WhitmanRansom.com

January 16, 2009 (Justus, PA)

Liz — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:14:43 +0000

We recently returned from a trip to Italy and have settled back into normal life again! Our main purpose for the trip was to once again work on renewing residency permit papers for Elizabeth, and we also were able to spend the holidays and lots of quality time with family. Cristina enjoyed her time with “nonno & nonna” (her grandparents), her “zii” (aunts and uncles), and especially her cousins! We are now back on the deputation trail, currently at about about 73% support, waiting on decisions to be made by churches that have expressed interest in our ministry. We hope and pray to be moving to Italy by this summer, to get back to our ministries there!

Some news about our family…
- Cristina turned TWO on Nov. 26 and continues to be a blessing and joy to our family and anyone we spend time with! She’s growing up fast. Her favorite sentence now is “How does that work?” She’s always wanting to learn new things, including English and Italian.
- We are expecting our second child, a girl! She should join our family on the outside in about 4 months.
- Tomorrow (January 17) Daniel, along with our friend Tim Van Dalen, will be ordained by our sending church, Summit Baptist Bible Church (Clarks Summit, PA).

August 27, 2009 (Justus, PA)

Liz — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:38:43 +0000

This past week has been an interesting one in the Ransom household… since we’ve been working hard at potty training Cristina for the past three days, we are hoping she will continue to do well even with the traveling, since our next trip is tomorrow! Yes, even missionaries have to do normal everyday things like potty train their kids!

We’ve been busy presenting ourselves, our ministry, and Italy in different churches each weekend. Recently we took a trip to Virginia to visit friends and family, and to make contact with a church we will be returning to in September. Our calendar is mostly all filled up until December except for a couple Sundays, and Daniel is working hard to schedule meetings for those weekends too! We are thankful for the meetings, and praying God will give us the strength to keep up with our responsibilities. We’ve been challenged lately to please Him and glorify Him in all we do. Even if we would prefer to move to Italy now and return to our ministries there, we need to keep the right perspective, serving God where He has placed us at this time! Our committed support level is around 71%, and we are still hoping and praying to move in January. We appreciate your prayers!

July 28, 2009 (Justus, PA)

Liz — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:26:25 +0000

We are thankful for God’s help and strength in fulfilling our responsibilities in 4 churches as the missionaries for their VBS. We have since enjoyed spending a few days at home, we’ve taken a few days off, and now we’re back to normal everyday life. Daniel spends most of his days fulfilling deputation tasks (phone calls, emails, mailings, scheduling meetings, and staying in contact with people), and also the many responsibilities with Radio Luce. Elizabeth gets to spend her days at home taking care of Cristina, unpacking (or packing, depending on the day), and doing laundry. We enjoy our days at home, although the pressures of the many things we need to get done now and before we move to Italy weigh on us at times. As of now about 71.7% of our monthly support has been committed, with more promised support on its way. We are praying that God will bring in the rest of our monthly need in the next few months. Thanks for your prayers! In the next couple of weeks we will be away from home for another VBS, meetings and visiting friends and family. Following that trip, summer will just about be over and we will begin our busy fall of meetings and missions conferences in several new churches. Cristina is doing very well in all of this and has adapted wonderfully to our lifestyle, and is willing and happy to stay with anyone we entrust her with! We are thankful for her happy and flexible attitude!

July 3, 2009 (Breesport, NY)

Liz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:09:06 +0000

We’ve just concluded our second of five weeks of VBS this summer, so we feel like we’re in the middle of a marathon and in need of some rest! Before the “VBS marathon” started we spent a week in Maine for a missions conference, and also enjoyed a few relaxing days in preparation for what was coming. We have enjoyed our time so far talking to kids ages 4 to 15 about Italy, teaching some Italian, about Italian culture, and why we are going to Italy. We count it a privilege to be given these opportunities to have an impact in kids’ lives. We pray for strength and endurance as we continue to meet new people and minister in new churches, while we raise support to return to Italy. We currently have 70% of our support committed, and are praying that God will bring in the rest by December 2009! Take a moment and check out our latest prayer letter.

March 31, 2009 (Justus, PA)

Liz — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:15:44 +0000

We are learning that that our plans are not our own, sometimes we make plans, but God sees fit to change them!
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’ ” (James 4:13-15). It’s a good reminder to make plans aware that they will happen only “if the Lord wills”. He has in mind what is best for us, and the timing of it so that His purposes are carried out!

Recently we found out that Elizabeth will need to return to Italy on a specific date, sooner than we expected, to pick up a residency document. Unfortunately due to the timing of the trip, that is in God’s hands, Daniel will not be able to come, however Daniel’s sister will come in his place. While Elizabeth, Cristina, and Daniel’s sister Elizabeth are in Italy, Daniel will be on the road most of the time making contacts in Ohio and Indiana and participating in missions conferences in Sherman, NY and Barre, VT.

