100% Support Reached!

Have you heard the great news!  I'm fully supported!  Now I get to hand in my resignation at work and start working on all the details I'll need to wrap up before I leave.  I will be attending one final missions training course at Center for Intercultural Training in North Carolina in May and then hope to be on my way to South Africa by mid June.  So excited the time has finally come!

January Prayer Letter - The good and the sad

Did you have a great Christmas?  Our home is undergoing a bit of a remodel at the moment so Christmas occurred while flooring was ripped up, wallpaper torn down, and a bathroom was redone.  Thankfully the meaning of Christmas is not in the decorations! Soon everything will be fresh for the New Year.

On a sad note, the church I’ve been attending the past few years, Sedro-Woolley Community Fellowship, closed its doors mid-December, although many in the church hope to still meet together at times for fellowship.

A good church community is so important for support and fellowship and to keep one spiritually sharpened :).  I can’t wait to see where the Lord leads next!  What new friends will I meet?  How will I be able to serve? How will the Lord use this event to help pave the way to South Africa? 

For now, I’ve been visiting other churches in the valley and hope to be settled into a new church home soon.  Please pray the Lord will lead me to a church that is willing to support me spiritually, with prayer, and hopefully financially, over the years I serve in South Africa.

On a happier note, the Lord provided and brought in over and above the 15% I’d set as a goal for the end of 2014! The year end giving is not all in but it looks like I'm just about fully supported and should be able to set my departure and training dates soon. It is exciting to reach this phase and I am looking forward to being in South Africa soon where I have been called to serve.      

Finally, I’m looking to intentionally put together a team of prayer supporters over the next few months.  Prayer is key to getting to and accomplishing God purposes in South Africa.  If you already are, or will commit to, praying for me regularly, please drop me a quick email or otherwise let me know. My goal is 100 active prayer supporters before I leave.

May the Lord bless this New Year for you with joy, peace, and love.  I’ll look back to my time in Glasgow, Scotland for a quick Celtic blessing for you:

May you have

Walls for the wind

And a roof for the rain,

And drinks beside the fire

Laughter to cheer you

And those you love near you,

And all that your heart may desire

~ Celtic Blessing

December Prayer Letter - Malva Pudding Recipe

Geseënde Kersfees (Merry Christmas)!

Christmas is coming!  The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year.  But, as I drink my chai-nog and make chocolate covered cherries I wonder what Christmas will be like in South Africa.  During December, the university where I will be working closes down for several weeks, but the clinic stays open to see patients.  It will be summer there with temperatures in the mid 80’s and also the wet season with an average of 2 inches of rain a week.  I am used to evergreen boughs, pinecones, and holly symbolizing the Christmas season; what will be the decorations of choice in Mafikeng?  Tune in next year for the answers!

Hopefully you read the challenge put forth in my last prayer letter to bring in the final 15% of my monthly support by the end of the year.  If we achieve that goal I should be on my way to South Africa by May or June!  I’ve reached out to everyone I know over the past year and to reach this goal we now need to reach out to people YOU know.  Please talk to your friends, pastors, neighbors, and relatives to help bring in the final 15%.  All gifts are tax deductable.

And don’t forget about your thank you gift!  When you commit to at least $30/month, or yearly support of $360, I’ll make you a few custom paracord bracelets or a dog collar or leash in the colors of your choice.  For $50/month or more I’ll make a matching set of a collar and leash or a belt.  These make awesome Christmas presents!  Examples can be seen at www.etsy.com/shop/GoSpeakLiveBoldly.  Just send me an email with your pledge or donate online at www.cvmusa.org/quam.

If you want to add a bit of South Africa to your own Christmas celebration you might enjoy baking a Malva pudding for your Christmas Eve dessert.  Malva pudding is actually a spongy cake with a custard sauce and is a favorite in many South African homes.

Cake

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon apricot jam (or preserves, chopped very finely)

5 ounces all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter (a generous tablespoon)

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/3 cup milk

Sauce

3/4 cup fresh cream

3 1/2 ounces butter

5 ounces sugar

1/3 cup hot water

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat or whip the sugar and eggs, preferably in a food processor, until thick and lemon colored. Then, add the apricot jelly (or jam) and mix thoroughly.

