She’s Here!
Meet Hadassah Rose!
Days past her expected due date, yet faster than a flash, she was here; this sweet little rosy cheeked lady arrived in our arms!
It had felt like she may never come, and expecting labor all the time was daunting. I had just begun to wonder if I had misread the signposts of her coming when all of a sudden it happened! On Sept 14th at 7pm, faster than I could ever have expected, labor came. What started as a dizzy spell, became instantly timeable contractions. I knew we needed to move with urgency. We did. Once at the hospital though, I was so surprised!! Upon telling the ER attendants that Hadassah, our bundle of joy, was coming, I was made to wait! It was as if none of the nurses had heard what I was telling them. People were all around me, walking by with no urgency while every passing minute reminded me of how urgent the moment was! I couldn’t understand. Why did no one seem to realize what a critical moment this was!? By the time someone listened, there were only minutes to spare. Hadassah was born just after making it to labor and delivery, only 3 hours after contractions began!
This sweet little person named after Esther, the Biblical Queen, came into the world at exactly 10pm. She was born right before the last hour and her name means ‘myrtle tree’ (myrtle trees are known to have healing properties). I so believe that this hour into which my daughter is born, this urgent hour in which labor pains might begin, is also an hour filled with grace. This is an hour to prepare for His coming, to declare the Gospel, to make Jesus known. This is an hour for repentance, for forgiveness, and for hearts to burn for him. This is an hour of great harvest and of promise and of many hearts turning to Him.
Shortly after coming home from the hospital I had to go out again. As I did, a light rain began to fall on our road, and a rainbow appeared right in front of our car. Each time we continued forward into the shade it would seemingly disappear, and each time the sunlight pierced through it would appear again right in front of us. This happened the whole length of our road. I felt as though God was assuring us that we are driving into His promise and that those promises would lead us until the end.
Ed’s Trip Continued…
Sadly, our time and work on the island of Ukerewe had come to a close. Zach and I had reached nearly 100 schools and we thought about the many miracles and healings we had seen as we hurried to catch the ferry to the mainland. We still had a couple more towns to reach and were so happy because our wonderful translator, Julius, who had helped us so much in our last days on the island had agreed to come with us. The first town we went to was Musoma. We were able to cover the schools over the entire town and saw many repent and respond to the Gospel. Next we headed to our final town, Bunda, where we saw the same. This was our final stop before heading home. In all, I was able to personally see over 43,000 people respond to the Gospel during the entirety of our trip. God’s open door was everywhere, even when many said it couldn’t be done and when it looked like things might not work. When God opens a door, no man, no devil, no opinion can close it, and my friends and I were able to see it first hand. It was such a blessing to be a part of what God did and if you have partnered with us then we know you share in that reward!
We hope to continue doing this amazing work in the schools. We feel the heart of Jesus all over this opportunity, and I know I personally feel more passion for this work than anything God every asked me to do. I hope that these stories bless you the way they blessed me being a part of them. I have been praying for theses youth; that there will be evangelists and revivalists that are raised up for this work. Before I leave a school I always tell the children that there are youth all over the world that lead great works of God. They hear God’s voice and they do what He tells them. Then I encourage them, “You can do great things through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and doing what God tells you everyday. So pray, listen and do!” Amen!
Two More Trips
My friend Doug and I were planning a trip to Tanzania in November, but no matter what I did in the planning I just couldn’t get peace about the trip. I was so eager to go, but when I looked to buy tickets, it was just so clear to me that I needed to stop planning and pray. When we prayed, Doug and I felt the Lord show us the we should go on a trip in January with a group of fellow evangelists to the country of Rwanda. When I felt the prompting I intently started to study about Rwanda and found some cool statistics. The more I read the more the Spirit confirmed that this was where we should go. Rwanda has the most dense population in all of Africa; 12.5 million people live in the little country with over 50% of them being under the age of 18. What a harvest this could be for the Kingdom. What an opportunity to encourage this young generation to follow the ways of the Lord and not the ways of this world. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation!
It was so good that we listened to the Holy Spirit’s leading on when and where to go for the Africa trip, because it actually afforded us another opportunity. I have also been feeling a pull towards the islands around Florida and have been praying about when and how to do this. Shortly after deciding to wait on another Africa trip until January, a pastor friend invited me to go along to the Dominican Republic for the specific purpose of ministering in schools! How good is that! Not only will Africa continue to be saved, but I will get to take part in the harvest of the islands near my home too! I leave in just a few short weeks and look forward to sharing the fruit of this trip with you in our next newsletter.
God of the Impossible
Our family has historically made two lists when we feel like the Lord is calling us to do things that seems too big for us. The first list is called “What We CAN Do,” and contains the ways we know we can act on the vision God has given us. The second list is called “With God, All Things Are Possible.” This list contains all the things that we know are only possible with Him.
Right now, I, Ed, am doing what I can in several ways. First, I am holding fast to what I know God has said, and not selling out for anything less. This looks like planning to go on at least four youth crusades a year, and planning everything else around that. (We, as a family, want to see at least 1 million saved within 10 years) I am working with all diligence in my planning and networking to do this, trusting God to make a way. Secondly, I can work to be a blessing wherever I can. In order to help bring in an income for my family, I have taken on a job at a friend and fellow evangelist’s company. He is allowing me both time off for these youth crusades and an opportunity to care for my family. It also allows me to support him as a diligent worker as he goes out.
The things we know are only possible with Him are these: Firstly, we cannot hope to survive as a family of 7 and finance 4 youth crusades a year by me simply working for the 3/4 of the year I’ll be home. We need financial support and provision to do this. Secondly, the job I have taken that allows me to go on these trips and supplement income is out of state and will keep me away from my family every other week or more. We know this is not sustainable long term and have felt prompted to pray for the ability to buy a house closer to where I work. Thirdly, we want to be a part of seeing more evangelists sent out so that many more can hear the Good News.
Today we want to ask you to partner with us in the vision God has given us. That vision, to share the heart of the Father by presenting the Son, is being accomplished by going into schools, in countries that are open, and sharing the Gospel with as many youth as possible. The opportunities with this are so abundant and right now almost limitless. We are doing much, but could do so much more if we had more partners willing to go and more partners willing to sow! Today we ask you this: Will you go or will you sow?
Comments