Thank You

Before we share what we hope to do next, we want to share why we are thankful.

Because you prayed

•We found a house that allowed us to be witnesses to our neighbors,

•We did not get sick or have any major problems,

•We see the church growing in a country that is 98% Muslim.

Because you gave 

•We were able to live with and be a witness to our neighbors,

•We were involved in the Bible school that saw 15 students graduate,

•We showed the Jesus film to over 1000 people and saw responses to follow Christ.

We would also like to thank those that sent us cards, letters and care packages, they were encouraging to get.

Looking Forward

When we return, we want to continue to meet the needs in East Africa. We believe training leaders is a huge priority. As one man said, “If we don’t train people in the field, we slow down the frontier missions movement. If this statement is true then training leadership in the field should take on a new priority.”

There are currently few options to train for leadership in the church. Most residential programs take three to four years to complete, requiring students to move to a new city.

We want to open extension Bible school sites to make training more accessible. This would serve to train leaders throughout the country, allowing them to continue in leadership whilst being trained. They will come to the extension site once a month for five days.  After twelve months they earn their one year Bible certificate and are better equipped to lead their churches.

How To Make This Happen

•The first is Prayer.  We are taking the Gospel to a dark place. It is a spiritual battle. We need prayer so the Church will go forward.

•The second is our visas. Please pray that we will get our visas to live there.

•The third is finances. We cannot go unless our budget is raised. We need to raise $2500 in monthly support. Please pray for our support and consider joining our support team by clicking on the Support Us at the top of the page.

Having returned for furlough it is natural to pause and look back over the last four years.

One of our big prayer requests last furlough was to find the right house in the capital city. God answered that prayer. It was not the house itself that was an answer to prayer but our neighbors. Our house was good but our neighbors made it great. We were surrounded by wonderful people. There were neighborhood children our children could play with and their parents for us to visit. Our children helped open some doors to be able to visit with our neighbors.

We found the biggest need there is to train pastors. There are not enough trained pastors lead the believers there are now. We were involved in the Bible school and operated a correspondence program to equip men and women to teach in the Bible school.

We built a tabernacle building for a church in the capitol of a northern province. Sadly, just before we returned to the US, the support cables were stolen and during a storm it fell. The pastor plans to rebuild it.

One of our reasons for being in the country was to be a witness to our neighbors.  As the years went by we saw how we went from being the foreigners on the block to part of the block.

We have been privileged to share in weddings, funerals, births, and everyday happenings.

When we were about to leave and return to the US, the ladies of our neighborhood honored Lucy by visiting her for tea.

Our Future

In July 2011 the south separated from the north.  The North is now over 98% Muslim.  We are planning to return to the north and continue to work with the church.  The needs are even more pronounced in this new environment.  We will continue to be involved in training and being a witness to those around us.

We believe the need for leaders in the Church will grow. We want to meet that need by starting extension sites for the Bible school around the country. There are men and women wanting to take courses but find it impractical to stop everything they are doing and move to another city for up to four years.  Instead, they can attend classes in a nearby location for a week at a time, never moving from their home and continuing to impact their community.

Matt has been going to a city to help build a tabernacle (a simple structure to offer the congregation a roof to meet under). In December he and some others went to dig holes and pour cement for the foundations.

Recently they went back to put up the tabernacle. The plan was to get it done in four days…… Some of the cement did not set correctly and had to be redone. Getting the trusses up needed scaffolding that was difficult to find. Ten days later it was up. There is now a new church in that city.

Currently the building is in an open field but the city plans show it on a important road in the middle of a neighbor hood.

Looking out on the empty field that separates the church from the closest buildings the pastor said, “We will not build walls yet. We will have open air meetings so all the neighbors will hear the Gospel.”

Please pray that the church will reach this city