Darwin Jackson’s Update

"Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God. We know not what prayer can do.”

Charles H. Spurgeon

Things are getting pretty tight around here in Nogales (both sides of the boarder). I talked to a brother after I shared at the chapel service at the Crossroads Mission on Thursday and he said that he's going back to Mexico to look for work, he was working at the Salvation Army thrift store, but they closed up and so he's been out of work for a couple of months (see Fox video).

I now have two learning the guitar with me to be able to lead the services in Buenos Aires, Fernando is the latest. He has been studying with Pastor Antonio, and Edgar. Pray that these two young men will be equipped to serve in Gospel ministry as well.

One one those we won to the Lord some time ago has been away in Sinaloa with her mother (93) who needed a hernia operation. The doctors didn't believe she would survive such an operation, but Claudia assured them that God answers prayer, and she believed God would see her through. They did the operation, and it was so successful, that she didn't even need blood. Claudia said the doctor literally jumped for joy. Claudia shared the testimony in Church and everyone gave a round of applause to the Lord. Praise God!

One the home front, MaryAnn continues to serve at the Crossroads rescue mission (and loves it!). Laura has started ninth grade at the High school and we have enrolled Gracie, Cesar and Sykari in a new Christian school at a local Baptist Church. They start classes on the 25th.

Thank you all for praying in the midst of weakness, folly and trouble that we might enjoy the Lord's divine strength, heavenly wisdom and peace.   

Darwin, Mary Ann and Gracie Jackson

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Update on Nata Camargo

Pastor Nata Camargo, Brazil Seminary Dean, had surgery again last night.  He had infection in his lungs and they reopened his stitches and cleaned the out the infection.  His surgery went well.

There is now concern about him getting further infection or other complications that would complicate his health.  The hospitals in that area have many patients with swine flu.  The next 30 days will be critical, if he does well during that time, he will be over the hill.

Nata Camargo now in Critical Condition

Please pray for Pastor Nata Camargo who had a motorcycle accident  a week ago.  He has taken a turn for the worse and now has pneumonia.  He is now in critical condition.   Nata was transported from Campo Mourao to the hospital in Maringa. 

Pastor Nata is the dean of our seminary and Bible school in Brazil.  His is also the pastor at Central Lutheran Church in Campo Mourao.  Pastor Nata’s daughter Sabrine has attended AFLBS the last two years.  She graduated this spring.  Thank you for praying.

Kid’s Club by Rachel Schierkolk

It was Thursday night Kid’s Club, and I had just read my students the age-old story that we’ve all heard a million times about Jesus dying on the cross.

For the review, I read through some questions, trying to coax answers out of them as quickly as possible so they could get to the coloring, but the last one grabbed my attention. “How can we get into heaven?” Marisol wasted no time piping up confidently, “By doing good things.”

“But what about all the bad things we do?” I pressed. “Can we really do enough good things to make up for them?” Their faces were angelically blank. It was time for an illustration.

“If I only do one bad thing every day, that’s not really too bad is it?” They shook their heads obediently. “And I suppose, if there are seven days in a week and I do seven bad things, then it still isn’t too terrible. But if I do one bad thing every day for a whole year, how many bad things is that?” I noticed two little boys exchange nervous glances. “That makes 365 bad things. And do you guys know how many years I have been alive?”

They were hanging on my words by now. “I have been alive seventeen years. So if I have done 365 bad things every year for the last seventeen years of my life, that means 6,205 bad things,” I announced. They stared at me open-mouthed. “How can God possibly let me into heaven if I have done so many bad things?” I prompted. But all they could process at the moment was that poor Maestra was going to hell! “That is exactly why God sent His Son for us,” I explained.

In that moment, I realized how often we think just as Marisol. We tend to think of Jesus’ death as being a precautionary measure “just in case” we mess up. But even the “best” of us can never deserve what He did. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

As I hugged my students goodbye that night, I was painfully aware of all the times I had wronged my Savior, but at the same time immensely grateful for the reminder He had given me.

Update on Pastor Nata

Jonathan Abel sends this update on Pastor Nata Camargo.

