The Goin' Owens

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Colorado!  It has been such a beautiful visit here to see family, receive excellent training and see more of God’s beautiful creation!  We have some more exciting news to share with you and ask you to continue in prayer with us:

Answers to Prayer
– Praise God that our work permit (TEP) has been received in Malawi and it awaits our arrival to finalize.  This allows us to work for 2 years, at which time we will re-apply.

– Praise God for 3 weeks of visiting with Jonathan’s parents and sister’s family.  It was so fun to see the cousins interact and get to know each other beyond pictures in Christmas cards!  It’s good to pick up where we left off with family, even though we don’t get to see each other very often.

– Praise God for an awesome 5 weeks of training at Missionary Training International.  We are privileged to have access to such excellent training in cross-cultural ministry and language acquisition.  The kids both did great in their classes/nursery and the staff were absolutely amazing in caring for our kids and for us as we parent them through many transitions.  We have great respect for their ministry and programming!

– Praise God for relatively good health through our Colorado trip.  Although we are all run down and Micah got a fever the last two days of our training, we are impressed by God’s protection over our bodies and health through many stresses and activities.

– Praise God for a house to stay in between now and our departure!  What a gift from a friend from church…complete with play room and sandbox!  Who could ask for anything more? 🙂

Continue to Pray with us:
– Pray for sleep!  Yes, this is still a prayer request.  All four of us have been staying in the same room together throughout our 5 weeks of training which made for some sleep challenges, but also treasured memories.  As we move back to PA to yet another house, we dearly hope that the kids will settle into good sleep routines, resulting in good sleep for us parents as well! 

– Pray for our move back to PA to settle into another house until our Aug. 6th departure.  We fly out of Denver on Tuesday, June 26th.  

– Pray for our preparations.  We are hoping to do the bulk of our packing from July 11-13th.  Pray hard on these days and leading up to them that we make good decisions, stay calm, respond to each other in love under stress and actually finish what we set out to do.  Hopefully, sleep will be good those nights!  We also have a lot of good-byes ahead of us.  Pray that we say good-bye well and have quality time with friends and family before our departure.  Finally, pray for our commissioning service on July 15th at 10:30am, that it will not only be a time of affirmation and encouragement for us and all who attend, but also a time open to the Spirit’s moving in all of our lives.

– Pray for one or two good language helpers for both of us upon arrival in Malawi.  We have been trained how to learn a new language, but will need help from someone who is patient, who speaks well, who has time to meet with us regularly and who is willing to correct us (repeatedly!).  Pray also for wisdom in determining how much time to commit to language learning and finding childcare for our language learning times.

– Pray that God will prepare us for the new relationships we will form when we arrive in Malawi — particularly those with Malawians.


Grace and Peace,
Jonathan and Becky (and Micah and Rachel)

Dear Prayer Supporters,

A lot has happened since we last updated you in March!  Thank you for all your prayers – they were certainly needed and felt!

Answered Prayers:

– Praise God that we are now just OVER 100% financial and prayer support!  
– Praise God for six encouraging speaking engagements throughout March and April.  We really enjoyed reconnecting with many of you and meeting new friends while we shared our testimony and plans for future ministry in Malawi.  Micah and Rachel fared very well, too!
– Praise God for continued good health for all four of us!  This seems somewhat miraculous because of how busy and demanding our schedule has been.
– Praise God for a smooth transition for Jonathan as he ended working at the bank and came home to many details and preparations (and potty training Micah).  
– Praise God that Jonathan received his ministerial license with the BIC church after passing his oral exam.
– Praise God for the sale of both of our cars and our washer/dryer (worth more than Becky’s car)!
– Praise God for a smooth trip to Colorado.  Micah and Rachel both enjoyed the air travel and endured many hours in the car pretty well 🙂  


Continue to Pray with us:
– Pray for God’s continued protection in travel, health and spirit. We are enjoying some down time with family in Colorado right now, but then will enter 5 weeks of training where both kids will be in childcare.  Becky has been feeling especially exhausted after weeks and months of many details, planning and preparations combined with some possible altitude sickness.  Ask God for physical strength/recovery, mental clarity and spiritual energizing and peace.

– Pray for sleep!  Both kids are getting up a lot in the night since we’ve arrived in Colorado which interrupts our sleep a lot (hourly, at times).  We all need some good, solid sleep (as we hear Rachel crying in the background for the second time this evening, poor girl).

