EUROPE
TOUR
Greetings
from Paris! These past few weeks I've been busy traveling through
Europe, from Austria, to Belgium,
to France and now still Switzerland,
before I return to Mali and my kids who I miss. At one point I counted
having slept in 10 different beds & towns during the previous
12 nights!
But
I love being a carrier of God's heart to the Western church,
to see Him touch His people, heal their hearts, and draw them closer
to HIS heart. There is nothing like it! I'm so excited about the
message God's given me for this trip, and I do not get tired preaching
it, whether in German, English or French. What an awesome God we
serve! I intend to share it with you in my next email update.
Go
to my CALENDAR page
to see my itinerary and where I have yet to minister
in Switzerland and Austria. All the details are found there.
Reports
with pictures can be found on my
blog that I update daily.
You
can see the pictures from this trip here.
THE
BOOK IS OUT!
Printing
of my book finished a week earlier than scheduled, and 50 copies
were immediately shipped to me so I'd have them on the road with
me. When I arrived in Brussels, Belgium, they were
already waiting for me, and it was very exciting to finally hold
a copy in my hand.
So
far I've had great feedback that you can read here.
In
Europe it can be ordered from the publisher's website
here
(and they also ship worldwide).
In
the USA, it will available on Amazon any time now.
It will also be available at the Life Center bookstore in Harrisburg,
PA, and their website, as well as directly from Destiny Image and
more distributors to come.
In
June I'll be traveling to the US making it available everywhere
I go - even signing it ;-). Check the calendar
page for my itinerary.
CONSTRUCTION
CONTINUES
In
February we finally finished our permanent kitchen area
between the two finished houses and our ladies have been cooking
there since.
We
had a deadline of end of February to meet to pay for additional
solar power equipment to have more electricity on our base.
I'm happy to tell you that God provided, and the equipment will
be installed in June.
Next
we needed $11,000 to add rooms ot the roof of our dining hall and
create a little apartment for the family of three
from America that is joining our team just a month from now. Construction
is making good progress, and we expect to finish their rooms before
their arrival.
And
then, we can FINALLY focus again on finishing our third
building. Our goal is to finish it by the end of summer,
so that the 2 families of 13 people in total can move in with us
before school starts and make the transition to a new school easier.
Then we'll also have more room to take in more children.
Our
construction progress can be seen in word and pictures on our CONSTRUCTION
page.
QUICK
NEWS
- Fanta's
Scare - A few weeks ago Fanta left with 2.5-year-old
Jonathan to do the long and tedious 2-day-trip to her village
because of her uncle's death. When she did not come back
at the scheduled time a week later and was unreachable on her
cell-phone, we were concerned. Another week later she returned
home unaware of our worries; there was no cell-phone coverage,
she was held up at a police check-point, and her family wanted
her to stay longer.
- Paul's
Fiancée - This is the first year Rokia (about
19) is attending school, so she's in first grade. If any of you
would like to support her going to school, tuition
for one year is 280 EUR or 400 USD.
This would be a special sponsorship for her.
- Paul's
Wedding - Paul wants to get married still this year though
I have asked him to first go through a marriage preparation
course. Please pray we can surmount cultural and language
barriers as I do the course with them (Rokia doesn't speak French),
and that they would be made ready for their future life together.
- Drivers
- Our 18-year-old Joseph is just about to finish his
driving school to have a truck license. He then
has to wait 6 months before he can do the public transportation
license. We need someone with this license to drive our
little bus and transport the children safely to school,
especially having 10 additional children next school year. Our
current driver can't do the truck license before this summer.
- Reinforcements
- I'm so excited that God has FINALLY answered my heart's
cry to send more workers. In a few weeks Americans Ray
& Mim (parents) and Julie (daughter)
arrive in Mali to possibly stay for a few years. I know that that
will change a lot of things, and for the better. Please pray for
this time of transition for all of us.
- New
Children's Center - Months ago God spoke that it's time
to move forward with starting a children's center in the town
of Mopti which is 6 hours away, simply trusting Him for
the resources in terms of people and money. I'm planning a short
trip to Mopti with Paul in May to check out locations for that
center, and hope to start it once the summer vacation starts.
- Personal
Assistant Needed - I'm looking for a female on-fire Christian
with a heart to serve who travels with
me as my PA. You'll have to raise your own support as
we travel to the US, Europe and Mali. Preferred are those who
have done the IRIS, Bethel school, Fire & Fragrance, or the
like. Reply to this email for more information.
Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
(Eph 1:3)
Anticipating
HIM,
Claudia |