theacousticlife.com » mpd

Christmas Cards

abelara — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:44:02 +0000

i love creating opportunities to have our girls help us in this MPD* journey.

a little later than we’d like, but we’re finally getting our Christmas cards out today. here’s a video of the girls helping us stuff envelopes this morning.

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*MPD = Ministry Partner Development – that’s the name given to the process of us raising a team of supporters so we can report to Little Rock as fully funded staff missionaries with FamilyLife.

our creative thermometer

abelara — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:38:35 +0000

deb and i are creative people. if there’s a project that needs to be done, then it has to be done with creativity and WOW.

when we were in Little Rock this past summer they had some kids of staff members come share their experience in moving to Little Rock and their adjustment to life there. every one of them mentioned that during their family’s fundraising process their parents made some kind of chart for the whole family to see how much progress they’d made.

but for the Laras, we didn’t want to simply do some “boring” thermometer. we liked the idea a family had of making a large magnet of a map from their home to Little Rock that they stuck on their fridge and had a little car magnet that traveled down the road.
but we wanted something even BIGGER. so we figured, “hey, we’re not going to stay in this house forever. why not go crazy and make a HUMONGOUS map on the living room wall.”

so that’s what we did. we announced to the girls that they were going to write on the walls, through a projection of the US on the wall, handed out pencils, and then let them go at it. after we’d put them to bed, mom and dad stayed up outlining it in Sharpie markers, and then we colored in the highway to Arkansas with them in the morning.

take a look for yourself.

(youtube link)

you may not understand it

abelara — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:13:40 +0000

but it is starting to change EVERYTHING.

how will it affect your…
work…
school…
family…
church…
sport…
ministry…
“other”…

(youtube link)

i saw this today. and i consider myself pretty “connected” to the social media scene. but there’s still a lot i haven’t been a part of, or simply don’t “get”.

and then i started thinking how i’ve kinda been neglecting my social media “skillz” because of how busy we are with MPD* and family. and then i started to wonder, “can we really afford to let our social media presence take a back burner if it’s turning out to be such an important aspect of the culture we live in?”

what are people saying about YOU?

yep, God still rocks

abelara — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:51:51 +0000

so i talked with my MPD* coach this afternoon and told him that i felt like we were getting to a spot where the “honeymoon” phase of fundraising was coming to a close.
right after New Staff Training we were all fired up, excited to make appointments, and confident with the tools that we’d be given.

now after 3 weeks…we’re juggling a 40hr work week, kids determined to live in a messy house, and people forgetting or rescheduling the appointments they’d previously set with us.

but through it all God is faithful. i have a job that i’m thankful for and enjoy doing. we’ve been blessed with a babysitter who not only watches kids, but cleans as well. and deb have enjoyed getting to spend unexpected time together when our schedule is suddenly “freed up”.

plus, after FOUR appointments this week that were cancelled, rescheduled, or simply forgotten we were blessed with another couple who have partnered with us for $100/month.

that’s exactly what we needed at exactly the right time.

thanks God, you rock! :)

falling in love in MPD

abelara — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:32:24 +0000

abe: “i think i’m falling in love with you again.”

deb: “oh, really? what do you mean?”

abe: “i think it has to do with all the time we’re being forced to spend with each other through this process. and even though the time we’re spending together is spent doing the SAME thing over and over again. it’s just nice to be able to be with you.

we don’t have kids pulling on us, we’re having interactions with other adults and it’s just nice.

it’s nice to be able to be working on this project together”

deb: “that’s nice”

that was a snippet of conversation deb and i shared this past tuesday as we drove home from yakima.

we also happened to be driving separate cars home, and we talked on the phone the WHOLE way home. (45 min) we haven’t had a 1 on 1 uninterrupted conversation like that in years. i might even say since our college days when we’d go for long walks or talk on the phone for hours.

i’m looking forward to not having any appointments this weekend – our kids could use some dedicated uninterrupted “mom and dad” time.

