Dear friends,
Wow! 2009 was a very interesting year! With the economy tanking, I know that it was a tough year for many people. Like many of our supporters, LCI was “stretched” financially, and many of our trips had to be canceled. Nevertheless, 2009 has been a very strategic year as we continue to make connections and build relationships both locally and globally. The Lord has also led us to further refine our Vision and Mission statements as he prepares us to serve as a catalyst for unity in the Body of Christ.
In our role as a catalyst for unity, LCI’s objective is to build networks of churches, organizations and individuals in an effort to further the cause of God’s Kingdom on earth. Thanks to you, we are having an impact. Just read the following email I received from Aaron Wagner of Baja Vision Ministry, our partner in Mexico:
“We would be thrilled to have you join us again in 2010. To be perfectly honest, perhaps the biggest contribution LCI has made to us in recent trips is the exposure we get to new churches and individuals. After many of your trips we receive donations and letters from people who came down with you that have a desire to help further. So those connections are awesome. The service projects and activities are also great and of course very much appreciated.”
Emails like this are enormously encouraging! What a blessing it is to know that our ministry is having an impact. But we wouldn’t be able to walk out our calling were it not for your prayers and generous support. Together, we are walking out this mission of unity . . . of bringing life . . . both here and abroad.
Grace and peace,
Tyler Lennon
President
Life Connections International
Life Connections International • 23852 Pacific Coast Highway #474 • Malibu, CA 90265
www.lcibringlife.org
LCI News
Uganda 2009
My name is Maria Felipe. In 2007, my husband, Richard, went to Kampala, Uganda, with Life Connections Intl. It was there that he became ignited for international missions like never before as he fell in love with the country and its people. While we were dating and after we’d married,
Richard had often mentioned how he couldn’t wait to take myself and his son, Duke (from a previous marriage), to Uganda – in hopes of one day serving there together.
If you’ve had a loved one, a spouse, pass on, you’ll understand me when I say that your greatest joy comes from knowing where they’re at; that they’re Home with the Father. However, the sadness of not having them here is, at times, indescribable. I’ve expressed to many people in these past months that, “I’m not single …though my husband isn’t here.” After almost 6 months without Richard, this is where I’m at and, because of that, my desire has still been to honor my husband as the head of our household. As it was Richard’s desire for us to go to Uganda, I felt it God’s timing when the trip came up in October with Life Connections. Though I was only a few months out from Richard’s passing, I knew the Lord’s calling to go and to “comfort those who are in trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (1 Cor 1:3-4).
There were so many eye-opening moments on the trip. Though I’d served as a long-term missionary in Costa Rica in ‘03-’04, my heart had never broken to the level it did in Uganda as I encountered those who were without husbands or children who had lost one or both parents. I’d never truly felt the pain of that before now and, hence, never was able to fully mourn for another at the deepest level. However, I was incredibly encouraged (as I had been while serving throughout Central America) by the joy that was so apparent, in spite of the daily struggles. In a society that still celebrates receiving a set of goats because of how they will impact the family’s survival, I was again reminded of my own blessings and how easily I can take them for granted.
As an added bonus, I was also given the opportunity to meet Richard’s sponsored World Vision child, whom he had made a priority of visiting in 2007, as he lived only 5+ hours from Kampala. As traveling to see him was one of the highlights of my husband’s life, I thought it only fitting to let the boy (also named Richard!) know what had taken place since they had last seen eachother only 2 years ago. What an amazing opportunity I was given to go halfway around the world and look into the face that I have studied so many times from the picture posted on our refrigerator door, not to mention seeing the boy whom Richard had talked about with so much enthusiasm. It was with great honor that I let “little Richard” and his family know about the battle my husband fought and that, as believers in Christ, we will see him again!! Also, I had the privilege of bringing some gifts from Richard’s son, Duke, who has asked to take over the sponsorship, as a legacy to his father.
I have so many people to thank, as I was supported (both prayerfully and monetarily) by wonderful family and friends. Though I was blessed to see numerous places and meet many people that my husband had two years previous, I was prayerfully astute of the fact that, “Lord, I want to follow in your steps, not in Richard’s steps.” I believe that was the case in Uganda, and I pray that my time there becomes a springboard to even more ministry opportunities, as I know that would be Richard’s desire for me!