Recently, a friend of ours was blessed to receive a TON of strawberries that were close to their expiry date- yet were still beautiful and very tasty.

He reached out to us and others who minister in Clarkston to bless our work with these delicious fruits. We were able to give strawberries to 7 families in our complex!

These families were excited to receive and enjoy the blessing. They are families whom we have almost daily interactions with. They are from different countries and about half of them are Muslim.

We are hoping to be able to receive and share more fruits in the future!

In January this year we were staring at our monthly partnerships and unraveling over the reality that this could be our last full-year in ministry. We have been under our monthly goal by about $500 for quite some time. Over the last several months, we have continued to meet our financial goals and some months even exceed expectations. How this continues to be possible is beyond my understanding!

We are continually amazed by God and His generosity towards us through you. When we say that this mission is only possible because of your love towards us – It’s the truth. We believe that God has specifically put it on your hearts to be a part of this ministry with us. And – You listened.

Thank you! This year has been an incredible year of ministry for our family.

In the last few weeks our family has started looking into overseas opportunities for the Summer. We have the opportunity to link up with a team and serve the frontlines of refugee resettlement work. We also are entertaining the idea of traveling back to Nepal and serving there if God opens those doors.

When we started sharing this vision with others we learned that our church was in need of housing for the summer for incoming summer missionaries. By Gods gracious gift yet again , His kindness was shown towards us. Our church is wanting to cover our rent to our apartment while we are out of the country. This enables for us to travel overseas and not need to raise any additional funds in the process.

Let us all celebrate together with a Hallelujah to our God and King.
Thank you God! Thank you Team for partnering with us!
Your love, kindness, and generosity continues to send us forward with the gospel.

Until All Have Heard,
Jay

Hosting Teams in our community makes a huge impact.
Every evening anywhere between 20-40 kids are running around in our complex.
Many of them are lacking supervision and are starving for attention.

We spend many afternoons with the kids on the playground ; laughing, playing, and sharing stories with one another. It’s also led to many doors opening for us with the families that live here.

This week we were able to host a team from Texas that helped with caring for the youth in our community.
They brought up a bounce house, popcorn machine, and an army of volunteers to help with the different activities. We even had chalk & bubbles for the kids to play with.

It’s not always clear to those visiting the impact they are having, but for us it was a huge blessing.
Every evening that we are on the playground we come in exhausted from spending quality time with those in our neighborhood. It was nice to have the hands and feet of Christ helping to carry those relationships with us.

The kids had an amazing time. We were blessed by this in such a big way.
Thank you for praying for our ministry this week.

P.S. At the end of the evening Jay told Raven she could choose dinner since she did such a good job hosting the team. Without hesitation she blurted out “Kathmandu Kitchen” our local Nepali restaurant. She loves Nepali food. The entire time we were at the restaurant she was trying to speak with the waiter in Nepali.
She did such a great job with everyone.

I (Patti) got to referee a backyard race between Sudanese, Karen, and Rohingya kids tonight – with Raven hot on their heels. It was a lot of fun!

The dad of a family that moved here last month from Myanmar smiled at the diverse group while walking his son home.

It warms my heart to live in a place where the world is represented so deeply. It brings me joy to see the children cross cultural boundaries to play together. It refreshes me when I see the parents do the same.

It was in stark contrast to an interaction I witnessed earlier between a group of boys…

The owner of a bicycle, M, wouldn’t let another boy ride or sit on his bike because the other boy isn’t Muslim, he’s Christian. It was a heartbreaking reality of discrimination played out in a small group of elementary aged kids.

It happened after M asked another Muslim boy for a bandage. The boy he asked, A, pointed straight at me and said, “Ms. Patti can help.” They know I am a follower of Christ. He had no complaints while I cleaned his scrapes and bandaged him up.

Pray for the joy of life to be contagious across religious and ethnic boundaries – spreading from children to adults.

Pray for The Source of that joy to be known and made known to all by His will through His followers.

Pray for peace.

Pray for more opportunities to proclaim His Truth in word and deed.

A couple of nights ago, two Nepali girls knocked on our door around 8 o’clock. They are cousins and don’t usually come over at that time of day.

They shared that their moms were out shopping longer than anticipated and that they, along with another girl, were hungry. They asked if we had any food we could share.

We have known these girls for 4 years and it takes a lot for them to ask for food. I (Patti) loaded them up with chicken nuggets and taquitos – making sure to show them the microwave preparation instructions- as well as cheese sticks, snack bars, and a few packs of instant boba as a special treat.

We love that we have opportunities to be generous and that we are blessed with food to share with the families around us.

This literally woud not be possible without our financial and prayer partners! Thank you so much for the generosity that you show us that we get to pass on to others!

We see in Scripture over and over that God’s people are blessed so that they can be a blessing to others. We are honored to live this out obediently with you!

Tonight marks the start of Ramadan. For the next month, Muslims around the world will fast from sun up to sun down. At night, they will eat and pray.

Pray with us for our friends, neighbors, and strangers around the globe to have the scales fall from their eyes this year. Pray that many will see Jesus for who He truly is – the Son of God and the only way to salvation.

The prayer guide linked below is a way for you to pray for them intentionally and daily.

Ramadan prayer guide available for download

Many of you will remember the young Burmese girl who was part of the accidental firework incident in our apartment in January 2023; the one who we grew closer with when we extended mercy and grace after the incident; the one who has been knee deep in her 2nd battle with cancer in her short life.

She has been feeling better (except, of course, on the weeks of her treatments). She very kindly invited Raven to her 16th birthday celebration last week.

Patti and Raven were happy to attend! It was a very intimate gathering of only family and the two of us. We got to laugh, sing, eat egg rolls and cake, and share how grateful we are for another year of this girl’s life.

We stayed later than we planned, but the fellowship was fun, genuine in sharing, and deepened the relationships in ways that it was absolutely worth it!

Thankfully, R was only gone for 36 hours. She has been home since, but had additional concerns that we will not share publicly. Please pray for her healing- mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

Raven and Patti had the opportunity to join R’s mom at a house church gathering. It is always a blessing to worship with our Nepali friends/family.

We got to sit with Raven’s aunt and her mother-in-law. R and her younger sister came to the gathering after an event for one of their cousins. It was encouraging to see them both there and to see the warm reception they got from the others in the home.

(As a side note, Patti got to meet a Nepali church planter who knows Jay from many years ago. He was encouraged that we are still in Clarkston for God’s glory. He has recently relocated to encourage and disciple Nepali believers as well as to build the local church there.)

We had the privilege of heading north for 5 days in the windy city to celebrate the wedding of a friend! The bride and her family have been like family to us for many years.

Raven made her first snow angel, loved being the flower girl, and had a blast on the dance floor!

Join us in praying for the newly weds as they start their lives together!

One week after being found, R had a medical emergency. We were on a walk when the aunt pulled up with R and her mom. R was verbally unresponsive and couldn’t get out of the car or walk without support.

As Jay and her mom got her inside, I called 911. In the time between the call and the arrival of paramedics, R stopped breathing multiple times, went limp, remained unresponsive verbally, and was only “present” once with her eyes focusing on where she was.

R and her mom were taken to the children’s hospital. While we don’t know exactly what happened, we learned that R had pneumonia the week before and hadn’t been taking her antibiotics. Many others involved believe there to have been substance abuse and some of the medics said that she was acting to an extent.

Please continue to pray for this family. R had not run away in 3 weeks, but left again yesterday (Tuesday). She has blocked her family from being able to call her. Mom is working with the school police officer to report her missing. Pray that she would come home soon and for the impact of the stress on all family members (including the 3 youngest in the state’s care).