Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Our New Fashion Line

Well, we have discovered a new talent- T-shirt designing! We saw these iron on transfer sheets that you can print whatever you want on, and decided to try it on some of Ricks work shirts- it turned out pretty good, but we will have to see if it will withstand the washing machine before we create any more! The picture on the shirt was taken by a friend of Francois (one of the missionaries we will be working with in Mozambique) When we saw this picture we both felt there was such beauty in it, and that it is symbolic of the ministry of SAMM.
God has been blessing us in so many ways recently. Just this week someone gave us a gift of 200$ specifically to help with car and travel expenses. The very next day we discovered our car was in desperate need of two new tires. The bill for replacing them came to exactly $198.43. God is amazing!!!
Also- the expected LOOOOONNNGGGG lines at the passport office never came! I went in today to apply for my passport and was in and out of the office in about 10 minutes. Not that it is really that big of a deal. But it was nice to spend so little time waiting when you had geared yourself up for 3 to 4 hours of boredom!
We really want to say thank you to all of you who have been praying for us, and to those of you who have been supporting us as well. Please continue to pray with us that our monthly support level will be raised! Excluding the sundays before and after Christmas, we are booked to speak in churches until the end of January, and most of February as well. We are excited for these opportunities, but we covet your prayers for safety while travelling. God Bless!

Monday, November 12, 2007

The Gift Puppy

God is so awesome and so faithful. God promises that as we seek after Him and His will, that he will always take care of us and meet our needs. Heather and I both know that God has called us to move to Africa, to serve the hurting, hungry, and sick in Mozambique. Before we can do that we need to both pay off our existing debts, (Line of credit, and student loan) and find people willing to financially partner with us in supporting us in our calling. We have had many people come on board to help us in raising our mission support, and we have also had people graciously give us money personally to help with our debt.
This has been so much appreciated and such an answer to prayer. That is where the Gift Puppy comes in.
In the last couple of weeks God has has used several friends to help us rapidly pay off our student loan. Finally, we were getting close to paying off one of our two debts. Only $1500 left. $300 we had in savings for the next payment, and then a friend sends us $500, and quickly we are down to Just over $700. Then this Sunday we are approached by somebody from our church who gave us almost exactly what we needed- $800, and a story about God's faithfulness.
You see she had a friend who regularily sold puppies, and felt that they should commit to bless one puppy buyer from each litter by giving them the puppy for free. They would pick a puppy from each litter before they were sold and when the lucky buyer went to pay for the puppy they would find out they got it for free. What a blessing. But what happens when her friends dog has complication and only 1 puppy, a c-section and an expensive vet bill. Do they honour their commitment to give away the only puppy, or do they sell it to help with the vet bill. Well, despite a huge loss of income with no puppies to sell the owners suprise the lucky buyer of thier only puppy as they continue to gift a puppy. Now, despite making nothing they still have to pay an expensive vet bill. That's were it get's interesting. When they go to pay the vet bill they find out that it has already been paid in full. You see, without them knowing it, one of the people who worked on the dog, was the one who purchased the puppy. They then, realizing the sacrifice made, paid the vet bill. God is awesome.
This story in turn inspired our friends to also gift a puppy. They decided that they would take the proceeds and return some to the owner, and then gift the rest to help us get to Africa. And it only gets better. When she spoke to the lucky puppy owner they not only said that they would like to give their gift to help us, but that they would do it receipt free and direct to us for the student loan. So praise the Lord. Thanks to so many friends, and the cutest little puppy, we will be paying off our student loan in full this week. Now we are down to one loan, and raising support and we head for Africa. God is so awesome.
Thanks to all our friends in Grunthal, Killarney, and around the country who are showing us such love and support as we prepare for Africa. We love you guys.