It's beginning to look alot like......

.......A If your like us, it's that time of year where we are piling up the stuff to get rid of to make room for the stuff we just got for Christmas!!

Instead of Goodwill, the GoodOliger will take it to sell at our Fundraiser Garage Sale in April.

You may keep your pile till April, or bring your pile to the GoodOliger household where we gladly accept sellable items! What is junk to you, is another man's treasure! and a part of being involved in our Ministry to Kenya!

Blessing to all, and Mwaka mpia- (Happy New Year)

Let your light shine

Light of the World....

Jesus brings Light to the darkness, Joy to the grieving, Hope to the lost

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Note: our tickets have been purchased! Merry Christmas to us ~

Close

We are getting close to purchasing our tickets! We have found some good prices on decent airlines, and are just awaiting the final few dollars needed to get them! God is good.

We are also getting closer to departure date! Under the 6 month mark now! Woot Woot!

Please continue to pray for:

Our funding not only for us but for Jessica as well

We are still unsure at this point as to what is going on with Tanzania. Some things are in the works, but final details will not be known till after the first of the year. We are asking for continual guidance for the Lords plans in this area.

For us to be in step with God in all the planning and preparations

Praises:

God's goodness

We have raised half our money!

Jessica is going with us

God's continual confirmations

lower airfare

Looking Ahead:

It's that time of the year where new stuff comes in and we wonder what to do with the old.....

We'll take it!

Spring Fundraiser Garage Sale

April 09

God Answers

A quick update to let you know, that Pamela's mom is doing great! She started feeling better last Thurs. Just after Wednesday evening when Pamela and Tony had fasted and my church prayer meeting had prayed for Florence! It was no coincidence! God heard our prayers and healed!

Urgent Prayer

Jambo praying friends and family,

I am writing on behalf of Pamela who just contacted me asking for prayer for her mother who has come down with Malaria. Please pray for fast healing, and strength as she is very weak. Asante


And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. James 5:15a

Blessed

I've been going through Mission Bridge school and we've talked a few times about God given Aha moments. Tonight as I attended an Autism/Aspergers Support Group, and sat there listening to people's stories, I left with a God given Aha, on how blessed I am...........blessed to have Noah who stretches me, makes me think outside the box, and just blesses me with his compassionate heart and beautiful smile. Blessed to have a husband who supports my God given passion and love for the African people, who allows me to use our finances to support African projects and people, his willingness to let me to shut down my daycare for the summer so that I can go to Africa to serve. Blessed to have a friend who will go through a Bible Study with me online miles apart from one another on a topic that I am struggling with, blessed to have a mother-in-law who labors for me so that I can have a craft business to raise funds for our trip to Africa, blessed to have my mom here in helping me shape and mold my children, her grandsons, blessed to have 4 sons who love the Lord and want to know Him more. Jesus lover of my soul, thank you for the Aha moment! I am blessed.

Yesu Nakupenda!

Jesus I love you!

Jambo friends and Family~

Wanted to let you know the great news that Jessica will be joining us! We are so excited and can't even begin to explain how thankful we are for her! And for how grateful we are to Jesus for His faithfullness in taking care of all the details of this trip. Yesu Nakupenda!!

And a big congrats to Jess as she got engaged this past Friday, and a huge thank you to her fiance in his support of Jessica coming with us to Africa!

Our Stay

Got confirmation today from Gracia Gardens Guest house, that we are penciled in! I am so excited, this is a place that is Christian owned and they have a pool and playground for the boys. It's small only 17 rooms, so we'll be family for a month with everyone there! It is near Pamela and her family and I am just so thankful that it wasn't completely booked. Thank you Jesus!

Jessica

From the moment I got on the plane to leave Uganda, I knew I had to return to Africa with Bob and the boys. So as I talked with Bob after arriving home in Canton,Ohio we began discussing a family Vision Trip in summer of 09. One thing Bob had been pretty adamant about is wanting me to have someone travel with me and the boys to Kenya as we are going out 2 weeks earlier than him due to his work schedule. So I began praying that day, August 07 for God to reveal to me what He has in mind for us in having someone come along with me. Over the past 15 months thoughts of people have come and gone, and it's kind of taken the back burner. Until today, where I met Jessica a dear 20 year old in our church who has a heart for Kids, and a long time desire of wanting to go to Africa. So if you all could be praying for her, as she seeks the Lords will in this, that he would reveal to her without a doubt of what she is to do. We would absolutely love to have her! But want to be in God's will. A decision will need to be made by the end of Dec./Jan. 1st.....please be praying for Jessica.

