Laborers for the Harvest

But those who wait on the LORD , shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

коли под наемIsaiah 40:31

Happy Fall Everyone!

It has been a year since we attended Mission Training International. It is hard to believe that we are still here in the U.S., yet hard to believe that it has only been a year!  We want to thank each and every one of you who have been praying and supporting us in various ways on our path that the Lord has set in front of us.   Our catch phrase over the last months has been “In HIS time, not ours”. We pray each day that we are doing HIS will in our daily lives and for contentment where we are.

School has once again started here at our house.  Michael is in the 9th grade this year and he just turned 11 on the 15th.  It is so hard to believe he is getting closer to being a teenager.  He is growing by leaps and bounds and we have a hard time keeping him in clothes that fit.  School is not going the best this year, to be honest. We are dealing with a pre-teen, after all, who knows more than we do.

Art is still working at P Tool and Die and has been able to do side jobs for Danielle’s mom this summer. He has put in a front walk way and a back patio as well as some electrical and landscaping.   Art will be spending the month of October teaching the adult Sunday school class through the book of Ruth and showing all of the typologies of Christ throughout the book.  The adults seem to be really enjoying a different way to look at the book.

Danielle has, in addition to teaching Michael, been investing her time and energy into mentoring a few younger Christian girls and keeping up the day-to-day tasks associated with maintaining a house and family. She has also served as a mentor on an e-mail based study group online, as well as teaching Sunday school for children ages 8 -12.

Together, we are taking advantage of the time that the Lord has given us here, before we ship out to Africa. Besides getting more involved with teaching at church, we have put a much stronger emphasis on developing friendships. It seems kind of silly to get close with new people, just to say goodbye and leave them behind, but we would like to develop strong friendships that will not suffer due to our physical absence. It has been very encouraging to spend time with other devoted Christians, where we build each other up in Christ as well as hold each other accountable in our walk of faith. We wouldn’t even dare coming together without Bibles in hand. It is our prayer that each of you also has at least one relationship like that!

Our lives continue to consist of waiting on the Lord, and praying for guidance in gaining the remainder of our needed financial support. We know that He is faithful. We know that Congo is His calling, not our personal dream. He will provide. In the time between now and then, we thank you for the part that you have chosen to play in this adventure. We also thank God for your prayers and support, and also for the opportunity to be used by Him to reach the people of Congo, and the chance to share the eternal rewards of our obedience to the call with each of you! Please continue to look for our updates and to lift us up in your prayers.

Together, for His glory,

Art, Danielle & Michael

We have a bit to tell you, even though we just mailed out a prayer letter. If you didn’t get one please email me and let me know, since we are still trying to iron out our final mailing list.

First of all, thank you to all who continue to pray for us. The prayers we receive are a blessing each and every day. Your prayers have not returned unanswered; we are now at 52% support!!! Praise the Lord we have broken the half-way mark! Also, please remember your prayer needs are a concern to us and we desire to be lifting you up in prayer as we know you do for us daily.

We are still praying and relying on God for our daily needs in the holding pattern that our lives are currently in. We continue to go to work, home school, take care of our home, build friendships and be active in our church. However, do not
mistake this as settling in here and not wanting to be in Congo! We pray daily for the ability to get over there and do the Lord’s work in a place that it is so needed.

We are in the beginning phase of praying and hoping to plan a trip in January to visit some of our current supporters, as well as hoping to meet some more prayer partners. We hope to visit Mt. Hope Church in VA, some friends in N.C., and our huge hope would be to visit a supporter in FL. Would you be thinking of people that you know that we may be able to get in touch with along the way? Currently, we have 164 committed prayer partners. This is such a blessing, but of course, we would love to have more! After all, we need all the people we can get praying for us to stay strong in the Lord and to hold on to Him in the times of testing that will follow.

Financially, we are looking for 133 more people to support us at $10 per month. That amount is not much when you really think about it. That is less than dinner for 2 once a month at McDonald’s! Please don’t think that we are asking for money. This just really puts the dollar figure in a tangible perspective. The Lord will provide, in His time. We do ask, however, that you pray about it and share this ministry with others you know. Also, we would love the opportunity to come and personally share our story, calling, ministry, and pictures with any who would be interested! So, please join us in
prayer for gathering laborers together for His harvest and sharing our ministry with new prospective partners.

