[00:00:00] Welcome to this episode of the Modern Day Missionaries podcast. Today we’re talking with my friends Jonathan and Amanda Vining, who have been missionaries in Meen Columbia for nearly a decade. And we’re talking about the nuances of vision today. I mean, as missionaries, we all get vision, right? Because you have to have a vision to go on the field to begin your missionary journey, and we all do that in different ways.

Some of you guys are, you’re the dreamers. You like to think. Big picture. Some of you are the ones who like to think in details, but no matter what type you are, we all are the type where when you bring that vision onto the field and it hits reality, you go, okay, are we really doing this? Is this, is this working?

And there’s times where we encounter things that cause us to have to shift and change, not necessarily the heart of what God’s given us to do, but. The details of how we walk it out. So we talk about that today. We talk about, um, practically walking out vision, discerning vision, how to communicate well to your supporters when things shift and change while you’re on the field.

You’re gonna love [00:01:00] talking with Jonathan and Amanda because they are, I. So down to earth, so real. So for any of you who are discerning vision right now or wondering what’s next for you in life, or heating, some roadblocks in your walking out, your vision on the field, um, you’re really gonna get a lot out of today’s conversation.

And make sure to stay with us all the way till the end because Jonathan and Amanda have a special invitation just for you missionaries. So with that, let’s dive into today’s episode with Jonathan and Amanda Vining.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Hey, Jonathan and Amanda, welcome to the podcast. It’s so good to have you guys back.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Thank you Stephanie. Yeah, thanks for having us. We just, uh, we love getting a chance to like, talk to you and, and, uh, share our story a little bit, so.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: And you guys are Modern Day missionaries, so you’re speaking to us straight from the mission field. This is real. This is raw. This is uncut. This is Jonathan and Amanda.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: This is us. 

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Okay. And we’re talking on this subject that can feel kind of big and heavy, you know, vision and walking it out and discerning it. And I love that we’re talking about it [00:02:00] with you guys. ’cause you’re some of the most down to earth, practical, sometimes a little crazy people I know. And so I feel like you’re gonna help make this topic that’s really big, really real. 

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah, it’s just, when we speak about this, it’s just from experience, you know, it’s from the Lord has, has revealed to us, what we’ve walked through. So it’s a little bit of just, Hey, our life, our story, and this is how it worked for us, and this is what we’ve seen the Lord do. And I think that’s the easiest way we can explain, you know, this topic of vision, you know?

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah. And you guys have been through multiple iterations of this, and you’ve been in the field how many years now?

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Like nine, nine years. Yeah. Well, it’s, we’ve been missionaries pretty much for nine years. Yeah. Like full-time missionaries for nine years. Yep. Uh, praise the Lord.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yes,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: seven here in Meine. Yeah. Seven years in Meine and a year in, in, uh, Lima, Peru. [00:03:00] So.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah, and so moving multiple places and then just the amount of time that you’ve had serving. It’s not like you got one vision, God gave you one vision, and then you went on the field and you walked out that vision. That’s not really what life looks like,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Not at

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: right.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: No, but it’s like, it’s kind of how it started, right? It’s like, okay,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Uhhuh.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: to do this. Let’s go, you know? Yeah. And then you start to fill this vision with your ideas of what it is and, and, and what your expectations are. And that’s. the best way to go after it usually. 

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: That’s such a good point because God gives us all initially a vision to get there, to take that first step. And then it’s so interesting how things change and evolve over time. And you know, sometimes as a missionary you live in different places like you guys. And, uh, just walk out that vision in different ways.

Can we talk for a second you guys about, uh, kind of the difference between and maybe the intersection of [00:04:00] passion and vision?

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I think that the passion it. You know, the God gave, for example for us, like God gave us the passion to be missionaries. He gave us the passion to reach the lost. Uh. The vision didn’t seem important, right? The passion was to reach the loss was the most important thing. then, you know, you start going through the process, you start going through the movements and, and the passion just kind of, it overwhelms the vision.

And the vision sometimes isn’t even there because sometimes it’s not even talked about. It’s just like, oh, you’re gonna go do this job, just like a job. Like, is that the vision of what God really wants for you? So for us, you know, God called us to Peru. He that was, you know, the vision. You know, so we, we spent a year raising support. We did all the things. We met with all the people. We went to language school, we went to missionary training. We get to Peru and just kind of. Fizzled out the ministry we were go, we were supposed to do was [00:05:00] in a financial crisis. And so we get there and about, you know, two, three months we’re like, oh yeah, by the way, what you came to do, you can’t do anymore. So then it was like all this time we had worked and prayed and, and cried over this position we were like, God, what are you doing in this whole process? Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of that comes like, so. A lot of what happened, the Lord did bring us there for a reason, you know, but we let our passion kind of trick our minds into being like, well, we’re gonna be here for the rest of our lives.

This is gonna be great. You know, one place, you know this and that. And then, uh, and then the bottom kind of drops out. So you’re like, okay, take a step back. You know, what happened? uh, it was a place where the Lord had to bring us mm-hmm. To really, uh, develop our character, to teach us things, to learn things about who he is, learn things about what he wanted us to do, [00:06:00] um, and to realize that like we can’t just be driven by passion.

