Update on my Dad

There are 2 people in my life that I'm the closest to (not counting Jesus or my kids). My wife and my dad. I have many other close family members (Cindy - my stepmom, uncles, cousins etc) and friends that have played significant roles in my life, but my wife and my dad are the two that have always been there. As many of you know, my biological mother and brother were killed in a car accident on Interstate 80 near Atlantica, Iowa, June 1980. I was in the vehicle with my dad right in front of them. I remember it like it happened yesterday. Through not only that trial, but many other circumstances, I've always looked up to my dad and respected him more than any other person on the planet. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last August and it's been a roller coaster since then to say the least.

He had a stroke on Sunday, May 13th, 2012, and would never be the same after that. Mother's Day.


That Sunday was a beautiful day and we were all in good spirits. We would be heading down state for an afternoon picnic with Jenn's family. I'd never make it. I had about 5 missed phone calls on my phone. It was my mom. I went straight to the ER.

It is interesting that his stroke was on May 13th. Yes, he had a 1/30 chance of having it on the 13th, but this number (13) is significant for Jenn and I. It pops up periodically in our marriage and it has from the time we started dating.

• We were married on Nov 13th, 2004 , and the pastor joked we'd have 13 kids
• The pastor who married us preached from 1 Cor 13
• My dad's voicemail at his work was #13
• When we went through IVF the first time, we parked in Lot 13
• When I woke up from the IVF procedure, I was in Bay 13
• This is stretching it, but our names (Mark Bettinger and Jenn Bettinger) has 13 letters in it and our last name starts with a "B" which is a "1" and a "3" put together. Stretching it, I know...
• My locker at Christie Clinic was #13

You get the point. But the #13 has always been a reminder that God is in what we are doing. So, when we were looking for a new house, we looked for addresses that had the number 13 in it. Finally we moved into 801 Chickory Drive. So much for that theory.

So, for my dad to have his stroke on May 13th, was a reminder that God is still in control and leading us. Dad was never the same after the stroke. But, we had really enjoyable times together and I was able to share everything on my heart with him. He always wanted a football team and a cheerleader (12 total kids). I always joked, "Well dad, at least you got your cheerleader."

A Chance Encounter...with God

I received an urgent call from Pastor Ron indicating that I was needed to sign some papers on the church mortgage re-fi at the bank. As the deacon council secretary, it was necessary for me to sign the paperwork along with the senior pastor. They needed to be signed that day, so I hurried back from the business trip that I was on, and arrived with only a few minutes to spare. The activity at the bank only took a few minutes and so Pastor Ron and I drove back together to the church. He invited me into his office and we sat and chatted for a few minutes. Pastor Ron asked me about Africa and the adoption process and how things were coming along. During our conversation I brought up the vision I had at the Men's retreat Aug 28, 2010 regarding Johannesburg, South Africa (see previous post) and with that he leaned back in his chair and smiled. He told me that just that day, he had penciled in some missionaries from Johannesburg, South Africa that he knew from his church back in Des Moines and that they were coming to speak on Sept 23rd at Meadowbrook. He gave me some literature on Dr Jim and Beth Blessman of Blessman Ministries Inc. I sensed immediately that there would be more to this story. I ended up emailing Doc Blessman that day and he returned my email on May 7th. Here's what he wrote:





Hi Mark,
Please let me know more about you vision for Johannesburg. We are busy opening a new distribution site in South Johannesburg. We have a big warehouse and donated space in that for food, shoes and we use the building to do optical outreaches.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Jim and Beth

www.blessmanministries.org

My heart leaped out of my chest. I sensed God opening up a door and confirming the vision for Jo'burg I had had a couple of years ago. I was really looking forward to meeting them later on in the fall. I forwarded the message to Jenn and we started praying...in earnest.

The Launch of Plus One Minus One

Plus One Minus One Jewelry

A couple of weeks before Mother's Day 2012, Jenn started making hand stamped aluminum necklaces and key chains. The name of her business is Plus One Minus One Jewelry. Simply put, it means "Plus One member to our family and Minus one orphan." She can design anything that you'd like or you can choose from designs that she's already made.

Check out her Etsy page to see all of her designs and prices:
Plus One Minus One Etsy Shop - www.plusoneminusone.etsy.com


If you're on Facebook, check out her page there as well -
www.facebook.com/PlusOneMinusOneJewelry

She also sells in 2 retail shops called "Frogs and Fairies" in Urbana, IL and Bloomington, IL

Frogs and Fairies Boutique Website

All proceeds from the jewelry goes towards serving orphans and ministries in Africa. It will also help to bring our little guy home from Ghana.

Thank you to those of you who have purchased jewelry already! 

