IN HIS TIME

I’ll start off by getting right to what everyone seems to want to know about how things are coming along. “Any bites on the house??” Back in February, we switched real estate agencies and things have been looking up, kinda….  The house has been shown to 4 different couples in the last month (Praise the LORD!!), but no one has put in an offer yet. The fact that people are looking is a huge step in the right direction. We are confident that it will sell when our preparedness meets the Lord’s perfect timing. In the mean time, He has been using us, right here. Here’s some of what’s been going on…

We are in the latter stages of coordinating the filling and transfer of a shipping container that is heading to Congo very soon (hopefully this month), which has been an exercise in frustrations of many kinds for us.  First, we had to coordinate with people all over the worldn(US, Canada, Congo).  Communicating with people who are unable to read their e-mail the instant we send them out is a new experience forus. We Americans are rather spoiled, having instant everything. E-mailing certain places in Congo, specifically, can take up to 3 days for them to be received and then a day for us to get a response! Because of the urgency in which information and instructions needed to be relayed, it’s been necessary to speak directly with the Harvey’s, over SKYPE many times in the last 3 weeks. This has been enjoyable for us, but the cost does add up pretty quickly.

Second, the purchasing of all the things to go on the container for the hospital was left primarily in our hands. There were also quite a few more items that we needed to get on that container for our own personal use. It has been another step of faith for us, to make these purchases when we have not quite half of our support, the house is still not sold, and it was a stretch financially to buy all of the things that we wanted to have go over ahead of us.  Sigh….. we are not broke; the Lord has been providing for all our needs, but it is hard to spend every extra penny we have on things for Congo when we aren’t going to be getting there anytime soon, well, at least not that we can see right now.  We keep reminding ourselves that the Lord is in control and while we are sure He is sending us, we do not know HIS timing.  That has been the phrase of the last few months.  HIS timing, not ours.  In HIS time, not ours.

The third thing was not having enough hours in the day to get everything done and spend time together as a family.  Art is still working full time, so that we can afford to pay the mortgage and rising costs of all kinds. After coming home and handling some of the container details, the day was nearly gone. Danielle was busy all day long coordinating communications with Congo, Canada and people all over the states, as well as trying to pack and keep the house clean enough in the midst of chaos to show to perspective buyers on a couple hours notice! On top of all that, we needed to find time to do all of the shopping, ordering, and assembling of the laundry list of items that were piling up all over the house and garage.  

In all of the confusion, Michael has had to share our time more than any of us is comfortable with. He had to make some difficult choices, too. Michael has great difficulty coping with change, and his Lego’s are a constant that he can focus on to get his mind at ease. He doesn’t really play with any other toys, either. Due to the sheer volume of his Lego collection, he had to split it up into what would go ahead to Congo and what would be manageable to take along as baggage when we fly out. With everything else in chaos, he had a very hard time making these choices! In the end, we got a tote of Lego’s onto the container, and he has about half still here until we fly to Congo.

Finally, at the end of all of this craziness, we got to take a little vacation, er, road trip to Tennessee. Originally, we expected to take the trip to get our things onto this container before it left, which would be some undetermined time in the next few months or so. All of a sudden it became our things and a huge list of things for Pioneer Christian Hospital, as well as things from other short-term and long-term missionaries en route to Congo from the US and Canada! We put up missionaries from Quebec who drove down to drop a van-load of items, and a pharmacist from Albany who is going over for 1 year, who dropped off about half a dozen packages to us. We also had several visitors stop by with things for the hospital and other missionaries already there. Thank God, we had a very generous donation from Roy Teitsworth, who offered to let us borrow a 2006 Ford F-250 with an extended cab and an enclosed 14×7 foot trailer to haul everything to Tennessee in! That little gift saved us (the hospital) easily over $1,000, as we would have had to rent a U-Haul to move all of that! (and we had to stop outside of Erie, PA to get some more on the way!)

