Friday, January 25, 2008

January 25: Update

Dear friends,
We are so thankful for your prayers and encouragement! Enough support has been committed that we will be able to keep our tickets for January 29! Please pray for us as we pack up the house where we've been living, and prepare to leave for Senegal on Tuesday!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

January 16 Update

Dear friends,
Thank you for your prayers on our behalf! We are excited to see all that God is doing. Our support is at 96%... we still need a bit over 300/month... please keep praying with us as we wait for God to bring it all in! Meanwhile we are working on shopping and other preparations for our hoped-for January 29 departure.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Invitation

Saturday night, at Bethlehem Baptist Church, from approximately 7-8:30 (following the 5:30 worship service) our support team is hosting an open house for our family. Please join us if you are able, for light snacks, and a time of fellowship. We'll be sharing a bit about our ministry in West Africa, and would love to have as many of you as possible join us!

Please keep praying as we look to the Lord to complete our preparations to return to Senegal. We are still praying for monthly partners to fill in our monthly support...

In His love,
Mary
for the Dakar Deckers
--

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

January 1, 2008

Happy New Year!

We are excited to see what the Lord will bring into our lives in 2008! We are scheduled to return to Dakar on January 29, and our support is getting closer... We still need monthly support partners to pledge a total of $657 per month-- but all of our "one-time" needs have been met! (Of course, if someone would prefer to help meet the monthly support needs with an annual gift, that works too... the remaining need would be pledges for $27,594 which would be divided over the next 3 1/2 years...)

We are thankful for all of you, and will look forward to the day when we can send updates from DAKAR! Meanwhile, thank you for your continuing prayers!!!

With love, and joy, and HOPE IN GOD---

The Dakar Deckers

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Christmas Eve family photo


Christmas Eve, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

Christmas eve: handsome guys!


handsome guys!, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

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.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

December 21 Decker Update

Dear friends--

We are so happy to have all our children home! Joey arrived last Friday morning (after being snowed in in Newark on his way home from Northern Ireland) and Danny arrived Wednesday night! Danny's girlfriend Leah is with him as well, and her 2 1/2 year old daughter Alexis-- so we have a full house which includes a toddler-- and it's wonderful!

Many of you have been asking what's happening with our support and proposed return to Dakar-- the 15th has come and gone.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Monday December 10: update

The numbers have changed again! One time gifts still needed: $7,196. Monthly support still needed: $1,672. Deadline: Saturday...

Friday, December 07, 2007

update

The Decker Dispatch below went into the mail today, and meanwhile we have updated information! God is at work, and in fact the one-time need of $12,700 as reported in the letter is down to $9,100 as of this afternoon!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Decker Dispatch

THE DECKER DISPATCH
December 2007

From Darkness Into Light
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)

A colleague of ours in Senegal recently shared about a friend of hers that has heard of Jesus and the Gospel many times, but does not understand. This colleague reports that they have the same conversations repeatedly, yet for this woman the words seem to not even register at all. “It’s as if her ears are literally made deaf,” our colleague reports. We all begin our lives in darkness and, until God intervenes, there we remain. We are so thankful that God has sent his son to bring light into the darkness!

From Minnesota to Senegal
We long to return to Senegal as scheduled on January 7th to continue our work as part of the team sharing the light of Christ in West Africa.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Thanksgiving

Dear friends,

As we look back on several days of Thanksgiving, we are very thankful that we've had this time to celebrate with our families in Minnesota. God has been so good to us! We are thankful for times of worship in our home church, as well as other churches we've had the privilege of visiting, and for the different groups that have invited us to share with them about our work in West Africa.

We are thankful to be a part of SIM's Western Africa Area (WAFA), working in leadership, administration and member care. Our personal vision statement says "Dave and Mary Decker long to see joyful missionaries effectively spreading a passion for God's glory in West Africa. Our aim is to serve missionaries by offering quality leadership and administrative support."

The needs are significant, and the opportunities are many.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Decker Update November 12

THE DECKER DISPATCH
November 2007

Good News
“I bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10) As Christian missionaries serving in West Africa, delivering this good news is, above all else, our desire and our purpose. Yes, there are the poor and the hungry and the sick, and addressing physical needs is imperative as we follow Jesus’ example. But as one of our surgeon co-workers once said, “I have no interest in populating Hell with well-repaired hernias.” Christians have the very best of all possible news to share, and millions across West Africa have yet to hear it.

We want to GO and do our part in delivering this good news. This is God’s work, and we feel privileged to be a part of it. We would like to invite you to share in this privilege with us.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

DeckerUpdate November 8

Dear friends,
Greetings from chilly gray November in Minnesota! These cold temperatures and early sunsets are quite a shock to someone who's been in Africa for the past three Novembers! Brrrr!

We are thankful for so much as we approach Thanksgiving day in the U.S.! Today, Joey returned to the doctor and got his cast off. According to the x-rays, the bone has healed correctly! We are so thankful for that! His wrist is very stiff, and he has quite a bit of physical therapy for the days ahead.