Countdown to 100%
The countdown to our support target date has begun! We must have 100% of our financial support committed by Wednesday, December 7 in order to make it to Rift Valley Academy by the start of second term. The encouraging part is, we are now at 81%! If you have considered being a part of our support team but haven’t yet acted on it, now would be the time. You can be the one, by the grace of God, that makes it possible for us to purchase airline tickets to go and relieve those who are fulfilling our responsibilities at RVA in addition to theirs! Instructions for the various ways to give are here.
What happens if we aren’t at 100% by December 7? Well, we do want to trust the Lord to provide what we need by that date, but also to be given the wisdom to decide the next step if it comes to the deadline and He says, “not yet.” We wouldn’t travel during the middle of the term but need to decide whether to plan for the beginning of third term, April 2017 or wait until July to start the new school year.
New York
Lilli and I just returned from Richfield Springs, NY where I had the privilege of proclaiming God’s word at Richfield Springs Bible Church in the Sunday morning service. We then presented our RVA ministry at the evening service. What a joy to worship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and make some new friends and ministry partners. A highlight was getting to stay and reconnect with a missionary couple who had served for many years at Rethy Academy in the Congo and then Rift Valley Academy after they were evacuated. Their twin daughters and a son-in-law graduated with Lilli from RVA. Our hearts (and stomachs!) were full by the time we left these precious people.
The Final Push
On November 20 we will join Woodbury Community Church for their Missions Sunday and have several opportunities to share our ministry with the congregation. We are also grateful for our pastor and wife, Jim & Jill Odens, for opening up their home to us, which we will be moving into soon. We thank Ken & Bev Dake for providing a place for us to live for the last 2 1/2 months. May this be our last move before Kenya!
In addition to continuing to build our support team, we’re going to be busy with actually preparing to travel to Kenya for three years! There are clothes to be bought, boxes to be packed, items to be stored, administrative items to be done (wills, licenses, address changes, services canceled, etc.), as well as many things we haven’t thought of yet. Please pray for God’s grace, peace, and wisdom as we work through all these items.
Nothing Without Prayer
We continue to be amazed by the faithfulness of all your prayers! We’ve mentioned our finances quite a bit lately because it’s just a reality. We can’t go without it. But there would also be no finances without prayer. There would be no faith without prayer. Our ministry would be ineffective without prayer. So for those of you who have told us that you pray for us regularly, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! It’s more than a cliché, we truly couldn’t do this without you!