Summer 2009

It has been awhile since I last wrote on this blog. This summer was a very fruitful summer. A summer with lots of ministry memories, friendships and travel.

If you are reading this blog because you got the link from my newsletter you will know that Elin became an aunt in August. But before I go into this, let me tell you about France.

France Connexion was birth as we talked about how to engage the younger generation in mission. Leah my boss has always had a longing to see young people go out on the street and preach the gospel everywhere around the world. Me on the other hand always wanted to see young leaders grow in different ministry areas. So we decided to go to France. The POUR YOURSELF OUT tour that was in the US and other parts of Switzerland called people from 5 nations. We gathered and left for Paris. Before we got to France, people always said the french were closed to the gospel. Now, I don’t know if this is true but what we saw with our eyes was different.

God opened the hearts of people to listen, come speak and even ask for prayer. It was great experience for Elin, Timothee, Amber and I who were in the leadership of this outreach. Timothee from France and I led the team. We travel South East of France stopping in different places to preach the gospel. It was AMAZING!

After we got back Elin and I decided to face the month of August with great expectations Baby Benedicta (Elin’s niece) was to be born in August. We had different things going on but we were looking forward to the news of a safe delivery. On the 17th of August at about mid-night Elin came into my room smiling… “I am an aunt” she said. I have never seen her smile that big. It was an exciting news. But now we had to wait until September for her to get to see Benedicta. The month of August came with lots of events like the staff retreat and the open house in September and Church in Mission which I helped to lead a group of amazing guys from our mission to join other churches and mission organisations to this event. It was great to be in active service with Elin which at the beginning of our relationship I sometimes needed to travel alone or she did alone.

In September, we had planned that Elin was going to go to Norway without me because of finances. So, Elin got online to get a ticket to Norway, as she searched online she found a great deal. It was half the price of what you would pay to Norway. So, I decided we shall see baby Benedicta together. It was a long flight of course that was the only way we could get it cheap. Normally flying to Kristiansand from Geneva Switzerland takes about 3 hours but we traveled 12 hours to get to Kristiansand and this included all the lay overs. It was great to get to meet Hanne and Andreas (Elin’s sister and brother in-law) for the first time. But even more special to see Elin hold her first niece. Children are a blessing from GOD!!!

We had a nice week of rest and Elin getting to see her niece and me getting to know the family better. Elin also took sometime to raise her support as she had lost some support sometime this year. We also got a chance to share our future plans to the family and friends. We haven’t share it with everyone yet. It is mostly ministry plans and family as well. Just incase you think I wasn’t interested in taking a picture with the baby here is a picture with Elin, Benedicta and myself. (Below)

Isn’t this beautiful? As you could see very well she isn’t a mixed baby so she can’t be ours But still yet, she is beautiful and adorable. Since we are not yet married I haven’t got the right to call her my niece…yet.

As for the rest of the year we shall be preparing for our wedding and for ministry in and outside of Switzerland. We have decided we are leading the summer outreach to Romania. It is called Romania connexion like France Connexion. Our wedding is fast approaching. Please pray for provision and all we need to make this happen. Pray that my papers comes back from Nigeria so as for us to finish with our civil wedding before January. In Switzerland only the wedding by the state is recognized. But our wedding in January is what we count as the wedding. So we should not live together until this is done.

This month is a bit quiet and nice to us but not for too long because we are going to emback on a road trip (POUR YOURSELF OUT tour) to Norway and Denmark in just 4 weeks.

Prayer points:

- Pray for us that God will continue this journey. We have seen God’s hands in lives.

- Pray that as Elin raises money for her support that she will find people who will give towards her ministry. And also pray for my (Gabriel) finances. We need to see stability in this area.

- We are in a pre-marital counseling, pray that God will help us to learn as much as we can and also that he will give us the grace to apply it to our walk in the future.

We will love to hear from you guys sometime.

You stay blessed and remember it is because of people like you that God’s work is growing around the world. So, continue to pray, give and go to the nations.

Blessings,

Gabriel and Elin