– Pray for each of us as we respond to each transition in our own way.  Micah, in particular, is making sense of “home”.  He asks to go home, but has also begun to express that this (Grandparents’ house in Colorado) is his home for now because this is where we are right now.  So, he is beginning to catch on that we move a lot.  We have brought some of his familiar/favorite toys and books to help with a sense of “home” and stability.  We’ll also be baking our “new house cake” in the coming days here.  Being three years old, though, his confusion and stress tends to come out in the form of tantrums (impressively few, so far).  Pray for us as we discern how to respond to and love him in these times.  

– Pray for continued stability in Malawi following the recent sudden death of their president and the peaceful transition of power to the vice president.  Pray for economic stability as Malawi’s government strives to improve relations with foreign governments.

– Pray that God will prepare us for the new relationships we will form when we arrive in Malawi — students, coworkers, fellow missionaries, friends, and others.

Dear Prayer Supporters,

This is the first of our (roughly) monthly prayer updates to all of you who have said you’re willing to faithfully pray for us!  Thank you – we often feel the need for your prayers, and we have some exciting praises to share with you as a result of what our God has done! 

– Praise God that Jonathan’s Temporary Employment Permit (TEP) application was approved today!  This allows us to be in Malawi for 2 years (at which time we will re-apply).
– Pray for our co-workers in Malawi as they pay the required fee to obtain the TEP paper for us and that all will go smoothly when we get to immigration in Malawi

– Praise God that we are now up to 86.5% financial support!  
– Pray that remaining 13.5% ($14,654) to come in!  We also still need 65 more prayer supporters to reach our goal of 200.

– Praise God for some upcoming opportunities to speak about our journey and ministry at churches – we are encouraged when we can talk with people face-to-face.
– Pray for God’s protection in travel, health and spirit. As each speaking engagement approaches, it seems something goes wrong, we are discouraged or just plain sleep deprived going in.  We know that Satan likes to bring us down when we want to lift up the name and work of Jesus.  Pray for strength and focus.

Our Itinerary
This Sunday 3/25 Emmanuel E.C. (Becky’s home church in Hatfield).  Traveling Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.
April 1st – off 
April 8th – Jonathan’s preaching at Lisburn Church of God (not about Malawi, but you can still pray!)
April 11th – World Prayer Team at Grantham BIC Church
April 15 –  Morning Hour Chapel, BIC
April 22 – Jonathan’s preaching at Lisburn Church of God
April 25th – Dillsburg BIC Prayer Meeting
Thereafter, we’ll be in Colorado till the end of June.

– Praise God that Jonathan has had a really great place to work the last 9 years and has been blessed with great co-workers as well (who are very sad he’s leaving).
– Pray that Jonathan will finish his job well (last day is March 29th) and manage the transition to working on final preparations at home with Becky.  Also pray for him on March 28th at 11am when he goes in for his oral exam to receive his ministerial license.


Grace and Peace,
Jonathan and Becky Owen

Packing Up
It has been a joy to be in touch with multiple missionaries currently at EBCoM to get a feel for what life is like in Malawi right now. Due to fuel, water and electricity shortages, life sounds a good deal different from when we visited just a year and a half ago. We anticipate living simply and adjusting to some new routines. In packing, we’re trying not to take too much or too little, and to include some things that will help us feel “at home.”  All that being said, it is challenging to balance stuff preparation with self preparation. Please pray that we will rest in the peace and confidence that only Jesus can give, as it is he who has called us to this move, experience, and service. We hope to wrap up our stuff packing before flying to Colorado for some down time with family and further training.

Little O’s         

(from Micah’s perspective)

   Mommy and Daddy have a lot to tell you about, but I have a few updates, too! First of all, you should really stop in at our house because I have my very own bunk bed! I like it a lot. Plus, a big backyard — I like that, too. We’ll be moving a lot this year, so Mommy said we can make a “new house cake” at each new place to celebrate. (See picture of me cooking below.)
   We live on a corner and I can watch the traffic from where I eat and from the living room where I play. Monday is trash day — lots of trucks go by!!  
   There are real trains and train tracks down the road and a bus stop right on our corner, too! Most days, I play inside with Rachel. She’s starting to sit up with Mommy’s help, so we can play tractor, bus, train, airplane, jungle gym, or dog house. We liked playing in the snow, too! (See picture at right.)  
   I love Rachel, but she’s starting to screech really loud a lot when she’s happy and I’m not allowed to do that. Not fair. She doesn’t have to stop playing to eat at the table, either. Again, not fair. But, she did get a tooth, so maybe soon she’ll have to eat with me.  
   Mommy says that when I turn three in April, I will have to give up my diapers and go on the potty — we’ll see about that.  
   Diapers are just so convenient! Especially for all the plane trips we have scheduled. I’m looking forward to that.  I’m looking forward to having a dog in Malawi, too. 