On Friday night at 5:30 pm Pastor Nata was going to the SETELL (our seminary).  At a speed bump he slid on some dust and hit the bump causing him to fall.  He hit his stomach very hard on it, busting his spleen. Though he didn't have many scrapes and bruises, he was bleeding internally a lot.

He was rushed to the hospital, but they were unable to only able to operate on him until five hours later, since there were so many emergencies that night. The operation took four hours.  They removed his spleen and they were able to close up all the blood vessels. 

He's recovering quite well. On Monday he already walked and now he is home. He still needs more blood. He had to be supplied with 12 pints of blood. He was sent home early because two cases of swine flu came into the hospital today.

Pastor Nata is the dean of our seminary and Bible school in Brazil.  His is also the pastor at Central Lutheran Church in Campo Mourao.  Pastor Nata’s daughter Sabrine has attended AFLBS the last two years.  She graduated this spring.  Thank you for praying.

Pray for Kirsten Paccha

Kirsten (Olson) Paccha who was hospitalized with a painful cyst and had an ovary removed.  Please pray for a good, quick recovery. Darwin and Kirsten (Olson) Paccha recently moved to Ecuador.  Darwin graduated from AFLTS this spring, and he and Kirsten are seeking to serve the Lord at work in Ecuador. 

Glenda Kvale’s Father Passes

Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement in Glenda's Father's last days after the prayer letter went out.  Her father went to be with the Lord, Sunday August 2^nd.  Your continued prayers will uphold us with God’s strength and comfort. 

Wednesday, August 5^th, 5:00 - 7:00 pm visitation,  6:30 prayer service, Starbuck funeral home in Starbuck MN. 

Thursday, August 6^th, 1:00 pm visitation, 2:00 funeral service, Minnewaska Free Lutheran Church, Starbuck, MN. 

Steve & Glenda Kvale

Thanks for Praying

We wanted to thank you so much for praying for today’s service and Tomasz’s sermon. Everything went well, people seemed to understand Tomasz’s Ukrainian, we felt God’s blessing on the whole service and even a guy who ALWAYS sleeps in church stayed awake for the whole sermon today

Tomasz preached on letting our lights shine ("Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”) and after the service a young guy, about 25 years old, came to Tomasz and said that the sermon was about him (that he is hiding his light instead of letting it shine, for example at work). And this guy also wants to start meeting with Tomasz to talk about some of his life struggles and he also wants Tomasz to help him study the Bible. We are praising God for these opportunities and we are praying that God would work in mighty ways in this young man’s life.

Thanks so much for praying! You are such wonderful support to us!!!

Tomasz and Miriam Chmiel

PS: The picture was taken after the service. Hannah was so good during church! That too we count as a blessing since worship services and youth meetings are such a big part of our ministry here in Lviv and it’s great when all three of us can still be there.

Pray for Nata Camargo

Pastor Nata Camargo in Brazil had an accident on his motorcycle on Friday.  He hit a speed bump at the wrong angle and was thrown from the bike.  He injured his hip and had considerable internal bleeding.

Pastor Nata is the dean of our seminary and Bible school in Brazil.  His is also the pastor at Central Lutheran Church in Campo Mourao.  Pastor Nata’s daughter Sabrine has attended AFLBS the last two years.  She graduated this spring.

Pray for Tomasz

Dear friends,

We just wanted to ask for your prayers for tomorrow’s worship service here in Lviv. Pastor Bendus is gone this weekend so he asked Tomasz to preach. This will be the first time Tomasz will preach in Ukrainian without a translator. Please pray that God guides him during the final preparations and gives him the right words to share tomorrow. Pray that God would be glorified through this opportunity. The sermon text is Matthew 5:14-16.

It would be great if people would also pray during the time of the service but we realize that for those of you living in the States, the time would not be very convenient. The church service here in Lviv starts at 11am Ukrainian time which will be:

Sunday  8/2/2009  1:15 am  PDT

Sunday  8/2/2009  2:15 am  MDT

Sunday  8/2/2009  3:15 am  CDT

Sunday  8/2/2009  4:15 am  EDT

So unless you work a night shift or can’t sleep, we don’t think that you will be able to pray at that exact time. But if it just happens that you are up for some reason we wanted to share the times with you so that you’d know.

