It's been a little over a year ago that I updated my blog. A lot has happened in the past year. Let me start with we finished the building in Ghana, W. Africa. The church is established and has their national pastor. We felt it was time to come back to the states and seek what the Lord has for us next. We completed our missionary work in Ghana. We worked ourselves out of a job. When we first went to Ghana, we faced a lot of unknowns, but we knew God was leading us. We spent 19 years on the field, 23 total in missions. That's a long time. That's practically my kids lifetime. The Lord has allowed us to come home and we are facing a lot of unknowns, but the Lord is guiding us once again. We are taking one step at a time and He shows us a little more.
I was excited to come back home. Get settled, set up house, do ministry. We are home, I have set up house and we are doing ministry, but settled? Not yet! It was VERY hard when we first came back home. Very hard. Where do we fit? What are we going to do? Where will we go? We were on the front lines in ministry, now we feel like we are on the sidelines. God continued to guide us. As we went to some of our supporting churches we were encouraged. People were behind us, praying for us. I learned we weren't the only ones who has faced this transition in ministry. Over and over again, I heard Pastor's tell their story. Fellow missionaries tell their story. I was encouraged they have gone through the same things and the Lord guided them.
September 24, 2022, my dad died. He had heart surgery a year ago and since then suffered mini strokes. Also the beginning of dementia due to the strokes. I talked with him before his heart surgery a year ago. I asked him if he trusted Christ as his Savior. He said, "I did that as a little child, but I didn't believe it much then and I don't believe it much now." He kept putting off his heart surgery and we had to go back to Africa. He finally had his heart surgery a month later, I believe it was November 2021. Fast forward to September 2022. My dad was in kidney failure and I went to see him. I asked him again about his salvation. He again, told me what he told me before. I got to talk to him for a few hours. He drank an Ensure, some coke, ate a few Cheerio's. Then he got tired and was quietly laying there. I said my goodbyes and left. The next day he was unresponsive. The following day he went into eternity. According to his testimony, I believe he died and went to Hell. I hope I am mistaken. I hope I will be pleasantly surprised when I get to heaven.
On October 31, 2022, my mother-in-law also went out into eternity. It was sudden. She was out cutting her grass and we believe her heart stopped. We know for sure she is in heaven. We are saddened she is no longer with us. We know for sure we will see her again. Her testimony continues through her children and many many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Pray for Mack's dad, they were married for 65 years, 2 months shy of 66 years. She was a testimony to me over the years as a mother, wife and in her faith.
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It was during her funeral the Lord showed us our next step. God used this circumstance to get people where they needed to be and things were confirmed that week. (I will share more on this later)
Just wanted to give an update. I could give more but I think that is all for now.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
