December 28: Decker Update

Dear friends,

This has been a very special Christmas week, with our whole family together! We have so enjoyed seeing extended-family members from both our parents sides of the family at Christmas celebrations, and we've all enjoyed the extra-snowy white Christmas! Today seems a bit sad to me, as we prepare to send Danny back to Miami tomorrow. We love being with him, and will miss him again when he goes.

There is another reason I'm feeling sad today-- we have had to delay our return to Senegal. Though we have been encouraged and blessed by gifts and promises of support from many people, we are still too low in our monthly support to be able to keep our January 7 reservations.

As you might imagine, our situation becomes a bit challenging at this point. Jacob will be missing the beginning of his semester in Dakar... Dave and I will miss the annual WAFA Council meetings... and financially, the challenges continue as we are paying rent on two houses for another month, plus there is a penalty for changing our reservations! BUT we know and call to mind the fact that we serve a SOVEREIGN God, and that these things come to us from His good hand. We trust that God is keeping us here a bit longer for good reasons, and we are looking to Him to help us understand them. And we are continuing to look to Him to bring in the remaining monthly and one-time support needed to return to the field.

So many of you have been faithful supporters and prayer partners on our behalf. At this time, as we seek out the support we need to return to Dakar, we're wondering if some of you might have ideas of other people that you might be willing to connect us with-- others who might be interested, willing and able to become more deeply involved with church planting and discipleship in West Africa, through partnership with us as we work in leadership, administration and member care. If you have any ideas for us, please let us know.

With our monthly support being at 90%, we have changed our reservations to January 29th, and are hoping that the remaining $780/month and ($4000 in one-time needs) will come in quickly enough that we will indeed be able to depart on that date. We will continue to pray, and share our vision for ministry in West Africa as widely as we are able... and we ask you to continue to pray with us as we wait for GOD's timing.

In Him,
Mary for the Dakar Deckers