Thank you so much for standing behind us in prayer! You mean a lot to us!!!

Tomasz, Miriam and Hannah

Jore’s Hitting the Road

Dear friends,

We’ve been back in the U.S. for 2 ½ weeks now & our time has been full but so good. It’s so nice to be near our families again! Elijah and Judah have become instant best friends with their cousins. They are adjusting so well and enjoying the perks of life here. It’s been fun to watch their reactions to so many “firsts” in their lives: visiting a nearby park (no public parks in Uganda), enjoying cones at McDonalds (couldn’t finish them though… they’re not used to so much sugar in one sitting), driving on the freeway (“Daddy, are we going faster than we do in Jinja?” “Yes, son…” by about 50 mph), shopping at Target (a bit over stimulating for them to see so many lights, colors and white people in one place… they didn’t really know how to handle it so they just got really hyper and loud and ran in circles), and many more things.

We’ve dealt with a bit of sickness since coming back, but we are currently healthy. Nate was sick with reoccurring fevers and overall weakness for a week, so we finally put him on malaria medicine that we brought back with us and he got better. We didn’t take a blood test, but we are pretty sure that he came down with malaria again. He’s lost a significant amount of weight, so we’ll be working on filling him out again which shouldn’t be too hard.

We are soon to start visiting churches to share about the work in Uganda. We are looking forward to visiting so many of you in the coming months!

Here is our schedule for the next couple of months.

• Jore Furlough Schedule

August

2^nd: Kasson/Dexter, MN

3^rd-7^th: Nate will attend the Summer Institute of Theology at AFLTS

9^th: Newark, IL

16^th: Bethel Park, PA

19^th: Montgomery, IL

23^rd: Ottawa, IL (am) / DeKalb, IL (pm)

30^th: Ishpeming, MI (am) / Ontonagan, MI (pm)

September

2^nd: Radcliffe, IA

6^th: Sunburg, MN

9^th: Eagan, MN

12^th: Webster, SD (WMF Rally)

13^th: Sioux Falls, SD (Abiding Savior – am, Living Word – pm)

20^th: Mission Festival in Milford, IL

22^nd: Onalaska, WI

23^rd: Wilson, WI

26^th: Spicer, MN (WMF Rally)

30^th: Brooklyn Park, MN

We would appreciate prayers for our family during these busy months.

Please pray for:

- Safety on the roads

- Health and strength for all of us

- Happy and content kids

- Good communication and unity for Nate and I

- Wisdom as we share about the work in Uganda with many different people in many different settings

- Our daily lives to be Spirit-filled and led

We would also appreciate prayer for 3 Ugandan families who our lives are entwined with who have each lost a child in the last few weeks – Tracy & Jacob (Blessed – 2 ½), Martin & Scovia (Sam – 1 ½) and Chris & Sarah (Christine – 1 ½). We don't have a picture of Christine, but these are pictures of Blessed and Sam.

Thank you so much.

Rhoda and family

Paul Abel’s July Update

Dear Friends,

          We have had a month of rain and cold and gloom.  Here in Curitiba we have had more than double the normal rainfall.  It is quite miserable without heat anywhere.  We are thankful for our little fireplace and woodstove to heat up our living room area.  The threat of swine flu is very near and many people are sick with colds and flu. The schools have been closed all this week and will be closed until Aug. 10 because of this threat.  I have had a terrible cough for over three weeks now, but am feeling better.  Rain accompanied us to Campo Mourão for our two camps there.  The first camp was marked by non-stop rain, but the second week we enjoyed a couple days of sunshine - such a relief! There is more rain and cold in the forecast.

