Dear friends, family, and fellow laborers for the Kingdom,

 We would like to take a little time to give you some details on exactly where we are in our preparation to go into the mission field.  Because of where we stand, there are also a few prayer requests that we hope will be prominent in your prayers concerning our service in Congo.

 First, I think it’s well-deserved to say thank you for all of your support, both in prayer and financial gifts. Even though we feel like we have been working hard to see our call realized, it would be impossible without you. It is true that God is the one responsible for all that is accomplished, and everything in our hands belongs to Him. However, He chooses to work through His children, and we are indeed stewards of the resources of Heaven. We are each given a free will, to handle these things as we see fit. I thank each of you that you know that this world is fleeting, and that winning souls for the Kingdom is what Jesus commissioned us to be about. You have, along with us, invested in eternity for the sake of the people of Congo. Since this field is where the Lord has called us to go in His name, I can’t say thank you enough for choosing to be a part of making this happen!

 Now is where the hard part begins. Before I go on, I think an apology is due. We have been in the support-raising portion of our ministry for about a year now. God has blessed us with 142 prayer partners (including yourself), and 38% of our required monthly support. Since I have been in a mindset to go out and raise support, I have kind of collected those who have pledged support and put them in the bag. I keep looking for more, but I’ve forgotten to look back in that bag. This is where I have to say sorry. Just as you have pledged to support us in this mission, we are responsible to keep in touch with each of you, and on a personal level, not just as a number of our team. We would like to know how we can pray for you, how we can bless you; it’s not all about us. If we are all to be together as a team, I need to invest more into building relationships with each of you! This letter is just the beginning of what I plan to be (shorter in the future) weekly updates and requests for you to share your needs with us.

 Okay, now that we are done with that I can finally stop rambling on and get to what I promised in the first place. Where are we in respect to leaving for Africa? As I just mentioned, we have almost 40 percent of our required monthly support for the field. We also have a good start on prayer partners (there can never be too many!), and as most of you know, every last possession aside from what must go with us on the plane, is en route to Congo ahead of us in a sea freight container that is currently being prepared for shipping by Samaritan’s Purse in North Carolina. Our house, while nearly empty and echoing, has still not sold. June 19th will mark one full year on the market. Of course, we know that the Lord will take care of that when the time is right. Until then, I guess it’s a blessing that we have our own house. The last time we spoke at a church was in April. We have spent many hours sending out e-mails to churches all over the country, in an attempt to get an open door to present to a congregation anywhere we can, only to be discouraged by the absolute lack of response. We sent out well over 2,000 e-mails (along with follow-up calls and e-mails with the 2 or 3 that actually responded to us), but have made zero solid positive contacts. It’s obvious to us that this is not an effective route to take!

 In the last week, the Lord has sent two different people to our aid, with support-raising training under their belts. What a blessing! We have not had any training whatsoever, so we were just trying things out and waiting to see what happened. I am praying that their advice and information will be the shot we need to get moving forward again. As we’ve mentioned times before, our initial list of contacts has been exhausted in bringing us to where we now stand. The first (and most DUH!) suggestion was to do what I am going to do next. Instead of trying to carry this entire load on our backs, we already have a network of support that is invested in our success. In case you didn’t fully process that through yet, that’s you!

 As our first and most urgent prayer request, we ask that you would be thinking of and praying about putting our vision out there among your own circle of friends, family, co-workers, and whoever else comes to mind. The more, the better! In all reality, it would only take another 172 people pledging $10 a month to finish off our needs. I know that sounds like a lot of people, but think about it. If each of you could find just one person who would be willing to commit to a ten dollar monthly gift, that would pretty much do it. Thanks to the support we’ve already received, we currently have almost $6,000 in our account with Global Outreach Mission. That should just about cover our travel expenses. We should have 1-2 months worth of support in surplus before we go to the field, but if you would be willing to spread the word, and the Lord blesses your efforts, it really wouldn’t take long for us to be on our way!

 Praise God, our passports are in our hands. Our inoculations have all been taken care of. The only possessions that we need to relieve ourselves of before we leave are beds, dressers, a car, a motorcycle, the house, and a few boxes of things to go to the Salvation Army. There may be a handful of other small items, but that’s honestly about everything. We’ve spent nearly every extra penny (about $13,000 altogether) over the last year and a half preparing for the field and purchasing the supplies that we will need to survive and function in our roles in Congo, all of which are either there waiting for us or in the container in NC. Please understand that I don’t put that figure in there to brag. It’s only to show that while we are still “living” here, we are TOTALLY invested in following God’s plan for us to serve Him in the Republic of Congo. From here, all I can do is trust in the Lord’s guidance and pray that you will be praying along with us. If we succeed, it’s His doing. If we are going to succeed, the work is still ours to do. Remember, He works through His body, and that’s us.

Prayer Requests:
- that more supporters would be raised up to fill our financial requirements
- that our current supporters would pray about others to share our vision with and tell others about us and the work the Lord has called us to
- that our house would sell in His timing
- for His strength to keep us focused, despite the discouraging circumstances
- for our faithfulness to each of you, that we will be strongly knit together

 Finally, I want to extend one more request to each of you. Well, actually there are two. Please let us know if there are ANY things, small or large, that we can be lifting before God’s throne for you. Also, if you can, would you be willing to send us a picture of yourself/family that we can have to remind us to be praying for you? We kind of assume that our picture is most likely on your fridge, or something like that. We would love to have a visual reminder of each of you to keep in front of our eyes and hearts as well. That’s it for now (I think that’s enough!). Next time I’ll keep this short, I promise. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support! We eagerly look forward to hearing from you, as well as getting to send these from Africa! Until then, God bless.

Together in Christ’s service,