Reflections

Hello friends and family! I'm sorry I don't get to update this site as often as I'd like, but this time you're in for a treat. There is no way to document here all that has gone on since the last time I updated, but enjoy the many pictures I was able to post today - it will give you a taste of what we've been doing. For the last two weeks, a 4-member volunteer team from Georgia has been ministering with us in Palapye and the surrounding villages. Crystal and Emily and I have been planning for this team for many months and it was all worth it! They held assemblies and other programs at 4 schools, ran a VBS for our church, visited church members and their families, shared their testimonies, and basically just poured out God's love for two weeks. Throughout their various programs, more than 250 students responded to invitations to accept Christ as Savior. Please be in prayer for these students and for us as we make plans to follow-up with them. I personally was amazed to see God working. It is so easy to forget how big God is and to get caught up in what we "have to do" instead of seeing how God is working and joining in with Him. The team taught many of the students they met with the children's song "My God is so Big." The words are: My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do...for YOU! And how true that song is! One verse that came up over and over during testimonies and programs while the team was with us was Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans for good and not for disaster; to give you a future and a hope." What a big God He is. He is all-powerful and He is righteous. That means we can believe His promises - like this promise in Jeremiah 29:11. Many young people here (and even older people) don't have hope for their futures. One of the reasons the students we met with responded so positively is that they have never really heard that they can have a future and a hope. Please take some time to praise Him for giving us hope and reason for that hope. Continue to lift up the students who heard of God's love for the first time (or for the 100th time) - we know God's Word never returns void. Also pray for the volunteer team as they travel back to the States and reflect on all they saw and experienced here. Pray for Emily as her family will be visiting for the next 3 weeks. And pray for Crystal, Emily, Shawna (another Journeyman), and I (as well as Em's family) as we will be traveling to Chobe National Park next week for our first real vacation! As always, thank you for your prayers! I love you all!