travels, stories, and updates here at andyrotunno.com
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's New Years Eve! 2018 is moments away! Our family has experienced so much in 2017. Last January our friends helped us pack up our life in Burbank, California and move our family to Gleanings for the Hungry here in Dinuba in California's Central Valley. God has been doing incredible things each day during this year in our marriage and family, our community, the ministry and amongst our support team. We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for 2018.
FIRST DAY OF 2018: MEXICO
This year is beginning with an adventure for our whole family. God is really blessing and challenging us as a family to step out and follow Him. On January 1, 2018 we will begin an 8-week international outreach trip to three countries: Mexico, Greece and Israel! God isn't wasting any time with this new year. We will be driving as a family down to Mexico to spend 10 days distributing Gleanings food and supporting and encouraging ministry partners who are doing long term missions work in northern Mexico.
ON TO ATHENS, GREECE
On January 11, 2018 our DTS (Discipleship Training School) team and our family will fly to Athens, Greece for the next leg of our 2018 family mission adventure! Once in Greece we will partner with nearly 300 other missionaries to serve and minister to the growing community of refugees in the Athens area. This is the second year of the YWAM United Greece Outreach, a mission to reach the "unreached" peoples of the world. Masses of people are flee their home countries because of war and violence--these countries are closed to the Gospel. Now the people are pouring into safe cities like Athens, which are open to people sharing the love of Jesus Christ. What an opportunity! We will serve and love refugee families in many different ways and we will encourage and support our long term ministries partners and organization there in Athens. Pray for our team and the people we seek to serve!
TO ISRAEL WITH LOVE
Next our team will fly to Tel Aviv, Israel in early February. We will be collaborating with several Christian ministries in cities such as Nazareth, Tiberius, Tivon and more. Gleanings for the Hungry has many ministry partners in Israel who are reaching out to various people groups living within the country. We will help at a warehousing ministry which receives Gleanings food, quilts, and other items and distributing them to needy communities all around the country. We may have the opportunity to serve elderly Holocaust survivors living in Israel. There are tons of opportunities we will have to show the love of God in Israel--we can't wait to share those stories with you in upcoming posts. Chelsea and I are so thrilled about serving in Israel as a family. It is so fun to see our kids get excited to see the places where Jesus walked. We will head back home to Gleanings at the beginning of March to celebrate our Youth With A Mission DTS graduation and to apply to be official Gleanings for the Hungry staff.
PARTNER WITH US AS WE GO
By praying for us and giving financially, you are taking part in this family mission adventure in Mexico, Greece and Israel--our stories are your stories! Keep in touch with us on andyrotunno.com and read our outreach update posts. We will be listing specific prayer requests and sharing stories as much as we can along the way.
PRAY: Pray for us! Prayer is powerful and it is one of the greatest ways you can join us on this mission adventure. We need you on our team! Here are some important prayer requests at this time:
- Team Unity: Pray for our team to be united in the love of Christ, in listening to and obeying His word, and being humbly submitted to one another throughout this trip.
- No Fear: Pray for us to be fearless in the love of God. On trips like this it is easy to get worried and fear traveling complications, sickness, new cultures and territories, what people may think of us, and so on. Pray for us to be bold as we serve and share God's love everywhere we are.
- Children Lead: Pray for us to let the children lead in this mission. We know that the kids will be able to minister God's love to people in ways we couldn't without them. We have never planned to drag them along on this missions trip with the adults as we attempt to do ministry. Pray for our kids to be clearly led by the Lord, and for us to encourage and support what God wants to do in and through them.
- Humility and Vision: Pray for us to serve with Christ's humble attitude (Philippians 2:1-11) and to see people the way God sees them. We are ready and enthusiastic, and we have lots of plans for ministry, but our one desire is to be available to whatever God wants to do. Our team's purpose is to go and be humble servants, good listeners, caring and kind, valuing each person we meet as we know that each one is made in the image of God! Pray for us!
GIVE: Give financially. We can always use financial support for our family and our team. Visit our support page to learn how you can give!
ENCOURAGE: Email us with messages of encouragement. Tell us what God was putting on your heart in prayer. Send us a scripture you have been reading. Tell us how we can be praying for you! We want to hear from you during our trip--seriously! You can email us at andyrotunno@gmail.com or chelsearotunno@gmail.com
We are still building our monthly support team! Click the Support Now button to join our support tribe! Thank you and God bless you!
Newsletter
