Decker Update April 5

Dear friends and family,
Easter greetings to you:  The LORD is risen!  We are so thankful that we serve a Savior who is alive and active today!  Serving Him (through serving missionaries by offering quality leadership and administrative support) with SIM in W.Africa has been our privilege since 1989, and we look forward to serving Him with SIM in other locations in the future. 

We have kept busy with ministry and family life.  Last week we participated in the SIM-Senegal Spiritual Life Conference.  Dave and I each facilitated a session, and I was involved with program planning and program evaluation as well.  It was a great joy to gather with SIM'ers from several places in Senegal, and join them in worship, rest, fun and enjoying one another's company over meals and free time. 

We enjoyed a visit from our friend Anika from our home church, who spent her vacation here and helped out with the children’s program at the SLC.  We also managed to visit some interesting places in Dakar while she was here.

Family update
We are thankful for so many answers to prayer.  Danny has started a good job in Miami, and is learning a lot and enjoying the process. Please pray for him as he balances his time between work and his family. 


Joey will graduate from John Brown University in May.  His date to enter Naval Officer Candidate School has been pushed back to August, and he will spend some time in Minnesota with us this summer.  Please pray for his patience as he waits to enter this program, and join us in thanking God for His work in Joey’s life through these four years of college. 

The two colleges he applied to have accepted Jacob, and we're awaiting the financial aid package from the second.  Please pray for wisdom for him and for us as we seek God's best plan for his university education.

Future Update

We have tickets to leave Senegal on June 11.  We’ll spend two days in Washington, DC, and then head up to Minnesota for our 6 month home assignment.  As we mentioned in a past update, we are sensing a need to provide a home base for a few years for our sons, and we trust that God will continue to clarify the plans He has for us. 

We anticipate moving to Charlotte, NC in early 2011, and staying there for two years minimum, possibly longer.  SIM has both its U.S. sending office and its International office within a few miles of each other in Charlotte.  Dave has been asked to consider two different positions, either of which would be strategic for the mission as well as challenging and fulfilling to him personally.  He needs to decide which to pursue within the next week or so.  We would appreciate your prayers for us as we make that decision.

We would also appreciate your prayers for all the decisions we’ll have to make, and for practical needs and details as we approach this transition.  One specific area is that we will need to buy a car when we get back to the U.S.  We are wondering if anyone might have a vehicle they would be willing to loan our family for the first few weeks, so that we can make a careful decision about buying without feeling rushed. 

Financial Update
Another item we mentioned in a past update was our support needs.  Our supporters blessed us with gifts at the end of the year that kept our support account from falling below zero.  Our monthly support is about $800/month short of what we actually need, and our support account is now well below zero.  That will need to be replenished during our home assignment before we will be able to continue in service.  We may also need as much as $3000 for medical insurance co-payments when we begin our home assignment, as we need exams and procedures to care for the medical concerns we may have as we return from the field.  We know that God will supply all that we need, and we ask you to join us in praying for His provision.  For those who'd like to be part of providing these needs, here's a link to online giving.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers for our family!  We are thankful for you, and look forward to seeing many of you in the months ahead!

With joy in our Risen Savior,

Mary for the Dakar Deckers