A final Fennig for your Thoughts!
February was a fairly quiet month for us except that we received the news that Katey would be coming back to Ohio from Mozambique to take the LSAT exam. She landed on April 29th, gave a presentation at Miami, and then we surprised the family at Carly’s wedding on May 3rd. It was a fun event for all.
In February the team of guys from Westchester moved the 1850 into Greg Miller’s heated barn and began the renovation—hopefully the photos below give you a good idea of the process and the progress—Westchester had a dedication of the tractor on May 11th, the final photo shows you some of the crew that gave their time and talents to allow us to take this tractor to Sierra Leone. There are more photos of the tractor and the men who worked on it here. A million thanks to all of you!
And by the time you are reading this you will realize we have not yet left for Sierra Leone… our support is not at more than 70%, so Global Ministries did not approve of Randy going alone on July 31st. We do not know exactly when the cut off for ticket purchases will be. School starts at TECT in early September so he wants to be on the ground a few weeks in advance. We have one more Sunday scheduled in Michigan in July. Randy’s final Sunday at Prince of Peace is planned for tomorrow (June 29th), which is also the day Katey flies back to Mozambique, East Africa for another six to eight months of linguistics work. This is the final time our family will be together for many years.
The past few months we have set target dates for our departure that we have not been able to make. We are deeply appreciative for all of those who have been supporting us all these months. Your support is essential to get us to the place we can leave. Thank you so much. However we are still short of what we need to make definite plans to leave. In our wisdom, we think it is important to get to Sierra Leone before school starts in September but we are aware that the Lord may see things differently!! At this time our needs are approximately $20,000 for shipping the container, airline tickets and set up expenses and commitments or gifts of about $1500 per month for ongoing support. Please pray with us for God’s provision.
The month of March also had us making a huge decision about the house here in Springfield, we will leave it in the hands of Jesse, and he will try to find roommates to help pay the bills until our first furlough. The current housing glut in Springfield, and the effort it would take to get this house ready for sale are two of the factors that really made this decision make sense. For those of you who know Jesse well, you will understand our areas of concern. Having roommates that he can trust and that this house will act as a spiritual retreat for is our goal and prayer for him. We will appreciate all your prayers on his behalf.
Jesse has the website up and running more each week. There are now links to some of Randy’s sermons here. It is an audio only file and should be easier to listen to if you download and save it. The blog is operating, although right now I rarely type into it unless something happens, but you can wander there at your leisure.
Katey came back to America to take the LSAT, and her goal is Georgetown Law School, which she would like to begin in the fall of 2009. The time in Africa has been fantastic for her, but she has had malaria three times in six months, and that is very hard on a person’s liver. Please join us in prayer for her health as she returns.
David and Kristen’s first year at OSU has been OK, but they have not found a church they are comfortable at, and that is a concern for us. We would appreciate your prayers for them as they grow together and in the Lord.
As I write, my work is back to full time on the Base, my Boss is concerned that when I go all the projects will be left undone, and my concern is how to have time to pack when I am tired from work all the time!?! Balancing all of this is a new trick for me, I was always a full time mom when the previous exits to Africa were made, and that was easier than being older and working away from home all week long. The high cost of living is impacting our supporters, and we understand the sacrifice that you make to get us there. Your prayers on our behalf and your sacrifice is so very precious to us.
This may sound like a funny request, but could you pray that anything that could go wrong with the vehicle would happen here and now so we can get it fixed easily? Shipping it out early means we end up without a chance to do repairs… and it is a 1982 vehicle, so Randy is trying to plan carefully!
We know we do this work as an extension of you, our praying and giving supporters. We are so very grateful for each of you. We also know that the Lord is in control and that He will take us to Sierra Leone in His timetable, not ours!
For the King and His Kingdom, Randy and Toni