          Enough for the weather report!  The spiritual report is more positive.  Our time in Campo Mourão was very encouraging.  We had special times of fellowship with our Christian friends in the churches, and our weeks at camp were blessed moments of investment for eternity.  A majority of the campers had not camped before.  We were happy that the children from the orphanage were able to participate as well as several other children from difficult life situations.  For them, eating three meals a day, sleeping in their own bed and having adult attention all day long was a new experience.  Ten children accepted the Lord at camp, and six teens made a first-time decision for Christ as well.  We continue to believe in the importance of camp ministry to help young people realize the wonderful plans God has for them if they choose to follow Jesus.

Our hearts went out to the kids who have been physically and emotionally abused during these early years of their lives.  Only Christ can heal and restore and lead them into a fulfilled life.  A little 7-yr.old had been raped by her father and her stepfather and had lost all will for living, several of the young teens from the orphanage have lived promiscuous lives, a family of four children all have different fathers and are facing eviction from their present “shack” where they live with their irresponsible mother.  How thankful we are for the privilege to preach the Good News of Jesus to these scarred lives, offering them hope and a different kind of living.  When you talk to the Lord today remember to thank Him for the blessed life you have, and ask Him to bless those who have not been so fortunate.
          While in Campo Mourão we had a fun time celebrating Yara’s birthday and participating in the local churches there.  Paul and I also took a trip to Maringá to visit his brother Jonathan and his family who are planting a church in that city.  We took four young men from Curitiba with us to help as camp counselors and enjoyed fellowship with them during the weeks we were at camp. Marcelo (who lived with us about twenty years ago) was one of the camp speakers.  He is the tall fellow between Paul and me on the photo. It was great to be together and reminisce about the “good ‘ole days!”   We also enjoyed having Pastor Joel with us as a speaker for the youth camp.

Now we are “back in the saddle” trying to catch up on visiting and other activities around here.  Saturday we had a Movie Night in Campo Largo to show the film “Fireproof.”  It was a great testimony and encouragement for our couples.  The church work there continues at a slow pace.  We ask for your prayers that more people would come to our church and that those who are with us would be encouraged in their faith and motivated to reach out more. 

Today we were happy to do our job as “grandparents” as the little girls spent the afternoon with us here at the farm.  For a time there were six little girls here vying for the attention of the charming Grandpa. We hope to be a positive influence on this next generation that they, too, might put their trust in God and live according to His perfect plan. 

We were reminded in our devotions today the importance of our responsibility to preach the message of repentance and salvation and of the necessity to make God’s Word an indispensable part of our diet.  The reaction of those who hear our message is not our responsibility, and God has already warned us that many will have a rebellious spirit and not accept the message.  Yet, we are commissioned to announce the message and leave the results in His hands.  “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you.”  Ez. 2:7-8

Listen and obey!  Simple?  Definitely not!  Yet possible by the grace of God!

Thanks for your continued prayers for us. 

Love, Paul and Becky

Steve Kvale - Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thanks be to God upon all our remembrance of you.  Your prayers are carrying us through tough times.  Thank you for faithful and fervent prayers on our behalf.  We are trusting in God’s all sufficient power to meet our every physical, emotional and spiritual need as He is so faithful to do beyond what we ever imagine. 

PRAY:

• That God blesses and enables the computer missionary team Steve is part of with His wisdom, healing from some illness, and God’s timing in the completion of the current assignment (Database conversion for the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project).
• For direction in travel plans for Steve to go to Orlando possibly the end of August or beginning of September to meet with the team in completing the current project and being introduced to a new computer project assignment.  It has been so exciting to see God work breakthroughs for language information needs as this team workes together.   I’m avoiding too much “computer terminology” here, so if you’d like more details, call Steve and he’ll enjoy visiting with you!  Pray that funds needed for this trip would come in according to His will. 
• God’s peace and comfort as Glenda’s Dad is likely in his last days in his fight with bone cancer.  Glenda has been with her parents consistently while Steve and the kids remain at home.  Pray that we trust God in the struggles of our family being separated and grieving.
• For the sustaining power of God to reign in our beings under stress.  Please pray for Glenda’s mom and praise God for her parents’ faith.

 In Spirit with 1 Peter 4:7  in mind. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (1 Peter 4:7, NASB).

Thank you again for all of your prayer and support that enables us to overcome and remain His servants.  There is no greater joy.

