May Update: The Good the Bad and the Sad

Greetings All!

May was another full month around the Jacobsen household - some of it good, some of it not so good - but the preparations for our Kenya trip continue.

We found out that the specific village where the new church will be located is called Akala.  Akala is situated in Nyanza, Kenya - not Bondo (as originally thought) although Bondo is very nearby.  I'm not going to change the blog name or anything at this point, but it is great to know the name of the actual place where we will be ministering in.  What we don't know yet is the name of the pastor, but I'm sure we'll have it soon.  I suspect the new pastor is finishing up his studies at the bible college right now and getting ready for graduation and his move to Akala.

Please note the changes on the blog header, specifically the scripture.  This is the passage we chose for our team t-shirts.  We will wear it proudly as we travel to Kenya on July 17th and since many of our translators will receive shirts as a thank you gift, this vision of heaven will continue to be seen throughout Kenya and Uganda when our native team members head back to their homes.  Cool, huh?

This scripture is a description of heaven and thinking of heaven reminds me of how much I love worshipping with our African brothers and sisters.  Every morning in-country we meet together in the new church building to worship and pray together then receive a short devotional before heading out on the trails.  Our hosts are very kind to sing some songs in English, but my favorite part is when we sing in Swahili or Luo.  I have very little idea of what the actual words are, but it doesn't matter.  I just sing in English then listen as our collective languages melt together in harmony and fill those little churches with lush and unabashed worship to God.  It is absolutely beautiful!

Now, for some good news, bad news and sad news.

Good News - Papa Gary ended up with back surgery, but is healing well and doing better every day.  Even though he is laid out in a rehab hospital, he still took the time to find himself a replacement for the trip. I'm happy to announce that Mr. Tommy Alford will be joining us this year in Kenya.  Tommy brings a wealth of life and ministry experience to the team, plus he's just a really nice man so we're excited to have him with us this year.

More Good News - Our team had a garage sale yesterday that went very well.  So many people helped to make our fundraiser a success from the generous people who gave us their junk uh, I mean treasures
to the many, many people who stopped by to shop.  It was hard, sweaty work, but it was fun to hang out with team members and I'm so thankful we were able to do it.  A special shout-out of thanks to the Wimberley Christian Church who allowed us to have the sale on their property (prime location on the edge of downtown) and to Tom and Brenda Cavazos, two of the most dedicated and hard-working people that I know.

We are parking cars at Market Days NEXT WEEKEND so come by and support our good cause!

Bad News - Many friends and family have blessed us with financial donations towards our trip and I thank you so much for your generosity.  I have a long list of thank you notes to write, yet even though our fundraising has gone well, David and I are still not fully funded for this trip.  With the knowledge that airline tickets must be purchased this next week we have been scrutinizing whether or not we should both be going this year.  We honestly do not feel led by God to cancel out at this point but yikes - the trusting God for provision (in this case, financial provision)  is hard for me!  Would you please pray for us?  Seriously, we need it and this past month, more than any other, God has emphasized how precious and important our prayers are.  Which brings me to...

...Sad News - Our friends, the Patterson family, lost a precious daughter this month when God saw fit to bring her home to him much earlier than any of us wanted.  You may have noticed Chrissie's prayer button on our blog and hopefully you clicked onto the link and already know about her.  If not, please do.  Her struggle for life since April 19th was difficult, yet beautiful in so many ways.  God worked real miracles in and around the Patterson family and although things didn't go the way I wanted them to, my faith has grown as I have prayed and wrestled with God over the fate of that little girl.  I couldn't really give a May update without mentioning Chrissie to you because I have been mentally and spiritually very occupied with her since April. 

As my African family has taught me, "God is good all the time - All the time, God is good" so I choose to trust in him alone even when I'm worried and anxious and especially when I am sad. 

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day!

- Julie

Papa Gary

"Papa" Gary Welch, Mukaluka, Uganda '08

It is with great sadness that I announce a shift in our Mission Team Line-up.  Dr. Gary Welch, a veteran team member and the man responsible for bringing this work to Cypress Creek Church, was badly injured in a motorcycle accident last week and will not be able to join us this year.  It was a close call - I mean real close - since he was thrown from the bike and landed flat on his back just inches away from a sawed off metal pipe coming out of the ground.  We're so happy he eluded death, but know that it will be a hard for him to recover from a broken back.  Our prayers are with you Gary!

Gary has participated in 11 African mission trips.  I get the details confused, but I think he first attended with a church in Houston, then somewhere along the line got his brother involved, who then over time got his church in Colorado Springs involved, then Gary managed to get some guys from our church to attend a trip, which eventually led to our church becoming involved and so on...and so on...Gary has been a man of great influence.

