News Flash: Ebola is Scary, God is Not Frightened or Surprised. Please Pray.

Friends, in the last 24 hours we've heard of many frightening and disturbing things happening in Liberia right now.  You may have seen recent headlines of two American missionaries who have tested positive for the Ebola virus in Liberia. (And other insightful updates, and a very informative video about Ebola in Liberia.) Dr. Kent Brantly, Medical Director with Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia’s Ebola unit, and Nancy Writebol, with SIM missions, are now needing the prayer and care they have been giving to many until now. These developments have hit the relief community hard, and for many, finally bringing to light the seriousness of the Ebola situation in West Africa.

Please be praying for Dr. Kent Brantly, and Nancy Writebol. Pray that they would receive diligent care, that God would enable their bodies to fight this disease, and that they would survive. Pray for their dear families. Ask God to grant them extraordinary rest in Him, and His peace that exceeds what makes human sense.  Pray that in their moments of fright, they would have close fellowship with Christ and turn to Him to find great hope and peace. Pray that God would get much glory for granting strength and caring for His people in wonderful ways and many would give thanks to God as a result.

As you know, we have been purposing to go to Liberia to provide some face-to-face support for our friends, the Buller family. The two Americans in these headlines are dear friends of the Bullers, and are people that the Bullers have been serving within this relief effort.  As you might be able to imagine, this hits very close to home for our friends. In fact, this is their home.

Please pray for wisdom and protection for the Buller household. There are many moving parts, and in person we have shared many current and specific prayer requests that our family is taking to God continuously for our friends. But ultimately, our requests for the Bullers are for protection and wisdom about specific next steps they must take for their family and for the people they are ministering to. Pray for the wisdom, peace, and joy of Christ to be ever refreshed as they seek God together.

Many people are asking us about our planned trip. Please know that we are praying continuously about how God would use our family in these circumstances. Our primary purpose and goal is, and has always been, to serve the Bullers to the greatest extent that we are capable of for the purpose of caring for, supporting, and helping them as they pour themselves out in service to Christ. Travelling to be with them them has been the method available to us to accomplish this goal most effectively. While we have not written that off, we also know that the situation in Liberia continues to change, as do the challenges that our friends face. Our goal hasn't changed, and we are open to any method God would provide for us to accomplish this goal. As such, we are in diligent prayer asking God to show us how we can help support and care for our friends best. Many people have prayed and donated funds for the trip to care for the Bullers. We still plan on using these funds toward for this purpose, but given that our current plan may not be possible, we are praying for wisdom and opportunity for possible alternative plans. In the next several days, we hope to know more about what options are available to us, and which options are not. Please join us in prayer.

One final thought. As we heard first hand account of what is happening in Liberia, we were deeply concerned and frightened for our friends. God, who cares deeply for the people in Liberia, for Kent and Nancy, and for the Buller family, was not caught off guard by this news. He was not surprised by this development, and is not at a loss for how to care for His dear children serving Him. This means we can place our worries on Him and use this as an opportunity to learn more about Him, His character, His love, and His care. So pray. Any given moment that we may feel overcome with concern, we can now take that time, not to worry, but to draw near to Him in prayer and worship Him for what He is doing in the hearts of people and to protect and care for the people affected by this epidemic.

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Liberia Care Update: Front row seats for watching God move in people, and we have flights!

Today, we watched as God moved people into place to provide flights for our family. Many of you may recognize this as well, but there is a familiar pattern when God calls people in the body of Christ to provide for His purposes. When you're in the position of "going" and needing God to provide, you get a front row seat to watch it happen again and again. For this trip we have seen it repeatedly and I want to testify of it so we can all praise God for it. For this trip, it has gone a bit like this: We pray for a particular provision, other people join and pray with us. Some time that day or the day after, someone that doesn't yet know about this trip or the needs of the Bullers decides to reach out to us and call, e-mail, or text. (Or even, someone I haven't seen in years just feels lead to stop by a coffee shop that I happen to be working at, and we're both surprised to see each other.) The person then asks what's new with our family. I share the 3 minute version about the trip, and how we're trusting God for each step. Then the person responds that they are so encouraged to hear what God is doing and they sometimes stop and pray for us right then. More often then not, that person also communicates something to the effect that they now understand why they felt prompted by God to reach out, or come by that place, or whatever. Then they spur us on, encourage us with some specific passage or testimony of God's faithfulness, and they explain how they would like to support us and the Bullers in prayer, and sometimes with a donation as well. Then they go, praising God.

