Michael and Raquel Peterson

[michaelandraquel]

Kenya We're going to Kenya!!

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[michaelandraquel]

Dear friends,

We hope you've all been getting the monthly Impact Report Apartment Life sends on our behalf. If you're reading this and would like to begin receiving our reports, please let us know. We would love your help in praying for our ministry and our neighbors.

March will be our 6th month as a CARES team in Irving! We've enjoyed hosting fun AND informative events and taking care of our neighbors and apartment staff. Spring weather is on the way so we can head outside for a huge Spring Fest in our apartment community!

The Spring Fest would be held from 11 am - 3 pm on Saturday Mar. 21 with bounce houses, face painters, hot dogs, popcorn, drinks, a cake walk, live music or DJ, games and more!

We can use lots of prayer, volunteers, and donations.

We are partnering with our church and some local businesses to make this an amazing community event. We need volunteers to help us with the following roles on Sat. Mar 21. We will have two volunteer shifts available. First shift 10am-1pm (setup & serve) and second shift 1 pm-4pm (serve & breakdown). For each shift we need:

Check In/Info Team 4 volunteers to help residents sign in, capture email address, register for door prizes and answer questions Bounce House Team  4 volunteers to monitor the children in the bounce houses Food Team 4 volunteers to grill hot dogs and pass out food and drinks

If you are unable to volunteer please consider donating:

cakes for cake walk

soft drinks

bottled water

coolers of ice

bags of candy

$5 or $10 gift cards for door prizes

We've not done something on the scale before, so we are excited and nervous! For those of you who go to Gateway this will be an excellent way to Bless A Life--several!! You will be blessing local missionaries and families in your community. Please pass the word around to your friends and life groups. Contact us at [email protected] to sign up to serve at this event. 

[michaelandraquel]

Thank you

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement! We had two successful events, finished our November calendar, met our Welcome Visit quota for the month, and are now Chicago-bound! Please pray for safe travels and for our friend in Chicago who is letting us stay with him!!

Storyline Conference here we come!!

via https://dayone.me/XZKzgJ

[michaelandraquel]

Prayer Request

Time. We have lots to do in a short amount of time.

A couple of cool praises:

Michael and I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend Donald Miller’s Storyline Conference in Chicago next week. https://www.storylineconference.com

Michael wrote a proposal to his Oversight (Manager) requesting to attend Storyline and Gateway is now sponsoring his conference fees!

One of our our friends in the Chicago area has agreed to let us setup our air mattress in his home for a few nights, saving us loads of money in hotel expenses!

We’re renting a car and driving up to the Chicago next Monday. Please begin praying for safe travels and protection, but also please be praying we are able to finish up our CARES obligations for the month. Tomorrow night, we have Movie Night and Monday morning we’ll be doing a “Breakfast on the Go” event. We still have several Welcome Visits to complete this weekend too.

Please pray the new residents we visit this weekend will open their doors and allow us a few moments of their time to welcome them to the neighborhood, introduce ourselves and what we do and why we care. Please pray those who attend our upcoming events will open their hearts to receive the friendship and care we want to provide, and give us opportunities to speak truth and hope into their life, wherever they may be.

Thank you!

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[michaelandraquel]

We love Gateway! #GC14

Saved, healed, set free, discipled, equipped, empowered, and serving! God is so good!

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[michaelandraquel]

Born to do this!

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[michaelandraquel]

First Event

We're already planning our first event: a National Night Out block party on October 7th. All of the apartment community staff will be there, and an Irving police officer is coming out to speak.

Join us in praying for a successful event and that our community will come together and we'll begin making connections with our neighbors.

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[michaelandraquel]

Open House

Join us next Sunday after church for a reception in our new home!

RSVP to [email protected] for directions.

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[michaelandraquel]

New Beginnings

So it's been another whirlwind week. But the thing that we've realized is that it's calm in the midst of it all. We just need to remember to stay focused on Who is our center.

A week ago it still felt like everything was up in the air: we hadn't gotten any updates from our Area Director, we were still confirming friends and trucks and friends and family with trucks to help us move, and the lease wasn't even signed yet.

And then we heard back from our Area Director: she was signing the lease Friday, we could get keys Sunday, and we were getting a new Area Director.

We confirmed our friends to help move that Sunday, but trucks didn't come together, so we decide to rent from Budget.

And then we got keys a day early!

The apartment was perfect! We were moving into this one sight unseen, after changing from the second floor apartment earlier. This floorplan is more spacious, even though square footage is less. God put in the two things that Rachel really really wanted: a garden tub and a fireplace.

Sunday's move went off without a hitch. Rachel asked God for nice weather and He gave us clouds and cool breezes and no rain. A neighbor moved her car so we could use the sidewalk ramp. We managed to load everything in the order of needed to be unloaded. Our pet deposit was even waived.

We're still unpacking, but we're settled. We are home. It's our first home together since becoming whole. We're excited to be a part of what God has planned for us!

via https://dayone.me/R7kz1J

[michaelandraquel]

Home Sweet Home

Michael prayed over our new home and so a new chapter begins!

via https://dayone.me/Qu0zCV

[michaelandraquel]

Praise!

Yesterday after work, we met the CARES team we will be replacing at the apartment community in Irving. I woke up this morning still praising God for that meeting. We sat down on the floor of their empty apartment as they shared their story and gave us crucial information and insights in to the community we will be serving.

We see God’s hand in everything. What seemed like delays and confusion in the placement process, we now see His hand of providence.

