29 April 2010

Abigail's Birthday!



A birthday cake with candles is not a common site here in Nimule, S. Sudan.  Here Pastor Michael, Joseph and Gifti, capture the moment forever with their cell phone cameras.  We may not have power or flushing toilets, but we do have cell phones. (The cake is actually a big brownie cooked in a wood stove oven.)  The birthday was for Abigail, the 5-year old daughter of Gifti.






19 April 2010

Prayer for Sudan



Faithful saints of South Sudan praying for their county during Easter holidays.  The first multi-party election since 1986 will be held this coming week.  No one knows for sure what the outcome will be, and the people are concerned.  Many believe that war is eminent, but God only knows.

~Therese



12 April 2010

Adoption Opportunity


It’s been five years and I honestly don’t know where the time has gone.  When we brought him home from the hospital he had spent his life swaddled and without the attention that an infant needs to grow and develop.  He was just a cross eyed squishy baby.  That didn’t last long.  Once the swaddling was off he didn’t want anything to confine him.  He wasn’t even comfortable being held close and would howl until he was set free again. 

It’s been five years since cancer sent his mother home to be with the Lord.  Five years since Trudy and I realized we were going to do everything to do as his mother wished and raise Tian Ci as our own.  At the time, everyone agreed that it would be a simple matter to adopt him.  His single mother had made us legal guardians.  We had assurances from her family that they could not raise the child.  His father was never identified.  It looked as though everything would sail right through. 

It’s been five years and we are no closer to TC’s adoption.  This month, Lord willing, we will go through another home inspection, the last major hurdle to being allowed to adopt.  Though we will be ready in every way we can be, the system is still not ready to accommodate our circumstance.  Our unique situation, knowing TC and raising him all this time, under the current system makes it impossible for us to adopt him.  It seems counter intuitive but it is true.


Please keep us lifted as we pursue every proper opportunity toward Tian Ci’s legal adoption.





07 April 2010

Prayer Needed!


This little boy’s mother died giving birth at the government hospital in Kitgum, so the boy was brought to the Infant Care Center.  In this photo he is only one day old.  Please pray for God to protect him, grow him strong, and show him how valuable and loved he is.

In Christ, 
Erica 


01 April 2010

Update for Natasha

Dear friends and family,
Thank you for praying for my passport and work permit. My application for the new foreign passport was sent to Russia and I am still waiting for my work permit to be approved…
As I wrote in my last update, I’ve been learning how to walk by faith and not by sight, how to fix my eyes on Jesus, and not to concentrate on the storm around me…I was so blessed by all of you who send me words of encouragement and love…Thank you.
The ministry here is going on and I would say that the Spiritual battle is on…Please pray for people in our church to grow in their relationship with Jesus, and not to leave in compromise with sin, to find rest in Jesus and learn how to trust Him.
I was very blessed by the ladies from our tailoring class, even though we finished all the material we have, we still continue to get together to study the book of Ephesians.  Please pray for me as I prepare for the Bible Study for this Wednesday, we are going to study the Spiritual Armor of God Ephesians 6:10-20.
Also pray for Morris, our worship leader, he was sick last week and does not feel very well. Pray that the Lord would refresh Morris through His Word and draw him closer to Himself through this time of trial. Pray for unity between all the musicians…
Please continue to pray for me, that if I would have to leave and go back to Russia to receive my new foreign passport the Lord would take care of every detail…
A lot of things to pray about…J
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”  Ephesians 6:12, 18

Agape,
Natasha