The "pressure cooker"

        Have you ever heard the expression that the mission field is like a pressure cooker? No? Neither had Carl and I till we had a conversation with our brother in law who is the executive director of  www.haitibiblemission.com. He and my sister and their two kids live in Jeremie, Haiti on the mission field and have years of wisdom that we will be utilizing. He told us that a great misconception about missions is that people think it's like church camp, like you are going to be spiritually fed and have this gospel centered experience that's going to grow your faith and walk with Christ. While there is growth while on the missions field, it's not the type of growth one might think. You see, he stated that being a missionary is equivalent to being in a pressure cooker, the faith and truth that you already possess are going to be tested by the stress and circumstances that God allows you to experience, and the result - the true state of your heart and walk. 

    This "pressure cooker" analogy could not be more true for Carl and I in this season.  We are officially 3 days away from moving to literally, the other side of the world. Our original travel date was set for July 21st, however miscommunication and lack of information delayed our date. To make a long story short this process has not been the easiest. Two days ago we were in Tallahassee picking up documents to then drive to Coral Gables to finally process our visas.  By Gods grace we will be on the plane on Monday and in Thailand Tuesday night, and I get to start work early Wednesday morning (that's a whole different story 😉 ). At the end of the day - God is good, He wants us in Thailand , and Carl and I have began the cooking process. Thank you all for your continued love and support, we will continue to update you all as we get to Bangkok. 


Blessings, 

Carl, Leeza and Tripp Belcher 

The Fruit of June

Hello friends! We can hardly believe it, but we are less than 3 weeks away from boarding the plane and embarking on our journey to Bangkok. June has been quite the month… we have much to celebrate, but we have also faced a setback or two as well.

            Leeza and I have been covenant members at Summit Church for over 5 years now. On Sunday, June 14^th we were commissioned and prayed over by our church body as they send us out to engage in giving every man, woman, and child in South Asia access to the gospel. Summit has been such a blessing to our family over the years and we are incredibly grateful that God has allowed us to be a part of this church body for the last 8 years. What a joy it is to know that as we GO, we will always have a home and a church family back in Fort Myers. We also took this opportunity to dedicate our son Tripp. Tripp’s dedication was a time for us to publicly proclaim to God, our church, and our family and friends that we recognize that Tripp is a gift and a blessing from God and that he is ultimately God’s child. Therefore, we dedicate him back to God and commit to do all within our power to raise him up in the loving knowledge of God and to disciple him to the best of our ability. Our greatest hope as Tripp’s parents is that as he grows, his love for God would grow as well.

            We took some time this month to enjoy our family while we  still can. We spent 8 days at my uncle’s lake house in Kentucky. This was a great time of refueling and fellowship. Tripp loves to swim, so he had a blast too! One of the hardest things for us about moving to Thailand is leaving behind our family. Leeza and I have been blessed with wonderful loving and supportive families whom we love and enjoy dearly. We will miss you all so much!!! But we know God is calling us to go.

We told you in our last update that we were set to close on our house on June 23^rd. Unfortunately that deal did not go through. We have sense had another contract on our home, but again, it did not go through. I will not lie. This is a huge burden for us; we really need to sell it. But we are not going to let this slow us down. We are getting on that plane whether it is sold or not and we will trust God and his timing for the sale of our home.

With that in mind, here’s how you can continue to support us in this transitional season…

1.     Would you please pray for us?

a.     Pray that we would get another good offer on our home soon and be able to sell it as soon as possible

b.     Pray for our travels (28 hours with a 1 year old is going to be very difficult)

c.      Pray for us to find an apartment & childcare for Tripp

2.     Would you continue to Share our story and our ministry with SCPI?

3.     Would you consider supporting us financially? With our home not selling as expected we have had some unexpected expenses and need to raise an additional $2000 to help with those. You can give at (www.Reliant.org/carl.belcher)