Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from Sun City! I hope that you have had a wonderful summer. It has really passed by quickly. It seems like the kids just got out of school for summer vacation, and now they are back in school already. My bride has continued to improve a little at a time, and we are going to the fitness room together 3 days a week. We are looking forward to a little getaway next month as we celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary. Over the last couple of months, we have been meeting here in our home with couples that need a little support and encouragement for their marriage. I have been working remotely with a worker in Africa, and tentatively Pat and I will do a marriage intensive with the couple in November. We will begin to teach a small group of 10 couples on Wednesday evenings for 8 weeks beginning next month. Speaking of November, we are planning on visiting Austin in November. We are looking forward to seeing folks, and visiting our Northwest Fellowship that we love and miss so much. Hugs, Mark & Pat An Update from Turkey (A note from one of the couples who attended our Marriage Intensives this past spring in Istanbul.) I realize some time has passed since we attended the Marriage Intensive in Turkey, and I wanted to take a moment to express our thanks. One of the challenges of living cross-culturally is that few people understand the unique pressures you face. We realized that unintentionally we'd been taking the other for granted, making excuses for small unkindnesses toward each other, thinking "He gets that I'm just reacting out of stress, so it's not a big deal." Since the intensive we have put an intentional stop to those, and are quick to ask for forgiveness. Today we prayed together briefly before heading in various directions. Praying together is something we never made a habit in our 16 years of marriage, but we've been fairly consistent at it in this last month. It's a small sign of a trajectory change in our relationship away from unhealthy independence and toward each other. For me, the wife, the biggest breakthrough was hearing an invitation from God into "more, and better" through expressing vulnerability - something I have never been good at. We didn't have a bad relationship before, but there were areas of weakness that could have gone on for years unchecked. Instead of settling, we're experiencing a new sweetness and joy in our relationship. It really does feel like we're headed on a different trajectory, and have higher expectations for what married life can be. Thank you very much to you both and your team and to all the people who made this possible. Honestly, we wouldn't have spent the money to go, thinking things weren't that bad in our relationship, but having gone I can see how significant it was for us. We plan to use what we learned in our church context to help other couples. We also have to give a special "thank you" to Danny and Kathy, who adapted on the fly and split up so we could be more comfortable. They were great! We wish you all well, and that God continues to give you joy in your work as you bless many people. Nine Years Later! Dear Mark and Pat, We have been incredibly helped by your mentoring us and would love to see your work continue !!! We love you both!! "Why would you NOT want your marriage to be all it could be?" Mark asked us as the Marriage Intensive 4 days began. In 2010 we attended the Marriage Intensive in Bodrum in Mark and Pat's home. We had been serving in Turkey as church planters since 1993. Our kids were all launched at that point. They not only taught us useful material for our marriage but what made all the difference was they opened up their lives to ours and were willing to pastor us by Skype after the Marriage Iintensive was over. It is incredible to be cared for and mentored when you are a pastor yourself. Sometimes you have no one to go to when you have difficult marriage issues. We are still learning and growing in our 38 year old marriage but because of the tools we got at the MI, we have learned to work through conflict in a much more healthy fashion and to re-set our relationship after conflict. Because of Mark and Pat's input in our lives we meet together once a week for a date night and have a once a week meeting to discuss scheduling, goals, finances and how our relationship is doing. This has been an incredible help to us as we serve in a lonely place and we have met one another's friendship needs as we debrief each weekend together." Much love to you both! Calling for Prayer Partners and Financial Supporters! We would like to ask you to consider partnering with our work in the following ways…
Dear Friends & Family,
We hope that your summer is going well, and that you had a great 4th of July celebrating the birth of our nation. We had hoped to report that our team would be serving couples in Budapest next year; however, that date has been postponed. So in the meantime, we are praying to see what God has in mind for our team in 2020. I am happy to report that the bride of my youth has had a breakthrough from the depression over the last month. It has been a 3-year battle for her, but God always wins in the end. At some point we should probably write about the journey. As you read the testimonies, would you think about how Haven of Hope impacts the couples abroad and at home. What is that worth? Is that something you would like to be a part of? Please pray and ask the Lord. If you have feedback or suggestions, please feel free to email or private message us. Thanks to all of you that have prayed, given financially, and served on our team. We send our love and prayers, Mark & Pat Testimonies from Turkey! (This testimony is from a couple who attended the marriage intensives we did this spring in Turkey. They continue to be mentored by a mentoring couple in Turkey as well as Mark. It is so awesome to see the Lord blessing teachable couples. ) First off, we've never personally met, but since we've started our work here two years ago, your names were dropped here and there. Of course, the _____'s, with whom you did the marriage intensive years ago, were the first to recommend this course to us, for obvious reasons. They both emphasized how greatly they profited from it, with him even going so far as saying "This might have been the one thing that made us last so long in Turkey." Quite a statement! After sending in all the necessary documents while sitting with _______ in our living room mentioning the marriage intensive, he told us your story which is pretty amazing. But the reason I'm writing is that the marriage intensive has really exceeded all our expectations by far. My wife and I have read lots of good marriage books with the goal to really change things up. But somehow it never hit the ground. The material you teach is truly a blessing and it was even during the initial sessions after we got the folder and the material you bring is truly a blessing and it was even during the initial sessions after we got the folder and the facilitators started, it dawned on me why: There's a significant paradigm change in the material, presuppositions that are simply acted upon, like accept the needs of your marriage partner as God-given, don't criticize or minimize them, take them seriously. Even the way the exercises were facilitated and led left little room for "straying" or the typical "crazy cycle" that my wife and I often find ourselves in to the point of resigning to even discuss concerns since the other would deny even the grounds of concern. We're probably not the first ones to write you regarding this. But nonetheless we wanted to deeply thank you for taking all the years and blood, sweat and tears into crafting these. It's really an outstanding course and the material has the potential of really changing the trajectory of a marriage, no matter how dysfunctional it is. Of course, this doesn't mean that all marriage problems are solved overnight. Habits are stubborn and only change over time with big doses of grace and discipline. But the paradigm change is what we truly are thankful for! Keep up the good work! (This testimony is from a couple who have lived and raised their children in Turkey for over 20 years. They are considered elders to the many Global Workers that look to them for direction and guidance, such as the previous testimony. They have become dear friends over the years, and we are awed by what God has done in their marriage and their willingness to change. ) From my years in missions leadership I know the sad reality that some, maybe even many, couples in Christian service on the mission field (whether foreign or local) have had major marriage difficulties that have seriously weakened their ministry effectiveness, and some even have left vocational ministry because of it. Thankfully, seven years ago my wife and I were able to attend a Marriage Intensive with Mark and Pat that was a great help to our marriage, and helped to keep us going on the mission field for many years thereafter (it was the government that has recently kicked us out of the country, not marriage problems :-). For quite a few years thereafter Mark and Pat graciously met with us via Skype, which really helped to make habitual what we had learned in the Intensive. If we had had to pay for this ourselves, we probably wouldn't have done it, yet I'm so glad there were people supporting Mark & Pat so they could help us and so many others! Thank you! Calling for Prayer Partners and Financial Supporters! We would like to ask you to consider partnering with our work in the following ways…
Click to set custom HTML
Hello Dear Family & Friends, May finds my bride and me doing well. We have been a little more busier in the past several months in leading a small group for the "Over the Hill Gang," and meeting with couples from Reveal Church. I hope this note finds you all well and that you will read and enjoy our update, which features testimony from a couple we served early on in our ministry to Turkey. We send our love and prayers, Mark & Pat |
AuthorMark & Pat Juarez Archives
September 2019
Categories |