Making the final preparations

Hello everyone! Many thanks to you all for your love for and support of Ellen as she prepares for her trip to Africa. Only a week and a half to go! We are busy with the final preparations.

Most of the plans for this trip have fallen into place nicely. Ellen has been encouraged as she has walked through this process. Our last major (and essential!) hurdle is to see the passport and visa details through. As many of you already know, Ellen’s passport has been caught up in the unprecedented number of applications in the Canadian system. We sent her application in plenty of time – if everything was operating as usual. We asked the Canadian Consulate to help us expedite her passport and they have intervened, however, they have warned that it still may not come until the last minute. This poses some difficulty because she needs a visa from the Liberian embassy as well.

In consideration of this, would you please remember this situation in prayer? I will know more tomorrow when I contact the Liberian embassy but my best guess right now is that we will need the passport to arrive no later than Thursday in order to expedite it to Washington, DC and back again before her departure from Portland next Wednesday.

We trust fully in God’s sovreign power to deal with this situation as He sees fit. We know that nothing is impossible with Him so our first prayer request would be that the passport gets here fast! Overall, we desire His will in this situation and so we humbly submit ourselves to Him.

Thank you for your prayers,

Lindsay

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Letter from Ellen

Hi Everyone!

I would like to tell you what amazing things God is doing in my life. He has given me the opportunity to travel to Liberia, Africa, in March.

Liberia is a small country on the coast of West Africa. The most recent civil war ended in August of 2003 and left the country devastated. Many children were orphaned; there is high unemployment and a lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity, telephone and postal service.

I will be traveling to and from Africa with a group of college students from Oregon who are going on their own mission trip and have graciously agreed to chaperone me. While in Liberia, I will be living and working with one of my former teachers, a young woman who is ministering in a Liberian orphanage for the next few months.

Daniel Hoover Children’s Home is located near Monrovia, the capitol of Liberia, in a small town called Dixville. There are about 500 children living there. The orphanage is a safe place for these kids to be housed, clothed and fed. They are also given an education and spiritual guidance.

I have been working hard this year to save money for the trip. It is estimated that the trip will cost about $3000 (almost all of that is for the plane fare). I have saved about a third of what I need so far. I know God will provide the means for my trip if He wants me there, so please don’t feel obligated to give.

I am enclosing a prayer card and asking for you to cover me in prayer while I prepare for and take this trip. If you remember the following things in prayer, I would appreciate it.

• That my passport and visa will be completed in time for the trip
• That God would prepare my heart to go as a humble servant of His
• That God will show me how best to minister to the children while I’m there
• That I would be sensitive to the culture and traditions of the Liberian people
• For safety
• For good health

Since I have never traveled on a mission trip before, I don’t know of all the ways I might need prayer so please continue to pray as you feel God leading you. Thank you all for your support. God bless you!

Ellen

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