In the precious name of our Lord Jesus,

Steve & Glenda Kvale and family,  www.TranslateTheWord.org

We love hearing from you and what your prayer requests are, too.  1539 County Road 5, Balaton, MN  56115

Darwin Paccha Update

Darwin Paccha is a 2009 graduate of The Association of Free Lutheran Seminary.  He is from Ecuador and is returning there to minister among the people of his nation.

Querida Familia y Amigos,
Hola! We officially send you greetings from Cuenca, Ecuador. ☺ Thank you for your prayers! We arrived safely the evening of July 21st. Before we share about our trip to Ecuador, we want to share with you what we did in July.

Vacation with the Olsons
For about two weeks in July, we enjoyed a time of vacation with Mark and Debra Olson (Kirsten’s parents). Our itinerary included touring Chicago, visiting the Billy Graham Museum, climbing huge sand dunes in Michigan, eating cherry pie at the cherry festival (correction: Darwin and Debra eating cherry pie ☺), smelling a variety of flowers at the Mejier Greenhouse, relaxing by Lake Michigan and Huron, tandem biking around Mackinac Island, eating fudge (Mark and Kirsten with the fudge, since
they do not eat cherries), and more! We especially enjoyed the view of Chicago from the Sear’s Tower and walking out on the glass floor 103 floors up! ☺ The Billy Graham Museum contained a wonderful ‘exhibit’ that shares the Gospel message. It’s hard to describe, but there will be pictures on our blog for you to see. Mackinac Island was our last stop where we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere since automobiles are not allowed on the island. Tandem biking was a little tricky at first but a fun
time as we got used to it. We were truly blessed to have this time with Kirsten’s parents before heading off to Ecuador.

Our Arrival and Home in Ecuador
Praise God for His answers to prayer! We made all our connecting flights, even the one in Chicago where we walked off one plane and on to another! After going through customs in Ecuador without problems, we quickly found all six pieces of our luggage. Darwin’s parents (Florentino and Gloria) and his niece, Daniela, met us in the airport and we headed off to the mission home in Guayaquil to stay for the night. Two of Florentino’s friends guided us through the confusing and very busy streets of Guayaquil. The next morning we traveled to Cuenca in Florentino’s car. Luis (Darwin’s brother) and Johanna welcomed us to their new home for lunch, and we were reunited with all of Darwin’s brothers and sisters and their families. After staying with Florentino and Gloria for a week, we
moved into a house very close to the Bilingüe to be ‘guardians’ of it and the things inside for the next 4-5 months while a missionary family (McWeeny) is on furlough in the United States.

We are settling in little by little. Many things have changed since Darwin has been here, so he is adjusting as well.

Marriage, Visas, and Work
Regarding paperwork, we are doing very well. Again, praising God for His answers after we faced many frustrations and confusing answers concerning what type of visa we needed for Kirsten.
We are working with a great lawyer who is helping us legalize our marriage here in Ecuador and also helping Kirsten become a dual citizen through naturalization. Instead of having a visa first, Karina (the lawyer) explained how Kirsten could become naturalized right away. We are working through that process in the next couple of weeks and then, we will have to simply wait 3-4 months to receive the papers.

Kirsten met the teacher she will be working with at the Bilingüe (Sara), and they will be working with the 8th and 9th grades. Darwin will be what they call an inspector and will be working with the 9th and 10th grades. An inspector is basically the one who is in charge of discipline and counseling
issues. He will also be in charge of the worship team at the High School and be part of the Bible staff. Classes start September 7th, so please keep us in your prayers as we prepare and look forward to this new stage in our life.

We attended Paz de Dios Lutheran Church on Sunday and are waiting to see what kind of work/ministry we will be doing there. Many members of the church are gone on a retreat to the beach this week.

