The Deadline Day - December 15!

What a finale to these last 7 weeks of waiting on the Lord to see if He would bring in the funds to purchase the training center in Nampula!  On Sunday, 8 pledges came in and we went to bed Sunday night our time with a balance of $611,160. (The balance the Sunday before was $558,155). We woke up this morning and found 13 emails waiting in our email inbox.  (Remember we are 8 hours ahead of US central time so people had been writing while we had been sleeping!)


I started opening the emails and started typing in the pledges to the list.  My excel program kept up with the math!  What a blessing each and every pledge was! 


Several people wrote to pledge additional funds, above and beyond what they had already offered!  Then there were pledges from family members....2 different sets of parents talked with their adult children and we received pledges from their children.  One family spoke to their parents, and their parents gave a pledge!  What a beautiful thing to see generations serving the Lord with their finances!


One veteran YWAM missionary wrote to say that we were on his heart.  He had been in a situation like this several times and having been there, he was praying for us.   He also gave a pledge as a symbol of his standing with us!


Two of our YWAM bases here in Mozambique sent sms s on the phone to pledge amounts -- they were feeling like their pledge of $100 was nothing compared to the enormity of the project.  Oh, but how they blessed us with their hearts to stand with us as Mozambican colleagues, friends, members of the same YWAM family!


One family pledged a significant amount and said to let them know if we needed more.  By the end of the morning, we stood at an amazing $685,000.  We let this family know where we stood and they promptly gave enough to bring us up to $700,000!  Wow!  What a joy to be able to offer SIL $700,000 for the purchase of the training center.


May the Lord be praised for all He has done!  We talked with our YWAM Mozambique leader this afternoon and he was encouraged!  He commented that missions has a history of God's amazing provision and there are lots of books that record these accounts of God's greatness.  But sometimes, we think that that was in the past and wonder if such a provision could occur in our day and age.  This is an example of the truth that our God is the same yesterday, today and forever! What a privilege to be part of God's story!


So now we wait on SIL's answer to what God has provided.  We pray for a unity in the Spirit and a peace in the decision.


Thanks for all your prayers!

7 days to go!

We are in the final count down!  We are trusting God to be God in this challenge -- we believe and know and trust that He is all powerful, that He is good, and that He is sovereign in our lives and in this Nampula challenge.


Today, pledges for $10,500 came in, bringing our total to $570,155 pledges received with $329,845 remaining.  One person shared how they had prayed about giving, had then read and felt the Lord speaking to them through Hebrews 13:16, and proceeded to send in their pledge.  We are humbled and blessed to be witnesses of the obedience, love, and sacrifice of God's people!


Thanks for your prayers.  The children are all better and our energy has picked up somewhat.  Today we meet again as a team for prayer.  There is nothing like meeting together as God's people to pray together!  Thank you for joining us in prayer -- even though miles separate us. 

One more quick update:


In the past 3 days we have received pledges for another $25,980 bringing our total to $545,215!  We have come a long ways!  All praise to our Mighty God!  That leaves the remaining pledges needed at $354,785.


We appreciate your continued prayers!  We are tired and dragging.  Last week's seminar was very good with about 35 participants (and 25 children playing outside).  But it was a busy week as well.  And 3 of our 4 kids have picked up a bug going around the seminar of a 24 hour fever.  And we are all a bit down and under the weather. 


And we are very aware that there are 12 days left to the deadline of December 15 of having all the total pledges received and ready to present to SIL, the sellers of the training center for their final proposal.  So thank you for standing with us in prayer as we wait on the Lord through these last days! 

End of another week report

We are thankful to be able to say that we have received at least one pledge per day this past week.  Our total now stands at $518,135 pledged with a remaining $381,865 to go.


The temptation to doubt and worry exists when we look at the $381,865 left.  What a big number!  But our God is bigger!


But the Lord encouraged me through Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."


One of YWAM's values is to work as a team.  We experienced the blessing of a team this past Thursday as we met again to pray for Nampula.  Victor and I had been discouraged about the amount remaining.  But as we came together in prayer again as a team, the Lord reminded us of all He has done so far!  We exchanged worry for thanksgiving, doubts about the future for remembering God's faithfulness up to now.  We left the meeting with lighter hearts. 


