Week Thirty-Eight - What Happened?

If you've been following along since April, you'll know that our sponsorship of missionaries came to an end on July14th. The missionaries have been working to move to new sponsors or get their visas sorted before the September 11th deadline. I can now give you a final report. Of the seventeen missionary families initially under our sponsorship,

1 moved to the US to take a church. This was already in his plans before the Border Agency news.

1 moved to a new ministry in Denmark.

3 received their Indefinite Leave to Remain visas. They can now stay permanently.

4 moved to new sponsors.

1 moved to a spousal visa. (He proposed and she accepted. They will be getting married on September 22nd.)

3 found new sponsors and have visa applications in with the Border Agency. They can remain in the country until a decision has been made. Hopefully, all of them will have their visas granted before much longer.

4 are waiting for their new sponsor's license to be granted before they can make application for a new visa. We wait and pray to see how this will all work out.

So that's what happened. It has been quite a nail-biting journey for these missionaries, but God is faithful and we ask you to continue praying for these final few. Pray the Border Agency will grant visas to those with applications pending and pray for those who may yet have to leave until things are in place.

Humanly, we always wonder why things like this happen. We grow fearful and imagine all kinds of scary scenarios, but even through this type of test we know and believe that God alone planned what happened, knows why it happened, and how it will all turn out. He is fully in control, even for the missionary whose application went in just 26 hours before the deadline!

God has moved some things around, opened some spiritual eyes, and positioned His people for greater ministry. Let's watch and see what else He does!