Passion is important, but really what should drive us? Is our relationship with God and and what he wants us to do. Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: And that’s something that’s gonna stay consistent because you know your vision, all of that’s gonna change there. There’s something that got you there.

 how do we keep these visions from being these big out there dreams that never make it into the practical and the doable. 

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I mean, I think part of, you know, I do like having, like when the Lord gives you a vision, like a lot of times it’s gonna be big. Mm-hmm. Like, it’s gonna be something that’s gonna make you a little bit nervous, you know? Yeah. Um. But keeping it practical, I think is the day to day like, okay, what does it look like today for me to do what the Lord wants me to do?

Mm-hmm. In this situation, what does it look like me today? To take that [00:07:00] step of faith or to revisit what we’ve been doing, you know? Uh, or another thing is, okay, so what, you know, another question you can ask yourself is. Where, you know, where’s the fruit? Like, is is this fruitful? Is this something that that’s gonna work?

So I think there’s a couple different things, and I think we’ll probably get into a lot of this stuff as we go on today, um, that really kind of help us look at this vision that the Lord’s given us. Mm-hmm. And, and do we stay on track and how do we, and how do we interpret kind of things that are going on in our lives at the same time. 

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Hmm. Yes.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: But, you know, and something about that. the Lord called us to this really big vision to open this home here in Columbia for missionaries and pastors where they can rest, you know? And it seemed like this lofty, impossible vision dream. And so something that we started to do that really just made it more practical was like the day to day.

[00:08:00] Okay, so if we were to buy a home, what would that look like? Can we find a real loader? Can we, um. You know, get a visa for investment. Well, how much do we need to spend on the house? How many bedrooms do we want? Like, there’s so many pieces to the vision that we, to make it more like a manageable thing, it has to be like small chunks, like small daily things to make it like a reality.

Because when it’s up there, it seems impossible. It seems like, oh my goodness. The Lord has called me to this thing that I’m just like, I can’t even imagine 

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah. 

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: reality.

But once you start walking through the steps of like the little things, it just becomes more and more real to the point where you actually look back and you’re like, whoa, how did that just happen?

You know? But it, it really takes work on our part to, to walk out the vision.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Talk about that tension between planning things out and then needing to make adjustments as you actually walk it out.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: That is [00:09:00] missionary life. It’s, you know, and I talk about this a lot, but like, it’s just, it’s all, a lot of it’s just being like surrendered, right? It’s like, it’s like, Lord, you know, your will be done, not mine. Yeah. You know, and if you approach days like that, if you approach. Problems like that or situations like that that arise.

It’s like, mm-hmm. Alright, Lord, you know, you’ve got a plan here. Yeah. You know,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I thought was gonna happen, but you’ve got a plan. And then a lot of times if you approach it with that and, and, and that, that attitude of like surrender and like, alright, what you want, Lord, not what I want all the time, then. When you get through whatever you’re going through, whatever change or whatever thing, you know, something like the bottom drops outta something, you know, in the future you’ll look back and be like, that’s why that happened. Mm-hmm. You know, that is why that happened, and the Lord will give you revelation on that [00:10:00] and, a lot of times it’ll build your character like you wouldn’t believe. Yeah. It really, and it also takes a ton of humility, you know, a ton of humility to, to really just. be working for God, but be working with God, partnering with him in the vision. You know, so the vision looks like this in my, in my little mind, in my, you know, my humanity. I want it to in a year, right? but that’s my vision. That’s not me working with God, that’s me working, you know, for God. So when I partner with God in my vision. He gives me clarity. Like he shows me, okay, well this is the reason why this isn’t happening in your timeframe. This is the reason why I need to slow things down. You know?

Because maybe you know, your family’s going through a crisis in the moment, you know? So I need to take care of my family right now, and I’m gonna just kind of put this on hold for a minute. it really just is that intimacy with God, the humility, and also just, you know, [00:11:00] working with God, partnering with him in the vision.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: That’s such a great distinction, Amanda, the with God for God, because if it’s for God, it is, there’s this distance. You picture yourself working for a boss and doing what they tell you to do and but with is, like you said, that intimacy, that hand in hand like we are doing this together. And it does, it opens you up to hear from him in ways that you would not have otherwise, and it just makes it more fun.

We’re doing this together. This is me and you. I mean, God, obviously you’re in charge, please, because I don’t wanna be in charge. But we’re doing this together,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Well,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: uh,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: the, it takes the pressure off. You know, I’m like this,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: real.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: especially when the vision is really big and you’re like, there is no way that this is gonna happen if God doesn’t come in and do something big. some ways it’s like, okay. You know, the pressure’s taking off. Like, because you’re working [00:12:00] with God in this, it’s not completely up to you and, and he’s gonna have to make it happen. It’s like, you want us to raise how much money? Yeah. How much money do we need to get, you know, to To invest here, to, to, to get a visa. You know? It’s like, yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yes. Yeah, and those impossibilities sometimes manifest quickly, like in miracle stories, you know, we all have seen those.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: And then there are ones where they’re like decades and you’re like, Jesus, like, did I hear correctly from you?

