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!