They knew they were leaving for several months but there didn't seem to be another team lined up to replace them. The day before we interviewed with the apartment manager, they had sent a note out to their prayer team asking for prayer for the community because it looked like there would not be a team to replace them before they left. The next day they find out we’re interviewing. They almost immediately emailed us to let us know we were an answer to their prayers. This team has done some amazing work connecting with the children in the community and serving the apartment manager well. The CARES team is loved and respected there and we are honored to step in to water the seeds they have planted and watch God make it grow.

Everything about this community stirs up excitement in our soul. It is a diverse, international community. It seems God has given us the nations in our own back yard!

Please join us in praising God for where He has placed us. Pray for the next couple of weeks as we prepare to make the move, the effect this transition will have on the other members of my family and my parents’ house, our work, our dogs, and our marriage, and that we seek God first in all things! We know our excitement and enthusiasm for growing his Kingdom will not go unnoticed by the enemy.

via https://dayone.me/Mvezdq

[michaelandraquel]

Catching Our Breath

So this last week has been a whirlwind of activity! The interview with the property manager was awesome. She loved us, she loved the events we had planned for September, she showed us an apartment, and we were all set to get the keys on the 5th, move in on the 6th, and get busy changing the world.

And then we considered our dogs…

There was no way Angel was going to be able to climb up and down to our new second floor apartment several times a day with her bad hips. So last week was a flurry of last-minute emails to our Area Director while we checked if a first floor apartment was even an option at this point, and when one would be available, and canceling utilities that had been scheduled, and then on Friday we got our new move in date: the 28th of September.

At first it felt like more “hurry up and wait” but we are thankful for the extended time to organize and pack and plan. We could have moved last weekend, but it would have been crazy.

Please join us in praying for an easy and safe move at the end of the month. We’ll be enlisting volunteers through the new myGateway app, so watch for upcoming Serve opportunities to help us move. :) The boxes are plentiful (thanks to the Stoehr family), but the movers are few.

via https://dayone.me/MfvzXO

[michaelandraquel]

myGateway

[michaelandraquel]

myGateway Launch

This weekend was a huge success! Everything was ready to go Saturday morning as everyone started discovering that the old Gateway App had been updated overnight to the new myGateway. We had a small performance hiccup in the morning but our team was able to identify the problem and get it resolved before the 4:00pm service began.

Already stories are pouring in of lives being transformed through the power of community. God’s words to Adam “that it is not good to be alone” are as true today as they were 5774 years ago. People need people and myGateway is an amazing platform to help people connect with each other in-between the weekend services and live church together.

We have already released most of the Community features of myGateway: Prayer, Teachings, Discussions, Share, and Serve. In the coming months we’ll be releasing everything that is in myGateway to churches across the world as Table and continuing to expand the app to encompass tools to help people deepen their relationships with God and with each other.

via https://dayone.me/KjZzES

[michaelandraquel]

Interview

Our interview with the property manager is tomorrow, September 2, at 1:00pm! We’re excited and a little anxious. Like any interview, our placement at this property isn’t a “sure thing.” We’ve gone through all the CARES training, so we feel that we’re well prepared, but we need your prayers.

via https://dayone.me/KjqzJ2

[michaelandraquel]

Update

This week has been a challenge and a growing time for us.

It was a heavy blow to learn that the Grand Prairie community fell through. We were totally committed to it and had already had started planning events and driving around to learn the town. That community seemed perfect: so close to our Gateway Church campus and close to great parks. Rachel and I had even joked about learning to play tennis since they had a court. And then all our dreams and plans evaporated when we learned that the management team wasn’t able to commit to the CARES program at this time.

As you recall from our last update we had already dismissed the next community that they offered us. It wasn’t close enough to our campus and didn’t look like a place that we wanted to live. We were even reconsidering CARES altogether. We had started drafting a mental list of “demands” of where Apartment Life should place us and what kind of a community we wanted.

And then yesterday Rachel said something. She talked about how we are called to go outside our comfort zones. And it clicked. She had just written out a prayer to God: “Father, give me a place to live where I can welcome your children into my home and love them. It’s not about me. I want a safe, comfortable place to host and care for your broken.” Then she got up and saw me looking at the apartment community’s website again and we both knew.

He had answered her prayer; we wouldn’t have picked this place, but God is wiser than we are and picked it for us. We drove past the community again and could see results of the work of previous CARES teams. People are at home there, and we’re honored to (hopefully) be able to make our new home there as well.

This placement isn’t a “sure thing” yet, but I’m confident (again) that this is where we belong. Thank you so much for your prayers and support during this difficult time.

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[michaelandraquel]

Prayer Request

Good news Our weekend retreat was so amazing! We spent a whole weekend doing almost nothing beyond spending time with each other and with God. Thank you all so much for covering us in prayer.

Bad News Our CARES apartment fell through. The management company decided at the last minute that they couldn't afford the expense of a CARES team. So we're back in limbo as they sift through more apartments in hopes of finding another one that is right for us. It's really heartbreaking, because we were "all in". We had started planning events and driving around Grand Prairie to learn the town and scope out potential vendor to partner with us. We were already completely committed to this community and, just like that, it's snatched away from us.

So we need prayers for wisdom and peace and guidance as we stumble forward in the placement process again. The next potential apartment they suggested isn't the right one. We don't know why but we both agree that it isn't right. One thought we're having is that the community in Grand Prairie was the right one, but we lost that skirmish with the enemy. Which could mean that perhaps CARES is once again a right fit, but wrong time. But we're still holding onto hope through faith that there will be a CARES apartment soon.

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