This is the year we have been looking forward to with anticipation. Wow, after six years serving as pastors, then a span of 30 years as missionaries in Peru and Bolivia, and finally ten years working in the Salem-Keizer School District, we decided to retire. We even changed our e-mail to retired2farm@gmail.com. We have been anticipating a slower pace and more time for hobbies.
A while ago, we read the following from a Guidepost magazine: “Are you on the eve of change? Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life, change is a necessary part of God’s strategy to use us to change the world. He alters our assignments.” Soon after reading that, our plans received a shock treatment.
What strategy did the Holy Spirit use to get our attention and remind us that God’s plan is much different from ours? The Aguascalientes, Mexico, mission team coach, Dan Cammack (who is also our son), challenged us in the month of January to think and pray about the need for a retired couple to spend ten months in Aguascalientes to fill in while a missionary family is on furlough. Then in March, Chuck Mylander, Evangelical Friends Mission director, called and asked us if we were interested. We told Chuck, “Yes, let’s begin the process.”
As a result of that conversation, we made plans to spend our spring break in Aguascalientes, exploring the possibilities. We have now had the opportunity to spend four days with the EFM mission staff and Christians in the Pocitos and Villas Friends Churches, observing what God is doing in their lives. Our hearts are greatly inspired and deeply moved by the change Christ has made in these lives: by their love for God, their vision and concern for their families, friends, and neighbors to accept Jesus as Savior.
We feel led to go and serve God through this short-term ministry opportunity. The next step is financing this assignment. God has blessed us with sufficient retirement funds, so we don’t need a salary. We do, however, need to raise money to cover airfare, housing in Aguascalientes, and ministry expenses.
Will you prayerfully consider supporting us? We need to raise 100 percent ($11,000) of our support by August 15 in order to be on the field by September 6, 2011. Checks can be made to EFM with “Cammack” in the memo line.
by Ed & Marie Cammack, Rosedale Friends
Have Ed and Marie raised 100% of their support?