Sieve together the flour, soda and salt. Melt the butter (do not boil!) and add the vinegar. Add this mixture, as well as the milk, to the egg mixture in the processor, alternately with the flour. Beat well.

Pour into an oven-proof dish, and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. In a pot, melt together the ingredients for the sauce. When the cake is halfway baked, take it out of oven. Make holes in cake and pour the sauce over the pudding. Return cake to oven.

Sound good?  South Africa has quite a few delicious desserts and some very unique cuisines. I’ll share more recipes as I discover them! 

Finally, please continue to pray for individuals and churches able and willing to support me both financially and with regular prayer. 

November Prayer Letter - Challenge

Can you believe it has been over a year since I started raising support to move to South Africa? It would be impossible for me to believe if the calendar didn’t state it so emphatically.  During the past year I’ve come to realize a few things about myself: first, I am even more excited than ever about teaching at North-West University (NWU) and sharing about our amazing God; second, I’m not very good at this deputation (support raising) process; and third, prayer is the key to keep from getting discouraged.  It will only be through God’s grace and provision and the support of all my friends and family that my deputation will be completed and I am sent to South Africa.  Until then, I seek to emulate Paul when he said in Philippians 4:11, “…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” 

Thanks to everyone who has supported me over the past year, my one-time expenses budget has been met and even surpassed, but there is still a long way to go to cover the expenses that will be ongoing during my three years in South Africa.  So far, many of my friends and family have generously committed to recurring donations covering 58% of my projected monthly budget.  My goal is to reach 75% by the end of the year.  To reach that goal will require $512 in new monthly support.  That is a huge goal for me to set down here in black and white!  Would you help me reach this goal?

If you have been thinking about supporting me regularly, now would be a great time to commit to it!  You can either start donating now, or just let me know you plan to start once I’m ready to leave for Africa.  Either way, it will count towards reaching the goal of 75%!  At www.cvmusa.org/quam you can easily sign up to give monthly or yearly and have it done automatically if, like me, you tend to get distracted by life.

Maybe I’ll take a page from the local public radio station’s fund raising book and sweeten the deal a bit J  You probably know I’ve been making and selling paracord bracelets, dog collars, and leashes to help raise support and spread the word about this great chance to reach students at NWU.  So, if you commit to monthly support of $30 or more or yearly support of $360 I’ll make you a few custom bracelets or a dog collar or leash.  You can enjoy them yourself or they will make great Christmas presents for sports fans (Seahawks’ green/navy/grey are my most popular colors) or dog lovers who would enjoy something special for their pets. For $50/month or more I’ll make a matching set of a collar and leash or a belt. Girly colors, manly colors, and sports team colors are all available!

If you are already supporting me and would enjoy a paracord collar/leash/bracelets as a thank you it would be my pleasure to send one your way.  You can see many of the options and details on my Etsy site and then just let me know what you like.

If you can help financially, thank you!  If you can’t at this point, thank you for praying and sharing the word!    Please let me know if you would like brochures or prayer cards to share with friends and family.

October Prayer Letter - Truth

Heading into one of my last appointments for the week, I flicked a glance at the computer while my nurse brought Fluffy and Mrs. Smith into the exam room.  I noted that Fluffy was a three year old female cat and we had only seen her once before. Mrs. Smith and I chatted for a while as I sorted through the medical records Mrs. Smith had brought in for us.  Mrs. Smith mentioned how she had adopted Fluffy from a local shelter several years ago and that she hadn’t had any vaccines since then.  Fluffy was going to be spending a few days boarding at a kennel and Mrs. Smith wanted to make sure she was up to date.

We got Fluffy out of the kennel for her exam and she was a gorgeous, big, longhair orange tabby.  “Hmm, that is a bit strange,” I thought.  Most orange cats are male.  Just to be sure I took a quick peek under the tail and then, trying to be nonchalant, asked, “did you know Fluffy is actually a boy?”