Passenger seat

You'd think by now that I would have learned that God would rather me be in the passenger seat, and not the drivers seat! So once again I learn my lesson of this while driving my life into some pot holes! Amazing how it's when I'm in the pot holes God reveals more and more of himself to me (us)! In the most recent pot whole, I began hearing God say...sit and relax in the passenger seat, I'm in control here, allow me to drive. Thankfully I obeyed and as a result God has openened up some amazing opportunities for us while in Kenya. Up until this point I (we) had been spending way to much time trying to figure out what we were gonna be doing. Then I got myself in the hole, and there was God picking me up out of it, revealing to me His plans. And I am now honored and blessed to share His plans for us!

Soccer camp ministry with Pamela's brother-in-law, who runs an Soccer NGO within the Kibera slums in Nairobi

VBS with Pamela's families church also in slum area

Orphanage in Arusha

Without going into a book length explanation of how God revealed these ministries to us, I can say it was done in only a way God could do! It can only be described as Indescribable....I think of the song from Chris Tomlin Indescribable! God is an amazing God! And I am so honored and blessed to be joining Him in the work He has planned for us.

Obedience

In simple obedience to the One who gave His life...

In simple obedience to the One who gave His life so that we might live eternally, we should desire to abandon all we know for the unknown of giving our lives away for Him. Not just feeding the hungry, but entering into their hunger with them. Not just clothing them, but experiencing what it is like to want for basic necessities. Not just appeasing our conscience by writing a check, but by actually entering into their reality, a reality that needs to see Jesus.
-Steven Curtis Chapman

We are counting down to enter into their reality in Kenya and Tzn.......

Prayer Request

for us to have most details in place by January

(ie...dates, accommodations, NGO specifics,

most details, not expecting all as the Lord can change details while were there to better suit His plan)

good flight prices

fundraising.... we are about 85% there

additional raising of funds for the needs of the ministries we will be working with while there

Open ears to hearing Gods leading in all of this

Strengthened relationships within our marriage and with our kids

Open hearts.......Openness to what God has planned

Thanks for your continual prayers and support. They are so much appreciated and felt.

School Again??

Yes it is true, I am back in school again. Okay so it may be Missions School, but for me it's a big deal. In the Spring Bob and I finished up the Perspecitves Missions School, and now I so proudly hang my Certificate. Now I am doing Mission Bridge a branch off of YWAM New York. I had my first class this past week, and it was amazing. The cool thing is it's really different from the Perspectives course. It focuses a lot more on God's character, and our relationship with Him, and how that all blends so well into Gods mandate for us in Missions. One thing that has really stuck out to me from last weeks class is the putting aside our own agenda and allowing God to work and make the agenda. How our purpose is to join God in the work He is doing. I have been struggling with some life issues, and just the night before class I had been sharing with my cousin about life, and I kept saying I just don't know what to do, and she said that perhaps I myself do not need to do anything right now, live it out day by day and allow God to work, to see what He is doing and join Him. God is so amazing in His work, and in His ways of speaking to me and confirming His ways to me! So I have released a lot this past week to God, and have been totally blessed at how He has opened up doors for Bob and I and for our trip this upcoming summer. To my friends and family who have been praying I thank you, I can feel the power of your prayers and am so blessed by it.

just a glimpse

So it's been awhile since I have posted. I have had many great attempts, but just have not gotten to it. The latest attempt was a week ago Sunday. It was the kick-off of our church's week long Missions Conference. It started with a special Missionary speaker Maria Howard from Mali West Africa, who spoke about passion with such passion. It was such a blessing to sit there listening to her heart for the Lord and for the lost Bozo of Mali. It was a special time as she prayed over Bob and I, and how beautiful it was to spend more time with her at lunch talking about her life in Mali and her continual words of wisdom to Bob and I. It touched and blessed us. Now we get to the part of when I attempted to write about this special encounter. That evening we kicked off Missions week with an International Dinner , when 10 minutes into dinner power was lost due to Ike rolling over Ohio. For many it was annoying but for me it was most exciting. What better way for people to understand Missions in the Third World, then to have loss of power. It was great, dinner by candlelight and a special speaker going with the flow using her soft voice with no microphone. It was amazingly awesome. And the greatness continued for us for a few more days w/out power. And all I could think about is how this is just a glimpse.......just a glimpse of how millions of people live each and every day. And might I add, with no complaints. For Bob and I and the kids it was a great glimpse of what may be ahead for us. We are in training by our Lord and Savior in ways that can only be controlled by him, and it's truly exciting~ I am thankful for the time we had Ike in Ohio~

Thankful

Just wanted to give a Shout Out to those who helped with giving to my friend. Thank you so much! May God bless you richly!

