Roberts Update

This post is being guest published by Carrie Ballentine.

Brent and Kerri are still unable to access the Internet to update this blog. So, they asked that we let you know how they're doing. Everyone is settling in quite nicely and enjoying their time at the farm. Unfortunately, they faced a bit of a scare when Maddie got sick and had to be admitted into the hospital. It all started with an ear infection, which she had before leaving the States. But her fever continued daily, as well as a nasty cough. After several days, Maddie woke up from a nap and her breathing was worse. In addition, her fever was high. They had their first overnighter in a Zambian hospital, which apparently, was an adventure. Thankfully, Maddie was cared for by a great Zambian pediatrician. She was diagnosed with viral pneumonia, which just has to run its course. She was released the following day. I spoke with Kerri today, and Maddie seems to be feeling much better, but is still running a low grade fever. Please pray that she will get well quickly, with no complications from this illness.

Other than this incident, it sounds as if they are doing well and adjusting to life in Africa. Caleb and Gracyn are enjoying playing with Grace & Gift (the Ripleys' kids) and find it great fun to play all day at the farm! Kerri is planning to buy appliances for their home tomorrow, and they hope to move in on Friday or Saturday of this week. Once they get into their house, they can get the internet set up and will be able to post to this blog on a regular basis.

Below are some pictures of the Roberts at the airport in Atlanta, preparing to go!


Caleb excited to get on the plane!

Maddie looking a little sleepy ... it's a long road ahead ...

The Roberts and the Ballentines ... one last picture.



And finally, a picture of all of their luggage. Can you imagine unpacking all of that?!?! We'll be praying for you, Brent and Kerri!

The Roberts have (finally) arrived!

This post is being guest published by John Ballentine. First, I need to apologize. This email did not get to me and I did not find out about it until 8pm on Wednesday night so I did not get this out as quickly as the Roberts would have liked.

After much delay, Brent, Kerri & the kids got to the airport and on the plane on Sunday, Feb 10th. They arrived safely in Lusaka, Zambia on Tuesday.

Below is an excerpt from an email from Brent:

"I don’t have access to the internet for too long tonight, so this e-mail will be brief. Kerri and I are now at the Farm. The trip went really well. We got through London with no hitches and spent some great time with the Downers resting. The big kids travelled very well – slept lots! Maddie….not so much. But she’s doing much better now that she’s had a couple of naps in her own bed! Thank you SO much for praying for us. We definitely felt it! We’ll send more detail as soon as we can.

When we got here, the team met us as the airport. It was great to meet everyone face to face. We had breakfast with the team then took our stuff to the Farm. We’ll be here for a week or so."

Brent stated that he would update this blog as soon as possible, but it likely will not be until next week.

Please continue to pray for the Roberts as they adjust to life in Zambia and get settled in their new home. Please pray, too, that they will be able to get over their jet lag quickly so that they can get some good sleep!

Or Not...

Well, we were awakened this morning at 5:30 by the sound of Caleb throwing up. Lovely. So, we immediately started praying and seeking God for wisdom. We asked Him to make it abundantly clear whether we were to move forward today or not. Caleb threw up about once an hour and then at around 9:00, Gracyn threw up too. So, that was enough confirmation for us that, for some reason we may never know, God did not intend for us to travel today. Our flight has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 10. Please pray now for a quick recovery for the kids and continued health for the rest of us. We're so thankful to have you in our corner, and so thankful that we can rest in God's will and timing!

Here We Go!

Well, here we are. The day has finally arrived and we meet it with great anticipation. These last days have been stressful and heart-wrenching as we've been packing up our lives and saying good-bye to the people we love. It's very hard. However, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are moving forward in response to God's call and that brings peace to our hearts.
Will you please, PLEASE pray for us over these next 2 days as we travel. We will descend upon the Atlanta airport with 19 checked bags, 9 carry-ons, 3 car seats, 1 stroller and 3 children. Once we get to London we have to do all that again as we change airports there. We will need a huge amount of patience and grace. Please also pray for a supernatural calmness for our kids - especially Maddie. She's at that age now where she wants to get down, crawl around and explore the world. So...you see my concern! Pray for lots of sleep!
We love all of you and appreciate your prayers more than we can ever express. Here we go!