“Oh, yes,” replied Mrs. Smith.  “But I had really wanted a girl rather than a boy so I just decided to call her a girl.”  We all had a good laugh.  The rest of the exam I stumbled through trying to decide if I should refer to Fluffy as male or a female.  As I left the exam room a few minutes later and changed her file, to reflect the true gender, I had to chuckle to myself, but also thought about how easy it is to convince ourselves that what we want to be true is actually true.

Watch a show like X Factor or So You Think You Can Dance and you will see hundreds of people in the initial auditions who are completely convinced that they have an amazing voice or special talent for dancing and refuse to accept any word to the contrary. 

On the spiritual side we tend do the same thing. As long as we tell ourselves we don’t have an issue with pride we can hide from reality.  Or we convince ourselves it was just a little white lie so it’s OK.  Or maybe we just ignore certain verses in the Bible that we see as inconvenient or decided they actually mean something different than God intended.

While Mrs. Smith was fully aware of the truth about Fluffy’s gender and willing to admit it, many of us have so completely deluded ourselves that we refuse to see the truth even when it is staring us in the face.  As Peter writes in I John 1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  Instead, we should seek God’s truth in all things; ask him to strip away the blinders we have created to hide our own faults and wrong thoughts. Deceiving ourselves may seem easier and more pleasant than confronting the truth, but in reality it limits our growth and imprisons us in our own minds.  Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

These thoughts were echoed beautifully in a note I just received from one of the University of Florida veterinary students who came to Mafikeng in August on a Short Term Mission Trip. It is exciting to share how God honored her prayers to better understand His truth of our equality in Him.

She writes, “In preparation for the trip, I had been praying for our time and for God to change me, my heart and just completely let Him work for the plan He had for me and the team. I couldn't have even fathomed how much my simple prayer would have done for me. God totally opened my eyes and showed me that I must love everyone as He loves me, to view them through the "lens" that He views me...through the lens of love, grace, forgiveness and mercy. This was so important because I know I am guilty of viewing people through a judgment, jealousy, or anger lens at times and it just hit me. "Who am I to view anyone that way?! And how dare I?"...if Jesus can love me unconditionally through all I have done in my life and has already forgotten (and forgiven me) my sins from yesterday, what gives me the right to judge anyone for anything? I need to love them through all they do, no matter what, forgive them, pray for them and just emulate God's love.”

Please pray with me as David did in the Psalms (25:5) “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”  

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.

September Prayer Letter - Fear

What do you fear?  What worries do you have?  As I write this, Ebola is spreading its way through West Africa and the two infected American doctors are still under strict quarantine in Atlanta. Just one year ago, Dr. Kent Brantly and his wife Amber were joyfully preparing to serve the Lord with Samaritan’s Purse and attended the same medical missions training conference that I am currently attending in Virginia.  Perhaps we sat in the same chair? Now Dr. Brantly is fighting for his life. Who among us ever knows what the next year will bring.

Thankfully, the Ebola outbreak is farther away from Mafikeng, South Africa than Seattle is from Orlando.  However, even if it was right next door, I know the Lord is trustworthy and his plans for me are better than my own.  He says over and over in the Bible that we are not to fear what can happen to us in this world, but instead trust in Him. 

However, no matter how well we can recite Bible verses telling us not to fear, for He is with us, we are still human and fears will raise their ugly heads.  So with what fears do I struggle? Have I understood correctly what the Lord wants me to do? What if I go to South Africa and get so caught up in the job at the hospital that nothing is accomplished spiritually in people’s lives?  What if I say or do the wrong things and turn people away from Christ rather than to Him?  What happens when I see pets I don’t know how to treat and there is nowhere else to send them? What if something happens to my family in the US while I’m gone?

Whenever I start to think along these lines it is easy to get discouraged.  Then it is time to pray for the peace He has promised His children. Here are some of my favorite verses about His peace.

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. - Psalm 4:8

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace. - Psalm 29:11

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. - John 14:27

‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ - John 16:33

I’ll leave you with a Psalms that speaks directly to the issue of fear.  Consider praying with these words when your fears raise their heads and please pray it for me as well. 

When I am afraid,

I will trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise,

In God I trust; I will not be afraid.

What can mortal man do to me? - Psalm 56:3-4