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: doing this? Am I supposed to hang in here?

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: a vision or was this a pizza dream?

I mean, have you guys had any missionary pizza dream equivalents of like, I don’t know that that was really from the Lord.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I mean, even just our journey to Peru, like we get to Peru and the floor, you know, drops off from under us and we’re like, okay, was this me? Was this God? Like, what is going on? yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you think about it, okay, what did I do wrong? You know, [00:13:00] why isn’t this working? What did I do wrong? Mm-hmm.

When in reality it’s just like the Lord closing a door. You

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm. Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: so you need to be aware of those situations. At the same time, you know, you get these big, lofty dreams and then, know, you, you try to, you try to walk ’em out and it’s just not working. It’s like not working, and you’re like, okay, that door’s closed, but it’s not necessarily. My fault or something that I did, it’s just the season has passed and now it’s time to move to a different season. You know? Absolutely.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: And that’s a great thing to dis distinguish between, because there are some times where like, we screw up, we know it. Like we, we come to realize that like, God, you didn’t actually tell me to do that. That was my own ego, or that was just something I wanted and I just tried to make it happen. And so there’s humility in going like, I, sorry, let’s, you’re so graceful.

God, let’s, let’s start this over.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: And there are times like what you guys were referencing, like when you went to Peru the first time, or I know we’ve had [00:14:00] moments like this in our journey too, where he takes us to one place and like, you know, you heard from him, you even had like confirmation from people and you go and you.

Get there and you’re like, ho, what, what? Like, why is this door closing? I don’t even understand. And it’s like he takes you one place to get you to another place.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: there’s so many instances in our story. Like I remember he had us plant a church before we went to Peru. Peru was not on the horizon, but we, I had been so in like.

Completely ingrained and immersed in my community, and I know he needed to get us to Peru. He would’ve never gotten us to Peru had he first not gotten us out and had us church plant and, and go through that process to kind of begin to detach and grow a bunch of things in us and become more independent.

To be able to get to that point. Not that it, not that it was just about that next step. He does something in that second step. I was just talking to another couple, oh gosh, two weeks ago. They had a similar thing where God brought them to one [00:15:00] place and it just felt like this really difficult season.

They’re like, that was about this and also about that, but also about this. So God kinda like, um, divinely hoodwinks us sometimes, you know, and it’s a good thing. Like he, I think he, he just does it because he knows we’d never do the next step otherwise, like, I gotta get you here to go there. Just trust me.

I know it doesn’t make sense. We don’t know in that moment we’re just stepping out in obedience.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Oh yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: So I’m just curious for all of our listeners, like what was a moment like that for you where God brought you to one place, it was totally confusing, you didn’t know what it was about, and then later on in life you look back and go, ah, gay, I see what you were doing there.

Or maybe you don’t even yet, you just know it was him and like it’s gonna be another couple decades before you understand that particular season of life.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah, and I think also a big piece is like you’re not always gonna understand what’s going on in the moment.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: No.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: [00:16:00] so important to know. Like if you’re going through a difficult season and you’re like, gosh, God, I don’t understand. What are you doing? Why? Why is this door closing? Why are you moving me to another place?

I don’t understand. Sometimes it’s just that act of obedience to just move into that place knowing that the Lord is calling you there, and later you’ll figure it out.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: you know, is that Peru season so difficult? Like we didn’t understand what was going on. I went through a severe depressive, like depression, like really bad. And a lot of it I think had to do with the fact that I was so caught up in this, this vision. But really it was, I wasn’t partnering with God in this. It was, I was, you know, working for guidance. So I, so my identity was like, okay, well I’m lost now. I’m here in Peru. I have no community. I can barely speak the language. I’m like suffering.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: [00:17:00] Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: pretty much to die to our expectations, to die to what we thought. Mm-hmm. We needed to be to die to. Really? Mm-hmm. And we were that broken, then he is like, okay, it’s time to move you on. So we moved here to Meine and then we look back and we’re like, yeah, that’s exactly why we’re there. We weren’t ready to be here. Mm-hmm. And Meine not, our character wasn’t ready our. Our intimacy with the Lord wasn’t at, at a place where it needed to be. Mm-hmm. we weren’t, you know, a hundred percent sure on, on how to hear the voice of the Lord all the time. You know, so all these things that we had to learn through the, this, this season to prepare us for what we’re doing now. Yep.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: And those seasons are so deeply humbling. [00:18:00] I mean, you can see why like humble and humiliate have the same word there because they’re humiliating a little bit at times too, in the sense that. You’re communicating this back to supporters and to supporting churches or organizations, and you are so fired up about your vision because you knew and ’cause it was, it was what God was calling you to do and you went, and then you’re like, and we’re totally changing everything

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: There’s another thing now that we need to tell you about that isn’t quite what we told you about before, and there’s another piece in that, that your churches in the States, your supporters are not all gonna understand what’s going on.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: No.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: not gonna understand what the Lord is doing in you, because that’s your journey.

