September Newsletter 2

After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with them. There was a great deal of weeping with everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again.-Acts 20: 36-38

Our desire is to shatter the silence!

Storytelling cloth used to explain Bible stories in Africa

Julia learned how to sew a skirt.

Julia learned how to host an African tea.

Julia receiving her shots.

T receiving his shots.

We visited an African restaurant in Richmond.

Great food. We will be well taken care of.

The staff introduced us to African tea. It's great!

God has done amazing things to send us to Ghana. Read about the wonderful works of God in our lives...(We Will Remember). Have you ever desired to see God? If so, check out what God has been showing us these past three weeks... (The Image of the Invisible God). 
Praises:

1. Julia and I have completed Field Personnel Orientation (FPO)!!! God has sustained us through eight weeks and three days of non-stop classes, lectures, role-plays, SKYPE interviews, physical activities and strategy sessions. We are thankful for the investment Southern Baptists have made in our ministry and we feel better equipped to take the Gospel overseas.
2. On September 19^th, 80 families graduated from training. These 80 families are taking the Gospel all over the world. We have been humbled to sit next to each of them in class and hear about God’s amazing grace in their lives. IMB missionaries are truly the cream of the crop!
3. We have completed all of our shots. Julia received ten shots and I received eight. No-one cried! We calculated the cost of our shots; if we had to pay for our shots out of pocket it would've cost us $3,400. We are thankful for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering which pays for everything.
4. We have received our passports, visas, and plane tickets. We will be leaving for Ghana on October 15^th. Praise be to God for bringing us this far.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for our hearts as we will be spending our last weeks with family and friends. Pray that we would redeem the time and create memories with everyone.  The other day Julia and I were sitting around discussing holiday traditions which we will miss in Ghana. A few of them included; KFC on Christmas Eve and Dunkin Donuts on Christmas, getting up very early on Christmas morning and opening presents before the sun comes up. We will miss playing games with aunts, uncles, and cousins, and hanging out at Grandma Hamilton’s house watching Hamilton TV. We will miss our friends and family deeply in Ghana. Please pray for our hearts.
2. Please pray for traveling mercies. We will be doing a lot of traveling over the next month. We will be with my family September 20-29^th. We plan on spending a day at Liberty University on the 22^nd and a day in DC on the 24^th. We will leave Williamsburg, Virginia on the 29^th and travel to Wake Forest, NC in order to spend Sunday, the 30^th with one of our sending churches. Please pray that we would be able to re-cast the vision. We will leave Wake Forest and travel to Charlotte, where we will spend the remainder of our time in Charlotte with Julia’s parents. Pray that with all of the traveling and hours in the car we will take time to grow closer together as a couple.
3. Pray that we would abide in Christ every day. God has impressed upon our hearts Exodus 33:15-16 in which Moses prays to God and says, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?” Moses pleaded with God to go with them. We are praying for God to go with us to Ghana. We are incredibly serious about this request, so much so, that we are willing not to go unless God goes with us. We know that God will go with us, if we abide in Him. Please pray John 15:5 over us. Pray that our walk with God would be our top priority.
4. Please pray that we would be obedient and submissive to the Holy Spirit. We know that God is already at work among the Mamprusi people and we desire to join Him. Please pray that we would develop rapid immediate obedience to the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would convict us of sin and conform us into the image of Jesus. Pray that we would learn to rely on Him on a daily basis.

Serving Him,

The Welchs