Muraho! Murakoze kudukurikira!

Translation: Hi! Thank you for following us!

Check out our post-summer update!

God works in mysterious ways...

We ended the first half of 2019 with an unexpected turn of events. Many of you know that we have had visa woes since we touched down here on July 4th, 2018. To make a long story short, the door was closed in June for Emily's speech-therapy job to continue providing our residency here. Just as soon as that door was closed; however, another door was opened with the opportunity for me to take a part-time job at KICS, our girls' school, as a Bible Teacher for 4th and 5th grade. More on that later, but I wanted to preface this update with another example of God's faithfulness in reminding us to trust Him! This all came to pass the week before we left for the US this summer and I received all four of our passports with four 2-year visas TWO HOURS before we had to be at the airport! Talk about cutting it close, but we were able to get on the plane worry-free! 

JULY

We broke up our travel to the US with a little 2-night stopover in Amsterdam. We spent the first day resting and swimming at the hotel and the second day walking around Amsterdam Central. What a cool place! It was a fun little mini-vacation that provided some much needed rest and really helped with jetlag once we got back to the states!

The 4th of July was our 1-year anniversary in Rwanda and we celebrated in Hot Springs!

July was packed! Between numerous church visits, meetings with supporters, and spending time with friends and family, it wasn't exactly a relaxing four weeks! But it was an incredible month. Below is an overview of what I like to call our TRN US Church Circuit. We are connected to all of these churches, with one exception, because of relationships that were forged over the last decade at New Beginnings. (DISCLAIMER: I managed to do a terrible job of getting pictures on all of these visits, so I apologize in advance!)

• New Beginnings Baptist Church - Our home/sending church in Longview, Texas. This is where it all started for us! We had the opportunity to visit them, worship with them, and update them on all that God has done through The Roots Network because of them.
• FBC Malvern, AR - We got connected to FBC through their Youth Minister, Sean Ray, who grew up at NBBC and is a dear friend. We pray that God will open doors in the future for a partnership with them.
• Trinity Baptist Church - Mt. Pleasant, TX - Pastor Chris Wigley is also a dear friend and used to serve as one of the Campus Pastors at NBBC. God called him to be the Senior Pastor at TBC and I had the opportunity to meet with their Missions Committee to discuss what the future might look like for us to partner together in ministry.
• Christ Community Church - Pinehurst, NC - Andrew Spangler is an old friend from NBBC as well. He's now the Executive Pastor at CCC. Not only did they bring their first team to Rwanda back in March, but I had the opportunity to visit their church in July to give them some updates and start discussions about their next team in 2020!

• FBC Crossett, AR - This is the church Emily grew up in. It's the church we got married in! Over the past few years their Senior Pastor, Jamie Staley, has become a good friend. I've met very few people that are as prayerfully encouraging as Jamie and it has been a blessing for our ministry to get connected with his church. They funded a water well in 2018 and their Children's Ministry raised $2000 to help fund the student Porridge Program at PEFA Wisdom School in Kigali. We enjoyed our visit to FBCC to give them an update on all that God is doing in Rwanda and hope to see a team come next year!

Here a few more ministry highlights from July:

• Shivers hosted a Meet & Greet for TRN and we provided two free snowcones per family for our supporters! All you Longview peeps know what I'm talking about!

• Our Field Coordinators Ezechias, George, Aimable and Eric, continue to do an incredible job. Below are some photos of Aimable and Eric baptizing new believers in Burundi.

• Our language instructor, Johnny, and his wife, Francine have become dear friends and are very involved in our ministry. In June, they started a follow-up discipleship group in a village called Musenyi with new believers from the NBBC mission that month. They have faithfully gone back every Wednesday, slowly building relationships and teaching them how to follow Christ. This discipleship group has seen two more people give their lives to Christ, and birthed two small groups that meet weekly on their own studying the Word, worshipping together, and praying for each other (Acts 2:42-47).