That’s our journey with the Lord. We can try and explain it all we want. And a lot of people, I would say most people do get it. Most people understand or they wanna understand, but then there’s gonna be people that don’t and [00:19:00] you have to have such a tight relationship with the Lord and trust in the vision that he’s given

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: That even when there’s doubters, you’re like, it’s okay. be okay. I mean, we, we were through that really hard season. Somebody reached out to me, they’re like, it seems like you guys were on a year long vacation. And I was like, I’m so upset.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: You are like, Jesus, help me not to punch this person

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: but

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: with my thoughts.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: It’s just the reality of what missionaries

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Totally.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: you know, moving overseas and what we do is so, is really impossible to understand if you have not done it.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Oh yeah, we’re crazy. We’re crazy people.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: we’re a little

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: You gotta live the crazy to really understand the crazy.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: yet there is this responsibility in a sense to communicate it with supporters. So let’s talk about that for a second.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Uh, what were some ways that you guys were able to, the best you can communicate that shift in vision, [00:20:00] uh, with people?

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah. Well, the best that we could, sorry. Well, I think one of the, one of the things that we, from early on in our, our missionary, you know, journey was, a wise old missionary told us like, listen, walk through the doors of the Lord opens for you and close the, you know, and don’t try to. Bust open the doors that are closed.

Mm-hmm. And we made that, you know, we talk to our supporters about that all the time. That was one of the, the foundations of this passion that the Lord has put in us. Okay. You know, what’s, what doors are open and what doors are closing what kind of helped us, is that what the Lord had called us to prove to do?

Was it an option anymore? Like we couldn’t do it, what he’s

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: You know? And that was, that was a little bit easier for us to explain to supporters. It’s like, listen, what he called us to do isn’t an option. Mm-hmm. You know? But there are, you [00:21:00] know, we’re working with our missions agency, we’re working with these people.

We’re working with people to figure out mm-hmm. You know, where, what the next step is and what that looks like. So you just, you’re just honest, you know, that’s all you

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: be honest with them and. Say, listen, you know, we, and then when you get a word from the Lord or, or you’ve developed something, uh, with your missions agency or with your sending church or whatever it might be, to like, establish a new mission, you know, establish a new area. You know, you just, you just tell people. Mm-hmm. And think a lot of what helps is through these difficult. Changes or transition, you know, where’s the fruit? Mm-hmm. You know, there’s always gonna be fruit. If you’re, if you’re following the Lord and you’re doing what he wants you to do, there’s gonna be some fruit in your life and, and proof of what you’re doing is for the Lord.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: that fruit. And when they see that fruit, they’re gonna be like, [00:22:00] yeah, these people are on the right track. And sometimes the fruit isn’t an outward thing to other people. Sometimes the truth is what’s happening inside of you, and that’s really necessary. To be a missionary is so necessary for the Lord to be working in you and for the Lord to be constantly, you know, cons, the growth, the constant growth.

And it’s interesting, you know, we really, it’s something I see is like God put us, when God puts you in a missionary life and you’re humble and you’re working with him, he’s gonna be breaking down things in you that aren’t good. He’s gonna be. moving you to have a, a relationship closer with him if you allow that.

Right. Which you should be. And in that there’s gonna be so much brokenness. There’s gonna be, but it’s like the broken, and then you grow and then you’re broken, and then you grow and you keep growing and growing and growing to the point where you’re like, wow, I have matured way faster than I ever would have in another situation.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yes.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: And so, but something that, you know, really practically, [00:23:00] you know. Practically something that we do is we’re always, we always send out newsletters once a month, like once a month. This is what’s going on. This is what’s happening. We’re pretty trans. We try to be transparent in our, in our, you know, this is something that we’re struggling with. This is something that we need prayer for. Can you guys, you know, wrap us in prayer for this particular thing? And then we go back to the states every two years and we visit churches. We visit our supporters, and this is like, this like routine that we have going on. And some people can do it less, some people can do it more.

So this is something that’s worked really well for us to keep the communication, um, the relationship, you know, to keep that open and so that they feel like they can ask us questions if, if they don’t understand and sometimes they won’t understand and, but

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: For the most part, most of our, all, most of our supporters in churches that, I mean really just, they wanna partner with us and what we’re partnering with God in

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: that they, [00:24:00] they, they really try to, it’s just a testimony, right?

It’s a testimony in your letters and your communication. It’s a testimony of what the Lord’s doing. Yeah, absolutely. And you can’t

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: that’s like such a key part. And when you, with your communication, it’s like, listen. The Lord’s called us to do this. Look what he is doing through

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: You know?

Yeah. And people will be like, wow, that’s, that’s great. Yeah. You know, that is

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Mm-hmm. And they’ll be, you know, they’ll be as shocked as we are.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Right. Okay. I love what you both just shared there ’cause you kind of touched on that, um, authenticity in your communication and something I’ve seen people, missionaries do, they can throw supporters off, is communicate. Only depressive things or only hype things. So like only like, here’s what the amazing things God is doing and amazing, amazing, amazing.