The prayers that we need specifically regarding this trip (in January) are:

• That God will provide contacts to share with
• That He will provide the financial needs for making this kind of trip
• That He will provide guidance in making decisions for this trip

Thanks again for all your prayers and support over the last year and a half!!

We hope all of you had a fun, safe holiday weekend. The weather here was beautiful, and we spent much time outside soaking up the sunlight and working or relaxing with friends. Now that things are back to normal, I would like to turn our attention to something that we are very grateful for and excited about.

Last week, I mentioned that a few churches had contacted us regarding the missions-focused VBS programs they were running this year. We only have details on one of those churches, and the results of their efforts. The 52 boys and girls who attended VBS at Mount Hope Baptist Church in Leesburg, VA spent time learning about life in the Republic of Congo and the Lord’s work through the Pioneer Christian Hospital, from information and pictures relayed to them through us. It was very exciting for us to hear that we were being used to generate interest and understanding of missions in these children. It was also very thrilling to hear that they were praying for us. Like I said before, there’s just something powerful about the prayers of a child.

By the end of the week, we learned that the kids made cards for us and will be sending them (along with their pictures) to us. We also learned that the collection taken was to be put into our support account. When we heard the amount that was raised, we were blown away. Money is definitely a useful tool when used properly, but that wasn’t what was amazing to us. The fact that these kids were interested enough to gather and offer up such a gift could only mean one thing: something got their attention. We eagerly await receiving the cards and pictures being sent to us, and it is our prayer that we can develop a lasting relationship with each and every one of these boys and girls. If some part of our ministry has sparked something in these young people’s hearts, it would be a terrible failure on our part to let that go by the wayside and not be fanned. Please pray with us that this opportunity will be an effective door to kindle a passion for Jesus in the hearts of these children. We pray that we can encourage them in finding their own part in spreading the good news of salvation to the lost world, as well as understanding that you are never too young to wield the power of prayer, or even to sense God’s calling on your life. He may not be calling all of us to go to a foreign country, but we are all called to go into all the world, making disciples of all nations. That includes everywhere, even in our own back yards (and schools).

In addition to these prayers, we would ask you to continue to pray about spreading the word on the Lord’s work through Pioneer Christian Hospital, and our ministry there. Our support level continues to grow, although we don’t have any solid numbers to include at this time. And the answer to everyone’s continual question is: nope, nothing yet. Another week has passed without a peep from our real estate agent. It’s not time… yet. We know that God is faithful. When it’s time, all of the pieces will fall into place. Until then, we continue to pray, and we count on your faithful prayers as well.

As always, we thank you for your prayers and support as we continue to pray for you! Until next week (Lord-willing), God bless!

Prayer Requests

• pray about sharing our ministry with others
• please pray that the Lord would keep filling our needs and raise our support up to the 100% level
• please pray for the sale of our house, in His time
• please pray for GOM and the hospital at Kindamba, Rep. of Congo
• please pray for our efforts to establish relationships with the VBS kids

Yours in Christ,

Art, Danielle & Michael

Hello Friends, Brothers & Sisters,

Thank you for your prayers concerning the hospital at Kindamba. Dr. Harvey had a meeting with the landlord of the property in Brazzaville, where he was able to sign a 3 ½ year lease! Praise the Lord for that breakthrough. As usual, though, that’s not the end of the troubles at Kindamba. The local governor is rumored to have called on the military to remove Global Outreach Mission from the hospital, but we have heard nothing of any real threat so far. Please keep this entire project lifted up in your prayers.

This last week has been another week of slowly moving us closer to Congo. There are never-ending apparent set-backs, but we look through them to see the Lord at work. Since over-extending ourselves a little bit, to get everything needed onto that container in TN, it seems that everything around us is keeping us from catching back up. In the past week, the dryer quit working and the windshield on the car broke. I think that’s all, but it feels like more than that. I guess it always does when things go sour. The window is replaced, but we haven’t got the dryer repaired yet. In spite of these “surface” set-backs, we realize that none of these temporary things matter in the big picture. The enemy may attempt to disrupt us, but our focus is clear! We also haven’t heard a single thing from our real estate agent in a month, but again, we know that all of the necessary arrangements will be taken care of in God’s timing. In the meantime, we have a roof over our heads. On the flip-side of these events, we have once again seen our support level increase slightly. After months at a stand-still, that’s very encouraging!

