Melville News – September 2006

We have been so encouraged by you as we have shared our plans for next year. There have also been a lot of questions so we shall try and answer them all!

Who are you going with?

We have been accepted by Action International, which is an evangelical, nondenominational missionary-sending agency. It works to reveal the Gospel and love of Christ to neglected and abused children and their families through practical ministries that specialize in reaching the urban poor. We went through their orientation programme in April and had a great time meeting others planning to go abroad as well as the staff up in Seattle.

Who is going to pay you?

The big question! ACTION’s policy is for each individual or family to raise their own support. Please do not take this as us asking you for money! Many of you have asked if they can help in this way and so we have enclosed a pledge sheet, but much more than that we covet your prayers and support – we have moved country before and know how precious that is!

Why two years?

As you know, we moved to California 6 years ago and now have ‘green cards’. With special immigration permits, we can leave the country for up to 2 years without loosing these and so that is the time scale we are committing to. Beyond that we will see what God has for us – back to California, staying in Zambia or….?

Why next summer?

The team in Zambia is growing quickly and so orientation for new missionaries takes place in February and September of each year. With existing family commitments & the children’s school year, the summer looks like the better option although we are open to going at the beginning of the year if everything falls into place by then!

What are you doing to get ready?

Lots of practical details like sorting our immigration papers, getting up to scratch on first aid and CPR, investigating schools and so forth. Graham is taking a trip to Lusaka in November to check up schools as well as to see how things have moved on since we visited in 2004. We will also carry on being active in church as some of the things we do now we will probably do in Zambia –such as leading & attending Bible study and teaching Sunday School and Sarah is hoping to do an ESL (for those in the UK read TEFL!) course. We are also very fortunate to have some Zambian friends living nearby so we are hoping we can get a bit of language study in too!

While we were back in the UK recently we were at our church, Wycliffe Baptist in Reading, and heard a great missionary message from one of the pastors there. He told a story of Jesus welcoming people into heaven and it wasn’t just the missionary himself he welcomed or the first convert who shared his faith but all involved – those who pray, the grandparents who didn’t get to see their grandchildren as much as they would like, those who gave, those who trained, those who wrote letters and emails of encouragement and the list could go on and on. Like the church itself, missions is not about the individual but the body working together and we are especially blessed having support on both sides of the Atlantic!

Our hope for all these plans is in God Himself and we know that He is in control of all things:

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him” Jeremiah 17v7

Prayer requests: For practical arrangements in the coming months

For all the necessary financial provision

For Philip and Rachel – that God will prepare them for next summer

As ever, with our love and thanks,

Graham, Sarah, Philip & Rachel

14925 Sword Dancer Ct, Morgan Hill CA 95037;

themelvilles80@yahoo.com; tel +1 408 779 0418

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