Pennsylvania Trip

I (Blake) travelled to PA for a weekend of fundraising recently. In addition to raising funds for Katy and I, it is now part of my role to help raise funds for Zoe Community. Zoe Community has an annual operational budget of approx. $40,000. This includes rent on our three locations, marketing, volunteer training events, as well as web costs which includes our 24/7 live web text service.

This trip was extra special as I got to reconnect with longtime supporters and old friends, Pastors Mel and Kim Masengale and Missions/Outreach Pastor Stef Ackerman. These guys and Summit Church in Indiana, PA have been amazingly generous. They interviewed me during their three weekend services. I feel so filled up after spending time with this community of believers. And God arranged some crucial introductions that made a tremendous dent in our fundraising goals for this quarter.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this new season as lead fundraiser and chaplain for Zoe Community, it is that God is absolutely the one who provides. The ONLY one. I can (and have) tried to work my way into His favour and provision. Working late nights, endless phone calls, racking my brain for who to contact next. God continues to show me over and over that He will come through on time every time.

Thanks to all of you on our support team. Not only are you all blessings, but you are answers to tear-filled prayers. In moments of insecurity and doubt I look to you to remind myself of all God has done in our lives to get us here. And He will take us all even further.

Thank you!

Ways to Pray

As we begin another exciting year, here are a few ways you can pray for us…

1. Please continue to pray for our charity status to come through.

2. Please pray as we begin recruiting a new class of Zoe Community volunteers.

3. Please pray for financial provision for Zoe’s monthly operating expenses as well as our family’s personal monthly support.

4. Please pray for Eden and Eli to continue doing well at school and to know Jesus’ love for them more and more.

5. Please pray for our coming Zoe events this fall…

   • Multiple Zoe Core Team meetings and board meetings

   • New volunteer Info Day coming in November

   • Church awareness events (designed to train church members in crisis response as well as increase awareness about Zoe Community)

Exciting days are ahead of us in these coming months. We’re so grateful for all your prayers and support. We couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do this without you on our team! Thank you!

Our U.S. Summer

We had an amazing summer spending a few weeks with family, friends, and many supporters. We are so grateful for the time we had in the U.S. this past July. It was a fruitful time of support raising, resting, family, and peace. Here’s a few bullet points from the trip!

• Katy and Avril (Zoe Community’s Volunteer Support Coordinator here in Ireland) traveled to a couple of churches to share about Zoe. They had a great time!

• The boys got to experience the U.S all the way from Oklahoma City to Baton Rouge to Nashville and back to OKC. The lit fireworks, saw a stuffed alligator, saw a turtle, and ate ice cream. No better way to spend summer.

• Me (Blake) and my dad took a whirlwind trip to New York City to hit a few jazz clubs and see the sights. We toured Louis Armstrong’s house in Queens!

• When we landed back in Ireland Eden found the most interesting position to fall asleep in. I had to literally pull him off the couch to keep him away. Jet lag is fun.

There are a million other details and amazing moments I could share with you, but I’ll leave you with the sweetest pic of my brand new niece, Estelle Formidoni. It was so beautiful to hold her and cuddle and then pass her back to my sister when she messed her nappy.

We’re so excited to get into this new year full swing! Next week we’ll be letting you know a few ways you can pray with us. We love and appreciate you all so much!