Donations:

In this newsletter:

MY BACKGROUND
RANDY'S BACKGROUND
CONVERGENCE
PROGRESSION
QUICK NEWS

MY BACKGROUND

I became a believer at the age of 20, and for the next 20 years I never had a relationship. When I left for Mali at the age of 30, for the first time in my life I had the desire to get married, while before I'd say either way is fine with me. As the years passed, every time I'd travel I would get people praying over me and prophesying that my husband was coming soon, as well as other details, yet "soon" in God's eyes is very different from our "soon". Every time I'd get discouraged and be on the point of giving up, God would intervene and assure me once again that He had a husband for me that He would bring at the right time. In December 2012 was one such moment when I had given up, and then a pastor praying over me said, "Don't seek, and you'll be found."

A few years into my life in Mali I once asked God why I was still single when He had given me the desire to be married and healed me of all the marriage-related issues in my life. It didn't make sense to me. God showed me that the reason was that His intention was to make a point with me, to make me a message, to show His people that He could use anyone, even a SINGLE woman to change the world and there was nothing that disqualified anyone to be used by Him. My life truly shows that, and my book tells the story so that no one can any longer disqualify him- or herself for the purposes of our King. He showed me that once His point was made, once I had become that message, He would bring my husband to me. He told me that two things needed to happen before I'd get married. One, my book needed to be published. Two, I needed to build a house for me and my future husband in Mali where we'd live. The book came out early 2011, and I moved into the house late 2011.

RANDY'S BACKGROUND

At the same time those two prerequisites were fulfilled - late 2011 - Randy's wife of 20+ years died of cancer.

Randy was raised Southern Baptist in Mississippi. After a few years of rebellion he rededicated his life to the Lord at the age of 23. Within the year he was married, and shortly after on the way to seminary in California. He had two daughters while in seminary, and went on to do church planting in California. After a few years they took several people into their home, and his wife left him and married one of those men. Being divorced, he was disqualified as a missionary as a Southern Baptist. He returned to Mississippi, married again and had one more daughter. He worked in his family leather business (J.V. Wilson Leather) and planted a church that he has been pastoring ever since. He had given his life to foreign missions, but never got to fulfill his pledge to God.

Randy was filled with the Spirit 7+ years ago and has been on a life-changing journey since. God made him aware of Heidi Baker, and one time she prayed for him and said that his hands would heal many and that he had an eagle eye. Another time he was at a prophetic conference and the minister asked him whether he was willing to sacrifice his wife (who was dying of cancer) to have a healing ministry. What a horrible question to be asked! He answered, "Yes, but I don't have to, because Jesus paid the price." Randy has a passion to see healing, to evangelize the lost, and he's about to enter into the greatest adventure of his life, fulfilling the call that is so obvious on his life.

A year ago a lady in his church told him that it was time for him to find a wife and that whenever God showed her something to do with Randy, it had come to pass. Living in the little 200-people village of Bellefontaine and pastoring in the nearby 2500-people town Eupora, Randy signed up online on Christian Mingle.

CONVERGENCE

At the time Randy went online to find a wife, I was in the first relationship of my Christian life and thought I had found my husband. It was as if I had suddenly become visible to men, and as if the wrong one came along just before the right one to keep me from the one God had for me. It wasn't easy, but God's will prevailed. That relationship ended in the beginning of June and left me in much pain. I felt God wanted me to take two months in the US - July and August - to recover. My only goal was to be excited about life and ministry again and go back to Mali ready to move forward as a single person and full of fire.

In July a lady prophesied over me that I would find my husband in Vienna. That didn't make sense to me as I only had a week in Vienna after the US before returning to Mali and had no plans for anything. A pastor told me in July that he'd pray I'd find my husband before the end of the year, and knowing he was prophetic, I wondered whether that's what it was. He also told me to make a list of what I wanted in a husband. I did, and Randy ticks every box. In August another pastor prophesied I'd find my husband within a few months. With my mind, I could not imagine that happening, and yet, I felt all summer that my husband was really close and mentioned it to several people.

I ended my summer in the US with a 3-day seminar for "Leaders in Crisis" at Bethel church in Redding. On the third day I met with my small group leader and told her I felt my husband was really near, and she said she felt the same. The next day Randy found me. As the pastor had prophesied, "Don't seek and you'll be found." The day Randy found me was also my last day in the US, and I posted on Facebook that the purpose for my 2 months in the US had been accomplished. I was restored, happy being single, excited about life and ministry and returning to Mali. For the first time both Randy and I were free and ready for each other, and that's when God brought us together.

