{"id":4728,"date":"2015-08-05T17:52:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T17:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=4728"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:29","slug":"progress-but-not-home-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=4728","title":{"rendered":"PROGRESS BUT NOT HOME YET"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20150123_081451-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Here&#8217;s the text of a letter we put in snail mail this week as we continue to seek additional support in order to return our family to ministry in Haiti on time to start our third school year. I include it here in an effort to reach folks whose address may be missing from my list. Thank you to all who have already responded so generously!<\/i> \u00a0*******************************************************************************<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20150213_104631-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you do away with the yoke of oppression \u2026 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the\noppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.\u201d Isaiah 58:9-10\u00a0Dear Friends,\nFor the sake of brevity, I will start this letter with our main point: <b>The authorities at OMS sat us down\nrecently to say that without a substantial increase in our support account, we cannot return to our work\nin Haiti on August 18, as we had currently planned.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>This by no means threatens an end to our service in Haiti, only a delay; we will return to Haiti as\nsoon as sufficient funds are in place. The Lord willing, we\u2019ll keep our August 18 flights.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>We are concerned about the confusion our delay could cause Cowman School, where classes will\nbegin early September. If we are not back, our principal will need to somehow stretch current staff\nto cover grades 3, 8, and 9, and the daily teacher training and guiding that Melissa has developed\nthis past year will be halted.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>If you have supported us in any way in the past, we thank you deeply \u2013 on our behalf and on behalf\nof the precious people among whom we are privileged to work. I haven\u2019t always been good at\nputting our gratitude in writing in a timely fashion, but know that we often think of you and pray\nfor you \u2026 and recognize daily our spiritual indebtedness to you!\u00a0<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20141211_122541-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20150404_095227-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes I have been overly timid about asking for help. This happens when I get focused on the\nearthly \u2013 I know you have bills to pay, daily demands for your attention, and a future to plan for. I\nget a lot bolder when the Lord reminds me that you also care for the needy and have a desire to\nsee Christ\u2019s \u201cKingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.\u201d\u00a0So what am I (boldly) asking of you? OMS headquarters is closely monitoring our progress on two fronts:\nboth monthly pledges and special gifts. Would you prayerfully consider one of the following options?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>1) New \u201cspecial gifts\u201d help insure our presence in Haiti during any shortfalls in monthly pledges.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>2) A \u201cFaith Promise\u201d pledge to give monthly ($25, $50, $100 or any amount of your choosing) puts our entire account on firmer footing. And increasing\nan existing monthly gift by $25 or $50 is just as valuable as a whole new one.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>3) If you made a faith promise in the past and, over time, it has slipped away, would you consider\nrenewing it? (We understand if circumstances prevent this.) OMS offers the option of using electronic withdrawal if that would help simplify your giving.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since time is of the essence and headquarters sees immediately what happens online, we are encouraging\nthose who are willing to give by going soon to <a href=\"http:\/\/onemissionsociety.org\/give\/TheGrosses\">onemissionsociety.org\/give\/TheGrosses<\/a> and following the\ninstructions there. Thank you for your generosity and faithfulness!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20141218_153620-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Christ and for His Kingdom,\u00a0Steve and Melissa Gross<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20141115_114504-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20150213_130921-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/20150327_191524-2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the text of a letter we put in snail mail this week as we continue to seek additional support in order to return our family to ministry in Haiti on time to start our third school year. I include it here in an effort to reach folks whose address may be missing from my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4743,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions\/4743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}