July 2019 Newsletter

​This past month the Lord has been especially good to us in our preparations to move overseas to Northeast Kenya. Kabekona Community Church in the outskirts of Bemidji, MN. invited us to attend their VBS (July 19-21). The purpose was twofold: 1) to help with VBS and 2) to meet the church.

The VBS theme this year was The Incredible Race. The song “LOVE” was powerful. Yes. The Lord can work through children songs! Some of the lyrics were, “Find a way to show some grace. Help your neighbor run the race. Put yourself in second place.” This exemplifies Philippians 2:3-5, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (NKJV). 

The children did not merely sing the song, but they put their song into action. They raised money for our airfare to Kenya! They raised roughly $1,500! We were told that many of the children saved money all year just to give it to the missionaries during VBS week! What an example of Kingdom-mindedness! The top photo shows the race between the girls (pink airplane) and boys (blue airplane) on a string from the United States to Africa. The boys won by 30 cents! The Lord showed us what joyful giving looks like when the little children ran up giggling and laughing while putting their coins in the bucket. Those images will forever be etched into our minds.

Our latest progress of getting to the field is that we are now 80% of our extreme minimum leaving budget. Bethany allowed us to lower it again. We only need $400 per month more pledged before we reach our goal. We trust the Lord will bring in the rest and maintain us on the field. Yes. Even if we are leaving with our minimum amount and will expect support attrition over the time we are overseas. The Lord took us from 5% last September 2018 to 43% this May 2019. Now, in July 2019 we are 80% funded in regards to our first year budget to be able to leave. We trust He will do the rest! God is faithful! As of now, we plan to leave the last week of August 2019. Bethany has told us, “[We] have been in touch with Jason and we are now recommending that you plan your arrival in Kenya for the last week of August (27th or later). That will provide Witts sufficient time to prepare for your arrival.” We are so excited to finally be able to leave and begin ministering in the missions context the Lord called us to. It is now here! We can’t wait to write and update you on our work in the progress of the advancement of the Gospel in Kenya!                                                                                                                            
Thank you for all of your support and prayers! We could not do this without our wonderful and faithful partners. Stay in prayer that this last month goes well and that we do get fielded on time.