Counting Down!

Well, we're leaving in less than a week now and it is so hard to believe! Time has just flown by. Thanks to everyone who participated in our send off supper and commissioning service this past weekend. We felt very loved and encouraged. We cried a lot and laughed a lot. Thanks especially to the Ballentines and Stockmans who worked very hard to make Saturday night a great evening.

Please pray for us these last few days. We're packing every day, enjoying time with family, having dinner with different friends each night, and trying to take care of all the last minute details. Pray also for good health. We've all been struggling with "crud" and we always worry about Maddie getting an ear infection. We definitely need to be healthy for the long trip.

On Tuesday we will be at Crossroads at 10:30 am if anyone would like to come and say goodbye to us. We will leave around noon to drive to Atlanta where we fly out at 6:30 pm.

The count-down is on! Thank you SO much for standing with us.

You're Invited...

What:
Send-off Supper for Brent & Kerri Roberts

When & Where:
Saturday, January 26, 2008
5:45 - 8:00 p.m.
Columbia Crossroads Church

2723 Ashland Road, Columbia, South Carolina

Please RSVP by Wednesday, January 23.

Click Here to RSVP

Praise Report!!!

One of the last hurdles for our move to Zambia has been met! Our house is now under contract and scheduled to be sold on February 15th. The buyers are friends of ours who go to our church. They needed to sell their home in order to buy ours, and it looks as if that is going to happen. Please continue to lift this whole thing up in prayer. Pray specifically that the contract on their current home will be honored and that they will be able to close on the 15th of February. As long as they close on their current home, a closing on our home will occur on the same day. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Moving Out!!!

The last two weeks have been kind of hectic for the Roberts' family. We officially moved out of our home last Saturday and are now living with my parents. The house still has not sold, but things are progressing. We have had several individuals come through and look at the property and we actually had an offer on the home today, but it was too low. As for now, our plans are to rent if we don't sell, but we would prefer to sell. If you're looking for something to specifically to pray for, pray for the successful sale of our home.

Christmas 2007

Thought we would share some pictures with all of you from our Christmas adventure this year. Kerri and I left Saturday, December 22nd at 8:00 am. We visited some friends (Mark and Liz Guthrie) for breakfast in Charlotte and then headed up north of Charlotte for Christmas with Kerri's father's side of the family at her aunt and uncle's house. After the festivities concluded, we left and headed for Knoxville to spend Christmas with Kerri's brother (About 10:30 pm). It was during this stretch of the trip that we got our first glimpse of what travel will be like when we go to Zambia. At around 2:00 am (We still were in route), after being on the go for about 18 hours, Gracyn, our middle child, fell apart. At this point, I looked at Kerri and said, "Do you realize that if we were traveling to Zambia, that we would be at the mid-way point?" It really put the upcoming trip into proper perspective. Anyways, after spending a couple of days in Knoxville, we headed back on Christmas day for the kids to open presents with my family. Although there was a lot of travel involved over the holidays, we are so thankful for the time we had to share with our family. We hope that your Christmas holidays were enjoyable as well.

Peace

Kerri here...I just thought I'd share something that God has been doing in my heart. People ask me quite constantly how I'm doing and if I'm stressed out with all that needs to be done in the next month. I should be. There IS so much to do and some days I feel like I won't be able to rest until March! But, I'm really not stressed. I should also be crippled by the emotions that come along with saying goodbye to everyone and everything that I hold dear, but I'm not. Philippians 4: 6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." You know what? It's true! I am living it daily and I am really in awe of God's goodness. I am so thankful for His inexplicable peace that is guarding my heart and mind as we continue to work toward this huge transition in our lives.

Scaling Down!!!

