Lamentations 3:22-23

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

 

              We begin this update by giving praises and glory to God for his goodness to us over the past few months! To say it has been an easy time back in the USA would not be accurate, but we have seen God work in our lives and circumstances repeatedly. As many of you know, our main reason for returning to the States was due to medical needs for Les. We knew he would be facing at least one spinal surgery for the pain issues in his lower back. Then, before we returned he developed the issue with his left arm and after we arrived in America it was determined that a second spinal surgery would be necessary to reduce pressure on the nerves in his neck that were affectiing his shoulder. This was determned after many MRI’s, CT scans, and other procedures, and when told the surgery was necessary we were told it would not be until APRIL of 2023 before they could schedule it! This was a major let down for us, but God stepped in and Les was able to undergo neck surgery on Dec 30^th! Because of this, we did not have to pay a huge sum under a new year’s deductible and nearly all of the cost was covered. It has been an expensive stay in the States with all of the medical costs and our finances have taken quite a hit. Generally when in the States we are visiting many of you in our supporting churches and receiving gifts and blessings from you, but not being able to do so has caused us to dig in to ministry funds to keep things paid up. God has blessed and we have received some financial gifts, and so far we have kept up, but we are starting a new deductible year now and have already have been billed for nearly $1000 in new costs, and anticipating a few more before we depart. Thank you in advance for praying about it with us!  We know that God is able and if we do not ask or share this then you do not know how to better pray for us.

The Les & Carol Carew family

            Some exciting news for us! On Feb 3^rd we will leave to go visit and say goodbye to our daughter and her family in Wisconsin, then we will return and begin to earnestly pack. We have purchased plane tickets for Feb 23 arriving in Chad on Feb 24^th! Please pray as we prepare and say our goodbyes to our children, our precious grandchildren, siblings, friends and our Moms. Les’ Mom is now 90 and doing OK living on her own with family nearby who help her. Carol’s Mom is living in Rest Haven in Grand Rapids, Mi and is now 94. She had a surgery this past year and since then has had a harder time with her recall memory, but she still loves to talk about and share Jesus every chance she gets! Please pray as it is difficult leaving, not knowing if we will see them again this side of glory!  

 

Pray for our Chadian son Daniel. As you all know, he will be staying behind to finish his schooling in the States at Frontier School of the Bible in La Grange, Wyoming, as an F-1 visa international student. According to F-1 visa regulations, as we understand it, he is not allowed to work outisde of campus unless the work is somehow tied to his curriculum. So, this is bringing us to our knees for his financial needs. If God lays it on your heart to encourage him financially to help him through the next 2 1/2 years please reach out to us to learn how to do so. We should soon be able to inform people where financial gifts can be sent in order to reach his new sponsors. One of Les’s siblings and his wife have taken on this responsibility and we could not be more pleased with their gracious hearts. They have five grown children, most married and some with kids of their own, and they all love Daniel. They will do what they can financially to help, but would greatly appreciate others offers to help with Daniel’s tuition costs. We praise the Lord that Frontier’s costs are very low—about $6000/year for tuition and housing—because all of the teaching staff are fully supported missionaries themselves rather than being paid by the school. Daniel will spend summers and holidays with this family at their lakeside home near Pierson, MI. Daniel would really appreciate it too, we’re sure, if any of you feel led to send him letters or notes of encouragement from time to time. Having becoome Daniel’s American Mom & Dad and leaving him behind, we know that gift baskets from others would mean a lot to him as we will not be able to send those! We appreciate all of you so much that have been and are willing to stand in the gap for us! Daniel is committed to serving the Lord and is following Him wherever He leads. We are praying as God continues to work in his heart and possibly even someday call him back to Chad as a missionary to his own people.

 

Please pray as we return to Chad that many doors will be opened to us and for our ministries to bare much fruit. We have sown many seeds, and some are beginning to bare fruit, but we so want to see God’s hand at work in a mighty way. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for standing with us through these past years as we have sought God’s direction with the radio ministry, the preaching and teaching, the refugee ministry, the ESL classes and clubs, and the hosting we do for many ministry teams from the States. The field is so ripe, but the workers are so very few! Would you pray with us that others would soon come to help bolster the work in Chad, Africa! The door into this predominantly Muslim country in the 10/40 window is fully open to gospel ministries for now. Why not come!!???