April & May 2011 Update

The plane ticket is bought and paid for!!  Yeah & Yikes!  I will board the plane for Cameroon, Africa on July 12 at 10:45am and will return to the States October 12 at 6:25pm. 

In April we wrapped up “volunteer season” here in Dallas, but still have a few that will come and go over the summer months.  We also have our permanent volunteers that live in Dallas, community service students from local high schools & colleges, and church & community groups.  At the end of April (until May 16) I went to Kansas City for partnership development and Easter. 

In May I drove to Geneva, NE to visit a church that sent groups to Dallas in January for the last two years.  It was great to see them again and speak to their church about the work of Bible Translation.  The trip ended with my sister’s wedding shower, it was a great way to end the trip.  We had a GREAT time!

Now I am in Dallas preparing for the next volunteer season which starts in October, and preparing the office for my absence while I am in Africa.

In mid-June I will travel again for partnership development to West Texas, Colorado, then to Montana, and ending up back in Parker, Colorado in early July for my sister’s wedding.

Praise & Prayer Requests

· Praise—I get to go back to Africa to support Bible Translation as a volunteer coordinator, doing a job I love.

· Praise—I get to spend time with my family the week before I leave for Africa. We will all be in Colorado the week of my sister’s wedding. 

· Praise—My financial and prayer partnerships continue to increase.  I am currently at about 68%.

· Please pray that my financial support will continue to increase as I visit a few churches, meet with partners, and hopefully add new ones in June & early July.

· Please pray for the logistics of my travel to see partners & family, and for going to Cameroon. (health insurance, where to live in Dallas when I return, visas, packing,  immunizations, etc…) 

· Please pray that I will acclimate quickly to Africa.  I need to hit the ground running.

· Please pray for Randy and Dana who will be working in the Volunteer Office, in   Dallas, while I am gone.

To Become a Financial Partner:

Online: Go to www.wycliffeassociates.org\links\donatenow

      Enter my first or last name in the “name” field and     search &follow the prompts.

By Check:  Make checks payable to Wycliffe Associates

      Write only account # M08730 on the memo line.

      Send to: PO Box 620368; Orlando, FL 32862

Hail

We had a "little" hail storm! :-)

My New Favorite Song

Blessings - by Laura Story


We pray for blessing

We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,
It's not our home

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

GOODBYE HOME!

Proclaim the Good News

March 2011 Update - Africa!

Most of you know I spent a few months in Zambia, Africa in 2008, and that  I have been hoping that the Lord would open the door for me to go back again one of these days—and He finally has!

This time I will be going to Yaoundé, Cameroon!  I have been asked to fill the volunteer coordinator position there “part-time.”  “Part-time” means that I will be serving in Cameroon April—September, and then come back to the states and serve in Dallas October-March.  This year (2011) will be a little bit different since I am still in the process of raising support.  In May, June, and early July I will be traveling to visit my partners, a few churches, and hopefully welcoming new partners in Missouri, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska & Colorado.  Then the second week of July I will head to Cameroon for about 3 months, where I will work with volunteer teams traveling there for a few weeks at a time. 

Cameroon is slightly bigger than the state of California.  The official languages are French and English.  There are 278 living languages in Cameroon alone.

* 78 have the New Testament or the whole Bible

* 45 have portions of scripture or translations started

* 147 have no scripture at all.  Not one word…

Praise & Prayer Requests

· Praise—I get to go back to Africa and support Bible translation doing a job I love.

· Praise—The “volunteer season” in Dallas went VERY well, with many new volunteers this year.

· Praise—My financial and prayer partnerships continue to increase.

· Please pray that my financial support will continue to increase as I travel to see several partners and hopefully add new ones May—July.  I am currently at about 60%.

· Please pray for the logistics of my travel to see partners & family, as well as logistics for going to Cameroon. (where to live in Cameroon, & Dallas when I return, visas, packing, immunizations, plane tickets, etc…) 

· Please pray that I will acclimate quickly to Cameroon.  I will need to hit the ground running.

Thank you for your prayers, financial support and encouragement!

To Become a Financial Partner:

Online: Go to www.wycliffeassociates.org\links\donatenow

       and follow the prompts.

By Check:  Make checks payable to Wycliffe Associates

       Write only account # M08730 on the memo line.

       Send to: PO Box 620368; Orlando, FL 32862

Volunteer Appreciation Pig Roast

110 people showed up for this dinner. Pig, homemade macaroni and cheese, green beans, Asia coleslaw...and of course brownies. Yum!

John, our new Assoc Center Director of Facilities, roasted the pig starting at about 5AM, and I made the sides and brownies.  Good times for everyone!

Actually, it took me back to some of my favorite memories of childhood.  When I was in my early teen years we lived really close to the lake and had a pontoon boat.  Every summer someone would roast a pig and the ladies would make side dishes and we would all head out to the cove in the boats.  We would have a string of 15+ pontoon boats and several speed boats all tied together.  A big board would be laid across a couple of the boats with the pig in the middle and the side dishes around it.  Lots of fun, family, swimming skiing, tabletopping, tubing....good times with family and friends!