Love ya Janell

High fuel cost not only effects us

I Read the below article just days before receiving a call from my dear friend Pamela about how her family and so many others are struggling in Kenya/Uganda due to higher fuel cost, making food cost sky rocket, then was at my cousins talking and inquiring about her sister-in-law and fam... who are Missionaries in Guinea and how rice went from being 2.00 a bag to over 5.00. It made me stop and think of how I complain about what it's done to my families budget......then I think about what it does to a family who has no budget...due to already having no money. I urge you to read the article and prayerfully seek the Lords will in how you may be of help to these poverty stricken people who are now even more stricken.


Africa food crisis worsens
Africa (MNN) -- "It is actually getting worse." That's Jacob Kramer with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee talking about the global food crisis in East Africa. War, missed planting seasons, drought, flooding, and high fuel costs are all reasons for the crisis. In some places, food prices have increased 500-percent. All of this means more pressure on aid groups like CRWRC. "At this moment we are looking at 250,000 people in Ethiopia and Uganda and Kenya who are being help by us on a daily basis today. So, you are looking at about tripling the number of cases." An estimated 9 to 13 million people in the region are desperate. This has put great financial pressure on the CRWRC, and you can help. Answering the financial call is an answer to prayer. Also, Kramer says, "That gives us as northern Christians an enormous opportunity to witness to our brothers and sisters and the whole world out there." Go to our website to help.
Full story: http://www.MNNonline.org/article/11483

I am going to be sending over some money to help with Pamela and her family in Kenya; if you would also like to donate please contact me via email. (hope.4.africa@hotmail.com) I would like to have all monies collected by next week. And remember even the littliest amount goes so far in Africa.....

"He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done" 2 Cor. 9:9

P.S.

for more info on MTTF go to:

Missiontothefatherless.net


Blessings,

Janell

one more down!

So Noah had two of his Africa shots last Friday, and was perfect! No crying, didn't even feel it much. Praise God.....I had myself all worked up for the worst after Jacob's episode. So they've got 2 down and only two more shots to go! I am so very proud of my two little guys.

I just noticed to that I haven't really updated about our trip. God has been so good, our funds are coming along and the biggest news is in a very random way we have come in contact with a wonderful couple who have two orphanges in Kenya, and after meeting with them and some other special people involved in there ministry we are planning on going to Kenya as our first stop next June. And just a few days before this all came about, I was talking with Pamela and she told me that she will be done with University in May, so she will be back in Kenya by June. And I was so excited by this news, as we've been struggling with Bob only having 16 days, and just not being able to hit Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. It was a blessing to get this news, knowing that we could for sure do Kenya, Tanzania! And God continued to bless us that week, by connecting us up with Mission To The Fatherless in such a random way (well random to us) by not so random by God's provision for us. He had it all planned all along. It's been exciting to see His plans unveil. Please continue to pray for our eyes to be open to seeing his plan and our ears being open to hearing his calling. Along with that please pray for me, as I would like to go out earlier than Bob with the boys, but must do so with having someone going out with me to help me out. Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support.

You've been asking (Ang) finally here it is!

Pots with Purpose

helping to fight poverty pot by pot

_________________________________________________

All proceeds to towards fighting poverty in Africa. 10% of all proceeds go to poverty stricken children in Uganda and Kenya, and all other proceeds go toward fundraising for a Missions Trip to Africa in June 09'.

CURRENT GIFT POTS:

Gardner's Pot ~ filled with gardening gloves, garden tools, nail brush, hand lotion, flower seed packets

Kitchen Pot ~ filled with kitchen towel, utensils, candle, flower seed packets in a maroon pot w/ stenciled sunflowers

Chocolate lovers pot ~ filled with mug, cocoa, chocolates, candle, flower seed packets in a Patriotic stenciled pot

Bath & Body pot ~ filled with cherry lotions, gels, sponge, candle, flower seed packets in a Cherry stenciled pot

Tea lovers pot ~ filled with mug, teas, cookies, candle, flower seed packets in a light blue pot stenciled with teapots

Baby boy/girl pot ~ filled with hat and bootie set, towel and wash cloths and/or (blanket & burp cloth) , powder, brag book, rubber duckie, flower seeds

Special request can be made!

