Hello partners!

First of all, thank you so much for all your support. We truly couldn’t have done this without each of you. As you know, we will be leaving this Thursday, October 8th, for Arua! We are all so excited and the team is ready to go. Our trip coordinators have given us a schedule of every thing that will be doing while we are gone and I wanted to share this with you.
Friday, 9th- Arrival in Kampala. We will spend one night here. From here, we will travel by bus for 7 hours to the camp in Arua.
Sat 10th- Arrival in Arua and rest
Sun 11th- Church and rest
Mon 12th- Minister to YWAM staff at Arua base camp and then minister in the male and female prisons, about an hour’s drive from base
Tues 13th- Minister in the local hospital and then travel to Elim to stay the night
Wed 14th- 5 hour seminar for church at Elim and travel back to base
Thur 15th- Hospital ministry and then minister at local women’s Muslim group
Fri 16th- Safari
Sat 17th- Teach, lead small groups and play with HIV+ young people. (These will be mostly teenagers, so you know we are excited about this!!!)
Sun 18th- Leave for America
Mon 19th- Arrive back in Georgia

Please be in prayer for us each day as we minister. Pray that we will be focused and clearly hear God’s voice, that the people we are ministering to will be open to Him and for our safety as we travel. On a personal note, we just found out that we will have no communication with those at home while we are gone. So, please keep us and our kids in your prayers. I’ve never been this long without speaking to them! I know they will be in great care with the grandparents and probably won’t notice we’re gone, they’ll be having so much fun! We are so excited that it is getting hard to sleep at night. Only 4 days until Africa!!!! We will send you pictures and stories as soon as we return. Thank you so much for your partnership and know that everywhere we go and everything we do while there, you are doing as well through your partnership with us.

Together in the Cause that Counts,
Michael and Amy

We wanted to give you an update on our rapidly approaching trip to Arua, Uganda with YWAM Strategic Initiatives. Just this week, we received an email from one of the base camp directors. They are preparing for our arrival and it they are excited. Our goal, as a team from the USA, is to assist the missionaries in any way possible. These people are true heroes and we are honored to be able to support them. It looks as though we will be participating in kid’s ministries through neighborhood Bible Clubs, prison ministry, teen outreach and a ladies HIV/Aids support group. We are especially excited about the kids miniseries and teen outreach. As you know, this is truly our passion.

We purchased our airline tickets last week. We will be flying KLM into Amsterdam where we will have a very short layover. From there we will venture on to Entebbe Airport on the shores of Lake Victoria. The next morning we will board a very small prop plane and take a 1 ½ flight to Arua, or we may take a 7-hour bus ride through the country. Our team will be working with the team there for the week. We will spend one day on an African Safari as there is a game reserve very near the base camp. This will be a treat for everyone.

We had our immunizations last week and survived easily. Shots are usually something that make Michael squeamish and scared (hahaha)…and he was. : ) But, we both survived with minimal side effects and are ready to go!

If you would like to learn more about Arua, simply google it and you will learn a lot of interesting facts. You also can check out the Arua missionaries website at www.ywamarua.weebly.com or their blog site at http://www.ywamarua.blogspot.com Thanks again for your investment in this trip. Because of your generosity, lives are going to be touched as people, young and old, experience the love of God. If you are waiting on us to give the word on when it’s time for you to partner financially, now is the time. We are making all our final preparations and expenses in the next few days. You are remarkable people and we are so grateful God has put us together to change the world.

For all of you prayer partners, here are our prayer points and Scriptures as a team for the next 30 days. We would be honored if you joined with us in our prayers.
*Isaiah 6:1-12-Here we are Lord, send us. Send us fit to serve. Show us if there is anything standing in our way and stopping us from being effective in your Kingdom.
*Acts 4:1-19-Please make the ordinary extraordinary as we reach out to others.
*Psalm 100-That we will all service with gladness, no matter what the task.
*Romans 12-That we will all serve with a team spirit-the only superstar is Jesus!
*Jonah 4-That we will all serve with compassion and God will prepare people’s hearts to receive our message.

Together in the Cause that Counts,
Michael and Amy

Today is the day! It's immunization time!!!! (hehehehe) Michael has been scared all day, so pray for his strength! (hahaha)

The Benefit Concert with John Waller (hosted by 3rd Space Productions) was a great success. The response was just overwhelming. The church was packed and we raised over $3,000! Thanks to all of you who were able to make it out. You ROCK!

As we are praying for Africa this week, the Holy Spirit keeps focusing us on families who have been torn apart by war, sickness and poverty. Families all over Africa have been ravaged by the effects of these events and we, as Jesus on earth, are responsible for bringing restoration to them. There is one simple, clear way to bring that restoration: HOPE! and we all know that Jesus is that hope. So, as you pray for Arua, Uganda and all of Africa, pray that each African will be able to see Jesus as their one true hope in life. That they would know that no matter what happens, Jesus is there with them. That He is always holding, loving, caring and fighting for them!

As always, pray for finances for all team members to come in and for the safety, guidance and protection of all the missionaries currently in Arua and around the world. Thank you again for being our partners and we'll update you tomorrow on how the shots go! That is, if Michael is still able to type. : )

Exciting weekend! John Waller will be at The Church at Mirror Lake to host a benefit for Africa missions! Be there at 7pm for great music and bring all your friends for a chance to change the world.
We're getting close to the big departure date and the excitement is growing. We are so thankful for all your prayers and the financial support that has come in thus far. YOU ARE AMAZING people to partner with on this mission to Africa.
Next week we go for our vaccines. We found out we only have to get four, instead of the ten we originally thought. Needless to say, Michael is extremely relieved. He was rethinking this whole mission thing...just kidding! But it is nice to receive less shots!
Please continue to pray for financial resources to come in, for every member of the Africa team and for Les Hall, our YWAM trip leader. Thank you again and we hope to see you Sunday night!

I was just sitting here, eating lunch with my 2 beautiful kids, when the importance of what we are going to do in Africa struck me. We take it for granted so often that our kids will have the food, water, medicine and healthcare they need. What if I, as mom, was in a position where I could not provide these basic necessities for them because I myself was sick? My deepest prayer would be that someone would come along to care for my kids. I would pray for someone to come change their world. Well...som mom in Africa is praying that today. And, amazingly enough, God is going to let us be the answer to that prayer. I am overwhelmed at His grace in this moment. It is an awesome and humbling feeling to know that we get to fulfill His words when He said to take care of the orphans and the widows. Thank you for partnering with us to be God's answer to hopeless mom's and dad's in Africa. Please always be praying for the missionaries who are there day in and day out, being the answer. They give their lives to answer the cries of God's children. Pray that we will be able to refresh and assist those missionaries. Thank you again! (8 weeks and 2 days until Mission Africa takes flight!!!!!)

Only 2 1/2 months until AFRICA! We are getting so excited. Pastor Sheryll is meeting with Les Hall this week to finalize our details. Things are moving along and we are so honored that you are part of that! Thanks to your prayers, we know this mission to Africa is going to be everything God has for it.

We've started receiving some financial partnerships and it's so encouraging to know even more of our family in Jesus is on board with the mission! Keep praying and we'll keep updating you.

Hey everyone!
Well, the time is drawing closer and closer! Thank you again for praying with us! Here are our main prayer focuses right now:
1. Enough finances to come in for both of us to go!
2. The God would be preparing our way even now.
3. For Les Hall, our trip coordinator from YWAM- his safety, wisdom and provision.

Thank you again! God is going to do amazing things in Africa and you are an integral part of that.