An Important Annoucement

Several months ago I, Michaela, felt God saying, “Prepare to go home.” It was very confusing to me because although our lives are difficult at times I didn’t feel the need to go home for a respite.  I felt God giving me strength to move forward in our circumstances. During my times of silent prayer I kept hearing it. Now? Why? The timing didn’t make sense to me. I asked God to confirm it through Cody, and I waited. As Malachi and I’s health started to decline I was wondering and waiting for that confirmation thinking maybe it was time to go home for a break, but I didn’t want to be led by emotions. I wanted to make sure it was what God wanted. Right before Malachi and I left for Nairobi I was beginning to get much more weary emotionally and physically. Since Cody is the leader of our family I asked him what he thought of going home for an early furlough, and what God was saying to me. He said we should pray about it together and see what happens. After Cody picked me up in Kampala we spent 2 days in Jinja. During this time we sought the Lord fervently together and on the drive home to Kotido Cody said he felt like God released him to go. In that release Cody felt like God wanted him to take us home so we could have a time of rest, and reflection.

With that we are planning on taking a furlough for 6 months. We will arrive in Denver on March 23, and spend some time with our immediate family. It is our hope that after about 4 weeks of spending time with friends and family in New Castle we will be able to do some debriefing by a professional Christian group in Colorado Springs about our experiences, and struggles.  Our prayer is that this time will strengthen us for the next leg of ministry, and grow our marriage and family together. After that we have plans of traveling to see friends, family, and our supporting churches all over the country to share with them our hearts and what God did, and what He is doing before returning to the field.

You could be praying for us during this transition. Pray that the rest of our time here is fruitful. Pray for comfort as it is not easy to leave the life we have started here, and to be honest it hard for me to understand exactly what God is doing. Pray that our immune systems could have a break and become stronger than ever.