Year End Thankfulness

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!" (Psalm 100:4)

I love the end of the year ... it's such a wonderful time to look back and thank God for all He has done! Despite day-to-day trials and tribulations, the end of the year provides us with an opportunity to rise above our complaints and worries and allow thankfulness to fill our hearts.

2014 was a year rich in blessings! For as much as we "loved to hate" support-raising some days ... God has done truly AMAZING, unfathomable things through strangers, friends, congregations, and family members! He has moved us to the brink of tears, caused us to fall to our knees in thanksgiving, and surprised us time after time!

So we would like to finish this year by thanking God, and thanking you all at the same time!

• We are so thankful for each person (or group) who gives to our MAF ministry on a monthly/annual basis ... even when it "hurts" a little--we appreciate the sacrifice and the cheerfulness you still bring! 
• We are thankful for every person who gave to our work this holiday season in lieu of material gifts--we are in awe of your charity and incredible example to others.
• We are thankful for strangers, people we only know by name or Facebook, who pray for us and give, only bound by our common love of Christ!
• We are deeply thankful for our families who, despite being the ones who really have the most to lose (who wants their new grandchild to move to Africa right away?), give as much as they can and stand behind us 100%.
• We are thankful for faithful churches, loving church members, dedicated missions committees, and the persevering pray warriors who lift our ministry up to God!
• We are thankful for every enthusiastic friend who has joined us for our "Cleared for Landing" campaign ... you might say we are circling the airport, seatbelt signs are on, tray tables are stowed, and we are just waiting for clearance! We are at 99% of our MAF ministry support!
• And last, but not least ... we are thankful for each other and little Baby Boers. Nothing compares to the anticipation of meeting our young one ... and growing our family by one. We are blessed to have each other!

Thank you to every one of you ... whether you were an avid blog reader, Facebook post liker, prayer warrior, faithful friend, welcoming host, or generous giver--you have made 2014 a year to remember!

Thank you, and God bless you in this new year! Love,

Marcel, Kelly, and Bebê Boers

Update on our Cleared for Landing Campaign

Wow! GOD IS GOOD.

We are speechless in praise before God ... except to say, "Thank you. You are GOOD!"

We are now only 250 miles from reaching our monthly MAF ministry support goals. YES ... you read that right ... $250/month. Last week, we were $900/month short ... and between verbal, email, phone, and mail commitments, we are now only 250 miles (or $250/month) short from being "Cleared for Landing!"

Thank you to all the wonderful people who jumped aboard ... some strangers, some new supporters, and some existing supporters ... YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. Know that you are literally being the hands and feet of Jesus to us ... and we cannot FULLY express our gratitude.

Yet, there is still room for more to join our campaign! Will you jump on board too? Will you become a frequent flyer for $10/month or $120 annually? God bless you as you consider the options!

Cleared for Landing!

"Cleared for landing!" The words we can't wait to hear! And we're only 13% away from the finish line ... or should we say RUNWAY! So let's do this ... we need your help!

We're looking for "FREQUENT FLYERS" to join our team. We did some number crunching ... between here (London, ON) and Lubango, Angola, there are approx. 7,200 miles ... the same amount it takes to support us on a monthly basis! Really?! We're not making that number up ... that's truly a God-ordained number! And we calculated ... we're only 900 miles away from landing ... or $900 short of our monthly ministry support goal!

So ... that's where our FREQUENT FLYERS come in. We need people to commit to ONLY $10/month (or $120 annually) ... help buy us 10 miles closer! It's not much ... in fact, we're convinced almost anyone can do that ... and it's not too little! Every mile closer, every dollar pledged, makes a difference.

So can you help us get to Angola? Can you commit to as little as 10 miles--that's $10/month--for our first term (the next four years)? We're hoping and praying you can! Go ahead, become a FREQUENT FLYER and donate now! https://mafc.org/missionarypages/boers/

David Livingstone's Challenge

It has been a delight and exhausting challenge to study "Desiring God" by John Piper. And this week, there was a statement from the study that I think will challenge us for the rest of our careers to serve God in Angola, with great joy. It was made by a "famous" missionary of the 1800s, David Livingstone, who spent much of his time in Africa. Interestingly enough, he said this quote on DECEMBER 4th ... in 1857 (yesterday, 157 years ago):

For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.

How does someone, with no Internet, Skype, ice cream, cell phone, air conditioning, or any modern amenity (no matter how simple ... I mean, not even peanut butter!) say "I never made a sacrifice?"
Truly, his words were founded on God's truth, spoken by none other than Jesus:

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30)