While they’re like dying on the inside and then all of a sudden they crash or they change or they’re sensing a transition’s coming, but they don’t say anything and then suddenly boom, there’s a [00:25:00] transition. And there’s supporters are like, say what? Like, I thought everything was like this. Or then on the flip side it’s, you know, it’s always like, you know.

It’s just tragedy. It’s a newsletter of, of the tragedies and like, that’s, that is also very, I think, difficult to,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: to buy into. But like you said, when you can be honest about the positive things like Jonathan, you said, always tell those stories of, of testimonies, whether it’s just a story of one person, whatever’s going on in your life.

Whether there’s a story like Amanda you said, of what’s God’s doing on the inside of you that’s significant. Um, and then Also, you talked on the frequency of communication, which I think is so important too. Like you guys do it monthly and maybe somebody can’t do it monthly, but they can do it with a degree of frequency. So again, if something is changing in your ministry, if something’s happening, it doesn’t hit them out of the blue.

So bring them in on the positive, exciting, fruitful stories. And if you’re having a rough time, be honest about that too. [00:26:00] And if they can’t take some of that honesty. Maybe they’re not a great supporter for you, and that’s freaky for us to say ’cause we need our support team. But you need people who believe, like you said, Amanda, in you, not just in what you’re doing, but in you.

And they’re willing to walk with you through the ups, through the downs. And sometimes people are just called to be with you for a season and when you shift, they’re, they need to shift as well. And that’s okay. But yeah, that communication piece is just huge. So thank you guys for, for touching on that.

’cause we need clarity in the vision. And we need to be able to communicate

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Well,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: that vision.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I mean if you think about it, you know the reason that we can partner with God is because

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: with us, and if we’re not. back and forth and you know, I, you know, I know a lot of people are like, I just don’t have time to communicate with my supporters. I don’t have time to this and that. time. You just have to, it

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yes.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: be a priority, and if it’s not a priority, it’s gonna affect your fundraising, [00:27:00] it’s gonna affect your, your community with the people from the United States. It’s all super, it is all like works together in the missionary life. And it’s always good to, like, like I said, like these letters or this communication is a testimony mm-hmm. Of what the Lord’s doing. Right. It’s the testimony, it’s to testify how good he is, what he’s working on, not only, uh, in the, in the, in your day to day, but in, in you. Mm-hmm. You know, and that’s something you can share too. ’cause some of our letters is like, Hey listen, you know, the Lord’s been working on this in our lives and mm-hmm.

You know, we’re, we’re gonna share this with you. We’re gonna be honest with you. Because it’s something that’s good for us. Yeah. Now we want you to, uh, believe in us for that, you know? Right. And I would say there are things that you don’t need to share. that there’s a, there’s like this intimacy

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: maybe some things aren’t necessarily supposed to be out there in a newsletter.

When I was [00:28:00] going through the depression, I didn’t throw it out there. Hey guys, I’m depressed and I’m struggling. Why? Because. It’s not, a lot of them might feel a little bit helpless. How can I help Amanda? What do we do? Does she need to go back to the States? Do that. But in that,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I had a group of people that was helping me through that season, like a

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: group, you know?

So

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: there are definitely things that you should share and there’s things that you shouldn’t share. But, you know, I just think, you know, transparency, authenticity, you know, making sure that, you know, we’re just, being our real selves to people is really important.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: That’s a really good distinguishing thing that you said there, Amanda. Not everything’s for the newsletter. Not, I mean, yes, all of your really, really big, heavy, heavy stuff doesn’t belong in there. ’cause that could be forwarded on to somebody else. I mean, that’s, there’s private stuff in there. So what. Of that.

It’s figuring out what of that is good for everybody to know. And one of one of this is really for that smaller, intimate group of people, like you said. And those people might be able to speak into your vision. I mean, as you’re working to get [00:29:00] clarity. ’cause that’s a big piece in all this too. You have this vision, but it can’t just stay in this big space.

We gotta bring it down to the practical. And when you’ve got those people praying with you and believing with you, those are also people who might be able to speak into. Um, what that says. I mean, we’ve had people give us words where we’re like, oh my gosh, that brings so much clarity to this particular piece of what, you know, we were looking at.

So it is good to think who can I invite in

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: level to, to this piece? Um, I wanna just, so you guys recently have been through this vision casting process, walking it out with Harvest House. So I’d love to even just talk about what that has looked like for you guys as you’ve walked this out recently.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Well, actually your, your husband was a big part of that actually,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: That’s right.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: started because him and Marvin came to visit us. Mm-hmm. And. We just sitting in our living room having coffee [00:30:00] and we were talking about our visa issues. Like, oh, we’ve got these visa, we don’t know what we’re gonna do.