Prayer

PRAISES:
o Safe trip, easy passing through customs, no lost luggage
o Temporary Housing
o Florentino and Gloria’s help as we adjust to Ecuador
o Karina (our lawyer) and her help with the naturalization process

PRAY FOR:
o Our students at the Bilingüe
o Health as we continue to adjust to food
o Good communication and relationship between Kirsten and Sara
o Continued, successful progress with Kirsten’s paperwork
o Positive attitudes ☺
o Open hearts to the Gospel message

Please feel free to ask us questions! It is difficult to write everything that is happening in a two page newsletter! We can respond to your questions through e-mail or we may include some on the blog. May God bless you as you enjoy this last month of summer!
In Christ,
Darwin and Kirsten

Dan and Marcela Giles

Hello. We apologize for not sending updates sooner. This month has been a very busy and hectic one.

We recently discovered that we had different kinds of "unwelcome bugs" in the house. We thought if we fumigated the house, everything will be o.k., but it wasn't.  The fumigators came and after that, we realized that we had a very serious problem. We called the company again and they said that they would come in a week.  They returned and fumigated again, but still no result. I had to go to the municipal dump to throw away some of the furniture in our home (our bed and dresser). It was our only option to rid ourselves of this problem.  It has been taking quite a long time to put the house together again and we are still not close to done organizing and cleaning.  It has turned out to be a big job.  Regardless of all this, we can see the mercy of the Lord upon us.  Marcela's sister, Adriana and her daughters came to visit us, and they have been a blessing to us.  Adriana has been helping with the cleaning of the house and also taking care of our daughters.

Please pray:

• For my wife's and our son Roberto's health.  She is very tired, and has the flu along with our son Roberto who also has the flu. His first sickness. Due to this and our financial status, we had to cancel our appointment in Monterrey at the Consulate to get Robert's American Passport. Pray that the Lord will provide the means for us to go get his papers along with my passport renewal.
• Pray for wisdom and guidance, since we are in the middle of making important decisions concerning our future.
  

Thank you so much for your prayer support, we wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for you and your support.

We praise the Lord for our kids as they continue to grow and develop, it is a blessing to be parents of our three little ones.

In His Service,
Dan, Marcela, Ariadna, Andrea, and Roberto Giles.

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Chmiel’s Update

Kostya

We just wanted to THANK YOU so much for praying for Kostya and also for writing to let him know about your prayers. He was not accepted to the school but knowing that so many of you prayed was very encouraging. We believe that Kostya can trust that God was in all of it with him and it probably was not His will for Kostya to start attending this school this fall. We printed out all your emails and prayers that you wrote so that Kostya can keep them and re-read your words or encouragement again in the future. If you remember, please continue to pray for Kostya as he and his parents will have to decide what to do next.

Hanna

Many of you asked for more pictures of Hannah so here’s a link for you :) http://picasaweb.google.com/HannahJoyChmiel/  We added a lot of new pictures to the “second month” album and some are now also in “third month.”

Our regular gallery (www.chmiels.com/gallery) is not working properly at this time but you can see some new ministry pictures and some other recent “non-Hannah” pictures here

http://picasaweb.google.com/HannahJoyChmiel/Summer2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMn83qCFnaC4Kg#

Visas

We also have a prayer request to share with you. Our Ukrainian visa expires this fall so we will need to renew both our visa and our registration. This might sound like an easy thing to do but unfortunately it is not. We just learned today that our close friends Josh and Kelsie (also missionaries in Lviv) will be going back to America for a while and one of the main reasons for this trip has to do with immigration problems that have come up recently in Ukraine. Here’s some of what Josh wrote on his website:

“In May of this year, Ukraine’s parliament passed a new law restricting the amount of time foreigners can stay in the country. In short, the new law says that you can only stay in Ukraine for 90 days out of every 180, unless you apply for an extension. The process of receiving this extension is called “registration” and is not simple or cheap. To further complicate the situation, every government agency that we deal with (e.g. border patrol, foreign affairs office, the embassy) seems to have a different interpretation of the law. There are as many versions as there are agencies, and some agencies do not yet acknowledge that there have been any changes at all! The biggest concern for most foreigners here is that they might make a trip abroad, say, a two-day trip into Poland for supplies, and then be turned away at the border while trying to reenter Ukraine. For those of us who have homes and families here, such a scenario would pose serious problems. Imagine going into Mexico or Canada for short trip, and then, upon trying to reenter the US, being told that you have to stay gone for another three months. Makes you think about how you pack.”