Global Food Crisis

Why don't you join me!
The global food crisis is forcing millions to go hungry. Please join Compassion on June 25, 2008, for a day of prayer and fasting for those suffering.
What is the global food crisis?
The World Food Program calls the global food crisis a phenomenon, a "silent tsunami," that is affecting families in every nation on every continent. Food prices for popular menu items like rice, wheat and beans have doubled in the last year. Though increases in food prices have hit all budgets, it's the poor who bear the brunt of price inflation. The higher prices are forcing people who survive on just $1 a day to spend upwards of 80 percent of their budgets just on food. As a result, many people, including millions of children, are going hungry. The longer food prices rise, the more people will be plunged into hunger and poverty.

for more info. see www.compassion.com

been awhile

Wow, how time flies. I guess it has been awhile since we've posted! All is well. I am excited to tell you that we have raised 1/2 our monies for our trip! God is good. Thank you so much to all who have sent money and have bought Pots to support us! My mother-in-law and I have been working hard making our pots and selling them at Craft Shows etc. and had a very successful day selling at our local flea market a few days ago. Asante Jesus! This week I am gearing up for another Fundraising Garage Sale and so blessed to have had so many people donate items to the sale!

Also want to give you a site to a friend I met while in Uganda. She has opened up her own home for orphaned children living with Aids. She just got her site up and running, and feel it's a "must see" site to look at! Here's the link:

http://africaourownhome.org/6.html

Light Gives Heat

Taking the Gospel to Tanzania

Malaria Kills

World Malaria Day

April 25th

Malaria kills a child in the World every 30 seconds!

You can help!

Want to know how our unique malaria intervention programs save children's lives? Then join us for our free one-hour webcast on World Malaria Day, Friday, April 25. The webcast will begin at 10 a.m. MT (noon ET), and you must register to participate.http://blog.compassion.com/malaria-...

www.compassion.com

Malaria Kills

World Malaria Day

April 25th

The Truth About Islam

One of the groups that we want to reach out to are muslims, and today, a story on Yahoo! News really hit home:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080421/ap_on_re_af/begging_for_islam;_ylt=Aubr1v2LAIdKBF.B8A1bLji96Q8F

This breaks my (Bob) heart, as it does Janell's, as the innocence of childhood is snatched from these children in the name of islam, because satan has clouded their minds with false hopes and lies. I have begun studying more and more about islam, in an effort to try and win these people to Christ. Islam has a near death grip across northern Africa, and is obviously spreading rapidly across the globe. Although the above story is from western Africa, and we are planning to go to eastern Africa, it has a very real presence there, too, especially on the coastal areas, where it is definitely the dominant religion.

I would ask that you pray for both Janell and I, that we might effectively minister the Gospel to these folks who so desperately need to hear the real truth.

"If any man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered"
~Proverbs 21:13



Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world"
~James 1:27

I pray that this video of Daughtry in Uganda will touch your heart, that it will stir up something that will make you stand up and help those who cannot help themselves! To possibly cut out one dinner night out a month to sponsor a child, to provide for them a meal everyday, to be able to put them through school...........I guarantee it will change you life!

www.compassion.com

Longing

So I was in Columbus this past weekend with my dear friend for an Early Childhood Education Conference. And as I just loved the Diversity of the city, I found myself sobbing Friday night at Easton Center, as I watched all the African-American people, and came across a girl who reminded me of my dear Pamela from Uganda, and was approached by a teenager who was a Bashir but 10 years older!! Bashir, (photo above) a young boy who lives in a slum in Uganda and has the privelage and honor of attending Eden Literacy School there in Uganda. My friend looked at me, and says your heart is in Africa isn't it? And it's almost been a year since I have been there, but yes, my heart is still there, and longs to be there again soon!

Thank you to all who read this, and pray for us! I love you all so much.

More Specific

Okay so a little more specific on the issue of "where to go"........................

At this point we feel led to Eastern Africa, of course having been in Uganda last summer I'm a little partial to this area. For our "Vision Trip" we would love to go to Uganda, as well as Kenya and Tanzania....................we have also made a great contact with someone in Sierra Leone, but with Bob only being able to take 16 days off work, there is really no way for us to get to all four countries. We do feel like we could easily do Kenya/Tanzania, with the possibility of the boys and I going out early to touch base with people in Uganda. So we really just need God's leading as to which exact place He wants us to see. Along with that, we would love to have contacts and connections in the country(ies) we visit to get a "real" idea of Missions life. We do have a few leads, but are just now starting the process of talking with these leads over in Africa, and really just need prayer for us to see God's vision in where we are to go.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Tidbits of what we've learned

Here are a few statistics that amazed us..............

There are 1.6 Billion Muslims in the World

1 million of them live in or near Dearborn, MI

40-50,000 live in Phoenix Arizona

Studies also show that CHINA has the most Christian conversions with nearly 10,000 a day!!

They are creeping up to be the 2nd largest Christian Nation with Brazil leading right now

NO SHOTS

My brave little guy..............who got one of three shots for our Africa trip!

It was not a pretty sight at the time, as he was screaming NO, NO,NO

but it happened and I was very proud!