we’re two weeks into this process, and from my post last week , you can tell it’s thrown our “normal” routine schedule into a tail spin. that particular tuesday, we had just gotten done with two appointments with great friends and i had been gone from home since 6:20am and returned home around 10:50pm.

but through this challenging/exhausting MPD* process, i’ve been pleasantly surprised to find myself falling in love with my wife all over again.

best laid plans

abelara — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:52:59 +0000

we had a fabulous time at New Staff Training last week in Orlando. we covered some really valuable information and got to know a little better what we are actually getting our selves into. but what i enjoyed the most from our week away was all of the incredible people we met. not only did we have fabulous instructors, but the other participants from the various ministries of Campus Crusade are all top notch people. we made some great new friends, it's hard not to when you spend 10 hours or more for 10 days together.

so we've made it home and have hit the ground running. in fact, we may have started running a little too fast.

deb and i are both pretty competitive people. so when a challenge was given during our training of who could be the first person to get 3 appointments for the following week to share our ministry, we were on it. we each got our three, and i even got a fourth. deb won a handcrafted pen for being the first female to get her 3 appointments by 7:31pm. and i won some books for going above and beyond the assignment of getting three appointments.

but we weren't very strategic in our calendar planning. as it stood when we left training, we had appointments on tuesday, thursday, friday, and saturday of this week. and since i have a leaders meeting at church on wednesday, that meant one or both of us was busy every night of the week from tuesday-saturday.

so it was kinda a relief for us when yesterday our appointment for thursday rescheduled for friday. it's easier to ask a babysitter to come earlier or stay later, than it is to find a babysitter for another night of the week entirely.

Campus Crusade has various goals per week/month that they'd like New Staff to aim for in order to eventually report to their assignment in a timely manner. these goals are adjusted according to a person's work schedule at an outside job. so for me working 40hrs/week at Efcom, plus some more hours towards church related activities, we have goals set on the low end.

well as competitive as we are, and as much as we sense the urgency of the work we'll be doing, we've overachieved our goals for the first two weeks. which is great because it eventually gets us closer to our goal of reporting to work in Little Rock. but it's not so great being away from our family every night of the week.

i think the people at Campus Crusade have set their goals for us very reasonable, probably because they've seen thousands of families go before us and are aware of what drain it can take on time, family, and body. if we can taper back slightly and coordinate our schedule even better, we'll be better off in the long run. doing that i think we'll be able to reach our goals and maybe even overachieve every once in a while, and still have a healthy, sane family when we finally move.

keep us, our kids, and our health in your prayers. thanks.

it’s official!

abelara — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:16:28 +0000

We are now officially commissioned as Missionaries and Members of the Religious Missionary Order of Campus Crusade for Christ.

For His Glory,

Abraham & Deborah Lara

no. 7

abelara — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:58:27 +0000

we’re so excited that we start our journey today.

we’re heading to Seattle today and spending the night with deb’s sister. and then we meet up with our old pastor’s and friends, Steve & Christine Hayes, who will take us to the airport.

we’ll still be updating the blog and all our other social media outlets during our trip. so stay tuned for the latest from Orlando.

thanks again to everyone who has given towards our ministry. we’re very greatful and humbled to see God’s confirmation on our calling.

for the family,

Abraham and Deborah Lara

no. 6

abelara — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:14:32 +0000

we’re still amazed at God’s goodness and at people’s heart of generosity.

deb sent in the last round of support checks/money orders so this makes 6 of these envelopes that we’ve sent in.

thank you, to all who’ve been able to give. and thanks as well to those who’ve mentioned they’d like to give but for various reasons or circumstances are unable to at this time.

we are grateful for your support and prayers.

