Clear Answers to Prayer
Dear Family and Friends,
We are sending you an email this week to update you on a few prayer requests that God has so clearly responded to. It is exciting to see how God is responding to your prayers for us and we desire to thank you once again for your faithful prayer support.
I've copied and pasted the prayer requests we asked you to pray for us (these are from our May update and are written in black) and then have written the answer to that prayer request in red. It is very exciting to share these clear answers from God, and we pray that you will be encouraged as you hear more testimony of God's faithfulness.
Prayer and Praise Update From May Prayer Requests:
"We asked you in April to pray for the selling of two vehicles - one that was running well but getting old and the other that was possibly irreparable. We praise God that our good vehicle was sold as a result of someone actually contacting us and asking to buy it! Another praise is that the other vehicle is now running and we were able to sell it this past week!"
We were praising God for the selling of both of these vehicles when we communicated the above praise report to you in May. However, what we did not share with you was that we lost money on the sale of the second vehicle. Buying vehicles here is very difficult because you just do not know if you have purchased a good vehicle until you have driven it a while We had a mechanic go with us to look at this vehicle prior to purchasing it and we were given a good recommendation. However, we soon found out after purchasing the vehicle that there were some problems with it. We decided not to keep putting money into the vehicle, but to put it up for sale. We were committed to selling it honestly to someone who was interested in buying a vehicle they could fix up. The best price we could get was less than what we had paid for it. One of the things we remembered at that time was that we had received an anonymous gift from someone at Christmas and we thought about how this gift covered part of the loss. So, we were thanking God for covering part of this loss even before it happened. Well, two weeks ago, we received a note from one of our friends and supporters letting us know that she had received a bonus and would like to contribute a one time gift to our account - particularly for vehicle issues. The amount she gave more than covered the remaining part of the loss. Reading her note and receiving this gift was one of those moments when I felt like we were standing on holy ground. This supporter had no idea that we had a loss on the vehicle, but had felt moved by God to send this specific amount.
It can be difficult sometimes for us to be so dependent on God to provide for us through others – it is humbling, sometimes unpredictable, and risky. But, it is during moments like the night we received this friend's note that we get to experience God's very personal touch, letting us know that He knows what we need and that we can trust Him with our financial well-being. It is in those moments that we feel so rich.
"Please continue to pray for healing for Dan when it comes to the ache in his side and just for understanding for us in regard to what other steps we may need to take to discern the reason for this."
The night before we left to return to the US (about 2 weeks ago), an American surgeon who is friends with a missionary family in Nicaragua agreed to stop by to talk with Dan about the ache that he has been experiencing in his side. This ache has been an underlying stress for us since January given that Dan has gone through many tests which have all come back "normal", but he still continues to experience an ache in a specific place – especially with exertion. After talking with the surgeon for a few minutes, the surgeon said that he believed that Dan has a hernia and did a physical exam to confirm that this is in fact what it is. The surgeon said that it is not serious, but that Dan may want to have an outpatient surgery if he wants to live an active life. We are now trying to discern whether we do the surgery in the U.S. or in Nicaragua when we return in August. In the meantime, it is just a great relief for us to know that this is the cause of his pain.
"We ask your prayers too for Michelle and other adopting families who are waiting on the Nicaraguan system which can be slow and unpredictable. Their heart's desire is to be able to go back soon and be reunited with their families."
Michelle and her girls went home to be reunited with her husband and her two boys and daughter on May 30. It was both difficult to see them go, but also so thrilling to see the process come to completion after a two year process for them from start to finish.
Current Praise and Prayer Report From June/July:
1) Please pray for our family during our time in the U.S this summer. Our summers are generally very busy. We ask you to pray for safety as we travel, as our van has close to 200,000 miles on it. We will be driving to MI on July 19th and returning to Iowa on July 29th. We will meet with several of our supporting churches. Please pray that Dan and I can communicate clearly with those who are investing in our ministry and in our lives. Our kids, Rebekah and Will, will also be presenting about their lives in Nicaragua to several groups. Please also pray for Dan and I to have time and energy to vision for the coming year which is a need for us each summer in the areas of both family and ministry. We also praise God for the opportunity we have to spend time with our families and friends. With each year that goes by, we recognize how special it is for us to be with those that we love. We are very thankful for the opportunity our children have to keep getting to know their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins; and to continue their relationships with a few close friends. It has been healthy for them to feel a sense of rootedness here in the U.S. as well as in Nicaragua.
2) NCA's Eagle Center has been under construction over the past several months. It has been 10 years since the idea of the Eagle Center was birthed and a great deal of prayer has gone into this project. It has been very exciting to think about how this building will not only serve NCA, but potentially the Nicaraguan community as it will have the capacity to seat several hundred people. The first phase of this project includes a covered basketball/volleyball court, a stage, and two locker rooms. Future phases include more classrooms which may be used to teach students about how to glorify God through media and the arts. We praise God for this construction and also ask you to pray for the construction to keep moving forward.
Peace and love to you,
Lisa (Dan, Rebekah, and Will) Van Zoest
PS. Below are some pictures of the Eagle Center construction.
| |