Simplified, here's the progression: as we wait on God for these provisions and pray, God draws people's hearts into learning about what He's doing, brings them to us to hear about the particular plan and process He is using us in, He moves them to see His unique and eternal work in what's happening, and then out of worship they respond by praying or giving. Lastly, they go on with their week giving thanks to God, and encouraged to continue praying. In this process, God blesses us (the "goers") with encouragement and provision needed, he blesses the other person (the "senders" and "givers") with encouragement about what God is doing around the world and with an opportunity to be used by God, and we all go away praising and giving thanks to God. I can't think of a more awesome way to have this happen. And whenever I start to get frustrated that it takes time to gather all we need to go, I get hit by the reminder that God is using this time to draw in more people called to pray, be encouraged, built up in faith, and glorify Him. More people involved in that? Then yeah! Keep it going!

Back to the flights... Today, God moved like this, so overtly this time it was a surreal joy to watch for all of us. The result is that God has now provided $9,959 in donations for our travel needs at this point. With this, we were able to secure flights at a great price for our whole family. We are booked to leave in mid August for 2 weeks. A number of people have asked what else we need to do. Now that we have an itinerary with specific dates, we can get moving on purchasing visas (Liberia requires flight itinerary first) and also start working on nailing down the remaining travel requirements (such as evacuation insurance, an overnight stay for a layover, etc.). Beyond the travel, we will finish getting our family stocked up on Malaria medicine and complete our yellow fever vaccinations. I'm sure there are a bunch of other details, but these are the ones on our list.

As for donations, the amount we have received covers our flights and, as far as we can tell, should cover much of the other travel costs involved. So thank you, and we praise God for the generosity so many of you have shown! If there are any additional donations that come in at this point, we will use them to help with any unexpected travel costs that may arise as we work toward our departure date (though we don't anticipate that at this point), and also to help collect some items to take with us to the Bullers. If we learn of any specific needs for the Bullers, we will let you know soon. Officially, we have hit our goal for fund raising, so thank you!

Most of all, thank you for your continued prayers for us and all that is going on with the Bullers and in Liberia. Next update, I hope to have some updates about the Bullers to share with you.

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Liberia Care Update: Ebola and Opportunity for Flights

Praise God! We are so thankful to see God provide through people and prepared opportunities. Thanks to all who have been praying and who have donated! We now have about $6,500 toward our goal, which is enough for us to take more significant steps toward Africa, and we'll trust God to provide for steps coming quickly after that. The big news is that because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, there have been windows of dates where flight costs have dropped significantly, bringing tickets for our family within a much closer reach. So, we are targeting the middle of August for a departure flight, and we're praying that funds and flight prices will match very soon to buy tickets -- hopefully in the next couple of days. Once tickets are purchased, we will apply for our 5 visas immediately and pray they are processed swiftly and without a hitch. If the Lord provides timing for these special ticket prices, we may be able to cover all of our travel costs in about $10k! Which would be truly remarkable, given that flights surrounding these particular dates range from $18k-$35k for our family. Please pray with us.

Also pray as we complete the steps we need to take to prepare our family medically with Dr. visits, vaccines, and medicines required for the trip. We will complete these and start working on the logistics for travel, items that we need to bring for us (and the Bullers!), evacuation insurance, and other requirements that we're learning about. We are pulling together personal savings to cover these and trusting God to provide grace with work, school, and ministry here, and just to pull it all together.

We had opportunity to converse briefly with the Bullers today. As always, they were encouraging, and it was fun to be able to talk actual dates and discuss some of the things we will be doing with them when we get there. Eric is serving long hours in the Ebola unit at the hospital, and Pam and the kids are caring for little ones at home. While they are doing well, the situation there is certainly heavy. They never complained today, but caring for people in these circumstances can be emotionally wrecking at times. Please pray for strength and encouragement in Christ, and for protection against discouragement for each of them.

For those who have asked, we have inquired and discussed about the risks related to traveling to Liberia with the Ebola virus spreading there. While there are always risks in traveling, and there are certainly risks related to getting sick with a variety of illnesses prevalent in Liberia, the Ebola virus is not an airborne virus and those who work around victims of the virus have proven that good hygiene and some well established practices can keep people safe from becoming infected. The best defense is to be well informed and act accordingly. In light of this, we are moving forward with faith in our calling and asking God to protect us from Ebola as well as other prevalent sicknesses which may limit our ability to serve and fellowship while we're there.

Above all, we know that prayer is so important to this endeavor. We want to go in faith and peace, and with no fear or doubt God's leading and purpose. Thank you for praying for the Bullers, the Drents, and this trip!

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