THAT guy

abelara — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:21:15 +0000

this is a story about two persons.

do you remember THAT guy (or maybe THAT girl) in middle school that you avoided at all costs? maybe it was because you hated their guts (as middle schoolers are prone to do). or maybe they hated your guts. or maybe it was because he/she “liked” you and you weren’t returning the favor. or maybe they were just THAT guy that everybody avoided, just because they were weird.

yeah, you know who i’m talking about. we’ll come back to THAT guy/girl.

now think back to first couple weeks in high school or maybe college. life is good. your classes are going well, you’ve made some new friends this year, and your teachers are ok too. the only problem is it’s saturday night, and you’re kinda bored. you didn’t have to work tonight, you’ve finished all your homework, but your friends aren’t answering their phones. and the only thing to watch on TV is reruns of some lame sitcom, or some dumb reality show. so you kinda waste the night away on facebook or youtube hoping something worthwhile will happen.

it doesn’t.

and to top it off you find out the next monday morning in class that all of you new friends went out that saturday night. they had fun, they went to a movie, and they decided spur of the moment to go camping for the weekend. they made memories.

but you weren’t there. and the only excuse they had was that they forgot about you. or they didn’t have your number. or once they did remember they had already left camping and it would be too hard to explain where to find them even if they did have cell phone coverage.

yeah, you know the feeling i’m talking about. you know what it feels like to be THAT guy/girl.

- – - – - – - – - -

sidenote: MPD = Ministry Partner Development – thats the name given to the process of us raising funds for becoming staff missionaries with FamilyLife

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over the course of the next year or so with us going through MPD we don’t want to feel like THAT guy in the first story. perhaps it’s simply perceived or maybe the feelings/actions are real. but it would be easy for us to start feeling like people are avoiding answering our calls, not returning our emails/voicemails, not making eye contact for fear of thinking that we’re just gonna be asking for money again.

on the other hand, we don’t want you to feel like THAT guy in the second story. the reason we’re doing what we’re doing is because we believe in the vision/values of FamilyLIfe and feel that it is what God is calling us to do in this season of our lives. the reason we’re calling/emailing/writing letters is to give everyone we know an opportunity to join with us and with God in fulfilling that purpose; whether that’s through finances, or prayer, or referrals, or simply encouragement.

we don’t want to get to the end of our journey and have you wonder why didn’t they call me? why didn’t they want me on their team? did they think i was too poor? couldn’t pray well enough? didn’t know the right people to refer? wasn’t encouraging? or did they simply forget?

so that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.

and as for they money… it is an actual need that we need to meet in order to do what God’s called us to do. but we’re not trusting in people, we’re trusting in God. if God hasn’t called you to support us financially, that’s ok. it won’t offend us. we’d at least like a straight answer either way or an opportunity to answer anymore questions you may have.

so is it a deal? we’ll try not to make you feel like the “forgotten” guy and we’ll do our best not to make you feel like you have to treat us like the “weird” guy.

ok?

ok.

online giving

abelara — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:09:40 +0000

some are probably saying “it’s about time”, but i’ve finally put an official online giving link on our blog for your convenience to partner with us in our journey to staff with FamilyLife.

we’ve been so blessed the past few weeks as we’ve shared with people what God is doing in our lives, in the ministry of FamilyLife and how he’s brought us together. we’ve seen people become excited to partner with us and the ministry of FamilyLife.

well, it’s crunch time people. we’ve only got 15 days left till we leave for Orlando. back in June we were encouraged/challenged to raise $6000 to cover the expenses of New Staff Training and the Follow-up Training. so far we’ve received a little over 50% of that in pledges towards that $6000 goal. yet we’ve only been given in hand a little over 30% of it.

so, for those of you who needed a reminder to fulfill your pledge or perhaps you were waiting for a more convenient way to give (because honestly, who in the world still uses checks?), here it is.

on the right you’ll see an Online Giving button/link that will take you directly to the giving page on Campus Crusade for Christ’s website where you can give towards our ministry. it’s a simple process.

first, you’ll be asked for an amount and frequency (special needs gift or ongoing monthly or quarterly gift). you can also add a note for us in this step.
then, you’ll be asked to give as a guest or log in with your account (if you’ve given to Campus Crusade before-not necessary though).
third, you’ll be asked for your contact info.
finally, it will ask for your method of payment – bank withdrawal or debit/credit card.

