Trip Planning Update

I just posted a little bit about our travel plans, but I also want to offer a brief update of our trip planning process. I (Jonathan) have decided to write in the first person, as it is much easier to write that way. Brady will also write on the blog throughout the summer, and we speak on each others behalf.

We've been ordering some of the final supplies the journey. We ordered something like 32 individual laminated roadmaps, which was just funny. Brady designed some prayer cards that present a good summary of our trip, as well as ways to contact us. I ordered a small travel guitar, but I'm having a hard time finding a way to rig it to Wilberforce. Signs for the scooters were designed and ordered last week. The purchase of Sojourner and her accessories will be happening in the next several days. Throttle locks, zip-ties, windshields, milk crates, backpacks, rain suits, helmets, duct tape, sheepskin seat covers, tiny tents, even tinier sleeping bags, harmonica's.. these are all vital supplies for your non-standard scooter adventure.

This week the University of Minnesota paper, the Minnesota Daily, ran an article on our trip, which then made it to the Associated Press as a news bulletin. It has received a little more attention than we anticipated, including an interview request from a journalist in Taiwan! We humbly praise God, though, and pray that it will stir people's hearts to investigate what is prompting us to embark on this trip.

We also began a Facebook page, which can be found if you search mopedjusticemission on the Facebook website. Or by clicking on the link on the right column of the blog. It's simply another medium of keeping in contact with people as we travel.

Brady graduated from Kuyper College on Friday. Congratulations Brady! I'm excited to see Brady bring his gift and love for preaching into our summer together. I am finishing my school semester and my Marine Corps career in the next week and a half. It seems to be a perfect storm of high-stress events converging in these couple weeks for us, but by God's grace we are finishing (and beginning!) strong.

Something I've really been wanting to share with people is how God has been providing for some financial needs in some special ways. We have both taken different approaches to financing the trip, which has been a cool dynamic to bring together in ministry. Brady has been raising support from his church, friends and family, and I have been... liquidating my possessions. We have been able to see people excited to financially support our ministry idea, and we've also been able to see God very clearly working to bring the funds in that we need. It is a tremendous affirmation to know that God is mindful of our ambitions. Just yesterday Brady and I were laughing on the phone at how God is going to provide for us over the summer. We really don't know, but we are confident that it will happen. Brady had a dream the other day that we worked for two days at a McDonald's because we ran out of gas money. I guess I wouldn't be surprised..

The different facets of planning (raising and saving funds, petitioning churches, logistics for traveling) have been such a growing experience for both of us in relying on God, praying for wisdom and leading in a completely foreign endeavor. Neither of us have been able to find a book that lays out how you ride a scooter thousands of miles, let alone how you incorporate that into a ministry. However, we both see fruitful opportunities that this unique ministry will bear, and we are EXCITED.

I depart from Minneapolis in just 11 days to link up with Brady in Grand Rapids, and we begin our trip on May 16. We will be updating this blog before we leave with some specific prayer requests that Brady and I have for ourselves as well as the people we meet. As always, we thank you for you support and interest in our lives, especially over these next months!

Soli Deo Gloria.