This past Saturday we had a garage sale. We cleaned out all of our storage areas, closets, toy boxes and cabinets and put out everything that we don't need! It was quite and undertaking! We went to bed VERY late, got up VERY early and tried to organize things. The sale was scheduled to begin at 8 am, but of course people were beginning to hike up our driveway by 6:45. By 8:15 I felt like we had been working for hours! My mom was here to help and several of our friends came by to say hi and offer an hand, so we really had fun. The kids also set up a table to sell hot chocolate and apple cider (and to give out our ministry brochures, of course!). I think they probably drank more than they sold, but they enjoyed contributing to the cause! Maddie just sat around looking cute. If I had a quarter for every time someone asked me, "How much for the baby?", we'd probably never need to raise support again! At the end of the sale Calvary Chapel Lexington sent a truck over to pick up what was left for their church's thrift store. Whew...it's gone!

Though it was hard to see some of it go, in some ways it feels really good to have purged ourselves of all the extra stuff we had accumulated. And I must say that Caleb and Gracyn are being real troopers when it comes to getting rid of their stuff. I never thought they would be so willing and eager to give their things - or sell them - to other kids. That's a huge blessing to us. All in all, going to Zambia feels more and more real and this was a big step in getting there! Our next big steps are to move out of our house by the end of the year and then to spend all of January packing our stuff to go on February 5! PLEASE pray for us!

Lasts...

Kerri and I only have 65 days left until we leave for Zambia. With that being said, we are starting to savor the last times we will be able to do stuff while we're here in the States. This past Friday was one of those lasts. It was the last time Kerri will be singing in a professional capacity for the next three years. I have to brag on my wife. She has the voice of an angel and the heart to back it up. God has truly given me someone that I don't deserve.

I recorded 6 of the songs that she performed, but due to space limitations, I have only loaded one of them to this site. You can view this video from our video section on this web site. If you would like to see the other 5, you can go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for videos with the key words "Kerri Roberts Sings."

Housing in Zambia...

Many of you have asked what housing will be like in Zambia. Aside from the high probability of rats and other critters, not being able to drink the water from our sinks, and the occasional power outages, housing should be "A" okay. In our video collection (located on the right-hand side of our web site, about halfway down) we have published a video on typical missionary housing in Zambia. In fact, there's a good chance that the house shown in this video will be the house we will be living in while we're in Zambia. We thought you would enjoy seeing what housing in Zambia is like. Enjoy...

Communicating with us in Zambia!!!

• Would you like to be able to talk to us in Zambia?


• Would you like be able to do this for free anytime you want (accept in the middle of night, of course)?

Well, there is a software that some of you may or not be aware of that will allow you to do this. It is a FREE download and it allows you to make computer to computer calls. The only requirements are that you have a microphone (which can be purchased at Radio Shack for approximately $30) and speakers for your computer. The name of the software is Skype. If you go to the following link, you can download this software for FREE: http://www.skype.com/.

If you need detailed instructions on installation and setup, you can view the user guides at: http://www.skype.com/help/guides/. Also, our friend John Ballentine has agreed to assist anyone having technical issues setting it up. He can be contacted via e-mail @ jkballentine@sc.rr.com. It takes less than 10 minutes to install and setup and it will give give you the ability to communicate with us while we are on the field. Please consider taking the time to set this up!

His Intent...

"His Intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:11-12)


Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to share about Zambia with the congregation at Union Baptist Church in Elgin. A friend of mine, Hank Goff, invited us to their evening service. Their pastor and his wife (Jerry and Wanda Lewis) were longtime friends of Kerri's parents. Kerri's father and mother were the best man and matron of honor in their wedding. We didn't realize that this was their church until the night before. When we arrived, they had a picture of Kerri - at age 2 - up on the screen! During the service Kerri sang, we shared about our call to go to Zambia and then they had a little reception. We really enjoyed our time of fellowship with the body of Union Baptist.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to share with one of our sister/daughter churches, The Church at Dutchfork. Our home church assisted in planting this church a few years ago, so we knew a lot of the members. One of the elders there, Thomas Yarbrough, is a longtime friend of ours and he invited us to come share about Zambia. Before introducing us, he mentioned Colossians 1:17 "Christ in you, the hope of Glory." It was kind of neat because this is one of the central themes in one of ACTION Zambia's ministry videos. We were able to share and then the church prayed for us corporately. We are very thankful for our time worshiping with the members of the Church at Dutchfork.


