God is at Work! (January-March 2018)

God is at Work!

Sheryl has been a key member of our first Thrive community from the beginning. From the time we met her she has shown great potential, loyal friendship & true sincerity. We have had the opportunity to share with her in her trials and tribulations, as well as in her accomplishments and triumphs. Sandy was able to guide her through her pregnancy and the birth of her beautiful daughter, Ivy. In all of this, Sheryl was slow in making a decision to surrender all to Christ.

Leaving Namibia in July was very difficult for us, even if only for a season. The fact that Sheryl had not yet made that decision made it that much more difficult. She has been on our minds quite often. One morning early in February I prayed for her and specifically asked that God would provide opportunities and people in her life to challenge her to give her life over to Him. Days later Sandy received a text message from Sheryl: “I’m getting baptized on Saturday!”

I wish we could have been there for the baptism, but there’s something incredibly exciting about seeing pictures of a total stranger baptising our good friend. God is at work! With or without us, God is busy in Sheryl’s life. He is working in Namibia and throughout this world. Wherever we might be, He is using each of His children to His purpose and His glory.

Being away has been difficult and we find ourselves anxious to get back, but this was such an amazing reminder that God is at work and is in control!

Prayer Requests

Hello Prayer Partners!

We feel we have had a very productive seven months of Home Assignment so far. We have strengthened relationships with several supporters & made several new relationships. Our time at Central Christian College of the Bible (CCCB) has been very positive as we’ve been given an opportunity to influence a lot of young missionaries-in-training. In addition, despite all the struggles that come along with the changes and homesickness, I believe God has used this time to minister to our family as well. Our debrief in January helped us process a lot of what we had been through on the field and the environment around us here in Missouri seems to be doing wonders for our kids.

As we go into the second half of this home assignment, please pray with us for:

• Sandy’s citizenship. The process is underway , please pray with us that it will move quickly and favorably. As soon as this is complete we can make our transition back to Namibia. We need this citizenship completed before leaving so she does not lose her green card again. Our hope has been to be back by October, but this could very possibly delay us if it does not move along quickly.
• Planning our return to Namibia. We have worked out some details for our return, but still have much planning to do. We will remain with YWAM, but establish 3 Measures as a new YWAM presence in the country, separate from the YWAM base we were a part of before. We are now working out the details of how we will be received in the country as we need an official invitation back (our former YWAM base provided that before). We are hoping to work that out with our Namibian church, but would like prayer for wisdom as we seek out the best situation.
• Support Raising. The last time we made a budget was 2014. We were living in a house on the YWAM base for less than $50 per month & neither of our kids were in school. As we return we need to be prepared to spend about $1,000 per month on rent and roughly $300 per child for school fees. We’ve reworked our budget and set our total monthly need at $4,900, an increase of $1,500. So far, support raising has gone pretty well, but we would like your prayers as we still need $822 p/mo to reach that goal.
• Recruiting. One of our focuses as we spread awareness of our work in Namibia is to find others who God may be calling to serve alongside us. We have met a number of people who have expressed an interest, please pray with us that God would lead the right workers into His Namibian harvest.
• Success with CCCB. We just sent out seven teams into the world for Spring Break. We worked closely with these students to prepare them for short term service, as they return we hope to continue that work with more of a long-term focus. Pray with us that God would use us in the lives of these students during this brief time we get to pour into their lives.
• Possible summer trip to Namibia. We are looking into the possibility of me (David) taking a small team to Namibia this summer. This could help with recruiting teammates, but could also be important for making some preparations for our return and for checking in on the ministry. No decision has been made yet, pray with us as we decide whether or not to make this happen. March 23, 2018
• Family. Finally, as we continue with home assignment and our preparations to return, please pray for our family. We would ask that you pray especially for our kids as they have been uprooted and moved a number of times already. We have seen God do some great things with them and build a lot of confidence, but it has been hard and we are getting closer to our move back, which will be a whole new upheaval in their lives.

As you pray for our family during this home assignment, also pray for the ministry going on in Namibia. Here are a few things to specifically pray for there:

• Thrive communities. We left two communities behind, one is made up of young guys ages 18-19, the other is our older group of young men and women in their mid-twenties. Both groups are made up entirely of locals from Katutura. Please pray for God to continue to build them up and lead them into closer relationship with Him.
• Hope Cafe. The cafe runs on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We lost the person who was managing the cafe (he is studying and was not able to keep up with both commitments), so there are some difficulties with managing the cafe at the moment. We’re working out a new plan, so you can pray for God to bring that all together.

Thank you so much for taking this time to pray for us, we love you all at Pikes Peak and could not do this without you on the team!

For the Kingdom,
The Echols