Hello and a happy New Year!

To all of you who have been with us during our preparation to leave for Congo: thank you for all of your many prayers, as well as your emotional and financial support! To all of the new recipients of this letter: we hope that the vision that the Lord has given us will become your vision as well (to those who He would call and raise up to join in partaking in this adventure of His). Since this is the start of a new year, I thought it would be a great opportunity to re-cap all that the Lord has been doing in our lives this past year, and to give an update of happenings at the Pioneer Christian Hospital.

Though Michael and Danielle had been praying behind my back for an additional eight months, it was last October when I felt God’s tug on my heart, calling me to go into the mission field. With no direction and even less of a clue what we were doing, we began taking small steps of faith in a new direction: away from home. While the Lord gave us numerous clear signs that we were doing the right thing, we thought we would be going to Papua New Guinea.

By February, He had closed the door on that road and introduced us to a new vision. That was when we learned of the needs at the Pioneer Christian Hospital in Impfondo, Republic of Congo. We joined up with Global Outreach Mission and began the long (still going) task of preparing to leave our life in America behind, and move half-way around the globe, to serve God in the middle of the jungles of Africa!

In April, we started the deputation process, spreading our vision and searching out those who would join our mission as prayer and/or financial supporters. The beginning was extremely slow and unfruitful. It wasn’t until the end of July that we saw our first financial support come in! In the months to follow, things started moving along a bit more quickly. We currently have 1/3 of our needed support, along with nearly 100 committed prayer supporters. Statistically, we are doing well. When every day is spent looking forward to being there, it’s taking way too long! We also applied for our passports in April. They didn’t show up until the end of August, but now we have them.

In June, we had a huge yard sale that God definitely blessed. We now sit on metal folding chairs at our folding card table to eat dinners, and the only furniture we own is our beds and dressers. Most everything else we have is what will go to Africa with us. That is, except for the house. We put it up for sale at the end of June, and we all know how the housing market is right now. The sign is still in the yard. Despite conventional wisdom, we know that it will sell whenever the Lord decides that the time is right. Soon would be nice.

In September, we went to Colorado to attend three weeks of cross-cultural training at Mission Training International. When we signed up for it, back in May, we had no money and no idea where it would come from. The training cost roughly $4,500 including traveling expenses. By one week short of the deadline, the Lord had provided completely what was needed! The time spent there was wonderful, and the training was so valuable. We also made many new friends (all new missionaries heading to their fields) that we will continue to keep in contact with.

December marked another milestone in our journey. We are finished with our vaccinations! The rest of the month was filled with Christmas-related things, and spending time with family. All of our mission-geared things slowed right down for the holidays. We are looking forward to speed picking up again, now that the new year is here.

For those who don’t know, the Pioneer Christian Hospital is the only mission hospital in the entire Republic of Congo. It is a full-service hospital, reaching out with God’s love to a people in great need. The people of Congo have a life expectancy of 32 years, due to AIDS, and lack of clean water and vaccinations. Government-provided healthcare is non-existent, and no one could afford to utilize it if there actually was any. They also have virtually no exposure to the Gospel, but live in tribal communities practicing animistic religions. The PCH is there to help change some of those things. Healthcare is provided free to the people of Congo, along with a full, personal exposure to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The chapel at PCH has daily services for the patients and their families, and we heard that in the month of September 169 patients and family members gave their lives to Jesus at the hospital! We’ve also learned that the team there is growing, as God is raising up medical staff to add to the skeleton crew that’s been there. There are now 2 long-term doctors (and another on the way), instead of just Dr. Harvey.

We are so blessed that God has called us to be a part of what He is doing in Congo, and we can hardly wait to be actively involved there! It’s already been 2,000 years since Jesus opened the door of salvation to the entire world, and we’ve wasted so much time that we can never get back. Souls are passing into eternity every day without ever even having heard the name of Jesus. It is our prayer that He will send us quickly, so that we can be used to reach as many as possible with His love, and His good news. If you feel the same way, I would ask that you prayerfully consider joining us in our mission to reach out to the people of Congo, in whatever way that the Lord directs you to participate. If you are interested in learning more about the needs in Congo, how the Lord is using PCH, or what you can do to be involved; please contact us. We would love to share more with you, or even to give a presentation to any group (or church congregation). We’ve included a prayer card with this letter, which has a reply card attached to the back. Please don’t discount responding regarding prayer support; we would very much like to know who is praying with us. Also, if you would like to continue receiving our updates, we need to have some response from you. Even a phone call or e-mail would work, to get on the mailing list.

Again, we thank all of you for your prayers and support! May you have a Christ-centered and blessed New Year!