So, Jonathan will be teaching  … what will Becky be doing?
   I (Becky) get this question a lot! I’ve felt called to missions since I was very young, but I never had a specific idea of where I’d go or what I’d do.  In fact, what I anticipate I will do in Malawi will be rather ordinary, just in an extraordinary place.  I will watch our children, run the house, buy the food, filter the water, clean the veggies, prepare meals, clean the house, wash the dishes, supervise our house helper, apply sunscreen and bug repellant (to whole family), play with the kids, clean the kids (bucket bath style?), home school the kids, potty train the kids, wash the clothes, hang clothes to dry, wash the diapers, hang diapers to dry, meet the neighbors, care for the neighbors, learn the language, visit around campus, get together with other moms and children, write home, assist Jonathan when needed, and generally attempt to represent Christ and love everyone I meet while doing all these ordinary things in a place where things are done differently than I’m used to.  

Jonathan will be teaching … but teaching what?
   It’s a bit intimidating moving from one career to another. As if being a beginning 
lecturer in another culture wasn’t intimidating enough, I don’t know when I’ll know what I’ll be teaching. I probably won’t know for sure until at least July—and we hope to arrive in Malawi in July. 
   While I’m excited to start teaching at EBCoM, I admit that it’s difficult to know how to prepare. (It also makes it harder to decide which books to take!) At least I shouldn’t be creating the courses from scratch! I’m very thankful for all of those who have taught these courses before me, and who have left their notes/syllabi behind for others to use.
   I look forward to getting to know the students, staff, and faculty, and beginning to adjust to life in Malawi. We’ve been thinking and dreaming of this for over two years now! 
   Pray with me, that we will serve well at EBCoM, and that God would use us to bless our brothers and sisters in Malawi. We are going there to teach, but we know we also have much to learn. 

The house we’ll live in, built by BICWM for missionaries at EBCoM. It sits within the campus compound with its terraced lawn overlooking part of the city of Blantyre.  At the end of April we’re headed to Colorado to see Jonathan’s parents, his sisters and their families, as well as attend two trainings at the Missionary Training Institute (MTI).

   From talking with others who have been to MTI before, we’re in for some excellent training — here’s what we know about it:
•  SPLICE, which stands for Spiritual Personal Lifestyle Interpersonal Cultural Endure/enjoy, is a 3-week long, pre-departure training intended to “interweave the knowledge, skills and attitudes from both cultures to make your transition and ministry a time of unprecedented personal and spiritual growth.”  
•  PILAT, which stands for Program In Language Acquisition Techniques, is a 2-week long training in language learning skills that we can implement once we arrive in Malawi to learn Chichewa (one of two national languages, the second being English). 

If you’d like to give either financially or in prayer (or both!), please ask us for a commitment form to send to the BICWM office with your pledge.  If you’d like to 
give online (one-time), you can visit  www.bic-church.org/wm/give/donate.asp to do so, or you can sign up to automatically give each month by requesting a form from us at
jonathanbeckyowen@gmail.com.

We have moved!
We have completed moves #1 and #2 of 6 total moves this year.  So that you can keep up with us, here’s our itinerary:
• Move to the Missionary House (first floor) in Grantham, PA [done]
• Move our stuff to storage (thanks Mom & Dad Hague and Grantham movers!) [done]
• Move to Mom & Dad Owen’s in Divide, CO for 3 weeks [April 28th]
• Move to MTI at Palmer Lake, CO for 5 weeks [May 21st]
• Move to a friend’s house in Dillsburg, PA until departure [June 26th]
• Move to Malawi, Africa [Lord-willing, July!]

Things we’re looking forward to

•  Having a dog or dogs (watch dogs are standard)

•  A big back yard (see picture)

•  Playing in the dirt

•  Teaching!  (Jonathan)

•  Connecting with moms in another culture (Becky)

•  Having students over for tea and/or games

•  Mangos…Real. Good. Fresh. MANGOS!

Things we’re nervous about

•  Frequent power outages, unpredictable, at times

•  Water and fuel shortages

•  Learning a new, very different language and culture

•  Having dogs (Becky has never had a pet beyond a tadpole before)

•  Possible break-ins, burglary, and illnesses

•  Being far from our family and friends

•  Calculating money conversion

•  Driving left-handed stick shift on the left-hand side of the road