RETURNING TO THE FIELD . . .
Generic photos courtesy of IMB.org
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We hope and trust that many of you with whom we visited and spoke to over the past six months were able to sense a passion and joy in our hearts at having the privilege of serving God in Africa. It’s always been our heart's desire to communicate this message - that it is a joy and honor to be God's ambassadors to the people of Africa. And yet this time, as we approached the day for us to board the plane that brought us back to this continent, there was admittedly some real sadness and reservation. We were saying goodbye to beloved family members once again - with the recognition that we will be missing out on the next three-to-four years of their lives. We were saying goodbye to many beloved church members, some of whom we know won't be around the next time we are back in the States. We were saying goodbye to the relative stability and predictability that daily life in the US offers. All the above and more has made it hard to pack up and return to Africa this time, and yet we know this is where we're supposed to be and there is true joy in being here. I was given permission by another couple, fellow missionaries in Africa, to share the below section from their own recent update as they eloquently described the internal struggle that I tried to describe above: "It is never easy to pack up and return to Africa, but why was it such an onerous thought this time? Maybe, we wondered, it is just a natural function of being almost 60 years old. Or maybe the accumulation of 30 years of the kinds of stresses we mentioned earlier had reached some sort of threshold of unsustainability. Or maybe we just got too comfortable living, as we were, in our own home – something we couldn’t even say when we bunked at Diane’s parents’ place for many years. Likely, it was some combination of these factors. We found it ever so helpful during those waning
days of autumn to remember a simple truth: that the Gospel has always gone forth only
through people doing hard, unpleasant things that they would rather not do,
and that perseverance isn’t really perseverance at all unless it entails
doing something onerous. And our case was no different from any other. So, we prayed for
mercy, we prayed for strength, we boarded our plane, and returned to our ministry country. And
now, we have no regrets, but rather the quiet satisfaction and peace of once
again having done what ought to be done, and not that which, confessedly, we
would rather have done."
Generic photo courtesy of IMB.org  **********************************************************************
SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, February 27 - Adventures in Missions
February 27, Sunday | 5-6 PM EST J & R, Special Guests Faith Promise Missionaries Contact pragan@fba.org in advance for the Zoom log-in details. *****************************************************************************************
Prayer & Praise - February 9-15, 2022
2/9 Bennett & Idong Ekandem
North
American Mission Board, USA
Pray that
the Lord will provide a permanent or long-term space so that this ministry can
assist more families consistently. Despite the challenges with physical space,
they served 47 refugee children in their after-school program last year. Many
children heard the Gospel daily.
2/10 VERAL
& NORMA BLAKE
Ambassadors
for Christ International, West Indies
Pray that
the SVG Cooperative Bank will be favorable to their church, now called
Highpoint Church St. Vincent, in their application for a loan for the purchase
of lands for church building. The positive aspect is that the Chairman of the
Bank is a member of their church. Pray for Veral’s family in the passing of his
sister Cynthia on December 20.
2/11 Robert & Mary Jo Foster
Be One
Together, USA/Brazil
Join in
praying for a return of in-person training for their workshops/clinics. They
are so grateful when they hear of local church training! Recently, a church
along one of the tributaries of the Amazon River posted pictures of 35 children
equipped through their Hope for Kids training! Praise the
Lord for this welcome news!
2/12 Rick & Mary Lynn Atherton
Campus
Crusade for Christ, South Africa
Pray for the
Athertons as they are on furlough in the US until March 2. Pray for their
health and safety during their time here. Pray for special times of discipling
opportunities with their granddaughters while in the US with family.
Praise God for answered prayer for a furlough car through MATS, a
transportation service for missionaries.
2/13 Paul & Karan Davis
TEAM,
France
The new Pastor of the Albertville Church met with the mayor
as scheduled in November. The mayor, pleased that the Pastor had taken this
initiative, shared that he was aware of the need for a larger meeting place and
is open to their search. This open spirit is a major answer to prayer!
2/14 Josh & Gina Bloomfield
AFC
International, Australia
God
is calling individuals and developing ordinary believers who’ve never
lived as a witness before, to begin sharing the Gospel with
boldness. This is the impact of EvangelismSHIFT on an individual's
life! Josh and his teammate Aaron Daniel accepted the invitation to partner
with a church in Perth who wants to cultivate this culture as an entire
congregation. Please pray!
2/15 Mark
& Jana Faus
SIM,
USA/Worldwide
Pray for
Mark’s plans to visit a few countries in southern Africa (Angola and Malawi) in
March to conduct much-needed evaluations and governance training at SIM’s
medical ministry sites. The planning for these trips is somewhat complicated to
facilitate the Covid testing required to transfer from one country to
the next. Pray for wisdom in the planning.
************************************************************************** The Prayer & Praise Calendar is also available on FBA.org/GlobalMissions Share this with your friends. FBA Missions blog https://fbamissions.blogspot.com/
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