Dwell In The Land God has Planted You In

Since I was a little girl I have had dreams of becoming a missionary. I have dreamt of overseas missions, and from about 6th grade on saw the public schools which I attended as my own personal mission field. This was true all the way through college. After college I struggled with what my personal ministry should look like as a public school teacher and a wife. Then later as a mom too. I knew that I was/am a missionary anywhere I went but I no longer had the captive audience I had while in school, and the work place was such a different environment as a teacher verses a student. I did my best and wanted to impact the other teachers I worked with as well as my students, but it was different and hard. Through the last 6 years God has taught me so much about how my own personal ministry isn't all about leading bible studies, prayer groups or even strictly defined discipleship, but is about loving people where they are at, for who they are. It is so much more about authentically living a life that reflects Jesus and shows my love for Him, being who He created me to be. As I have been learning this I have grown so much in my relationship with Jesus. I have experienced Him in so many new ways, and trust Him more now than I ever have before.

Now here is the interesting part, as an overflow of my love for Jesus, and a product of trusting Him I am compelled to lead a Life Group through our church with my husband, and pour so much of who I am into the children's ministry at my church. I love children's ministry and never really thought I would ever be involved in it, I now understand the deeply rooted seeds of truth I get to plant in these little kids' lives and it is amazing. I never thought simply taking time to just be and do life with others was so important until we learned to do just that with our family of choice and our Life Group. I am so thankful! As I have learned to "dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness" (Psalm 37:3) God has also taught me to trust Him more and lean into living intentionally right where He places me, being apart of my community.

In the last 2 years or so I have been more content and happy than I ever. I think it boils down to this,  truly "dwelling in the land" trusting God to do His part as I do mine, and connecting with people. This has included not knowing or caring if I was only here another year or if we would be here another 10 years. I will say learning this key, this huge key in my life of being all in, being all there, wherever I am, has made this dream of mine for overseas missions a little harder to swallow now that it is being met. (Leaving a place I finally put roots into is sad, no matter the exciting journey we have ahead!) It has also made me see how valuable this key is, and that it is not about how long you are somewhere, or protecting your heart, but about rooting yourself where God has planted you. It is about planting yourself wherever God plants you and enjoying the people, the time, and gifts that God has given you to see what God is doing, and enjoy it! I am determined to do this over the course of the rest of my life, and as we are transitioning into our new season of overseas missions I am determined to do this wherever God takes us, beginning in Cambodia.

My encouragement to you is: be planted, enjoy the people God has in your life this season, and do it with all your heart. It is risky, it is dangerous, but it is also so valuable! It may be more painful when that seasons ends, but the joy and the love you feel during it, the things God will teach you through others is amazing. Who knows you may end up with another life long friend in the process and those are so priceless.

Here We Go!

The First Assignment

We're Headed to Cambodia!!

with Engineering Ministries International

Over the last few years God has been teaching us greatly about trusting Him and investing our hearts into all that He calls us to. We have always had a heart for overseas missions and God has provided an opportunity for us to serve with Engineering Ministries International (eMi). The ministry utilizes God given talents to address the physical needs of people in order to gain access to meeting their spiritual need for Jesus Christ. 

                

eMi is a non-profit Christian organization made up of architects, engineers, and design professionals who use their skills to help children and families around the world step out of poverty and into a world of hope. They directly serve Christian ministries through designing development projects that are necessary for the ministries to function, grow, and thrive in their region. Each of the ministries eMi serves has a focus of helping the poor and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. eMi helps design projects like schools, hospitals, orphanages, bridges, clean water systems, and other technical designs.

We, as a family, will be helping launch a field office with eMi in Cambodia where we will be living full time. This office will serve the Southeast Asia region that includes Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and a few other countries. Chris will serve as a civil engineer while in the field office with a primary focus on designing clean water systems, wastewater management, and site planning. 

Chris will also be leading three project trips each year that include a team of 5-10 design volunteers from all over the world to work directly with a ministry in the region. The volunteers will spend two to three weeks in country. Then over the next four months Chris will manage the final design and construction documents to meet the needs of the client ministry. During those four months Chris will work closely with local Christian interns not only to mentor them with the design process, but also disciple them to encourage their spiritual growth. We are really excited to partner with eMi and join in their investment into God’s Kingdom. 

                Though God has called us into this ministry, we need people like you to partner with us. We need people who will pray for us and people who will make a financial investment in our ministry. We ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with us through prayer and financial support at $100 monthly or some other amount. Thank you for considering partnering with us in obedience to God’s calling on the next stage of our lives.

Go to the Support The Mission page to setup an account and begin your monthly support at your earliest convenience!!

Chris and Kayle Hardrick thehardrickfamily@gmail.com

The purpose of this blog!

Hello!

This is my new blog set up to track with my families new adventures. We are currently building our ministry team as we prepare to move overseas to Cambodia with Engineering Ministries International (eMi). My husband Chris is the a civil engineer and we are excited for him to be able to use his skills set to bring hope to the poor and the needy in South East Asia. However, the girls and I are not engineers and will be walking out our normal day to day life and ministry while living in Cambodia. I am so excited to see all the ways God will use our daily life to glorify Him, just like He has taught me to do here in the states. Living intentionally, to glorify and trust Him holds true regardless of your geographical place. How exciting!

The purpose of this blog is the more day to day of the lessons God is teaching our family and even more specifically me through out our daily lives. I have had an older blog that I began this on, but to make everything more fluid have switch to this website. :) To read my older posts you can click here. Now as a stay at home mom, and soon an overseas missionary I hope to post much more often.

If you are more interested in the project trips Chris will be doing, and the more technical engineering pieces of our personal ministry you can head over to Chris's blog by clicking here.

I hope you can ride along and enjoy the adventure with us.

The focus here is the dwelling, dwelling and living faithfully wherever God plants you, and trusting in Him.

Here is our family:

Me (Kayle), Amirah (2 1/2 years old) Chris, Layla (5 months old)