April Newsletter

Our April newsletter is ready for you to read (if you haven't already). We are still going strong in New Orleans this week and had a great weekend seeing the city. We will post more pictures soon. But, until then, please click here to read our letter.

Week One in New Orleans

We arrived in New Orleans last Saturday evening and just finished our first week working with a Crisis Response Team. It has been a great week so far. Our days have been full and we have slept hard each night. We have met many new people during this week as well.

Sam was the site supervisor for a team painting a house called the "Yellow House". The Yellow House is where the teams stay during their time in New Orleans and it was in need of a paint job. We both spent the week working with this team and we will do the same thing next week with a new team (we didn't quite get the job done).

We painted and painted during the day and in the afternoon we either took part in an activity with local kids living in the projects or led prayer walks in a neighborhood. The other teams here this week were spread out all over the city at various houses doing different projects. We worked with a great group of people from a church in Pennsylvania who worked hard painting and connecting with people in the community.

Tomorrow we get a day off and are planning to head down to the French Quarter with Aaron and Michelle before we jump into another work week. We'll write more about what we have seen and experienced later on this week.

We're heading to New Orleans

We have mentioned in past posts and in our January letter that we were hoping to do some work in New Orleans and the plans gave finally come together. There is a crisis response ministry in New Orleans that is part of Touchglobal.They host teams that come work with families still affected by hurricane Katrina by rebuilding homes and other projects.

The staff who work with this ministry in New Orleans are going to be partnering with us and our work at the Elikya Center. People interested in joining a team in the Congo will go through an application process which includes spending a week in New Orleans. The staff there will evaluate potential team members during their time in New Orleans. Sam and I along with the Larsens are going to spend April 10-24 in New Orleans getting to know the staff, their evaluation process and get a better understanding of the crisis response ministry. We are also grateful to lend a hand to their staff since they need the extra help in April.

Stay tuned for more updates and hopefully photos from New Orleans.

The Lord Provides

I have always believed this truth. The Lord is my provider. Since we returned from the Congo in October, Sam and I have come to a new & deeper understanding of the provision of the Lord. Since November we have been living on a portion of the financial support we are receiving which allows us to focus on fundraising full-time. This means that we live on a very tight budget. When we came back to the states we knew that from a worldly perspective it didn't seem possible to live off such a small amount, but we chose to trust in the Lord. I feel it is important to share with you as our friends, family and supporters the wonderful things the Lord has done for us. The Lord is praised when we testify to His work in our life. Here is a list of ways the Lord has provided for our very basic needs when at times we thought it impossible:

• Sam and I were invited to live rent free in the guest house on my grandparents' property. If this were not offered to us, we would have to be living with one of our parents, but instead we have our own space on a beautiful piece of property.
• In November, I was hospitalized with a staph infection for two days. We did have insurance at the time, but still owed 20% of the bill. We applied for charity assistance through the hospital to see if we could get some additional assitance and were approved for 100% coverage...for up to a year! This has been an incredible blessing because we have had a couple other unexpected doctor visits since beng approved.
• I have been able to babysit for a couple friends twice a week which has added just enough extra income.
• We were surprised to receive a tax return this year that allowed us to buy a few much-needed items and to pay for an eye exam and new glasses for me.
• We found out that the remainder of my car loan was much less than expected and were able to pay off the car with part of the tax return!
• Just when we thought the Lord had done every miraculous thing to allow us to stay where we are living while raising support, we received a very unexpected gift intended to pay off my student loan.
• A friend offered us a financial gift that allows us to go to New Orleans next month to work with a ministry of TouchGlobal for a week. This is an important trip because the staff involved in this ministry will be helping us with team member selection while we are in the Congo. Sam and I had thought we would not be able to go on this trip because of finances.
• And, I can never ignore the random gift cards, gas money, meals and clothes we have received at random the past few months.

We serve a limitless God who cares for our every need. "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" Matthew 6:26


The list I have shared testifies to the basic needs we have for shelter, clothes and food. But our God provides for every need of ours and that goes beyond food and shelter. He knows our emotional, relational and spiritual needs as well. Sam and I have been experiencing a very rich season of life these past few months. Our marriage is thriving, our relationships with others have deepened, we have each matured greatly in our understanding of Christ and living in community with other....and the list goes on.

Even though we had plans of returning to the Congo last January, the Lord knows everything. We wait with excitement for when we can return, but this has not been a wasted season in our lives by any means. We trust the Lord to provide all of the financial support needed to return to the Congo in the same way He is providing for our most basic needs today.

We are excited to let you know that we have now raised 66% of our needed monthly support. We only need about $1200 more dollars for each month we are in the Congo.

The Congo Consortium

Tomorrow we are heading to the Chicago area to attend a Congo Consortium meeting. The Congo Consortium is a group of churches who are involved in ReachGlobal ministries in the Congo. Aaron and Michelle (the other half of our team) are meeting up with us there. We will have the opportunity to share with the people there more about the Elikya Center and our plans. This could be a great support-raising opportunity for all four of us. We are also excited to connect with people who are excited about what is happening in the Congo and have invested a lot into the ministries there. Plus, Selenga, the director of ReachAfrica will be there. We are looking forward to seeing him again and putting our Lingala to practice.

Please pray that all goes well and that God brings more supporters into our support team.

Progress at the Elikya Center

We were so excited to receive these photos in an E-mail from Mowa, the director of the Elikya Center. The center is up and running again which is very exciting in light of the conflict that occured at the end of last year. These are photos of one of the classrooms being built at the Elikya Center.

This building will be used for teaching English and Computer Skills.

The beginings of the foundation were there in August when we were in the Congo, but the building was put on hold due to the lack of funds. But, now enough money has been raisied to complete the building!

In the past few months, enough money has been raised by U.S. churches and individuals to fund a 4-plex for the widows to live in on the property as well as another 4-plex for the short-term teams we will be hosting. This is big news and we are amazed at how the funds came in for these projects. We are praying and hoping for this same kind of miracle for the funds we need to return to the Elikya Center.

February Already...

We can't believe it is already mid-February. Our original plan was to return to the Congo in January and due to the fighting that occured there the end of last year and the lack of funds, we are not there...yet. We are so grateful for the support that has steadily been coming in and all the opportunities we have had to meet with friends and family to share about the Elikya Center.We sure have been learning a lot about trusting the Lord with not only our ministry plans, but wth our whole lives.

We received the following E-mail last week with some good news about the conflict in the Congo. The E-mail was sent to the churches in the Congo consortium who are involved with ReachGlobal in the Congo.
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News of the War

We are very thankful to report that there has been no new fighting reported in recent weeks. Unfortunately there are still many people living as refugees. Latest reports say that about 90% of the population at Bozene (town 14 miles west of Tandala) have returned, and even in Dongo where the worst confrontations occurred down on the Ubangi River, about 30% have returned. But there are still tens of thousands of people still living as refugees, either across the border in the other two countries, or in the forests.

The CECU has used the funds that were sent them from our churches here to buy a large number of tarps to help people with shelter, as well as food stuffs. They are working on distribution right now. If you’d like to read a summary of the war that occurred from the UN perspective, check out http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87961.
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Thank you so much for your prayers for us and for the Congo. We still need to raise 45% of our monthly support which is roughly $1,775 each month. Please consider joining our monthly support team. You can find information for donating on the sidebar of this site.