Another very cool thing happened this week. Danielle had four different churches contact her (mostly people we don’t even know), letting us know that they are doing their VBS programs this summer with a focus on missions, and asking if we would send them pictures and information that they could use. Personally, I am not very concerned with the potential for leads to expand our support base. I am, however, very excited to hear about being used to share the importance of missions with the next generation. We had the opportunity to share our calling and vision back in February with children at a local Christian school (Genesee Country Christian School, in Groveland, NY), at their weekly Chapel session. Sharing at a church or small group is great, but seeing the interest in the kids’ eyes, being able to share answered prayers with them, and opening their minds to how God can call people (even children) into particular areas of service, is the most exciting. I think that children generally have a very “what could I possibly do of any significance” sort of an attitude about being kids. To show them that they can be effective in prayer is awesome. We need more of them praying for us! Nothing tops the ability of a child to pray openly and expectantly. Anyways, I find that very uplifting.

We still haven’t gotten any pictures from any of you, so please don’t forget to send us something. We look forward to seeing your smiling faces and hearing how we can be praying for you. As you are praying for us, here are some requests that we have:

• please continue to pray about sharing our ministry with others
• please pray that the Lord would keep filling our needs and raise our support up to the 100% level
• please pray for the sale of our house, in His time
• please pray for GOM and the hospital at Kindamba, Rep. of Congo

We thank you for all of your prayers and support. Have a relaxing and enjoyable 4^th of July! Be safe, enjoy all of the beautiful firework displays, and God-willing, we’ll have more good news to update you on next week!

Yours in Christ,
Art, Danielle & Michael

Prayer Update: June 22, 2008

Hi everyone,

 This makes two successful, back-to-back weekly updates… things are looking good! Praise God, our support level increased 2% this last week, so we are now at an even 40% of our needed pledges. The Lord is faithful, and we continue to wait on His provision for the remainder of our needs. It is such a boost to our spirits to see each little bit that He brings us closer to Congo.

 Moving a lot closer to Congo, I’d like to pass along some information that we just today received from the Harveys. Do you remember the newly acquired hospital in Kindamba that I spoke about last month? Dr. Harvey has been running the hospital, despite the questionable status of the local government’s approval of Global Outreach Mission’s doing so. A property was to be rented in Brazzaville (the capitol) as a base of operations for supplying the Kindamba hospital and housing staff moving back and forth between the two hospital locations. Kindamba was supposed to be taking over this rental from the former renters, Doctors Without Borders (who ran the hospital before). Now, it seems that the owner has decided to rent this property to someone else, without notifying anyone from Kindamba. According to Dr. Harvey, if there’s no base in Brazzaville, there’s no hospital in Kindamba. Please keep this whole operation in your prayers. Pray that God will reveal His will in this endeavor, and that everyone involved will have the faith and patience to rely on God to lead them through this very trying situation.

 As for us, there is always a feeling that things could take off any minute; but we are waiting as patiently as we can until the Lord releases us to go. This week, we took some boxes of stuff we need to lose out to the side of the road marked “free”. Some of it disappeared. The rest will go in the trash, hopefully by the end of next week. That will effectively conclude our preparations to move. Michael has been spending every bit of time that he can with friends and family, getting spoiled and having fun. He is acutely aware of the 4-year drought he will have to weather in that area. We enjoy the time alone, but we’re starting to miss him more each time he takes off with someone for the weekend. Starting this coming Friday, he will be gone for at least a week straight, camping with Art’s mom and step-father (along with their kids). Danielle is done schooling Michael for the summer, so she has a lot of free time on her hands! Art is continuing to work, adding some small side-jobs when the weather is good.