Applying to Grad School

I've recently finished up my Ministerial Credentialing through Global University. It took me two long years, but the hard work and effort was well worth it. I learned so much and gained a greater appreciate for His Word. I still can remember when I called and chatted with Dr Keith Hendrie (see post on Oct 17, 2010) in late 2010, and he advised me that if I wanted to go into ministry, he would recommend some formal training. I just didn't think I would ever go to Grad school. I went with the MC first, thinking I might some day get Licensed, but little did I know God had other plans. Going to Global was an easy decision. It worked well with my schedule since it was all on-line and you could pretty much go at your own pace, so it was certainly a good fit. By the time I finished up the MC, I was wanting to continue my education. I did a search on becoming Licensed (step 2 to Ordination) thru Global, but as I searched for ministry positions in NGOs and organizations like Compassion Int'l and World Vision, I repeatedly read that they were looking for candidates with a Master's degree (or at least a Bachelor's degree from a seminary, neither of which I had). So, we started praying about it, and through some unique circumstances, the Lord led me to Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago.

I applied to Moody, which was a very lengthy process and was finally accepted! I also found out that many consider Moody the "gold standard" of Seminaries. I would also put Gordon-Conwell, Dallas Theological and Fuller Theological Seminaries in that list. I went up to Moody for a tour on Feb 28th, 2012 and Josi (my tour guide) announced that "Congratulations, I just spoke with Admissions and you were accepted!" I initially chose a M.A. in Ministry Leadership but changed to a M.A. in Intercultural Studies. I really believe that this decision would enable me to be a better minister to the continent of Africa and here in the States. Reaching out to the lost in other cultures (Unreached People Groups all 7,000+ global UPG's) is certainly first and foremost in my heart. I decided to go the "Modular" route, where I would have 7 weeks of pre-course work, go to Moody for a full week (per class) and then have 7 weeks of post-course work. I also decided to take some on-line classes as well. I was very excited to be a student again. It will be a long, difficult 4 years, but well worth the effort.

My first class at Moody with Dr Tucker

I absolutely love taking classes! I'm one of those nerdy folks that loves to read, loves to write and loves to study. I love to learn. I love to grow. If you've ever considered going to Seminary, (I'm a salesman at heart, sorry) feel free to check out Moody:

Moody Theological Seminary Website

Picking an Agency

I have been doing some research in my email account trying to nail down dates and the timeline of events. I did a search for AAI (Adoption Advocates International) which is the adoption agency in the state of Washington that we ended up going with, and I found a startling fact. Here's the first email with "AAI" in the subject or body of the email that's in my inbox:

http://www.adoptionadvocates.org/Africa/index.php

this is the agency that Janel recommended.. I've sent an email to Janel and to the agency requesting an info packet. I'll let you know what I find out...

LOVE you. (secretly a little excited too)
Jenn



What struck me so significantly was the fact that Jenn sent me this message on

Mon, Jun 13, 2011 07:42 PM 

I couldn't believe it! I do not remember Jenn sending me this message nor do I remember that she had been excited about adopting from Africa before we even went to Ghana. I knew that it had been on her heart for quite sometime, but didn't realize that it went back over a year ago.

After we both believed the Lord was leading us to adopt, we contacted AAI again and they sent us some information and we formally signed an agreement with them to adopt a little boy age 2-5 from Ghana. I received my first correspondence with the director of the program on Feb 20, 2012. Anita Gillispie is awesome. She has adopted from Ghana a couple of times herself and has been there numerous times. She has a heart for the country and for the people. She's been a great resource. We feel like God has confirmed several things for us and that we are moving in a positive direction.

I CAN'T WAIT to meet my little guy! Sam and him will be buddies, I'm sure. 4 kids...one for each hand for Jenn and I, and we can all hold them at the same time. But that's it for me, 4 and no more! (Famous last words, I'm sure).
We announced to the kids that we were adopting a little boy from Africa when we were walking out of church. I asked Mady what should we call him so that we can pray for him by name? (as opposed to just praying for "the little orphan boy in Africa that we are adopting" each time) She looked at me and said that we should pray for him as "Little Orphan Steve." Apparently, she has this thing for the youth pastor at our church, Pastor Steve. So, from then on, we've prayed for him and referred to him as "Little Orphan Steve." When we adopt, we are actually going to change or add to his middle name "Stephen."

We really believe that we will make an eternal impact on a soul. What is that worth?

Priceless.

Hearing the Call to Adopt

We were absolutely enamored by everything in Africa. We knew the Lord was doing something in our hearts. We started praying for missionaries in Africa, and we started supporting (3) different missionary families in Africa. We had several friends and family that started asking us if we were going back to Africa soon or if we had even considered moving there. We pretty much decided that we didn't want to move there, mostly because we didn't believe my health would allow it.

And then a strong burden began to formulate and cultivate in our lives. By the end of 2011, Jenn was convinced that the Lord would have adoption in our future. She asked me several times if we could adopt throughout 2011, but the thought of paying nearly $30,000 for an adoption scared me. However by the beginning of 2012, I began to sense something stirring in my life. In January, Jenn straight up asked me if we could adopt. She had read several books and she said that everything within her desired adoption. She obviously was wanting to adopt from Ghana.

