Hooray, I'm in Gambia!

After about 30 h0urs of travelling and a lot of airport sprinting we finally made it to Banjul this afternoon. We are staying outside the city with Pastor and his beautiful family until we all leave for Basse on Sunday.

It feels so satisfying to be here, getting a different taste of Africa. The scents and sounds make me smile and so do the people.

Thanks so much for your prayers. We arrived with one less person as Shane decided to leave the team 2 days prior to our departure. It was a hard hit for us but we know that the Lord is faithful to work out everything for the best.

I've been humbled by how God is teaching me through all our circumstances and reminding me that He does not expect me to be perfect, He only wants me to listen and obey. I am thankful for those near and far who continually point me back to Jesus and tell me again that He's way better than I am at carrying my load.

Everyone on the team is doing great. Please pray that people will see Christ as we serve here.

Need to sleep now...

Em and the team =0)

Ready or Not

Hi Everyone...thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying, we definitely need it. We remain on the move as we leave for Spanish Town tonight, then Kingston on Monday until we fly out on Thursday.

God blessed us with an awesome time in Port Antonio last week. Kids got loved and had fun, the youth were strengthened and people decided to follow Jesus. The Lord strengthened our team and built up our faith as Shane and I went to the US Embassy to get his visa and got through without an appointment. It was seemingly impossible, but all things are possible for God!

For me, leading this team has probably been the most uncomfortable leadership situation I've been in so far beacuse of all the challenges that keep coming at us with the visas and tickets and finances, etc.

We're supposed to leave in less than an hour, I need to finish packing, this morning we found out Bettina's ticket from London to Gambia is waiting for her at her home in Switzerland (which causes me to wonder if everyone else's tickets are at their various homes around the world) even though I called the airline in London to make sure we could get our tickets at the airport when we get there. It would cost way too much to fedex all the tickets here so that's not an option not to mention that somehow 4 people on the team are still owing fairly siginifcant amounts of money (which I also just found out yesterday). I can't get ahold of that UK airline no matter how I try to call them AND yesterday Jermaine smashed his foot doing "a sweet lay-up" so now he's hobbling around in serious pain and moving very slowly. Not good.

But, God reminded us to give thanks in all circumstances and keep seeking Him. I am learning more than ever that being in God's mercy is a safe place to be and all this roughing-up is shaping my character as I must choose how to respond to each obstacle coming my way.

Please pray for wisdom and endurance for me and for Jermaine to be healed and for our team to stay strong and keep looking to the Lord.

Desperately depending on His grace,
Em