• Francine has continued her weekly discipleship of the widows group at Pastor Ezechias's church in Kinyinya. This is a small group of women that are hungry to grow in their relationship with Christ.

Here a few personal highlights from July:

• We had some really special time with great friends and family!

• And finally, after missing last summer for the first time in 19 years because of the move, we got to end our US Summer Tour in Gulf Shores. I don't know that I've ever looked so forward to the beach in my life! This beach house is filled with years of memories and it felt so good to be back there again. Thanks Nana and Papoo for making this such a special time and place for all of us over the years!

AUGUST

I had to head back to Rwanda a week ahead of Emily and the girls. Not ideal, but necessary, because I had orientation at KICS. While I was back in Rwanda, Emily got to stay behind in the states and pack 4 million bags... but at least she remembered to pack the essentials!

The school year got off to a great start! The girls love their teachers and their classes.

And because Emily is still volunteering her speech-pathology services at KICS, there are three days a week that we ride to school together as a family!

SEPTEMBER

Hannah turned SEVEN! Where does the time go?!

God has continually demonstrated His faithfulness to provide for the needs of the ministry in East Africa and, in September, the generosity of others has had a tremendous impact. Here are a few examples of how supporting our ministry makes a difference:

• Horeb Church in Cibitoke, Burundi was started in 2013 with the help of New Beginnings. In 2014, they purchased a plot of land and paid for the foundation. Due to a number of circumstances, there was very little progress for several years, but in September, due to the leadership of our Burundi team, the church structure is near completion and funds have been provided for a water well which, at the time of this writing, is almost completed. Please be in prayer for God's provision of funds for the roof, doors, and windows.

• In 2016, New Beginnings purchased a plot of land for another new church plant in Butare, Rwanda, but they did not have a proper meeting place so they were shut down until they could meet building requirements. New Beginnings paid for the foundation in June, and in September we received funding for the complete construction, which will begin in the coming weeks!

• We met sweet Divine back in January. She lives in Kinyinya near Pastor Ezechias's church. The mass on her face had been growing for several years. We were able to get her into the hospital for a consultation, which resulted in a recommendation for surgery. Because of the generosity of others, she had the operation this month and is doing much better; however, she has had some complications with fluid build-up. She had a follow-up procedure this week and they are waiting to see how she does. Please keep Divine in your prayers.

What's Next?

It is crazy to think that we've already been back for two months. Time is flying by! Swimming has started back up for me and Abbott, and Hannah is still doing ballet. I am working with our Rwandan team to prepare for our inaugural "Strengthen" Leadership and Discipleship Conference in Butare. We'll be training about 45 pastors and leaders on servant leadership and sermon preparation, and over 100 church members on evangelism, discipleship, and Biblical marriage. Our Burundian team will be traveling to the DRC soon and we are hoping to reproduce the Strengthen conference there. We will also be getting the sewing work/discipleship program up and running in the coming weeks at Ezechias's church, and we are excited about the church in Butare and the water well in Burundi being completed this month. 

Pray - Give - Go

We are so glad to be home. Now that the cloud of uncertainty surrounding our visas has been removed, we have had a peace that we did not experience in our entire first year. We thank God for sustaining us through the challenges and always remaining faithful. We continue to give all of the credit, glory, and praise to Him for anything that He allows us to be a part of here. As always, I want to reiterate that we cannot do this alone, so we humbly ask you to continue to pray for us. Here are some specific things you can pray for:

• Pray that people continue to come to Christ and learn to follow him.
• Pray that God would provide for the roofing needs at Horeb Church.
• Pray for our family to stay healthy and safe.
• Pray for Hannah. She started "Play Therapy" due to increased worrying/anxiety that is likely due to so much transition. Pray that this will help her learn how to process life right now! We are super blessed that this service is available at KICS!
• Pray for our ministry teams in Burundi and Rwanda and their families.
• Pray for mine and Emily's leadership over TRN.
• Pray for God to be glorified in everything that we do here.

For more information on how you can be a part of what God is doing in East Africa through The Roots Network, please visit our website...