Spring and Sacrifice

I’ve been watching flowers bloom these past few weeks and watching my kids play jacket-less outside in the warm sun and soaking in the last days of a Kansas spring.  Crocuses and daffodils have always been my favorite flowers, as they signal the very start of spring, the best season of the year (in my humble opinion, of course).  Spring is the exodus from a long, cold winter.  It’s new color, new life, and less bulky clothes to zip on the kids!  For the past two years at this time, I watched spring unfold and refused to allow myself to get excited.  We were headed to Alaska, and I thought I wouldn’t get to experience the beauty of spring ever again.  I was, in a way, grieving.  The loss of the familiar.  

It’s one of those things you give up on your journey with the Lord.  We can’t keep hoarding all that is comfortable if we’re ever to step into the unknown by faith.  As we lay all things down at His feet, sometimes we hand over things that are dearly loved.  And while that sometimes feels like death to us, it’s really a sacrifice that leads to new life.  New experiences.  New people.  New places.  And new joys.  And I’ve come to love what spring (and summer) brings to Southeast Alaska.

I gave up crocuses and daffodils blooming in Kansas, but in Alaska, I gained fields of irises, lupine, and fireweed.  The Lord has shown me, in a small, tangible way, that our sacrifices for His sake are not unrewarded.  While not all sacrifices have a reward this side of eternity, God honors them.  He gives us blessings of joy, peace, and His presence as we follow Him.  There are many things that will be different and unfamiliar to us going from the Kansas plains to the Alaskan rainforest.  Signs and changes of spring are just one part.  Will you pray for us as we transition in all of life, from climate to relationships to physical work?

So what does the next year look like for us?

We are currently at around 40% of our support needs pledged or given.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR GIFTS AND PRAYERS!!  Our plane leaves the ground in Kansas City on April 27 and lands in Juneau later that day.  We will return to Kansas in the fall to continue any support raising and get ourselves fully transitioned to Alaska (i.e. selling furniture, shipping what we want to keep, etc.).  Once fully supported, we will head back to Juneau.  This will most likely be in the spring of 2016.  We will work at camp that summer and then move into Juneau for the winter, staying year-round.  But don’t worry, we will come visit!  The details on dates are fuzzy, but isn’t that what walking by faith is all about?  And yes, we are all VERY excited!

                        

Our kids playing outside after we spoke at Liberty Christian Church, a supporting church in Liberty, NE 

Raising Support

What comes to your mind when you read those words?  Better yet, what feelings come to mind?  Anticipation?  Dread?  As we are 6 weeks into our support raising, we have experienced thoughts and emotions that cover the entire spectrum. But one thing shines through it all: 

Faith.  It just takes faith.  On both ends. 

Yes, it takes a lot of faith to quit a steady job with steady income and live entirely on support from others.  

But it also takes an incredible amount of faith on the part of the supporters.  They trust God and display faith as they give to help spread the gospel.  

You see, missionaries can’t do their work without people back home supporting them, in finances, prayers, relationships, encouragement, etc.  Supporting a missionary is so much more than an exchange of money. It is a sharing of life.  It is an investment in what God is doing in a particular place. It is caring for the needs of a people group.  It is loving each other!  

Raising support has led us into several homes and relationships that may not have happened otherwise.  We have had fabulous meals together, laughed together, and shared how God has burdened each of us, missionary and supporter alike, with the needs of this world.  

I have more friends now than I had before.  

And it all began with that gut wrenching phrase: support raising.

Would you like to be part of our support team?

We would absolutely love to talk to you about the ministry of Echo Ranch Bible Camp on a personal level.  The biggest blessings on this road are the relationships we are building!  Email us and let us know if you're interested!

ryan.regier@avmi.org

angie.regier@avmi.org

Blessings!

From Alaska to Florida….

What do Alaska, Florida, retirement centers and giant Post-It posters have in common?  Echo Ranch Winter Meetings!  Every year, the staff at Echo Ranch choose somewhere in the United States to have a week of intense, strategic team meetings to both plan out the next summer and see where they are as a team and ministry.  We have been blessed to attend the last two, this year’s being in central Florida.  Most of the team resides in Juneau for the winter, but some travel all over the US and recruit volunteers and counselors.  This year, the national CCCA (Christian Camp and Conference Association) Conference was held in Orlando, FL and the entire team, minus the Regiers (we will attend once we are full-time missionaries with Echo Ranch) attended the conference.  Our in-town staff couple lives in a suburb of Orlando in a retirement home, so it was decided that we would hold the meetings in the guest housing of the retirement village.  A local pastor of a church that supports Echo Ranch came each day to lead a devotion and pray with us.  Many times the scriptures discussed would lead our discussion on the topics of the day.  Here is a picture of what our entire week looked like:

It isn’t too exciting, but it shows a huge part of what goes on behind the scenes of Echo Ranch.  The backbone.  The planning.  Setting in motion the things that go on from April to October.  And it requires a huge amount of wisdom from the One for Whose glory it’s all for.  God has it all planned, but we get the privilege of playing it out.  And we need His help.  We spent much time in devotions and prayer, imploring the Lord for wisdom and right hearts to work together in unity and love.  We always, with every discussion from scheduling to housing to lighting options, came back to this: “Is this our ministry focus? What facilitates our goal to reach Southeast Alaska for Christ best?  Does this show God’s love to believers?  To unbelievers?  Does this enable the health of each person and the team?”

We also identified several areas of personnel needs for the summer.  These include:

• ·      Mechanic
• ·      Maintenance and construction workers
• ·      Nurse and assistant
• ·      Kitchen help
• ·      Counselors

If you feel the Lord leading you to serve in any of these areas (and want to spend a summer on the Alaskan coast!), please go to www.echoranch.org to inquire and apply.

Finally, we want to extend a huge thank you to the Church at South Lake in Clermont, FL, and Pastor Brian Hammond and family.  They provided nearly every meal, picked several up and brought it to us, took us all over town, and offered all-around amazing hospitality!  You guys rock!  Check out their website:

http://www.churchatsouthlake.com

Also thanks to the AIM (Africa Inland Missions) retirement center and Bob and Mary Ehmann!  The accommodations were wonderful!