July 27, 2012:

Dear Prayer Warriors,

In April we announced that we were starting to investigate a possible assignment in East Africa.  Many people were praying for us as we began to consider this idea.  Thank you for praying on our behalf!  To better understand the needs and issues, Krista and I needed to take a trip to Kenya where I would discuss the role with the Africa Area leaders for our organization, and Krista could get first-hand exposure to the living situation and an introduction to the Kenyan culture.

Over the last few months, the timing for this trip has fluctuated like a ping-pong ball between hurry-up and wait.  This week we heard back from our top leaders in Africa that we should put this idea ON HOLD for a while.  They definitely do need help in Africa area, but with a major reorganization taking place between now and year-end, now is not the time for us to visit.  In fact they didn’t even propose when we should think about visiting, but I’m certain that it won’t happen until next year at the soonest.

I respect their wisdom and their understanding of the situation in Africa.  Waiting until later to investigate this idea will be better for us and for them.  In my current role as SIL’s Director of IT Development there is plenty of work to do, and I’m involved with things that have a global impact.  I am very happy to continue my role here until the Lord directs us to be somewhere else!

Knowing about this delay also helps Krista and me make some other decisions that we have been putting off.  It has felt sort of like holding our breath, so now we can breathe again!  Delaying any drastic moves is a positive thing for our family too, with Amanda nearing college graduation next summer and Nick still getting settled at Liberty University.

Maybe by the time we need to come back to a decision about relocation the housing market will have improved.  Ok, we probably shouldn’t hold our breath on that topic!  =)  I just know that right now I would not want to sell our home here because the market is still pretty sad and we would not come out well financially.  Still, I was not excited about keeping our home here and having to deal with renters and maintenance things from Eastern Africa!  Many missionaries do this, but it’s an added distraction and a potentially stressful burden.

The Lord is good and His timing is perfect!  We will be mailing out a newsletter soon which describes the exciting results that we are seeing from one of the projects I’m involved with.  Look for that to show up in your email in-box, and on our website, or in your postal mailbox in a couple of weeks!

Here is a follow-up to the prayer requests that I mentioned in May.  Last month I posted an update online but maybe you missed it.  Thank you for praying about these!  We thank the Lord that Nick did receive financial aid from Liberty, which will make it possible for him to attend this fall, along with some college loans.  We were looking for an inexpensive vehicle for Amanda, and I sent her back to school with my 1998 Chevy Malibu, which has been maintained pretty well and is safe and reliable.  We scraped together $500 to buy an old van, which I will use for the short commute between work and home.  It’s really a junker, but it will do for my needs!

Trusting the Lord’s leading,

Hank and Krista