Dear Family and Friends:

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” On this date in 1871, Henry Morton Stanley located David Livingstone, the famous missionary to Africa .

Livingstone spent 30 years of his life in Africa , lost his wife to malaria there, lost the full use of his left arm from a lion attack shortly after arriving there, and personally won only one convert on the continent. When he died there, his body was flown back to London , but his heart was buried underneath a tree near Zambia .

It’s now estimated that 70,000 people every day become Christians. 20% of those are now from Africa . In 1900, only 3% were from Africa . Dr. David Livingstone, in personally exploring a third of the continent, being responsible for revisions on all contemporary maps and opening Africa for missions, has done more for modern missions than he could have imagined in his day.

Livingstone’s sentiments were shared in the 20 th century by Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, who literally signed a contract making himself a slave of Jesus Christ.

As we look back upon the last year’s prayer letters, beginning with Luke’s visit to the emergency room last November, which made us so thankful for our children’s health, I think about some of the challenges we’ve faced this past year. At the same time, we’ve also seen God do some incredible things and been blessed to meet and partner with some of God’s incredible people.

I have a note in my Bible beside Acts 4:29-30, which recounts the disciples’ reaction to the threats of the Sanhedrin. It is a quote from a sermon by Dr. Richard Cunningham of Calvary Baptist Church in Yorba Linda , CA : “Pray not for trials less strong – but for strength surpassing the trials.” Their prayer was not that challenges would go away, but they would be given greater power and boldness. The early church followed that rule – and God blessed them with exactly what they asked for.

God still answers those kinds of prayers. David Livingstone literally died on his knees in prayer for Africa . “God, give me Africa !” was his often-repeated prayer.

Too often, I come closer to asking for trials to be removed. But God is in the process of teaching me what ministry is all about. Most members of our team are dealing with mysterious illnesses, death in the family or serious operational challenges.

We lost the hard disk of our main computer in a recent water accident. Please pray for us all to respond to these challenges with the proper attitude and in the proper arena. We ask also that you please continue to pray for us to find regular financial partners for our ministry. God miraculously provided sufficient funding for us to move to Orlando and begin the work early, but we need to spend as much time as we can this year locating additional ongoing funding so that our work can continue.