Memorial Day BBQ Update

The Myers have had some big parties, but our Memorial Day BBQ was the biggest by far: 72 people, including our family. Between the mounds of meat we consumed and the amount of charcoal burned to cook it all, we probably left the carbon footprint of a small country. It was the perfect way to kick off our last summer in NY.

Thank you to everyone who was in town and showed up to be with us and brought food to share. We obviously couldn't get everyone in pictures - partly because there were so many people present, and partly because some of you just didn't want to be photographed! (You know who you are. We also weeded out the ones that were too humiliating - you can thank us later.)

We had a brief time to share a bit of the story of our decision to move and to talk about the vision for our ministry with The City Church of Honolulu. I was at the grill so much I wasn't able to talk in-depth with many people, unfortunately. Hopefully the bratwurst and chicken made up for it. We will be around until approximately the middle of July - so we'll be available for those of you who want to hear more of the story. Call us up for coffee, have us over for dinner, or invite yourselves over for more BBQ! (We grill pretty much every six minutes, so stop by anytime.)

As far as the fundraising goes, everyone was tremendously generous. As of today, we have raised over half of the money that we will need for our relocation to Hawaii. God has really shown Himself to be faithful to us already.

One of the questions that people ask us frequently is if we are excited about the move. Right now our standard answer is that we WILL be excited, but we have two major things to do first: pack up everything we own and say goodbye to many of the friends and family that we love. These things are so big in our minds right now that it's difficult to see past them! Although packing up 12 years of stuff will be hard, saying goodbye is infinitely more difficult because of the wonderful friendships and relationships that we have built over the past 10 years that we have been in Astoria. Many of our friends here have become like family to us (this is not to disparage our actual family members, just to comment on what great friends we have! We will also miss having Aunty Tara and Uncle John living just a few minutes away).

As I was reflecting this morning during my devotions on the amazing relationships that God has given us and on the dreadful prospect of saying goodbye to so many people, I read the Gospel of Mark, the 10th chapter. Christ says to the disciples "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life." I was deeply comforted by the promise that when we follow where the Lord leads us, even when it costs us dearly in terms of relationships, that He will provide for us all we need and more. We are not looking forward to leaving so many good relationships here, and it is hard to see into the future, but we are trusting that God will lead us into deeply loving relationships as we move on.

That's all for now. Again, we want to thank you all so much for your prayers and your support!

We are truly blessed by your friendship and generosity.

We love you all.

Ryan, Carrie, Sophie Joy & Daniel