They don’t really, you can’t really get a religious visa here anymore. And outta my mouth comes, oh, I wish I just could buy some property and get an investor visa. And the first thing that came out of Marvin and Danny’s mouth was, that’s a great idea. I’m like, huh. Yeah. No, it’s not. I told the Lord I never wanted to buy another house. Yeah. So, uh, that’s kind of how it started, was just this. Yeah, that’s a great idea. I’m like, well, if people think this is a great idea, I just kind of threw it out there to, as a wishlist mm-hmm. of thing. And then, uh, and then we’re like, okay, so what does that look like now, you know. How much do we need to invest?

Like all these questions, you know? uh, and it was interesting ’cause I feel like once Marvin and Danny said, that’s a great idea. It opened up this like, [00:31:00] something that the Lord had been placing on our heart for a little while,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: but we were to like, that seems impossible. Is this really from the Lord? And I think that that’s where it’s like, you know, um. It was like, we’re gonna put out this fleece, right? We’re gonna put out this fleece and see if this is really what the Lord is, is doing. It felt, you know, for us, it felt like the Lord was really in it, you know? But we, we had to contact our supporters and it was interesting. I was like, I had, I had this dream and I said to Jonathan, you know, so we had to raise $125,000.

That was the goal. So that was the goal. Yeah. $125,000. Huge number.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Wow.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: You know, people work like, some people I know work like three or four years and they don’t even make that kind of money. Yeah. And the Lord’s asked us to do this huge number. So that’s, that was the challenge. That was the, where this fear starts creeping in. But then we’re like, all right, was always, [00:32:00] Lord, if, if this is your vision mm-hmm. Then you’re gonna provide it. gonna have to show us how to do it because. It seems impossible. I, I feel like our, our financial supporters, we’ve already tapped them all out. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, there’s no more there, there’s no more resources there, you know? Yeah. So, so it’s interesting, the, the Lord gave me a dream and, well, the Lord, you know, like I woke up in the middle of the night, I was like, I feel like the enemy was like, what are you doing opening up a home? And this is never gonna work. You don’t have enough money that you, you know, you’re gonna fail, you know? And then. the Lord was like, I want you to try to raise $30,000 in 30 days. And so we started communicating with our supporters, communication. we shared the vision. We had shared the vision with them already. Then the second newsletter, we said, Hey, we’re, we are asked, we are praying for $30,000 in 30 days.

I think in a week we had $12,000. And we

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Wow.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: God, I think that you’re in this. And [00:33:00] then we met with a supporter and she’s like. By the way, before you send out the $30,000 in 30 days, we had already decided we’re gonna give you $30,000. So that

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Oh my gosh.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: And it was like, you know, you know if you wanna talk about the fleece a little bit.

Yeah. Like the, the confirmation, right? So then you’re like, okay, the Lord’s on it. So then we start to develop, okay, so what is this? What is this? Okay, so the vision, you know, the property, what are we gonna do with it? You know, what, what is it gonna be for? Because it’s not gonna be our second home. Do you know what I’m saying?

Like, this isn’t, this is gonna be a ministry property.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: it’s not gonna be, you know, we’re not gonna live there. But we’re, we want it to be a place, and, and Lord put on our hearts to be a place of rest. Mm-hmm. A place for full-time Christian workers from around the world can come and use it for little to, to no cost. And just find rest, find some time to. Just be intimate with the [00:34:00] Lord to maybe reconnect with the vision that he’s given you. And he, and he explained that, and he like laid out this Houston and we were like just dreaming with him about what, what we wanted the property to be. Mm-hmm. How many bedrooms, how many bathrooms where we wanted it located.

Just dreaming. and so, okay, so the time comes, the money’s coming in Alright, let’s go, let’s start looking at country homes. So the, the, what we are looking for is a home outside of the city of Mein in the mountains. Mm-hmm. Uh, just a country home’s the best way here. They call ’em fincas, but, uh, the best way to explain it is a country home, you know, uh, a house with a little bit of property trees mm-hmm. And the, and beautiful views of the, of the Andes Mountains. So anyway, we, uh. The money started coming in. So we’re like looking for places online and we, we found a realtor and, and then, uh, so we started looking, we started looking, we started looking, uh, and that was like [00:35:00] in October we started raising money in like June.

Mm-hmm. And then October we started looking. And not all the money is the, the money came in. Not all the money came in. So the reader was like, listen, you need to just, like, houses are just gonna be gone before, you know, you can look at it, find something you like, and if you don’t have the money, it’s gonna be gone.

Mm-hmm. You know? So we’re like, okay. So we kind of put looking on hold. Mm-hmm. And then, uh, well, Amanda, yeah. Amanda had another dream. I had another dream. The Lord speaks to me in dreams sometimes. Really, the Lord speaks to a lot of people in dreams if you are paying attention. But, um, we had stopped looking and so. Uh, we were still short about $25,000 and the Lord woke me up, he said, start looking for properties again. And so in February, you know, it’s a Sunday morning, I’m looking at properties and he’s like, what are you doing? I’m like, I’m looking at properties. He’s like, well, why? I was like, because the Lord told me to. And he is like, okay. You [00:36:00] know, that afternoon we got an email from a supporter that said, Hey, I’m gonna cover the rest. Yeah. At the end of the, the, the email was like, at the end of February.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Ugh.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: me know how much you’re short and I’m gonna cover it and I’ll cover the

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Wow.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: And then that week contacted us, Hey, I have this place. I want you to come see it. Well, we had found a place that we wanted to look at too. Oh yeah. And then, and she’s like, okay, we’re gonna look, we’ll look at the place that you like. But she’s like, I have a place that I think you’re gonna like, yeah. So we went and we saw both places. We saw the first place.