And remember the story about our girls wanting to give their coins for the center?  Well, when their friends, ages 8 and 10, heard about it, they were not to be outdone.  They had gone on the trip with their parents and Victor to Nampula and saw firsthand the training center.  When they got back home, they picked up the hoes and went out to hoe the family garden, working with all their hearts, to earn some money to give their very own contribution for the center as well.  The first week of December, our team will be taking up an offering again and the children will proudly bring their gifts before the Lord as well!  This has been our heart -- to see whole families with a heart for serving the Lord! 


I've tried pasting some pictures but the website is not allowing me to upload the pictures for some reason.  I'll keep trying but for today, I'll sign off.


Thanks for your continued prayers and for watching and waiting with us.....until December 15!

Quick update...

The total this evening stands at:


$515,485  pledged with a remaining $384,515 remaining!  We are getting there, bit by bit!


Keep praying with us for the full amount to come in!


Pray also for Victor and the team who will have a LONG day of traveling tomorrow as they travel back from Nampula.

More stories...

More stories of how God is working!


The most recent donors:  Victoria and Clara Selemani -- Amount: about 35 cents a piece!  It happened like this.

I just finished reading the Bible with the girls and we prayed again about Nampula together.  After Clara finished, she got all excited and said, "Mom, I want to give my spending money for the center!"  My reflex thought was, "Don't bother.  The coins won't make much of a difference." 

But as I processed the thought, Victoria, the older wiser sister blurted out the thought, "No, Clara.  It won't make a difference." 

By then, my processing had got me to the point of, "Well, what if everyone who is giving thought that way?  My gift is too small and so I won't give."   So Victoria, not to be left behind, quickly said she wanted to give as well.

But the idea was still rolling around our heads 10 minutes later as the girls climbed into bed -- into my bed.  See, Victor is gone to Nampula and the deal at our house is when Dad is gone, the kids get to take turns sleeping with Mom!  So tonight was their night!

So Victoria asked again, "Will the bank take our coins or do we have to have --what do you call it, Mom?"  "Bills."  "Yes, bills.  Don't we have to have bills to give?"  I explained that enough coins will eventually equal a bill.

Then I brought up the story of the boy who offered his lunch to Jesus.  Did he say it was too small?  What matters is the heart of giving and WHO we give it to.  God is able to multiply what we give Him and it will be enough. 

And then Clara wiggled and said with shining eyes, "I'm so excited!   Not about sleeping in bed with Mom but about giving to the center!"     Thank you, Lord, for using this to teach her the joy of giving to You!

Another donor:

A missionary friend working in Azerbaijan sent in a pledge and then added: "I just wanted to say that I have really been encouraged by your step of faith.  My small team of one local family and me are trying to buy only one house and have a payment coming up in just 3 months of only $40,000.  After I saw how much God provided for you in pledges I was so encouraged about how much God can provide.  Thanks for helping build my faith!  God will provide all you need and all that we need!" 

Amen!  Thank you, Father, for encouraging this sister and we do ask You to provide all that that team needs for Your work to continue in that country!

Update

Well, with a few more pledges sent in in the past couple days, our totals stand at $512,170 pledged with a remaining $387,830 to go!  We are making progress! 


One significant gift was a 500 meticais (equivalent to $15 USD) gift given by the Chinonyelo cha Issa (translated Love of Jesus) Yao house church here in Lichinga.  This gift is probably 2 or 3 month's worth of church offerings as most of the members (6-10 people) do not have monthly salary.  One family from their group has committed to go with us to Nampula to start this new work.  So it is significant that this home church is standing with us and that they did not feel like their gift was too small to give!  Indeed, God asks us to give what we have and He will multiply it.  This act of giving blessed us so much, coming from our Yao brothers and sisters!


Tomorrow Victor leaves with a car full of teammates for Nampula.  Pray for a safe trip and good time together as teammates.  He plans to return on Tuesday.