 In the coming weeks, we may visit a few churches in the area where we have contacts, just to get our faces out there and try to share what we are doing with some more people from our past (or anyone else who is interested!). Remember, we would love to get some pictures from you to put up on our prayer wall! Please send some to us, along with anything that we can be in prayer about, for you. Here are some of our prayer requests:
- please continue to pray about sharing this ministry with friends, family, co-workers
- please continue to pray that the Lord will provide for the remainder of our financial needs
- please pray for the sale of our house, in His timing
- please pray for our focus to remain on God’s will for us, and to be patient with His leading!
- please remember to lift up the Harveys and the hospital in Kindamba in prayer

We thank you so much for your continual prayers and thoughts for us. May God bless each of you!

Together in Christ’s service,

 Art, Danielle & Michael

I found a video of where we will be living and who we will be living with while really boread the other night.    Hope you enjoy!

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,

                                                         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

Hello everyone! It has been a couple of months since our last update, so we thought it would be prudent to get one out (of course, that was about 2 weeks ago). At first glance, it seems as though there isn’t much to update. The house is still not sold, we are still quite a ways from our goal for support, and Africa feels just as far away as ever. However, looking with eyes of faith reveals a much brighter picture. It hasn’t all been so bleak as all that. We’ve had the opportunity to visit a few churches and to get our faces seen amongst some familiar old faces. The Lord has also blessed us with a couple of chances to share our vision for His work in Congo with some local congregations, eliminating the need for a long trip in the car. 

In February, we were invited to share with the students at the Genesee Country Christian School during their chapel time. That was quite an enjoyable time. The Harvey family has been their “missionary family”, which the children pray for and raise some gifts in the form of offerings for. They have been praing for the past few years that God would raise up people/families that would go and assist the Pioneer Christian Hospital’s ministry to the people of Congo. Our being there to share what we are preparing to do, Lord willing, was seen by the students as an answer to their prayers. It’s amazing to see how He uses even the small children to be involved in such an important way in the work that He is doing. It was very exciting for us to see others invested in the very same adventure that we hope to become a direct part of. That same weekend, the Lord opened up another awesome door for us. A short term work team that was headed to the hospital, from Albany, NY agreed to make room to take along 2 fifty-pound pieces of luggage for us. We also had another package of supplies for the hospital and the Harvey family, so we loaded it all up in the car and made a day trip to Albany. This provision allowed us to get some of our necessities to Congo ahead of us. This way, we have things like our water purifier already there and waiting for our arrival. It’s less for us to carry, and less to have to prepare for and to keep track of. It’s also cool to see that a little piece of our world has relocated to where we are longing to be.  

Early in March, we were given an entire Sunday morning service to share, at the church where we served as youth leaders back when Michael was just a baby. It was wonderful to see people that we hadn’t been in touch with for years, and to be there with our teens who are now married and serving in the church in various ministries. The rest of this month has been relatively quiet, but we have been encouraged by small things here and there that give us visual markers of how God is paving the way ahead of us, in his time, for our departure to Congo. In our waiting on the Lord, I am reminded of how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked by faith. Do you think they marched boldly to the fiery furnace? I don’t; I can picture them proclaiming their faith to the king, and then watching anxiously for whatever God had up His sleeve to save them. Never the less, they were being carried away to the furnace. The clouds didn’t part, and no angel stepped in to stop the soldiers holding them. They knew that they were doing what God would have them do, but where was His salvation? It wasn’t until they were in the fire that God could really perform a miracle in their lives.  

I feel like that’s kind of where we are now, walking towards the furnace. We are trying to sell a house at the totally wrong time. We are trying to raise financial support, as well as prayer support. Prayer is pretty easy to get, but money is a little harder to come by. We know that we are relying on Him to supply our every need, but one look at the economy would make any reasonably intelligent person think that this is all nuts. We’ve done what God has called us to do, but where’s the provision? Where’s the miraculous deliverance? So each day we must continue on, walking in faith in the one who is faithful, and knowing that when it is His time, He will complete what He has begun in our lives. In the meantime, we covet your prayers and your support. We also lift all of you up in prayer, as our nation is facing a bumpy road ahead. Though the world may crumble around us, He will never leave or forsake us; and that’s not even making mention of the eternal hope that we have in Him.God bless each of you, and we look forward to the new things that we’ll be able to report to you next time!

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!