Wednesday, January 28, 2009

New photos

Painting the mural

David and Lori mailed a slug of new photos, so I scanned them in and posted them to the Flickr photo blog today.

The photos include several ones of the mural being painted in the Kindergarten classroom. Visiting team members, staff, seminary students, and even Lori contributed to the painting.

New photos also include ones of flowers, people, the Nutrition Clinic, and the Dispensary.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Pray as David, Lori return to Congo

The road to Mulungwishi

An email today from David today asks us to pray for he and Lori as they travel back to the DR Congo. The road is hard, from physical dirt road conditions to the hassle of getting bags through customs -- in fact, Lori calls it "hassling the bags through customs".

The trip usually entails flying to Kitwe, Zambia, then driving up through Lubumbashi, on to Likasi, finally reaching their Mulungwishi home. It's a long, slow trip.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

2008 slides into 2009

David and Lori

Time is running by us … Help! It is the New Year! Happy New Year and we pray that this beginning season is blessed by Our Lord’s grace and peace in your lives. We wanted to let you know about the events that have slowed down our return to Congo.

Medical leave

We had originally returned to the States in October to itinerate in New Mexico. Our plans were to return to Congo in mid-December. But during the itineration, Lori had some problems with heart burn and chest discomfort. When we returned to Denver, she visited her primary care physician who ran an EKG. The result was that there was a change in the EKG from the one she had had previously. The GBGM then put us on medical leave in order to find an answer to this problem.

Needless to say, this brought on stress tests which were positive, then a heart cath! ... Which was negative! Yea! We have appreciated the good support from Dr. Tom Maddox, a cardiologist who visited us at Mulungwishi this year. He set us up with a friend for the heart cath. Therefore the weeks leading up to Christmas were somewhat stressful and crazy! Not in our plans at all!

We know many of you have been praying for us and we are so thankful and aware of the Lord’s keeping and healing. Lori has had a couple of other tests and they are negative so we are heading back to Congo the 25th of January. We know the Lord is in control.

Christmas at Thanksgiving

Our original plan was to leave before Christmas, and we had our family celebration over Thanksgiving. Andrew and Amber both flew to Denver from Seattle. It was good for us to be together. We celebrated Christmas with Michelle and Jeff and his family. We are thankful to have our place in Denver and to have so many of you around the States as a supportive community.

A year of violence

This past year was surely a very different one and this new one seems to have started with continued violence and suffering for so many … again … still … the Middle East, and the many different African and Asian countries…and again Congo with the horrifying rampaging of Gen. Kunda in the North east. For us it tears our hearts and we wonder how many people, especially women and children have to scream before their cries are heard? Again, we join with you in praying for leaders all over the world and asking you to contact those you know about this. We pray also for the new leadership in our country and for our nation’s heart to change in our policies and dealing with the world around us. We are excited to be here for the inauguration and we keep the new President and our country in prayers.

Prayer requests

  • Our travels and getting back into our ministries in Mulungwishi. We leave Denver on BA Sunday afternoon and arrive in Lusaka, Zambia on Tuesday morning. We hope to have our car meet us and we will take a couple of days on car repairs and supplies. Then drive up to Lubumbashi and have several days there with paperwork and supplies before heading to Mulungwishi. We will be traveling with equipment and things for Mulungwishi.
  • Be also praying for the Seminary and University as they continue to train young people for the Lord’s work.

Thank you again for your caring, encouragement and prayers this last year and we know you will be faithful in keeping Congo and us in your prayers in this New Year. We ask that our Lord’s blessing and grace be with you in your lives and ministries. May His strength be a constant reflection of Christ’s Love to this world.