As Randy signed up on Christian Mingle, he prayed for God to give him a wife who really needed a husband and a wife like Heidi Baker. He did searches using keywords like "missionary", "minister", "pastor" and then "Africa". When he did "Africa", my name came up. It was late night but it looked like I was online, so he sent me a message, that last day of mine in the US. However, I didn't get a notification. It was only just over a week later - while I was in Vienna - that I received his message. My friend's prophetic word of finding my husband in Vienna had come to pass.

After my breakup, I signed up on several Christian dating websites, and it takes time and perseverance as most guys can be ruled out immediately. I found that being 41 years old, men my age wanted to have a young wife to have children with, or they already had adult children and didn't want any more. God had given Randy a vision of having two children with is future wife. After he found me, God gave him that vision again where he saw the two of us with two baby-carriers. Praise God!

As for me, I would search for ages 35 to 50, but would mostly get messages from guys in their late 50s, which seemed way too old for me. I would also search for keywords like "pastor" and "minister" but not get anywhere. When I received Randy's message on September 5th, 2014, I saw his age of 58 and thought "once again". However, I decided to check out his profile. As Randy is gifted with words like I am, he had filled out the questions on his profile and something in his writing intrigued me. I decided to reply. In his second message he told me about having prayed for a wife like Heidi Baker, and I told him how I'm often called "young Heidi Baker" or "Heidi Baker of West Africa". We were both amazed! It didn't take long before his age became a non-issue.

PROGRESSION

It went fast from there. The first month we talked 3 hours a day on Skype (and continued to do so) as well as writing emails to each other another 3-4 hours per day, living on little sleep. We'd continually be amazed at the signs that God had brought us together, and be amazed at how we were on the same page on everything and just a perfect fit. And God was speaking. One day I was not even praying when God's manifest presence came down on me, and God resurrected the word I had spoken all those years telling everyone that when I'd meet my husband I would know right away and it would go fast. That word had died with my last relationship. But now it had come to pass. God also spoke to me that the 2.5 months we'd have before meeting in person, He would lay a foundation that usually takes 2.5 years to build. And He truly did that.

In the middle of November Randy came to Austria, and when I picked him up at the airport, it didn't feel like a first meeting at all. Two days later he proposed to me, and I said yes. We had two weeks in Europe and then flew to Mali together where Randy stayed for a week. He fit right in and seemed to belong there! Even before finding me, he knew he was about to fulfill his commitment to foreign missions and had already been preparing his church for his leaving.

For the past month we've been traveling in the US together, doing ministry, meeting friends, and doing premarital counseling. Everyone who has met us can see God's hand on us and gives us their approval and blessing. Randy is not perfect, but he's perfect for me. We're very different - culturally and personality-wise - but we're a perfect match for each other. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing man than my soon-to-be husband Randy!

We're now preparing our wedding on Friday, February 27th, at 3 pm in Randy's church in Eupora, Mississippi, and as many of our friends can't be there with us, we'll be streaming the wedding online on YouTube. Please pray we can work out all the technical details. A month later, on March 27th, at 4 pm, we're having another wedding at my church in Vienna, and it will also be streamed online. We'll be returning to Mali right after that, where Paul is preparing another celebration (but not wedding). Between the two weddings we're going on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon.

We hope many of our friends can at least be with us online. If you'd like to bless us with a card or monetary gift, you can send it to

Randy & Claudia Wilson
12874 MS Hwy 404
Bellefontaine, MS 39737

Or for our European friends, use the ministry address in Vienna (on the left) and if you'd like to send a gift, send it to

Claudia Wintoch
Bank Austria
BIC: BKAUATWW
IBAN: AT03 12000 509 101 468 00

I hope our story has blessed you and encouraged you, and we would love to hear back from you!

If you haven't looked at our engagement pictures yet, click here.

American wedding invitation:

Austrian wedding invitation:

QUICK NEWS

•        Current Debt to pay off: $2000 or 1.800€

•        New Video - Professional producers have made a new promotional video for us that you can watch on our YouTube channel here.

•        Patricia King - Patricia King is coming to Mali in June, and Bruce & Cheryl Lindley are heading up the team that is going to come with her to minister in Mali. If you'd like to join their team, click here for more information and to register.

•        House Repairs - We constantly have repairs around the house and just had a major pipe-break. I'm thankful that Randy is such a handyman and will be a great blessing in that area as well.

•        New Truck Needed - One truck has been broken down for months and is about to be repaired. Our only working truck has just broken down two days in a row again. We desperately need a new Toyota pick-up truck, which unfortunately costs as much as $40,000 or 30.000€.

•       Volunteers - We always need volunteers in Mali who can stay a few months or more. If you'd like to come help us, please contact me.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. (Eph 5:31, AMP)

Loving HIM,

Claudia