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| (Starting with the front row, left to right.) Freddy, Shawnte Trey, Shondee, Vanessa, Kaydence, Jasmine, Cameron Nikie, Renee', Lil Joey, Taylor Angie, Jake, Big Joey |
Happy 2nd anniversary to the Browning’s! Yes, it has been two years since we moved to Arizona this weekend. We came to serve God and to follow out His plan here at NCF on the Navajo Reservation. Our prayer is we are fulfilling every desire God has for us to do. During our time here, it has definitely been all about His will not ours. We have received many blessings throughout this period and we can only assume it is from being obedient to His calling. We have had good times; fun times, bad times, rough times, and smooth times but with them all, it has strengthen us to become faithful stronger Christians.
After being out on the mission field now for two years, having limited resources, no family, missing out on all the fun events back home, and not much adult fellowship. I would suggest if you think you feel a calling to the mission field, make sure you speak to several experienced missionaries to get an insight on what it is really like and how to prepare yourself and your family. We are not trying to discourage you from going out, only offering you advice on how to prepare yourself. We can all do anything with God’s calling, and with Him being the center of our lives. Besides, if you can survive the tough times and lean on God, you will be blessed!
On July 22 of this year, we lost a small part of our hearts. Our first set of children we begun fostering was reunited with their mother. It was a bitter sweet moment for them and us after being with each other for over 13 months. The children were so excited to see mom again and seeing their smiles and excitement on their faces gave us enough peace to let them go. Our only problem with the whole move is the thought of never seeing them or even talking to them again. We put together a scrap book of all their memories we shared together over the past year, with their bible verses they memorized, and we wrote them a letter with our contact information and told them; “No matter how old you are or how many miles are in between us they can call us for anything.” It has been a blessing to us sharing a part of our lives with these four wonderful children.
After being out on the mission field now for two years, having limited resources, no family, missing out on all the fun events back home, and not much adult fellowship. I would suggest if you think you feel a calling to the mission field, make sure you speak to several experienced missionaries to get an insight on what it is really like and how to prepare yourself and your family. We are not trying to discourage you from going out, only offering you advice on how to prepare yourself. We can all do anything with God’s calling, and with Him being the center of our lives. Besides, if you can survive the tough times and lean on God, you will be blessed!
On July 22 of this year, we lost a small part of our hearts. Our first set of children we begun fostering was reunited with their mother. It was a bitter sweet moment for them and us after being with each other for over 13 months. The children were so excited to see mom again and seeing their smiles and excitement on their faces gave us enough peace to let them go. Our only problem with the whole move is the thought of never seeing them or even talking to them again. We put together a scrap book of all their memories we shared together over the past year, with their bible verses they memorized, and we wrote them a letter with our contact information and told them; “No matter how old you are or how many miles are in between us they can call us for anything.” It has been a blessing to us sharing a part of our lives with these four wonderful children.
Well the summer was full of wonderful God sent mission teams. We were so excited to hang out with our brothers, sisters and meet new ones. It was a very uplifting and encouraging summer full of many blessings and awesome memories. The first family to arrive was from our home church; Rob, Jill, & Violet Fitzgerald along with Jill’s mother Carol Uesseler. We had an awesome time together and I think we all felt like our relationship grew stronger. Joey and I cannot wait for another visit of good food and exciting adventures. The second church family was from First Capital Christian Church. They arrived on June 18 with 15 members, they more than doubled their team from the first time they came to NCF. It was so nice to meet more family from this church and to see others we met last year. For Joey and me, it is encouraging to see the same come back again and again. Five days after First Capital left our third family from Ohio arrived, Cobblestone Community Church, with 10 members. Cobblestone has been a very faithful church family to NCF for many years and we are blessed for their personal care to us as well! Bill & Julie Briley served as missionaries several years ago here at NCF. God has since moved them on to fulfill His needs in other places. After leaving NCF, Bill became a pastor and is currently planting a new church in Boise, Idaho. Prior to moving to Boise, he was pasturing a church in Indianapolis, Common Ground Christian Church, and this is how we met more of our brothers and sisters. Bill brought 20 members to NCF on July 9 this was our fourth family to arrive. Joey and I loved meeting and getting to know this church family. We then ended the summer teams with our fifth family from Sydney, Ohio led by CSI Ministries. We were so excited to welcome this family back for their second time of serving.