We’re like, this is okay. The one that we wanted. We were like, we like, you know, we went and saw, we’re like, this is okay. We can make it work. There’s not a view. We really wanted a view. It’s a little small, but it was very private. Yeah, it was. It was good. It was a nice place. And then she took us to this place and it was way more than we could have imagined.

Absolutely. And like that’s part of the vision, right? Like. Part of the vision is, you know, like we talked about, like forcing your, forcing your own hand, right? Mm-hmm. Like forcing, okay, these are the

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: [00:37:00] Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: these are the ones that fit in our criteria, right? Let’s go look at these. And then out of nowhere, right, our realtors like, I’ve got a place for you to look at, you know, we didn’t even know about this place.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. That’s how good God

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Wow.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: like that’s how good he is. He’s like, we, we, it wasn’t even on our radar. And she takes it to this place and. The crazy, like, you know, and this is, this is my fleece story. ’cause we loved it. We absolutely loved the place, checked all the boxes is actually unbelievable. But we went and looked at it the first time and there’s like this bird, this bird I’ve never seen before, and one of the trees. I’m like, oh, that’s cool. And I’m like, Lord, is that a sign? You know, that’s it. You know, I was just like,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: You’re looking, man, when you’re gonna make a purchase like that.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I was like, I was like, you know, there’s a, then this is a big decision.

This is a big decision. So then we, you know, then we’re like, we like it, you know, let’s take two, uh, two people like our pastor and then another missionary friend, [00:38:00] you know, people

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: No,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: in. Mm-hmm. Let’s take them, look at it, see what they together, see what they, they think. And then on the way there, I’m just praying.

I’m like, Hey Lord, you know. If I could see that bird again while we’re there. I know this is, this is you and wouldn’t, you know,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: there was the bird.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: get there. Same bird, different tree, but you know, same bird, bird I’ve never seen before. There it is. Hmm. And I’m just like, okay, because like $125,000 of other people’s money

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: is a lot of money.

So it’s like I don’t wanna mess this part of it up, Lord. You

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: No kidding. 

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: I need, I need the place and then just. After that, after we bought it, like after we got the, the, the, the real estate in motion and buying it and purchasing it, purching, purchasing it, all that stuff in motion, like the Lord even started doing crazier stuff.

Mm-hmm. Like we didn’t

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Wow.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: were spending $125,000 and that’s how much it cost. We didn’t have extra money [00:39:00] for furnishings, like, nothing like that. And we’re just like, all right, the lord, you know, the Lord can provide it. uh. The people who sold it left everything there.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Oh,

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Everything, everything.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: you, Jesus.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: single thing there. So like, so, okay, so now we’re

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Wow. 

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: into territory where it’s above and beyond whatever

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: at this point where it’s

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: every single thing is there. Yeah. And you know, I always tell

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: like I felt like I felt like the Israelites when they left Egypt.

And

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yeah.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Egyptians are just giving them all this gold and everything and all their possessions to go, you know, to the Promised Land. And I’m

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: my goodness.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Well, and I see you guys as people who have stewarded vision. Well, over the years, like on many different occasions, God’s put things in your heart and, and you’ve walked them out faithfully. And there is a reward to faithfulness, and that’s more responsibility, you know, thinking of the talents. And I feel like [00:40:00] God just gave you guys an extra talent.

He’s like, Hey, you, you, you did what I asked you to do, so now I’m gonna trust you with more. And it’s. It’s a big thing to have more responsibility. It’s, it’s exciting and it’s also a weight, like you were, were talking about. So, um, it’s just, it’s an encouraging story I think for people who are in that process of receiving the vision and beginning to walk it out.

And, I mean, I. What would you guys say to the missionary who are maybe still in the place where they’re waiting for the vision to unfold? Maybe they’ve got a little bit of a word, but not a timeline or no details. How do they stay faithful in that kind of in between space? 

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah, sometimes I think, I think that have this, like the Lord called me this vision. I’m just gonna wait on him. I’m gonna wait and we Yeah, he’ll provide. Yeah, he’s, he’s good. He’s gonna give us everything we, which is true. Which isn’t true, which is true. But, you know, I think we need [00:41:00] to be careful because like, and you know, this next generation, I, I feel like sometimes like they just have a lot of stuff that’s just given to them, given to them, given to them. And the Lord can do that. He can work in those ways, but really what he’s looking for. And we’ve, when we’ve talked about this throughout the whole, the whole pod is that, hey, he wants to partner with you. Mm-hmm. So if you get this vision or this partial word, or, um, it’s just not clear. I think first of all, just take baby steps towards it.

