I am so very thankful for current opportunities to serve the mission community in a variety of ways. I am grateful to you who keep making this possible through your prayers, financial support and encouragement.

Our February trip to Liberia was challenging on a number of levels. The weather was warm– consistently day and night from mid-80 to mid-90 – but the humidity made it feel like a constant sauna. Thankfully there was air conditioning in our bedrooms.  We arrived with a day or two to adjust to jet lag and orient to Liberia.  We were treated to a tour of the new ELWA hospital and a drive through Monrovia, the capital city nearby. We then had three days, at a resort area an hour away, for the Spiritual Life Conference.  We took a program on living in families, featuring Adam and Eve. Over and over parents expressed their appreciation of our service to provide for their children while they were in sessions that refreshed and fed them.  We were then able to do some resting, and a small amount of shopping from several local vendors who were invited to share specialty goods they craft to support themselves.  The last task we had was to sort a shipment of medical supplies that had arrived six months previously. Due to a shortage of workers, and a lack of knowledge to which department it belonged, this inventory had not been sorted.  We had two members of our group who could identify and organize the sorting and our team unpacked pallets of goods and sorted them into operating room supplies, patient gowns, syringes, orthopedic supplies and other categories.  In two days the warehouse was sorted! Broad smiles and profusions of thanks assured us the work was greatly appreciated.

The team returned to the States and I hopped over to spend a long weekend with Corey, Katie, and the girls in Senegal.  Emma and Molly had a midterm break and we vacationed at a spot near their school on the coast.  It was far too short, but we did enjoy being together and celebrating Molly’s 14^th birthday!  It was also a great blessing to spend some time with a new couple in Senegal, the Gallaghers, as they came to celebrate a milestone in their language training.  It was so good to see them in Senegal after all the prayers and efforts of walking with them through the year they worked to get to the field.

Soon after I returned to the USA and rested a bit from jet lag, I was asked to help in the kitchen preparing meals for 50 candidates and family members for the SIM week-long training event (SIMGo) for future missionaries.  It is a great blessing to be able to assist these people answering God’s call on their lives to serve him around the world in full-time missions.

In reviewing our trip to Liberia, our team sees a need to have materials prepared in advance available for other country’s Spiritual Life Conference teams and we are working on exploring what we can do to arrange this sort of thing.  It is a true privilege to serve missionaries on the field so they can be refreshed and renewed in this way.  They then are able to return to their areas of service energized and strengthened.

At the same time, I am working on completing another edition of the prayer calendar, By Prayer.  I am constantly amazed at God’s provision of just the right wording for requests to fit the space available and pack the greatest amount of meaning in those few words.  Frequently I hear back comments, “the prayer request you edited is perfect,” or “Your rendition is perfect! THANKS!!” I know it is NOT my ability, but God’s! Every issue grows my relationships with the 86 contributors with whom I correspond.  One contributor wrote in with an apology for being a little late, and included this testimony, “We believe in [By Prayer] and we are glad that we get the opportunity to serve along with you in this [ministry].”  It is a distinct pleasure to serve together in this valuable ministry of prayer. 

Last week in chapel I brought an urgent prayer request to Charlie, the director of Celebration and Prayer at SIM USA:  a couple on the field who had a short-term team with them for the weekend and had planned to show the Jesus film in three different villages.  This involves taking a gasoline powered generator to the villages to run the projector and sound system to show the movie.  For several days prior to these planned showings there had been no gasoline available in their remote town.  Charlie announced at 9:00 a.m. in morning chapel their need for 20 liters of gasoline to run the generator for these three showings for the next three nights, and we prayed.  Within two hours a truck had arrived in town and they were able to get the needed 20 liters, even though they were rationing the gasoline in five-gallon increments.  It is wonderful to see direct answers to prayers.

Because I see answers like these, and a history of many answered prayers in my life, I solicit your prayers for me at this time of serious concern.  Upon return from Liberia I have had to earnestly examine my support account.  The February report shows giving for the last five months has averaged around 42% of what has been my budget requirement.  In order to remain in good standing with SIM financially, something must drastically change.  Accordingly, I met with the budget department this week and decreased my budget by 30% in an effort to make the money that does come in last longer.

I do plan to start receiving Social Security this year, significantly reducing my support needs, but there are seven more months before that happens.  Even after I start Social Security, I will still need ministry funds to continue to participate in short-term trips to fields to help with Spiritual Life Conferences and other service opportunities that arise.  Please pray with me for the additional $1,200 per month that is needed through October, as well as continued ministry fund support into the foreseeable future.

I thank God daily for your prayers and support.  I can tell you are praying in the many ways I see God acting in each day.  Without you lifting me up, I would be able to do nothing.  Please continue to pray diligently on my behalf so I can continue to serve faithfully.

Be sure to look at the 40+ pictures from my trip!

Praises:

• A meaningful service to the Liberia team in their SLC
• Safe travels for the whole team there and back
• The completion of the SIMGo week for the new missionaries training, and the energy to help prepare delicious meals each day
• Continued production of meaningful prayer requests processed through By Prayer

Prayers:

• Wisdom to know how to rearrange finances with reduced income
• Support funds to increase the $1,200 per month needed until October
• Donors to contribute to ministry activities for the long term
• Guidance in evaluating how to plan in advance in helping country SLC events

Is there something I left out you have questions about? Email me and ask!  So much happened, I can’t put it all here!