August Prayer Letter

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

- Psalm 118:24

The summer sun is shining in Sedro-Woolley and I have plans for enough outside projects to keep me busy for years.  And yet, I won’t be here for years.  The thought is bitter-sweet.  I love our little farm with its barn, horses, chickens, garden, fruit trees and endless projects, but now as I plant each flower I think about the fact that I probably won’t be here next year to see it grow and bloom.

It will be hard to leave all I have worked for and created at home, but I also look forward to moving to Mafikeng with great joy and excitement.  Last year at this time, leaving still seemed like the distant future and now it is so much closer.  My goal is to leave by this time next year at the latest, although I still have a ways to go to raise the support I need to do that. 

Whenever I think about how difficult it will be to leave home and move halfway across the world I try to remember those who went in the early stages of the Protestant missionary movement.  They left home on a ship traveling for months, expecting minimal to no contact with their family and friends back home, and didn’t expect to return.  They often shipped their belongs packed in a coffin because over 80% would die within two years.  Would I have had that courage?

In contrast, I’ll be in Mafikeng within 36 hours of leaving home, have constant access to friends and family by phone and over the Internet, and can be reasonably certain I’ll return home in one piece. Nonetheless, my life is in God’s hand and only he knows my future.  Maybe I’ll love South Africa so much that it becomes my home or maybe I’ll be back in little ol’ Sedro-Woolley in three years.  I’m so excited that you can join me as I uncover each new twist and turn on this path.

For now, I enjoy my time at home, tend my garden, work with my horse, and thank the Lord for His goodness and mercy.

Prayer request: Over the next few months I am hoping to develop relationships with other churches in the US who are willing to support me on this journey.  Please pray that the Lord would open doors for me to get involved in churches around the US and prayerfully consider if your church might be one whose door God would open.