Anti-Human Trafficking Training Dates

I received the finalized dates for the training yesterday and wanted to share them with you so that you could be praying with me specifically for this training and for those involved. There appear to be just under a dozen of us taking the training, which will be a nice group of people to study with. I've always been a person that prefers a more intimate learning setting than a big auditorium or classroom packed with people.

Please keep praying with me that the Lord will show me some ways I can serve with Hope61 in Mexico City (as there is not currently a ministry branch in the city). I am not merely taking this training just to learn something about human trafficking. This is an issue I feel very passionately about and believe God has laid it on my heart for a specific reason. Thank you for your continued prayer support.

The dates of the training are:

Week 1 - February 13-15*
Week 2 - February 20-22*
Week 3 - February 27-29*
Week 4 - March 12-14*

*The main training sessions with the director of Hope61 will be held three days each week. The remaining two days each week will consist of smaller group sessions. There is also a month of study I must complete on my own before my training is complete and I'm allowed to actively minister. There is the possibility that I'll be using some of those extra days to complete this work as well.*

I'll have a week off between weeks three and four while some of the members of the group participate in OMS Candidate Orientation, something Troy and I have already completed. The nice thing is that I'll be able to spend that week with the family at the cabin they'll be staying in. It'll be a nice opportunity for some R&R during my training.

Huge Answer to Prayer

Not long after posting the previous blog entry about our trip to Indiana next month and the family's need for additional housing in March, I received several responses with suggestions from many of you. Thank you so much for your ideas and your prayers!

God has answered that particular prayer and we have FREE housing at a beautiful cabin on a large property in the country. The cabins are there to provide missionary families with free options for some rest and rejuvenation. While Troy and the kids will be without television (and possibly internet as well), they will have opportunity to explore a lake, streams, and see some horses on the property as well!

I am in awe with just how quickly God answered this particular prayer. And this time, he used you all to do so. Thank you for praying for this need! Please keep those prayers coming for a full meeting schedule for Troy.

Update for February

I feel like we've been on an emotional see-saw the last month, trying to finalize our plans with regard for my anti-human trafficking training in February. Earlier this week, we learned that the dates of the training have been pushed back a week to begin February 13. This worked out in our favor. With the new dates, there will now be housing available for our entire family on the OMS campus from February 12 through the end of the month. So, the whole family will be driving to Greenwood instead of me flying by myself! Troy will still be teaching the children during this time, but now we won't be separated for an entire month at a time. As there is not housing available for the whole family after March 2, however, Troy and the kids will be staying off-campus for the remaining week of my training. So we'll only have about a week apart as a family as opposed to four.

This brings me to some urgent prayer requests:

1. Troy and the kids need to find reasonably priced (or even free) housing from March 2 to March 15. When my training sessions are over on March 9, I'll be joining the family for that last week of our stay in Indiana. If you know of any available housing, can host the family in your home, or would like to help with the cost of a hotel stay (possibly something like an Extended Stay that would have a kitchen in the room(s)), please let us know. You can email either myself at jennygentry06@gmail.com, or Troy at troygentry4@hotmail.com. Thank you!

2. Troy is trying to fill each Wednesday and Sunday of our stay with church meetings. He's also available and would love to fill some of the days as well with individual meetings. Please pray with us that God will help him to do so. And if you would like to invite our family to speak in your church, or would love to hear more about our ministry, please contact us at the above emails.

Thank you very much for praying with and for us for these needs!

The anticipation is building as I look forward to my training. I feel a renewed sense of purpose--that God really does have a ministry in mind for me. Please do not think for a second that I place any less of a value on the ministry I have to my own children, and through my family. I know that there is absolutely nothing in this world more important than training the family God entrusted to us to love and serve Him. But I've also been looking for a ministry I can call my own during the hours my children are in school--and for when they are grown and no longer need their Mama in quite the same way. I believe this is it. I can't wait to be able to share more with you as I go through the process.

Anti-Human Trafficking Training

At a conference we attended last year, our hearts were broken during a seminar on the issue of Human Trafficking. Slavery is more prevalent now than at any time in history. Later in the summer, while visiting a church, we heard a missionary speaking about this very same topic. About the horror these women endure, day in and day out. The Lord used these two experiences to kindle a fire inside of me to help women, men, and children locked in this hellish existence.

One Mission Society has a new branch of ministry geared toward helping release, redeem, and restore those caught in slavery. Early last fall, I contacted the director of Hope61, Joyce Oden, to discover how I could help. While there is currently not a branch of the ministry active in Mexico City, I believe that there is a need for one. We may not hear about human trafficking in that city. But we do hear about the drug trafficking. And I believe very fervently that where one is, the other will follow. For now, we are seeking the Lord's leading and direction, to see exactly what role He has in mind for me to serve in this ministry.

Regardless of what that future role will be, there is some required training I must complete before i can serve within Hope61. So I will be flying to Indianapolis in early February and spending the month at OMS headquarters in Greenwood, completing the main four weeks of required training. I will be going by myself. This will be a potentially long month for the whole family, as I have never been away from the children for more than a few days at a time.

We would appreciate your prayers for the following requests:

1. That the Lord will reveal the role He has for me to serve with Hope61 in Mexico City.

2. That He will give me safe traveling mercies as I fly and that He will bless the training. Not only for myself, but for all those participating in the training as well.

3. That He will help Troy and the kids at home. Especially as Troy will take over the kids' home-schooling activities for the four weeks I'm gone.

4. That in our lonely moments when we are missing being together as a family, that God would wrap His arms around us and bring us comfort.

Thank you! I look forward to sharing more with you during my training!