Such is the way of it.  When God works something into a person's life it's usually not just for that person alone but also to benefit that person's circle of influence and ultimately to bring glory to God.  Think of it, this one man has been part of opening Christian churches in 11 different areas of Africa.

That means he has walked the trails in 11 different regions, visited with probably hundreds of people over the years, shared the gospel with hundreds of people, entered prisons and schools all over Africa, entered countless homes, encountered countless orphans and widows, etc.  Gary has seen young men from earlier trips first receive the Lord, then grow in the Lord, enter Bible school and now work as servants for the Lord.

Gary has been a faithful benefactor of these trips, offering not only his time, but his resources as well.  Not only has he helped build up the people of these 11 different regions, but he has oftentimes helped build the physical building as well.  Whenever Morris and Aidah make their yearly visit to the states, it is Gary and his lovely wife Brenda who invite them into their home and share life with them.  The Welch family is a generous family.

As a team member, Gary has encouraged and counseled many, many people as they take their first steps of faith into the mission field.  What I enjoy so much about Gary is that he is not only a very wise man, he also happens to be a very fun man to be around.  They call him "Papa" in Africa and let me tell you, the name fits in more ways than one.

However, if you were to ask Gary to describe himself, he'd probably tell you that he is just a man.  I would agree.  Gary is just a man who said "yes" to what God called him to do and through him, God has done some awesome things!

It is the same for every member of our team.  We're just people.  We're not perfect people with stellar spiritual profiles.  We come from all walks of life and bring to the table our own set of insecurities and flaws.  The one thing we have in common is that for now, we have said "yes" to something we believe God has called us to do.  [Please, my friends, pray for our team!  We need God's protection and provision to get this work done.]

For all of you reading this blog, you too are just a person - one person - but our God is an AWESOME God!  Do you know that God has big plans for you?  Do you know that your life has influence in the world?  Do you know that God loves you?  Do you know that God loves the word "yes"?

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."- Jeremiah 29:11-13

Papa Gary, thank you for all you have done and for touching so many lives, my own included.  We're going to miss you this year.

- Julie

April Report

Hello Again!

After spending March hyper-focused on fundraising, it was nice to relax in April and think about other things for a while.  As mentioned in my last post, I have updated the blog-site with a new look and a new name so for all you "Eating for Africa" subscribers, please don't spam me when you see the new name "Go Bondo 2010".

April was BUSY!  We started the month by celebrating Easter then a couple of weeks later, I had a birthday.  I tried to ignore it and honestly kept forgetting it was even coming, but my loving friends and family kept reminding me that yes, I'm another year older!  The family took me out to eat and blessed me with an awesome gift that we have all been enjoying...a Vitamix blender.  Yes, I wanted it for health reasons, but it sure makes a mean milk-shake! 

Five days after the birthday, Dave and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary.  It was a low-key celebration this year and had it not been for dear friends cooking us dinner that night, we probably wouldn't have done much at all.  Now before you start scolding us for letting the romance fizzle, we had spent a very active weekend just prior to the anniversary eating out, seeing movies, etc.  I am so blessed to have Dave in my life.  He is my best friend and it is great living life with him!

Soon after our anniversary, I had the pleasure of attending a Beth Moore workshop with my Mom.  It was really great to study God's Word with my her.  It was a new experience for us and it was so wonderful!  Another fun dynamic of that weekend was that I got to road-trip up there with a girlfriend of mine so that was a ton of fun too.

Yet despite all this fun stuff, the event that has most captured my attention during April was the open heart surgery of Chrissie Patterson [click on her button to link to her story].  Chrissie is the 4 year old daughter of our friends, Matt and Lorraine Patterson.  She was adopted from Serbia and has major heart defects that I won't even begin to explain well.  The Patterson family has been an inspiration to many people this month by sharing very honestly the struggles they have endured with Chrissie's health via their blog.  Most inspiring is how God has been showing His presence each and every day of this ordeal.  Along with many others, I have been praying for Chrissie and it has been awesome to see how God has answered those prayers.  Please take the time to visit Lorraine's blog [again, Chrissie's button found on the right side of this page will link you to it], scroll back to April 19th and check out the story for yourself.

Now May is upon us and once again I must turn my focus to our upcoming trip.  Please pray for our team that we would be spiritually prepared for the work God has for us.  Please also pray for God's continued provision in financing the physical church building and all the team expenses.

A special shout-out of thanks to all of you who have shown support for our trip.  I am blown away your generosity and friendship and hope to one day return the favor to you.  FYI, we only have one month to go for getting our airline ticket money turned in.  So far we are about $1,000 away from airline tickets and an additional $3,000 from being completely financed for in-country expenses.  We need your prayers that Dave and I will be able to discern what else we can or should do to raise more of our funds. 

That's it for now.  Just wanted to let all of you know that I hadn't abandoned the blog, April was just a very full month.

Hoping your May is outstanding!

- Julie