Our Recent Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,
Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” In this letter we’d like to tell you a bit about the journey we’ve been on and how the Lord has been directing our steps for the future.

Past Journey
This is our first official prayer letter as a married couple! Before we got married, Nate spent a year and a half in Yabus, South Sudan serving in SIM’s adult primary education program as an English and math teacher. Amy spent almost a year in Doro, South Sudan helping to start SIM’s primary health care center as a children’s nurse. We met on the Yabus airstrip in October 2007 and were married on the coast of Kenya on July 5th, 2008.

Present Journey
After we got married, our mission leadership felt it would be best for us to spend a year at home building a strong marriage and sharing with people the vision the Lord is giving us for the future. This is exactly what we’re working on, as well as applying for Amy’s permanent residency in the US. Until now, we’ve spent most of our time in Canada due to immigration restrictions but we hope to move down into the US in March if possible.

We also have some very exciting news to share with you! We’re expecting a baby in early September! We’re thankful for this gift the Lord has entrusted us with and look forward to becoming a family of 3.

Future Journey
Because of the baby’s arrival in September, we are due to return to Sudan in January, 2010. We feel like the Lord is leading us to participate in a new ministry to either the Koma or Ganza, 2 tribes south of Yabus who are largely unreached by the Gospel.

We can’t do it alone! We trust the Lord to raise up many more prayer warriors to stand with us. Also, before we return to the field, we need to raise an additional $1927 US per month for our support account and $280 US per month for our ministry account. This increase is due to a shortfall in our support as singles and to increased costs for a small family. If you have any questions about this, we have a detailed outline of our support needs that we can share with you. We trust that God will be faithful to provide for us, as He has in the past. We will attach a gift form to any email, which will explain how to support our ministry, should the Lord lead you that way. Or give online at:

http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/donate

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support in our journey thus far! We intend to send out a prayer letter 4 times a year through CRISTA Missionary Letter Service (so open mail from them!!), and keep you updated for prayer requests by emailing our prayer team. Please send us your postal/email address if you’d like to receive things. God bless!