So please pray that God gives us favor with the right people at the right offices and helps us through this whole complicated process! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Have a blessed week,

Tomasz, Miriam and Hannah

Jores – We Made It!

Thank you for your prayer cover as we made our trip back from Jinja, Uganda to Minneapolis, USA.  The trip went very well, although Hannah had a rough time dealing with motion sickness.  We were the ones on the plane with the screaming baby that everyone dreads sitting near. We made all our connections and came out with all our bags - a huge blessing!

It has been so great to be back in the U.S. and to see our families. Rhoda's family gave us a royal welcome when we arrived at the airport at midnight on Monday. We visited my parents and brother Andy who are back from Brazil and my brother Ben who is back for the summer from Tanzania.

The boys have been adjusting very quickly to their new culture.  Everything is new and exciting for them.  It is fun to watch their little minds process what they've been through.  As we were driving away from the airport, Judah said, "Where was America? I didn't see it!" And as we were going to visit Grandpa and Grandma Jore, he asked, "Is Grandpa Jore an African?"  The boys were amazed to find out they didn't have to sleep under mosquito nets. "Aren't there any mosquitoes in America?"

We have a couple of weeks of settling in and resting up before we begin visiting churches in August.  AFLC World Missions has provided us with a mini-van that is perfect for our family.  We are staying in a basement apartment at Rhoda's parent's place.  They had it all fixed up for us and we are really enjoying our new home.

We feel very blessed and look forward to this next leg of our journey.  Please remember the training in Uganda which is continuing every Saturday and Monday.

"Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercies endure forever" (Psalm 106:1)

Nate

Jores Arrive in US Monday

Thanks for your recent prayers for our family as we prepare for our first trip back to the US since coming to Uganda.  Our personal belongings have been stored and we are ready to fly! 

We will be leaving Jinja tomorrow after church and traveling to Entebbe where the airport is.  We fly at 9:00am local time (1:00am CST) to London on British Airways and then connect to Chicago and finally Minneapolis.  Please pray for our connections, especially the one in Chicago where we will have 2 hours to go through customs, immigration, and to change terminals.

We are looking forward to our six months in America!  It will be a big adjustment for our three kids who have no memories of life in the States. 

Thanks for your prayer cover during this time.  We appreciate each one of you.

Nate, for the family too

Update from Chmiels

We wanted to share with you the good news of us being back home in Lviv again! Yes, we are back in Ukraine and we are praising the Lord for all His provision. Thank you SO MUCH for praying for us!

We also wanted to thank you for your prayers for our youth group. In our last update we asked you to pray that even though we were gone for some time, that we would be able to pick up where we left off. And it seems like God is really answering that prayer. Not only did all the students come back right away but we even have more students coming on Thursdays than we used to have during the school year! Please pray that God would use us to work in those students’ lives and hearts.

But we also have a specific prayer request to share with you today. One of our students, Kostya (in the picture on the left), is taking the entrance exams for one of the colleges here in Lviv. It is some kind of an art school and he is taking a series of exams this week. We talked to his mom this morning and she said that they were told by the professor in charge that Kostya should not have even applied since he did not do it “their way.” Well, “their way” is that each student who wants to be accepted pays $4,000 a year in advance and for that money they “prepare” him or her for the exams. “Prepare” means they make it possible for those students who pay to be accepted. Kostya did not do that so now they are saying that there is no chance for him to make it into that school even if he did well at all those exams.

We told Kostya that we would be praying for him and he knows that God can do a miracle for him if He chooses to do so. So we wanted to ask you to join us in that prayer. We also thought that if you pray for Kostya (even if you just quickly pray as you read this email) it would be great to let Kostya know. It would be very encouraging for him to know that he is being prayed for and to know that no matter what the result is, God is in control.

So if you pray, please email us and maybe just say “I prayed” or something simple that won’t take a lot of your time. And we will let Kostya know!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Tomasz, Miriam and Hannah