Right before Chinese New Year (January 23rd, 2012), I was invited out to eat for the Chinese New Year by some friends of ours. I'm still not sure how it all worked out, but I ended up going out to eat with several of our friends and Jenn ended up going to an adoption conference at a local church. While I was at the dinner, Pastor Ron and I ended up chatting about adoption. He asked me what I thought about it. I told him that I knew it was biblical. We all memorize James 1:27 when we are in grade school. Pastor Ron responded that "the truest form of discipleship was adoption." All of a sudden, something triggered inside of me and I knew right then and there that God was calling me to adopt as well. The very next morning, the Lord spoke to me in my quiet time from Psalms 41 regarding taking care of the weak and oppressed.

After the church service, I walked up to Jenn as she was talking with some friends, and I said "I'm in" and walked away. She yelled back, "wait, you're in for what? The adoption?" I said, "Yes." I'm in." Her smile told me that she was overjoyed.

From that moment on, we started preparing, saving and investigating adoption. We ended up choosing Adoption Advocates International in the state of Washington as our adoption agency. They are a great organization and we were thrilled with the Ghanaian director, Anita Gillispie. I also found out that the Adoption Tax Credit would most likely be approved by Congress in late 2012 and that gives international adopting families a $14,000 tax credit. And so along with our other investments, the adoption would be paid for. The Lord was testing my faith, and when I said yes, he opened up our finances in a huge way.

Heading to Ghana

From October 17, 2010 until the end of July 2011, we focused on preparing ourselves for our trip to Ghana, West Africa from the end of July until the 1st week of August (July 23rd - Aug 6th). We had quite a few people that were initially very interested in going on the trip, but like always happens, several people dropped out. Unfortunately due to circumstances out of our control (or possibly unrealistic expectations), our trip continued to rise as more people dropped out. As it turned out, the more people that went, the more people were able to spread out the cost of the trip. So, by the time we left, the final cost of the trip was around $3700 per person. This was about $700 more than we initially thought. I'm so thankful for Meadowbrook Community Church that helped offset the cost of the trip for me. I'm also thankful for the nealy 50 people that personally supported Jennifer and I as we led a team of 12 other people on this trip.

One of the biggest things that I learned was that when a family or an individual supports you on a missions trip, they have a vested interest and pray for you and the team during the trip. I felt more "prayed over" during these 2 weeks than I've ever sensed in my life. It was a learning lesson, and one that I'll never forget. I was a little embarrassed at first raising $7000 for our trip, but after I got home, I was so thankful that so many people prayed for us. On the last Sunday before we left, MCC took up an offering and we were able to cover all the remaining outstanding costs for the trip and have enough left over to bless YFC in Ghana.

I'm so indebted to several people that helped prepare us for the trip. The missions board at MCC provided expert advice. I'm thankful for the cultural training that we received as a team from members of the church. I'm also indebted to my dear friend Jerry "Maj" Major that works with YFC in Scranton, PA for his leadership, guidance and training for our trip. His experience having gone to Accra, Ghana was invaluable and we couldn't have been so successful without his help.
The trip was life changing nonetheless. Even though I'm writing this over 2 years after our trip, I can still hear the sounds, register the sounds and picture a continent that I've grown to love. We stepped off of the airplane in Accra, Ghana and the huge sign said "AKWAABA." We felt like we were home. I love the red soil of Africa. By the time we left, it was not only on our hands but in our heart.

Some of the highlights of the trip were serving in an orphanage and playing with kids that have no families and for some of them...no hope.
Another highlight of the trip was giving a local private school a bunch of supplies that we brought we us (suitcases of school supplies). They surprised us by doing some school worship, which was as close to heaven as I've ever been.

Mama Jenn sharing with all of the children about the

Love of Jesus and how much we cared for them.

Worshipping with the saints on our first Sunday who are passionate about Christ was awesome. Not only do they worship their hearts but they worship with dance. They are not hindered by what others think. Their only focus was on worship to our Creator. A 4 1/2 hour worship serve flew by!

Pastor Kent and I spoke at 2 different Youth Leadership Training Conferences (YLTC). I spoke on "Understanding the Youth of our Culture.

We were able to do quite a bit of work on the YFC Centre that is used by groups all over Africa.

It was a joy to labor together for the work of the gospel. Although it was unbelieveably hot, hard work, it was all worth it.







Jennifer and I knew that this continent was for us. We loved getting to know the National YFC Director for all of Africa - Patrick Mahama. He was not only a gracious host but has become a close friend. We were able to bless him and the ministry financially. Knowing that we were able to help him was an incredible blessing to us. As the days of the trip neared the end, I felt different. I looked at life different. When we landed back in Chicago, I realized that there are millions of people that will never experience what I experienced. My vision has changed. My heart has changed. The materialistic motivation of this world quickly dissipated and slipped away. I knew I was going back soon, but the question wasn't if...it was when.

Parick and Betty Mahama

YFC National Ghana Director

The Ghana Team with the YFC Ghana Board Chairman Abraham Mantey and his family at

their home

Feel free to download 

the Powerpoint slideshow (link below) 
that we prepared for our missions trip report 
at MCC when we returned:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2FfcgZK9ck9QThjdmw5SVdNTTg