Like, okay, Lord, if this is something that you, and pray in this way, pray. Hey, Lord, if this is something you want me to do. I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go in this direction where I think you’re leading me. Please confirm it. Mm-hmm. And he will. Mm-hmm. And he will, there’ll be confirmation, you know, but you have to be aware of those things, you know, you can’t just sit on your hands and expect the Lord to, to always, you know, [00:42:00] just because he really wants you to take those little steps of faith, because in order to reach the goal. In order to, to, reach the vision that he has for your life. You might need, you need the journey to get there. And it’s those little steps that direction. And then you get a little confirmation. So then your faith is, is building. So then you take another little step, there’s another confirmation, and then you’re like, well Lord, I feel like you’re going over here and, oh wait, that door closed. So where do you want me to go next, Lord? Mm-hmm. Well, let’s look in this direction. Or there’s a door open here like. Hey, let’s walk through that. Let’s see what the Lord has for us. And a lot of it just comes from living a life that’s like surrendered, right? Yeah. That, that your ideas and your vision is surrendered to what the Lord wants for your, for you and His vision and your life.

’cause he’ll give you your vision, what you want in your spirit. You know, the [00:43:00] Lord knows, like he knows what’s in your spirit and what you want and what you desire. Mm-hmm. another piece of that is like. have our timeline of, you know, that passion. That passion, right. Let’s talk about the passion.

So you’re, you get passionate about it. Being a missionary, you’re like, I gotta go. I wanna go now. I don’t wanna raise support, I don’t wanna learn the language, I don’t wanna go to training school. Oh man. One of the things that really annoyed me and us was like, our missions agency, not Modern Day, a different one, required us to go to, to a missionary training school.

And it was. So expensive. It was so expensive, and we were like, why do we have to do this? We got it all figured out and then we go to the school and we were like, oh my goodness. We have no idea. What would we have done without the training? Yeah, but our timeline was. If I don’t wanna raise support, I wanna do this, I’m just gonna go.

The Lord’s gonna provide. And I’m not saying that the Lord doesn’t do that, ’cause in some cases he does. Some cases you go and the Lord calls you that. But [00:44:00] sometimes, and I would say most of the time, it is so important to be fully funded. To have preparation, language learning. Um, we had that missionary training that, for us, was vital.

It was vital to our success and our longevity in missions. And so, yeah, sometimes, most of the time our timeline doesn’t, line up with God’s Yeah. Vision. But that’s the whole idea of partnering with God,

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yes.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: wants for us.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Yes. Take letting him have, take the lead and not trying to usurp that from him

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: sure. That’s a challenge.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Yeah.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Can missionaries come stay with you guys at Harvest House?

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Hundred percent. Absolutely.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: Tell ’em how they could do it.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: So we will, we’ll share the information, the link and everything. Um, Meine, come look. You have to look online. Meine is one of the biggest tourism places in. Latin America even. And it’s beautiful. The weather is springtime year round and this place, and we had testimonies from missionaries [00:45:00] that have stayed there where it’s really a place to just be quiet and encounter the Lord.

And the testimonies are amazing. We’re just hearing people say that they were just exhausted. They just needed a space away from the city. I mean, Meddin is a big city. So they just needed a space away to, to have that quiet and hear from the Lord. And the Lord is really working through us in this property to have people really have an encounter with him.

And also if you go to modern Day’s website and you just search Harvest House, uh, it’s got its own dedicated, uh, micro webpage. Mm-hmm. And it’s got a lot of information on there. It’s got pictures. How to contact us, how to contact us, uh, frequently asked questions and mm-hmm. And all kinds of goodies there that you can explore.

And yeah, we’d love to have anybody come out here just to experience, uh, just what the Lord has for ’em, you know, and a, and a time of rest and, and, and rededication and maybe like a revision or rebranding. Mm-hmm. Or whatever you [00:46:00] need, you know.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: What a fun, happy note to end on. You are invited officially to go to Meine. Uh, you guys, thank you so much for all that you do and just for sharing, uh, what the Lord’s revealed to you guys about vision, about walking all that out in your years and all of the years you have ahead of you. So much more to learn as well, so appreciate you, Jonathan, and Amanda.

Thanks for coming on today.

Jonathan & Amanda Vining: Stephanie. Thanks Stephanie.

Stephanie Leigh Gutierrez: ​Hey, missionaries, I’ve got a question for you. How are your finances on the field? Also, are you feeling supported by your senders? At Modern Day Missions, we make it simple for missionaries to receive donations and for their donors to give. As the largest independent missions organization in the US, we process donations for more than 1100 missionaries to and from countries.

All over the world, helping them get on the field and freeing them to focus on what they’re called to do. And we also create and connect missionaries to resources that help them flourish [00:47:00] on the field, like this weekly podcast, fundraising, coaching, and our resource packed newsletter. So connect with us at Modern Day dot org to explore our free resources and discover how we can serve you.

We’re so glad you joined us today.