Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers for our family over the last few months! We’ve seen the Lord answer in so many wonderful ways, which we’d like to share with you.
Amy’s US Permanent Residency
The interview in Montreal in June was successful and Amy was granted an immigrant visa the following week. On July 1st, we crossed the US border and traveled to Nate’s hometown. Amy’s permanent resident card arrived last week in the mail so it’s all official now. We’re going to be living here until early January, when we hope to return to Sudan.
Getting ready for Baby
The Lord provided a great team of midwives that we’ve been seeing for prenatal care and a hospital where the baby will be born, just south of here in Pennsylvania. We’re gearing up for her arrival—she’s due very soon now, on Sept. 3rd!
We have a place to bring her home to now as well. Last week we moved into a house that we’ll be renting for the next 5 months and we’re enjoying getting settled here. It was so exciting to finally unpack our suitcases and put clothing in drawers for a while. Several people from our church have graciously lent us furniture and kitchen essentials—it’s amazing how it all came together.
Home Assignment Ministry
We are continuing to connect with our supporting churches and some new churches here and the surrounding area. We have several opportunities to share about the ministry in Sudan or serve the church in some way during the month of August and will continue in the fall after the baby comes. On the weekend of August 8-9, we were in central NY to present at a church there. We had the Sunday school hour to share the Lord’s work in Sudan and then presented a missions drama before Nate preached in the worship service.
Financial Update
After doing a careful review of our monthly support over the last few months, we’ve concluded that we’re receiving 71% of the new “small family” level that we need to have in place before we return to Sudan. That means that we still need to raise $1694 US per month. You may remember that that is a similar figure to the one we gave in our spring letter. We’ve lost some support in the last few months but then recently have had quite a few individuals and 2 churches join our support team as well as several others that are interested so we are encouraged that the Lord is providing for us. Please continue to pray for His provision and if He should lead you to help support us, be in touch somehow. We are so thankful for the many people that stand by us in prayer and financial support!
SIM Koma-Ganza ministry in Sudan
Throughout this year, we’ve been asking people to pray for the unreached Koma and Ganza peoples of South Sudan and for the formation of a team to live among them and share the Gospel. Within the last few weeks, an exciting step forward was taken by a group of our teammates in Yabus along with 3 Sudanese church leaders. They took a trip on foot deep into the heart of the Ganza land to find where the main villages are located and to meet with chiefs and villagers. They were well received and were able to find out useful information about water sources and people’s livelihoods and begin to share about who God is. They found that the people were eager to hear and to learn. Such exciting news!
Following this trip, the team has made recommendations as to where a base for Ganza ministry might be located. Please pray for wisdom and the leading of the Spirit as the challenges are great: remote area with limited roads, very few water sources, spiritual darkness – an opportunity for the Lord to show His great power and love for these people! Please continue to pray that He will guide our involvement in this ministry upon our return to Sudan.
Thank you for your prayers!
Blessings,
Nate & Amy
