April 5 Prayer Update

JBC Missions Team Praise and Prayer Request Digest

Brad Irving asks for prayer concerning permission for him to leave his current intern program to go to the Congo. The final decision can be influenced by his dad who is not a believer, and not in favor of Brad going.

Two members of the Russia team are from outside our church. Please pray that their churches will choose to partner with them and help with finances.

Lois Richardson asked for prayer getting the time off work. On 3/31 she emailed her praise that time off was approved.

Pastor’s passport was mailed to have additional pages added. He received his passport on April 5.

Laura Gardner has asked for prayer regarding being separated from her young children. Their daughter, Faith, was adopted from China and has already “lost” 2 mothers. Laura is concerned that Faith will not understand her mom being gone for 2 weeks.

George Blair asked for prayer regarding receiving his passport in a timely manner. On 4/2 he received his passport.

Rachel Lowers praises God that biopsies she had done in March all came back negative.

Katie Dryer asks for God’s will in determining her work status for the fall. The job she desires requires working 2 weeks in July - overlapping the time she’ll be in the Congo.

Lois Richardson shares praises for unspecified prayers she offered for the Congo trip. A person in charge of surgical scrubs at one of the hospital laundries has offered to collect at least 10 sets of scrubs that are to be taken out of rotation and donate them to our team. Also, she contacted a sales rep inquiring about purchasing disposable pre-moistened wash cloths. He has offered to GIVE us 2 cases! WOW!

We are receiving offers of free gifts to bring to the women in Congo and the women in Russia.

Please pray for Pastor and Bonnie as they continue to juggle arrangements for both trips. Pray that the travel agents will work in a timely manner and that we can secure airline tickets before any significant price increases. 

As an introduction, here are some basic details about our mission trips this year. I say "trips" (plural) because we are actually taking two different teams two different places (not at the same time of course).

First we are taking a medical team to the Democratic Republic of Congo, otherwise known as Congo, DR. There are actually two Congos in Africa that sit right next to each other. Congo, DR is the southern (and bigger) one. We will be taking a medical team in order to help the women that were brutalized by the Congolese War.




As you can see, the medical facilities that are commonly available are not ideal.

Bonnie and I went to Congo last year and were shown a brand new clinic that was under construction. It is now fully operational and provides much better treatment.




This clinic now performs operations nearly every day, has a recovery ward and the most modern treatment available in the area of Bukavu (far east side of Congo, DR, on the border of Rwanda).

Next to this clinic, the training center is almost complete. This center is to provide a place for the training of Pastors and lay leaders in the Congolese Church. I will be teaching at this center on the subject of the Theology of the Kingdom. In addition to the medical personnel that are going, we will also have a social worker and special education teacher for the children. In all, seven of us will be going. The dates for this portion of the trip are approx. July 19 to Aug 1. These dates aren't exact yet because we don't know any travel details.

Traveling to Congo DR involves flying to Chicago, then Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on to Kigali, Rwanda, then overland (about 5 hrs) to Bukavu. From there we will travel to Nyngazi, which is about 25 km outside of Bukavu.

After about a week in Congo, we (Bonnie and I) will say goodbye to our fellow travelers as they fly back to the states from Addis Ababa and then travel to Russia where we will begin the second leg of this trip. We will meet a construction team in Moscow and then take the overnight train to Voronozh, Russia.



Our construction team (eight people), a mixture of skilled and semi-skilled labor, will help refurbish some old houses used as churches while I teach the local pastors Homiletics (preaching).


This picture is from last year when I taught Hermeneutics--how to interpret the Bible.

Please pray for us as we prepare ourselves both physically and spiritually for what lies ahead. Also please pray for us as we raise the money (lots and lots of money--this is going to be expensive), procure the equipment and so forth.

I must admit that I find this task daunting. We have never attempted anything on this scale before. But while this seem next to impossible for us, nothing is too wonderful for the Lord!

Thanks for praying for us and stay tuned.