Over the past year the Lord has seen fit to allow us the opportunity to share about His vision for Zambia with several churches here in the Columbia area. We are so thankful for the ways He is using these churches to make His manifold wisdom known. And we are so thankful that they have opened their arms to us and become involved in our ministry to the people of Zambia.

Quick Prayer Request

Kerri and I wanted to request your prayers. We have a buyer for our home, but it is dependent upon them selling their own house. Their house is on the market. Would you please pray that their house would sell quickly!

Thank you...

Blessings and Opportunity

------Please read this post in its entirety as it discusses our current funding and specific prayer requests------

The only way to describe this past month is Blessings upon Blessings! After speaking at the CLC on October 11th, our support levels climbed drastically. Within just a few days our monthly support went up by over 30% and we reached our one-time support goal. This past Tuesday, after receiving additional information, we learned that we were 100% supported, both monthly and one-time!!! In fact, the home office has now cleared us to buy our plane tickets and we will be leaving this February. It is so amazing and humbling to see how God has provided the rest of our support in such a short period of time. It really gives credence to one of the names of God found in the bible—Jehovah-Jireh “The Lord will provide.”

With these blessings comes more opportunity. On Thursday morning, we received an e-mail from our friends in Zambia. In recent weeks, during a process of trying to get a better understanding of Zambian tax laws, the ministry discovered their perception of certain tax policies has been incorrect. Their ability to write off certain expenses through the mission is limited to far fewer items than was thought before. As a result we will need, going forward, to pay taxes on substantial items such as: rent, car insurance, diesel, etc. When this happens, our taxable income as missionaries will increase and push us into a higher tax bracket (from a 17% tax bracket to a 35% tax bracket). The net effect is an increase of $795 in monthly taxes.

Ultimately, it is the Lord who provides and we trust that he will provide this additional support by our February departure date. We are now in the process of putting legs to that trust. We will be purchasing plane tickets in the next couple of weeks. Our house is being packed up and will soon be on the market. I have also informed my employer that I will be leaving my job in mid-January. What once seemed to be out in the distant future is now just around the corner. Would you please pray for us during this time?

Please pray that:
· The Lord will raise the additional amount of monthly support.
· Our home will sell quickly and at the right price.
· We would find some affordable plane tickets.
· The process of packing up our lives here in the states will go as smoothly as possible.
· We would be anxious for nothing and that our hearts would be stayed on Him.

Marine Corp Marathon

On October 28th, I had the opportunity to run in the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, D.C.. A very dear friend of our family, Wilton Lyles (pictured right) and I had been training throughout the summer—he in Colorado, I in South Carolina. For those of you who don’t know, the Lyles family was very instrumental in my coming to know the Lord. Wilton’s son John (pictured middle) and I are best friends and the Lyles have been kind of a second family to me growing up. While we were training, I told Wilton that I wasn’t going to lose to a 60 year old, but that turned out not to be the case. We both finished the grueling 26.2 mile race. I completed the race in 5 hours, 1 minute—about 6 minutes behind Wilton.

God has taught me many things over the last few months as I was in the process of training for this race. Specifically, he has been showing me the importance of discipline in my daily walk with Him. In order to train for a marathon, you have to discipline yourself to run on a daily basis. If you don’t, you will not be prepared when the race comes around. It is the same in our walk with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says:

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

As we transition towards life in Zambia, I’m seeing more and more the importance of being firmly rooted in my relationship with Christ. I know we will face situations that will be trying and the winds will be blowing harder than ever. Please pray for me in this area. Pray that I would develop habits that lead to Godliness. Pray that I would be a man who desires to be in God’s word on a daily basis and who prays without ceasing on all occasions. Pray that God would sanctify me through and through—that I would be the leader this family needs, the husband my wife desires, and the father who continually points his children back to Christ in both word and deed.

