Prayer for Deb & Elena

These are two of my most favorite people in the world. That's us, above, two weeks ago in Seattle. Deb is on the left, and Elena's on my right. Deb and Elena are my friends, encouragers, prayer warriors, roommates, coworkers, sources of laughter, partners in crime, beach bum buddies, rummy on the porch opponents and the two people that keep me (somewhat) sane when I'm in Liberia! After a short time at home to rest, fundraise and to visit with family and friends, they left this morning to head back to Liberia.

You can be praying for them--for safe travels, for flight connections, baggage arriving, adjusting back to life in Liberia (heat, rain, no a/c or running water, daily stresses, etc.), and for carrying the workload on their own while the rest of us remain at home for more rest and recuperation. I know their return will be full of joy and frustrations, wonderful reunions and hesitation...but they can really use all of our prayers. Join me in praying for two of the best prayer warriors I know! I'm looking forward to hearing from them once they get in Liberia and get settled, and I know that God has something great in store for them during this new season! Love you girls!

Send Me!

I have spent the past 5 days being a part of New Hope Baptist Church's "Send Me!" Missions Conference. Over 20 missionaries and organizations participated as the church celebrated the past 10 years of missions at New Hope, and anticipated the future. It has been a fantastically busy week!

The conference kicked off on Wednesday night with an international dinner, followed by a parade of nations, special music and Dr. Emir Caner really challenged the church. On Thursday, the missionaries had lunch withthe senior adults and Thursday night was a youth event with the Matt Papa Band and Dr. Caner. On Friday night, I had the privilege of sharing with a women's Bible study class over dessert and coffee. Saturday's International Bazaar was a great afternoon of fellowship and fun! We (well, a few good men)recreated an African village--complete with a mud hut, chickens, a well, a typical African school setting, a Land Rover loaded with medical supplies and a bush church. It was AWESOME! It was so much fun to share with people about Liberia and about ORR's ministry. The conference wrapped up today with another challenging message this morning, and then a luncheon for all of the missionaries. We just couldn't stop laughing at our table--all kinds of T.I.A stories were shared amongst us.

This past week has been refreshing and it's always so great to just be able to share about Liberia, ORR and the needs of the children that we serve. I have made new friends, connected with new prayer warriors and it's exciting to think about how everyone can come together and impact people all over the world for Christ! Here are some photos from Saturday.

A super huge thank you to everyone at New Hope who participated, planned and prayed for the conference! I know that God was stirring hearts, opening eyes and calling others to GO!

[And P.S. my suitcase arrived on my front porch on Friday morning! YEAAAA!]

Update!

I'm beginning to feel ashamed to show my face around here. It's hard to blog when I'm home--you all don't really care about the happenings on this side of the ocean, do you? Between that, and my mind and heart being all over the map, it's hard to come up with a concise thought to share.

So, I'm begging for mercy. Let's start over. For real, this time, I'm going to start blogging more regularly...whether you want to hear about things on this side of the pond, or not. I just tell myself that you want to hear about America too.

I've been home for almost 3 months now. That's pretty hard to believe! My foot is still healing. It's been hurting alot this past week or so, but I think that's just from over-use and not being able to wear my Chacos. You can be praying for continued healing for my foot, and that my lost suitcase (thanks Delta!) will be found, because it contains my comfy Chacos...along with other important things--like my winter wardrobe.

I spent all of last week in Seattle, Washington with my ORR family (that's the whole gang above!) in our new offices. Everyone is home from Liberia right now, so this was literally the first time in 3 years that everyone has been able to be in the same place at the same time. We had a week of teaching, prayer, worship, hanging out, refocusing, counseling, lots of meals together, plenty of laughter, some sunshine but mostly rain, and a silence and solitude day-trip to Mount Rainier (pictured above). We also said bittersweet goodbyes to two field team members (Matt & Mariel) and three office staffers, but we welcomed three new field team members. God must be up to something, because our family just keeps growing! You can pray for us as we go through this season of changes. Pray for me, as I stay home for a few more months--that I would just soak up this extra time at home and that I would use it constructively and creatively.

Today was the start of a 5-day missions conference at my home church. I got home from Seattle on Sunday and hit the group running to get things together for the conference (um, yea, stayed up until 3am). I'm looking forward to reconnecting with people and connecting with new people, while sharing about Liberia and ORR's ministry. You can be praying for the rest of this week--lots of events, interactions and opportunities.

Now that I've tackled the blog update, it's time to begin my newsletter update--which is LONG overdue! Love you all!