Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support over the past few years. God has used you to help plant a church and minister personally to many in Moshi, Tanzania. We are abundantly blessed to have had the opportunities to live, learn and minister there.
As you have heard from our last few emails, the Lord has allowed us to walk through many trials in Tanzania: health, family, ministry and immigration challenges. Upon returning to the states, God allowed us the opportunity to talk and pray through many of these challenges with our pastor and counselor. God has used these things to grow us in a tremendous way in our relationship with Him and closer as a family. It has also given us more wisdom concerning ministry. During this time of growth, God was preparing us to consider a field change. We were resistant at first but through months of prayer and counsel, we saw God transitioning our path to South Africa.
God brought South Africa across our path five years ago when we met the John Matney family during our BIMI training. Over the years, we have kept in contact with them, sharing prayer requests and growing closer as friends. In January, Kelli was medically evacuated from Tanzania to South Africa. Upon her release from the hospital, John allowed our family to live with them for a month until Kelli was stable enough to travel to America. This month really bonded our families. During this time, John had communicated to us about the many opportunities for ministry in his area and the lack of workers. We prayed with him that God would provide help.
After returning to America, God started planting the thought and desire to minister in South Africa into my heart. I prayed about it a lot before mentioning it to anyone else. A few months ago, after knowing the challenges of obtaining long term visas in Tanzania, John asked me to seriously pray about helping them in Durban, South Africa. I contacted my pastor and asked him to join us in praying about this opportunity. After months of prayer and communication with the Matneys, our pastor and our mission board, the decision to move to South Africa was made. We are thankful for the wisdom that God gave and for the opportunities that He has prepared for us. We plan to leave for South Africa in November.
We have been in communication with John to get specifics regarding future ministry options. When we arrive, we will work with John in his church plant in Durban and get our family settled. Recently, our friends were able to sell most of our things in Tanzania, which has provided what we need to set up a home in Durban. We love seeing God’s hand in these details. As for what the future may look like, John has asked me to help in his church planting efforts by implementing a discipleship and counseling program in his church and to start a youth program. He has also mentioned the opportunity to teach Bible in the public schools. John’s church has a ministry at the shipyard. Through this ministry, they have become aware of a group of refugees from East Africa that speak Swahili and need Swahili Bibles. We are hoping that the Lord allows us an opportunity to use our Swahili to minister to these people. We have personally spoken to many of you regarding this transition. We appreciate your prayers and encouragement.