It is such a blessing seeing all of our relationships grow together for one common purpose in life, fulfilling Gods mandate to us. “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”” Matthew 28: 18-20. Joey and I believe we all look at this message as not only an invite but also our responsibility to bring forgiveness and hope to ALL people. Although the summer teams have came and went, we still have much more to look forward to before the year is over. In October, we have some very close friends coming from Corydon IN. Ralph and Rhonda Bowman. They are bringing some people with them to help Joey and I with our fall festival to the community. The last two years we have noticed there is no other option for the children here in Dilkon besides celebrating Halloween with haunted houses and trick or treating. We are not sure to what extent they celebrate this or how safe it is. However, we want to give them an alternative. We are planning a very big carnival type event with games, candy, face painting, prizes, free food, and incorporating children’s bible stories into the games. If anyone is interested in helping in any way, please feel free to email me at angie_browning1971@yahoo.com. We would like to ask everyone to be in prayer for this event. Prior to their arrival, we have another family, Dick & Becky Hicks from Ohio coming to visit and donate some items from the NCF wish list. Dick & Becky Hicks granddaughter Emily, who has came to serve at NCF for the past two years, has raised some funds that are being matched by another organization. They are also taking all of us (14) and Bo & Rosita to Pizza Hut for diner.
It just amazes us how God provides for NCF in so many different ways. We are all very thankful to Him and everyone who obeys His callings. Here is another great example of how He provides. On August 18, I went to the school with five of our children for parent/teacher meeting. I was talking with Freddy’s teacher who was asking about how I became his foster mother and questions about NCF. He goes on to tell me how he has an aunt who is pretty well off and looking for an organization on the reservation to support financially. Wow, you just never know when, where, or how God is going to show up. All we do know is He will and always does for His children!! Some other tid bit information we want to share with you is the gym has been up and going now since the end of spring. During the summer, we were open 5 nights a week and offering a small concession stand. This year we had two teens step up and help faithfully run the gym, we also welcomed back Stephanie Nelson with her support in the aerobic room and Charlie with his support in the weight room. This year Bo stated he saw more teens coming to him with questions about the bible devotions they heard and concerns/questions with their personal life. I was told that God used me to help save a marriage this summer; however, all I did was offered a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and a tongue to pray with her. This has now led Joey and I to partner up with this couple and lead a bible study on strengthening a marriage God’s way. There have been some changes taking place here at NCF. Bo is now the assistant director and taking over the director position starting January 2012. He will be going out visiting our supporting churches, therefore if you are interested in Bo speaking at your church please let me know at my email I listed above. He is ready to start marking his calendar and laying out his traveling path. Also, another change that we are happy to announce is, we are committing to another year of service! We said from the beginning it was in God’s hands and if He wanted us to leave, He would make a way for it to happen. Our sign from Him would be there would be a new couple to take our place or there would be no need and all the children would be home and safe. During the month of August our family grew with children that absolutely have no place to go and will be here long term. They all have come from very trouble families suffering from alcoholism. There have been no signs of anyone feeling led to take our place. The only reason we wanted to come home was the feeling of guilt for not being in our new grandson’s life and missing our daughter. If you know our daughter, you know she has been through a whole lot of misery and pain since her parents became missionaries. Trying to fix a broken marriage three times that always led back to abuse, and two miscarriages. It brought a lot of pain to Joey and I because we could not be there to hold her hand through it all. We have always been there for our children and them for us. We are a very close family unit and have always did everything together. During the month of August, not only did God fill our home with nine children, He even took care of our family need and desire by sending Renee and Taylor here with a heart to serve along with us and she committed to a year as well! All we can say is “God’s got this.” We feel much better knowing we are staying, even though we miss everyone terribly, our heart is still here, and we are not ready to give up on NCF. We know in our hearts, all around, things will improve. We ask and pray for your continued support for NCF and us. Joey and I are excited to see what God has planned next. It's going to be good!!!! For those of you that have not heard, James lost his mother on August 18. James and his family could use prayer to help them through this tough time of losing a loved one. From what we understand, she was a very strong part of this family and a God fearing woman. She influenced her whole family in trying to live out their lives honoring God. Her service was very beautiful and full of over 250 family and friends she has touched during her time here on earth. Before we forget to mention this, James is back to being the full time pastor at the church again. The congregation will not let him retire! As we end this blog, we want to send a big heart felt “Thank you” to all our family and friends for your continued support and love. Without you and God, we could not do what we do! We pray many blessings upon all of you for what you do in God’s name. I (Angie) also want to express my apologies for not keeping you updated on all that happens more often. It really bothers me not having time and strength to write. I start my days out at 5am and end them at 12am. I go nonstop most of the time except for the last 2hours and honestly, that is when I lay in bed read, watch TV, and pray. It is my wine down time. Therefore, I have been trying to think of a way that I could update you briefly on a daily basis and the way I decided to do that is by creating a facebook account for NCF. So please come follow us there for updates, prayer request, stories of the children, praises, events, mission teams, staff, needs, etc… We love you all and anytime you would like to visit please do so, as a team, family, or individual.
With all His Love,
The Browning’s
OUR FIRST FOUR CHILDREN WHO HAVE SINCE BEEN REUNITED WITH THEIR MOM!! PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILY'S FUTURE, WE WILL LOVE THEM FOREVER!!
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| Phylicity |
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| Zion |
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| O'Ryan |
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| Adessa |
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