Justin and Abbey Valiquette

Do you LIKE us?

Justin Valiquette — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:23:05 +0000

In light of our new theme of exposure, hoping that many people come in contact with our ministry, we created a Facebook page. Hopefully, this will act as a second website, but will be much more accessible since the average human on Facebook is there every day for hours. Would you be so kind as to click the little “Like” button below, which will make you a fan of our page? Thanks! If the button below doesn’t work, you can visit the page here, and click the “Like” button at the top of the screen.

This Small Mountain

Justin Valiquette — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:04:54 +0000

Happy Monday! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a great time with some friends who visited for a few days. It was nice to just kick back and enjoy their company. But, today we are hit again with a dose of reality, and we wanted to invite you to pray for us.

By nature of being missionaries, we must fully depend on God to meet our financial needs. And, he chooses to do this through the body of Christ getting behind us. Over the past few years, our family has expanded (tripled, actually), and we moved overseas. Also, as a result of difficult financial times, we have lost a significant amount of financial supporters. These factors combined have created a very large need. In order to remain on the mission field, we must replenish our team of faithful supporters.

Exposure is a key word for us right now. We are praying that our ministry would be exposed to as many people as possible. We’re very excited about where the Lord is taking us, and want to give as many individuals as possible an opportunity to consider joining our team.

Sensitivity would be another key word. Being aware that times are tough, we want to be careful as we approach people inviting them to give financially towards our ministry. Our hope is to invite people to give $25/month, which is an amount most people can swallow. By exposing ourselves to hundreds of people, we are hoping that this challenge will bring in the support needed to continue.

Would you please pray for us, that we would be able to meet (personally or via the web) as many people as possible and invite them to join our team? Would you also consider sharing (Facebook or Twitter) or forwarding our emails to others that you think might be interested in our ministry to Italy? It feels as if we have quite the mountain to climb, but we’re confident God will provide!

Beach wedding, now back to work!

Justin Valiquette — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:33:30 +0000

We just returned from a long drive to OBX, North Carolina. Abbey’s sister Hanna was married to Corey who we gladly welcomed to the family. Despite the 15 hour drive with a car full of kiddos, we had a wonderful time. Abbey’s family rented a house near the beach for the week, so we were all able to have a great time together celebrating their new marriage and our newest baby. Here a few pics from the week.

Its a Girl!!

Justin Valiquette — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:42:52 +0000

Well, our latest addition to the family came a few weeks ahead of schedule. We are very happy to announce a healthy baby girl. Isabella Grace was born June 25th at 2am. She was a whopping 6lb 7oz and 19″ long. Both mom and baby are doing great, and the kids love her!

Click images to zoom. If viewing from email, I’d recommend going here for a slideshow.

To view more pictures of the first few days, visit our extended web gallery here.

Our Summer Home

Justin Valiquette — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:25:41 +0000

The Lord provided a wonderful home for us to stay in this summer while we are on Sanibel waiting for the birth of our newest baby girl! The house is way more than we could have ever asked for, or imagined. It has plenty of space, has a pool and is right on the beach! Plus, it is just a few minutes from my parents which is wonderful too. We had a little fun on the beach out front of the house, which I caught on video for your enjoyment.

Newsletter, June 2010

Justin Valiquette — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:05:30 +0000

This was our most recent newsletter mailing to our friends and supporters. Click on the image above to view the full newsletter. You can also right click and “save as” to save it to your desktop.

We made the news!

Justin Valiquette — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:02:06 +0000

Summer project is having a fantastic time so far. They have met hundreds of students, and have become friends with dozens (over 50 actually) who desire to hear more about the gospel. One great opportunity they offer is a weekly American BBQ at the hotel. This is the hotel that Marko and his family run. Marko’s father contacted the local newspaper to tell them about the parties that occur weekly. Mainly to highlight the bridging of two cultures and the spiritual nature of the summer project. The heading reads:

Agape (the name of our ministry here) is the American Dream
Thirty four Americans are meeting Salerno Students
HAPPPY TO SPREAD THE WORD OF GOD

Click the image to enlarge

Under the Surface

Justin Valiquette — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:40:30 +0000

In Italy, there is a power some would say rivals the government itself. And, it’s not the Catholic church. In America, we call it the mafia. For many, its a fantasy that can be the source of jokes and impersonations. For southern Italy, it’s very real and effects the everyday life of most everybody. Whether they are aware of it, or not. If this peaks your interest, you can read more about the Camorra (the southern Italy super power) in this Wikipedia article.

Here is how it starts:

The Camorra is a mafia-like criminal organization, or secret society, originating in the region of Campania and its capital Naples in Italy. It finances itself through drug trafficking/distribution, human smuggling, prostitution, toxic waste disposal, construction, loan sharking, gambling, arms smuggling, extortion, protection and racketeering and its activities have led to high levels of murder in the areas in which it operates. It is the oldest and largest criminal organization in Italy.

Summer Project 2010

Justin Valiquette — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:34:39 +0000

Sorry its been a few weeks since our last post. We have been gearing up for the largest summer project to date. We just welcomed 35 students and staff from America who will be spending the summer investing time on campus sharing the gospel with Italian students. The Lord always seems to do tremendous things during these four weeks, so we appreciate your prayer for the group that their time would be fruitful. Below is a picture of the students receiving some training from Rodney, one of our team members. We decided to do it from the historic castle, which overlooks the entire city and its surrounding areas.

(Click to Enlarge)

How to pray for us

Justin Valiquette — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:15:48 +0000

Many people pray for missionaries every day, and we have been told by multiple people this is true for us as well. We cannot thank you enough for those of you who do pray for us and our ministry. The following suggestions will help you in praying for us, in addition to other missionaries you know.

Sunday

Our spiritual life - Time to read and pray. Spiritual growth. Encouragement. Fellowship with local Christians. Good links with sending churches and prayer supporters. For integrity, reliability, consistency.

Monday

Our personal life - Relationships between husband and wife. Maintaining contact with children, parents and family back home. Friendships with nationals. Health and strength. Physical and spiritual protection.

Tuesday

Communication - Progress in language study. Adaptation to culture, customs and people. Clarity, creativity and relevance in preaching and teaching. Biblical emphasis. Involvement with those hearing the message.

Wednesday

Relationships - Harmonious relationships with other Christians, team members and church leaders. Partnership with the local church.

Thursday

Evangelism - For boldness. For godly, sensitive, Spirit-led ministry. Hungry hearts and the opening of spiritually blind eyes. For the establishing of Christ’s church. For national missionary movements.

Friday

Discipling - For patience and empathy. Training young people. Encouraging new believers. Equipping those with leadership gifts.

Saturday

Their country - For those in authority. The political situation. Religious freedom. Openness to the gospel. Favour with officials and other churches. Visa renewal processes and other legal matters.

More specifically, please pray that we will:

- ‘speak as men approved by God’ (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
- that our conversations will be ‘full of grace’ and ‘salt’ (Colossians 4:6).
- that we’ll preach ‘in season and out of season’ (2 Timothy 4:2).
- laying foundations ‘as an expert builder’ (1 Corinthians 3:10).

Colossians 1:9-12; Ephesians 3:14-21; Philippians 1:9-11 teach us about Paul’s faith and about God and his plans for his Church. Why not use them in praying for us and the Christians in our area?

(adapted from UFM Worldwide)