"Every Tribe, Every Tongue Rejoicing."

This weekend, Kerri and I had the priveledge of participating in a Global Outreach Conference in Georgia at Lake Oconee Presbyterian Church. During this conference, we were able to hear from various missionaries from around the world about their respective ministries as well as share about our ministry to Zambia. Seeing how God is moving in other parts of the world is exciting! We can't say thank you enough for the hospitality we received this weekend from the body of Christ at Lake Oconee. They were such an encouragement to both of us!

A few updates and prayer requests...

Kerri and I are planning on leaving for Zambia this coming February. We have begun doing repairs around the house to get it ready for the market and we are beginning the process of downsizing. These next few months will be busy and tough on us and our family. Please be in prayer for us. Some specific things to pray for:

• Pray for our relationships with Christ and each other.
• Pray that our house will sell quickly and at the right price.
• Pray for wisdom in decision making over the next few months.
• Pray for our time management.
• Pray for our families--that God would begin to prepare their hearts for our departure.

How Great Is Our God!

Kerri and I were given the opportunity to share our ministry at Blue Cross Blue Shield's Christian Luncheon Club (CLC) Wednesday afternoon. This is a fairly large group of believers who get together on a monthly basis to share testimonies and have fellowship. After we showed our video and shared about God's calling for us to go to Zambia, Steve VonFange, who is one of the members of the leadership team, came up and sort-of cut me off. He said, "Brent has no idea what I'm about to do, but I need to say some things to you." Then he asked me to take a seat. He began to confess that he had not wanted us to come share that day because it was the last CLC of the year and the subject matter was just heavy. Then he told how he had been able to spend 2 hours alone with God this past weekend and how he was completely convicted about his attitude. He looked at me and Kerri, while chocking back tears, and said he was sorry. Then Steve said that as God taught him during that time, he was led to Hebrews 11. He shared how in reading about these men of faith his natural tendency was to look at their failures. But he was overwhelmed at how God looked at their faith and saw them in a completely different light - He saw them as righteous! Then he said he was led to Acts 2 where the scripture talks about all the believers being together in one mind...selling their possessions and giving to anyone who had need. Steve then began to challenge the group. He said, "Brent and Kerri have stepped out in faith to obey God's calling to move their family to Africa and we need to follow them." He said, "I believe that God is calling the CLC to fully fund Brent and Kerri Roberts today!" (At this point we both just started crying!) It was obvious that Steve was in the Spirit because he was speaking with great zeal and our spirits were leaping as he challenged the group to do whatever they had to do - maybe even sell some stuff -to give the money that we need to go to Zambia. And he said something else that was very specific, he said that they needed to make it happen BY FRIDAY!

After his talk, Steve had us come up and asked those who would support us to gather around and pray for us, which they did. It was awesome and we were completely overwhelmed! As Kerri was talking to some of them afterward, she told them that the night before we had asked our community group to pray for this meeting. Shawn Hevel, one of our communty group members, prayed, "God we ask you to fully fund the Roberts, and we ask you to do it tomorrow." What Kerri has also been praying over the last few months is that if God's timing is for us to go in February, then He would have us fully funded by November - giving us time to adequately plan to leave the country. Maybe, just maybe, God is at work in all of this : )

Thursday morning when I got into work, there was a voice message on my phone that had been sent out to everyone who had attended the CLC meeting as well as everyone else who had been involved over the past year. Steve said again that he felt the Lord was telling him that the Roberts needed to be fully funded by this Friday by members of the CLC. We are completely blown away!! We don't know exactly what God will do, but enough has happened over the past few days & weeks that we are very excited! (We will not receive a financial update from ACTION until November 1) Please pray that those who were moved by God on Wednesday will be obedient to act, and pray with us that we will indeed be fully funded!

God has convicted us and challenged our lack of faith! He has reminded us that this venture is not of us, but of Him. He has reminded us that He is a great God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we can ask, think or even imagine! We are so thankful for your prayers, so thankful for Steve's obedience to get up and share what God had done in him, and SO thankful for God's sovereign hand on our lives!