As I was saying, we got to take a road trip over Memorial Day weekend to Jackson, TN to drop off the final inventory of what was to complete the container for shipping.  The weather was beautiful, and the 16 hours in the truck was actually a nice way to relax after the non-stop action of the previous weeks. Once we arrived, we loaded the trailer, had lunch and a nap at the home of Dr. Eddie and Kelly Hyre (who had the container). Then, we headed for home. Praise God, there were no flat tires, no major traffic problems, and nothing but decent weather the whole way!

Other than the confusion as of the last couple of weeks things have been going well.  Michael has finished 8th grade!!! I never thought this school year would end.  We started at the beginning of July last year so that he would have the time to take off for the training we attended last fall and got done with everything over a month earlier than the public schools around here, even with over a month off this fall.  Danielle has been blessed with the opportunity to mentor a young woman who we have seen grow in the Lord immensely over the last few months.  It is an encouragement to see that we can be effective here even though our heart is in Africa. We have all felt in limbo over the last 5 months or so.  We had been praying to be in Congo around the first of the year and when that didn’t happen, we have felt slightly lost as to what to do while still here.  Again, in HIS time, not ours.   

We have continued sending out thousands of e-mails across the country to churches, hoping to set up speaking engagements, however, that has not gone well at all.  We have gone through our own initial contact list and are at around 41% supported.  That is wonderful to see our amount growing, and thank you to all who faithfully support us!  However, this still is not where we need to be to get to Congo.  So we are now trying “cold calls” and e-mails. There has been very very little response at all, and even less of it positive. We try to stay positive and know that the Lord will provide all our needs, but it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel at times.  Deputation is a frustrating process.  We are blessed by many people who say they will support us when we get ready to leave, which is awesome, but doesn’t help us to know what they are planning on supporting us with whether it is prayer or monetary or both so that we can plan ahead.  So this is a plea of sorts to those who have said that, I guess.  Even if you aren’t going to start till we leave, please let us know so we can make plans?

A lot has been happening in Congo recently. Global Outreach Mission was offered a fully-equipped, operational hospital (with a budget, to boot) in Kindamba, Republic of Congo. This facility was run by Doctors Without Borders, until they recently pulled out of their operations there, leaving the region with no health care for about 50,000 people. After prayer, meetings, and careful consideration, Global accepted the offer. The handover ceremony took place on May 14th. Things did not go smoothly, as the local government thought that there could be a profit to be made at the expense of the hospital. Global is running the hospital, but the local government has not put their stamp of approval on the operation yet (despite the earlier agreements, and the fact that the national health minister has given the approval of the national government). Since the ceremony, the doctor appointed by the locals has run off out of town (but he took the new ambulance with him). So, without the local consent, the hospital is up and running (this is nothing new in Congo, and not much of a surprise to anyone involved).  There are a few prayer requests on behalf of Dr. Joe Harvey and the 2 hospitals in our list below. 

~~~~~  Prayer Requests  ~~~~~

1.  Sale of the house
2.  For Michael to be able to handle all these changes
3.  That the Doctor appointed by the locals doesn’t return
5.  For a doctor to come to Kindamba to work so that Joe will not become over worked and over stressed
6.  That the local government to back off and allow Dr. Harvey to run the hospital without interference (he is already running it)
7.  Pray for the Harvey family Joe and Olivia (their 16 year old) are in Kindamba and the rest are in Impfondo 
8.  Pray for members of our team that are preparing to head to Congo: Jean-Pierre & Ginny Vandevoorde, David & Brenda Marsh, Susan Lardner
8.  Pray for our support to be raised to 100% 
9.  Our own personal frustration not to get in the way of the Lord’s path for our lives

Well, so much for a quick update.  Once I sat down to fill you all in, it grew fast. 

 The Lord is so faithful. We thank Him for the opportunity to be used to coordinate getting so much needed stuff to Congo, and for his daily provision for all of our needs. We know that He is working all things according to His will, and we will set foot in Congo when the time is right! We pray that you who faithfully join us in prayer and financial support will also be patient and wait on Him to bring this to pass, that we may all enjoy the fruits of our labor together, whether here or in the Kingdom. God bless you all!

In HIS TIME