And so it begins...

Aaron and Michelle came to town yesterday. After we finally tracked down the correct Wal-Mart that had the trunks we needed to pack with...we began packing. There are several things we can't get in DRC so we are bringing a few important things that will come in handy...such as shampoo, razors and deodorant. And we must bring books! We might as well get it packed up now.

The next four weeks...

We are leaving Illinois one month from today. Even though we have been raising support full-time since October, and we were orginally hoping to return to the Congo in January 2010, I (Sarah) still can't believe we are leaving in a month. I began to pack up all my winter clothes last week and it hit me that we are really leaving the country. Packing boxes of clothes I won't see for two years seemed like a very "official" step toward moving to the Congo. This is really, and finally, happening.

Here is what will be taking up our time in the coming weeks:
July 1-3: Sam's brother Caleb is getting married and we are excited we will be here to join in the celebration!
July 7-8: We will attend an Ohana Foundation training with the Larsens and Sam's aunt, Rachel. This is the curriculum we will be using to teach English at the Elikya Center.
July 10-12: Family friends are coming to visit.
July 25: We fly out of the country

Of course, there will be plenty of packing and getting together with family and friends in these coming weeks as well. Not to mention some of the smaller (but important) details to take care of before we can leave.

Newest Support Letter

Here is our (early) July support letter. Click on July 2010 to read about our plans this upcoming month. We will continue to send out quarterly support letters while we are in the Congo. We hope to post more personal stories, photos, videos and testimonies on this blog while in the Congo as well.

Please pray for us as we have a lot of small details to take care of in these final weeks in the states. We desire to spend quality time with family and friends during this time as well.

We are leaving!

As of this past week we reached 101% of our support and bought tickets to Congo! We will leave July 25th from the Chicago airport. We have five weeks left in the states which will be filled with packing, a training, Sam's brother's wedding, saying goodbyes and preparing to jump into ministry. We will write more in the near future. We just want you to know the latest news.

In the News...

Sam was interviewed for an article in Mission Network News. Click here to read it.

Prayerfully Consider This...

As most of you already know, we had originally planned on returning to the Democratic Republic of Congo in January or February of this year. When January came and went, we re-evaluated our amount of support and determined that we would try to return in March or April. Now that May has come, we are again re-evaluating our situation. We are currently at 83% of our necessary support and strongly feel that we, with God’s help, we could reach 100% very quickly.

First, we want to thank you all for your support and prayers. We are constantly encouraged by your love and faithfulness to us and our ministry in the DRC. We can’t help but adopt the words of Paul in the opening of his epistle to the church of Philippi: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Our hope and prayer is to return to the DRC by mid-June and with your help, we may be able to reach that goal. We are in need of an additional $610 per month in order to reach 100% of our support. We are asking you all to pray about and consider increasing the amount of support you are already giving us by $10 per month. If we have 61 supporters increase their monthly support by $10, we would reach our goal of 100%. Please pray about this opportunity. If you are able to do this, please E-mail us back and see the information below to make changes to your support commitment. Thank you again and in the words of Jude, may “Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.”

To increase or commit to monthly support please visit www.efca.org/reachglobal/give or call the ReachGlobal office at 1-800-745-2202 and indicate your donation for Sam and Sarah Snyder #1511

Reflections on New Orleans

It has been almost 5 years since hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans...and there is still a lot of work to be done here. It has been an unusual experience to drive through neighborhoods with abandoned and condemned homes standing right next to beautiful, large homes. It is amazing to observe this throughout parts of the city. So many people never returned to their homes, or never had the money to rebuild their homes. We met a woman last week with a Crisis Response team working on her home. She and her husband have been living in a 14 x 22 FEMA trailer for almost five years. She told us she has been going stir crazy and was just waiting for the team to get the plumbing and electric set up in her home so she could move back in. Can you imagine living in a trailer on the front lawn of your actual home for five years waiting for your home to be safe enough to live in? I can't imagine the joy that family will experience when they are able to sleep in their own bedroom again.

On Saturday we drove down to the 9th ward to witness the remaining devastation. The 9th ward is a section of the city hit the hardest by Katrina. The neighborhoods are extremely overgrown and most homes are boarded up and abandoned. It is desolate and yet some people have rebuilt their homes.

The staircase is detatched from the rest of the house

A portion of the neighborhood has brand new homes that were funded by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Seeing these beautiful, unique homes standing in the midst of such devastation is unreal.

We are grateful to be experiencing this in New Orleans. It is easy to forget that this happened, but once you are here you are quickly reminded. These photos are a very small taste of what we have seen this past week. We have met wonderful people who are working hard to help others and we have had plenty of opportunities to meet people in great need and pray with them.

Please keep praying for us. Our days are busy and we are working hard...so we need energy.