by default it asks for a bank withdrawal using your bank account # and routing #. this is the default method since there aren’t any fees associated with it charged to our account. if you use a debit/credit card our account (not yours) is charged the 2-3% processing fee that Visa/Mastercard/Discover/etc. charges to Campus Crusade. in other words if you choose to give $100 using a debit/credit card, we’ll actually only receive $97 or $98 because of the fees (you’ll still receive a receipt for a donation of $100 though).

we could care less by which method you choose, we are so grateful to every person who is able to partner with us; be it with $100, $1000, or $1. we’re simply glad that you’ve obeyed God in what he’s asked you to do, and trust that He’ll take care of our every need. but for some, you may feel it’s worth the extra effort to pull out the seldom used checkbook to find your account and routing #s in order to make sure that every penny of your donation gets credited to our account.

once again, a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have already given, or are planning to give. we’ve got 15 days left till we leave for our first training and we’ll have much more information and vision to pass along in the coming weeks and months as we enjoy (and labor through) this next season of our lives.

so click on the link to the right or the button below.

no. 4

abelara — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:16:03 +0000

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

a great habit forming

abelara — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:23:12 +0000

I am truely honored and humbled everytime I put one of these suuport envelopes in the mail.

it’s great having people join our team and believe in helping to strengthen marriages and families.

envelope no. 3

weddings ROCK

abelara — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:28:03 +0000

in our recent podcast (itunes link) we stated that divorce sucks, on the other end of the spectrum; weddings ROCK! i came across the video below via @youcanknowgod on twitter (great twitter name btw).

i love the fact that this couple took the time to be so fun, creative and original to begin their wedding. but more importantly to begin their marriage. my prayer for them is that they would continue to put that much time, effort, creativity and fun in their marriage in the days, months, and years to come. in fact this video even made me cry because i was so overwhelmed with joy for them.

often times couple put so much effort into their wedding day and later neglect investing in to their marriage that they started on that day.

if you’re a married couple i encourage you to attend a Weekend To Remember conference. these are marriage conferences put on by FamilyLife all around the country. you don’t have to have “troubled” marriage to need (or want) to go to a marriage conferences, there are many couples who have great marriages that attend. (hmmm, or is it that they have great marriages because they’ve taken the time to attend??) consider it a tune-up for your marriage.

deb and i have been to 3 of these conferences during our 10 years of marriage and i can attest that it was time and money well spent. since we’re now working to join the staff of FamilyLife we’d love to connect people even more to the ministry we will be a part of. in fact, if you’re interested in attending a Weekend To Remember conference in your area we’d love to give you information on how to register at a discounted rate. send us an email at feedback@theacousticlife.com with your name and # and we’d love to share the details.

but now back to weddings…weddings are awesome because scripture states that it’s a reflection of the Oneness that Christ has with his Church. they allow us to see the fulfillment of a story, a story of love. and we are privileged to celebrate with our friends and family over the joyous progression of life. but there’s one more thing…

i would encourage you, whether you’re happily married, married and just surviving, or on the brink of divorce, to go to as many weddings as you can with your spouse. because weddings remind us that it was once us standing up there. we were once staring into each other’s eyes promising those words, “for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health”. we once chose to love someone and nothing and no one would have been able to convince us that we weren’t going to make it; our minds were set. and it’s in those moments that sometimes those feelings are rekindled. that unshakable decision to love regardless of the circumstances is reborn. and maybe, just maybe, you look over at your spouse and realize you’ve already invested too much time, and too much effort, and influenced too many people to let it all crumble now.

without further ado here’s the video, enjoy! *

(Youtube link)*

* not everyone will endorse all aspects of the video (or related videos linked on youtube’s site). and that’s okay, just enjoy the celebration of it all and don’t sweat the details. :)