We are planning to take a couple of days of rest and vacation before our travels draw us an ocean apart. We look forward to this break from everyday deputation life! Thanks for your prayers for our travels.

March 19, 2009 (Justus, PA)

Liz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:36:25 +0000

In the past few months the Ransoms have been on the move…
- trip to Italy to take care of a residency permit for Liz, while enjoying time with family and staying busy with various ministry opportunities at our church in San Sisto, Perugia (Centro Evangelico Battista) we had documents that needed to be taken care of having at appointment at the police. We were able to encourage and work alongside the believers there, and reconnect with our friends that are not a part of our church. Unfortunately there wasn’t any time to relax and take a short vacation as we had hoped!
- trip to Germany: while in Italy we took a 10 day trip to Germany where we presented our ministry in 3 American military churches. We traveled by plane, car, train and bus… Cristina adapted well and learned to sleep in many different situations!
- work team from Summit: we helped out with a work group from our sending church that came over in the beginning of February. We praise God that lots of work was completed, the men really worked hard!
- Cristina is growing up: she’s not a baby anymore! She is walking and talking some… she knows at least 7 words in Italian and about 5 in English as well as 10 signs… she knows how to communicate what she wants when she wants it! She continues to be a joy and a blessing although traveling isn’t her favorite thing to do anymore and adapting to different places and people is more difficult for her now.
- return from Italy: we hit the ground running with meetings in different churches almost every weekend now for the next several months!
- Our support has been on the rise: 55%
Thanks for staying updated with us!

December 2008 Updates

dann — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:48:03 +0000

The Christmas season is here and everyone is busy getting ready for the various activities that are a part of this season! It’s easy to focus on the details and not the reason for this season, our Christ and Savior’s birth! We are looking forward to Christmas with our daughter, since she is now old enough to enjoy the day and the season with us. In the last few weeks we have been traveling and ministering in churches, we also spent time with Daniel’s family for Cristina’s birthday and Thanksgiving, and have had some days at home. It’s always nice to get back into a routine, especially for Cristina. She turned one on November 26, and is now walking and loving her independence… most of the time! Learning how to walk has its challenges. We have now officially reached 35% of our support, with more promised support in its way. We look forward to the next months to see what God will do in raising our support as we continue to be faithful in serving Him in our deputation journey. God has blessed us by bringing in the support and filling up most of our calendar from after the holidays until May! God is good! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

November 2008 Updates

dann — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:50:53 +0000

At times God answers prayers in ways we don’t expect… We had been praying for a bigger car since our Civic was packed to the max with all the stuff we needed between us, baby, and deputation items, but we had arrived at the conclusion that God wanted us to just pack smarter and lighter and be content, so we stopped thinking about it. Well, about a month ago God decided to make a way for us to get another car… Daniel (traveling alone) was hit by a deer and our car was totaled! So we were able to purchase a bigger and newer car. God works in strange ways at times, but we are thankful. In October and November (so far) we have ministered in 8 churches, all in the state of New York. We had the opportunity not only to present our ministry and burden for Italy, but also to provide music for various occasions. We enjoyed sharing our passion and being a blessing to others! If you haven’t read our latest prayer letter… check it out! We have almost reached 34% of committed support. Cristina is doing really well, she’s growing up too fast! In just 8 days it will be her birthday; it’s hard to believe a year has already gone by! She took her first steps on her own just a few weeks ago, and she continues to make progress in walking (with some bumps and bruises along the way). We continue to be thankful that God gave us a very happy, smiley, and flexible baby! She is a joy and a blessing to our lives each and every day. Happy Thanksgiving to all… remember to thank God for everything He brings your way, He always has a purpose for it!

September 2008 Updates

dann — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:24:14 +0000

Well, August flew by and September is half way gone… recently have been enjoying the stability of more days at home than on the road, but we have been busy. Liz’s dad, Fred Whitman, spent a few weeks with us, and we were able to join him in presenting an update on the ministry in Italy to six of his supporting churches. We have been scheduling meetings for October and the month is quickly filling up; we are still working on scheduling for the rest of the Fall and Winter months. We have been enjoying watching Cristina grow up, although it is happening too fast! She is now proficient in crawling, pulling herself up, and walking while holding onto furniture or someone’s hand; she’s also learning to stand on her own, and likes to practice quite often. She is still a very smiley and happy baby, although her first two teeth are coming through, so that makes life hard at times for our 9 month old. Our next travels will take us to the state of NY, so we will still enjoy the stability of being home during the week and getting work done! Check back for more updates!

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dann — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:01:17 +0000