update! :)

Dear friends and family, January 18, 2011

Thank you so much for your prayers and support of me. I am so encouraged to see how the Lord is answering prayer and working in my heart as I prepare for serving Him in Kenya at RVA. Our family was able to enjoy such a special time together over the holidays. The anniversary of my Mom’s home going to her Savior is coming up in a few days, and it has been especially hard the last few weeks with missing her. But God is so faithful to encourage me and my family with special memories of our times together, through the love we share, and that the family of God continues to pour out love and prayers for us. So thank you for being part of that! I am sorry it has taken me so long to get an update out; I will try to make sure that does not happen again. J

Update on Kenya plans. I have sent in all the paperwork and needed applications for visas and passport info. The Lord has been faithful to provide financial support too and I am excited to see how He continues to work in that. I still need about $4,000 outgoing funds and about $1,500 in monthly pledges. Please be praying with me that in God’s perfect timing the money will come in and I would be able to leave in July as planned. I found out last week that July 14^th is (Lord willing) the day I will fly out from Newark, NJ . (We fly out from the AIM headquarters) There is a big group of outgoing missionaries flying together to Nairobi where we will participate in a 2 week African Based Orientation. Many of the friends I met in August at the AIM candidate week will be going at that time. We are all so excited about the fact we will get to take this step together. The Lord is so good to provide these relationships within the family of God that help to encourage each other and also ease some of the pain that happens with leaving behind loved ones.

I would like to share with you something the Lord has been teaching me the last couple months in the hope that it will encourage you and you will be blessed through it like I have been. God has been teaching me about the importance of living a Gospel centered life. Where I recognize that living my life with the Gospel at the forefront of my life is always how it should be. One of the ways I have been blessed in learning this is in my relationships with fellow believers. I have been encouraged in my walk with the Lord as I have been reading through the Bible with my church this last year. One of the things I found so encouraging was having conversations with friends about these scriptures. Or about things God had been teaching us. I have found that hearing other’s perspectives and what God is working on in their hearts has encouraged me and challenged me to seek out God’s truth for my own life. I think that when we are having these Gospel centered conversations it is a taste of the riches that Christ promises us we have a share in and we get to participate in the blessings that come with that.

· Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

· Also in Ephesians 4:12-16, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no-longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

I hope you are encouraged by what God has been teaching me. I am so thankful for you and pray that God will bless you as you go about your life in this New Year. I am thankful for your friendship and love. Please let me know if there is anything specific I can be praying about for you.

Prayer requests:

-My family as we miss my Mom and remember her home-going.

-heart preparation as I realize the time is coming quickly when I will have to say “goodbye” to my family and friends for a little while. (or a long time depending on how you look at it!! J)

-financial support to come in God’s timing

-diligence for me to get working on the Bible classes I need to take online this spring.

-My dad is in Kenya for 3 months serving at Kijabe. He is already missing the family so please be praying for comfort and also strength as he adjusts to new surroundings and new challenges that come with working at a new hospital in Kenya.

Thank you my friends!

Love,

Amy