Our Liberia prayer letter

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Faithful family and friends,
Over the last several years, the Lord has softened our hearts and given us a passion for orphans. It doesn't matter whether they are in the US foster care system or across the world, babies or older children, sick or well... we are burdened by the great need, and we are “ruined for the ordinary” when it comes to them! We have been SO challenged, not to just talk and think about these children, or even just to give toward their care... but to DO something. Many of you know that we have been in the adoption process for almost 3 years, and certainly, this is something we can do... but this thing brewing in us, this crazy eager desire to live out what is pulling on us, is calling us to something more. We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus to these children.

We are excited to let you know that we are planning to travel to Liberia as part of a missions team of 18 people this June 17-26th. We are greatly anticipating meeting and spending time with Kelvin and Hawa, our two children who we have been waiting to adopt for the past year and a half. This team will be led by our adoption coordinator, Angel Rutledge, and includes several people who went to serve in Liberia last year (... most of whom specifically remember meeting and holding Hawa!). We will be partnering with our Liberian brothers and sisters in Christ, and working with a ministry called African Christian Fellowship International (ACFI) primarily to serve the many orphans and indigent children in their care, but also to bring education in sustainable avenues of work for the Liberian people.

Liberia is on the coast of Western Africa, and was embroiled in a brutal 14 year-long civil war up until just 6 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and the country's economy collapsed. The country has stabilized somewhat under the current government, but only because of help from western nations. It is a place where incredible atrocities have taken place, yet hope remains alive and beautiful in the Liberian people. We are looking forward to this enormous opportunity to spend time in the country that has already captured our hearts because of our adoption journey.

We will be serving in various areas while there. Jason will be helping to lead a team on the construction and repairs that are needed at the both the Daniel Hoover Children's Village (previously known as the orphanage, now the boarding school) and the Deaf Orphan's Mission. There are many things that he may be doing, but will concentrate on the most needed things first, like making repairs to the water tower there. I will be helping to lead the VBS activities for the children, as well as gathering information to update the sponsorship program, which will include taking new pictures and getting heights & weights of all of the children, and helping them to write letters to their sponsors back here in the US. Overall, we will be interacting with and loving the many hundreds of orphans in whatever ways God sets before us!

There are other focus areas as well. One will be to train the leaders and older children in small business skills such as agriculture, sewing, and baking, which will allow the Liberian people to understand and practice trades that can sustain them and help them in becoming more independent in the long-term. Another area of focus will be to train the teachers in curriculum that is age-appropriate and beneficial in the education of the orphans in their care. The kids at the Deaf Mission will be loved on in a special way as we have 3 people that are fluent in sign language on the team! Angel will, as opportunities are given, be meeting with government officials and community leaders in hopes of moving adoptions forward once again.

Obviously, we will also be trying to spend as much time as possible with our children! We are told that they will join us as we serve, so we will be with them the entire week. Our hearts don't even know how to accept the reality that we can go to hold them for a short time! We hope to communicate our love for them and joy to have them join our family one day, even as we must continue to wait on the Lord to make this possible. It will be very, very difficult to say goodbye at the end of our week there, but we know that this sweet opportunity to visit them is worth the pain that we will certainly feel upon leaving.

We know that even though our adoption has not worked out as we thought it might, and even though it's been a difficult journey, we know with absolute certainty that God is good, and His plans are perfect. Kelvin and Hawa are in good hands, whether they are here in our home or not, because they are HIS children. The verse that best embodies what we have been learning through the last few years is Romans 5:3-5 ...
“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, even though our circumstances have been difficult on our hearts. His goodness leads us to press on with hope and joy.

The Lord has provided the money for us to travel to Liberia, so we are not in need of financial help in that way. However, there are some very specific needs for our work there that we can inform you of that would be a huge blessing to the people we will be working with, and have a lasting effect on their lives. Many of you have asked us how you can help over this last year. Now we have some great avenues to suggest. We know that this is our calling, and that you may be called to something entirely different, yet equally important to the Father, but if you pray and sense that God would have you “sow into” the lives of the Liberian people, please contact us. We'd be excited to get that information to you.

Last, but most importantly to us, we want to thank so many of you for being our faithful prayer warriors in regards to our adoption so far. We are always amazed at the people who pray for us, some of which we've never even met, and that you have hung in there with us for such a long time already! We have many prayer needs before and during this trip as well.
We desire that:
*We have protection from the enemy before and during the trip
*God would be glorified and made known in all we do, individually and as a team
*We would have a wonderful and sweet time meeting and loving our children
*We would have safety, good health, on-time flights, and no lost baggage
*God would give us strength, energy, and whole-heartedness as we serve, even if we're exhausted
*We would be flexible & have great attitudes even when things don't go as planned
*We could sleep well despite very hot & humid weather and mosquitoes trying to eat us alive (!)
*God would enable us to make his love known very specifically to as many people and children as possible
*Anika & Asher would have a great time with their grandparents, and not miss us too much while we're away
*God would give us the courage and strength to say good-bye to Kelvin & Hawa when the time comes, and great peace after

We know that many of you are excited that we have the opportunity to head to Liberia, so I hope this served to give you a few details!

Thanks for loving us!
Jason & Corrie Luebke
theluebkes@usfamily.net
cluebke@mywdo.com

http://www.whenyouriseup.blogspot.com/ – This is the easiest way for me to communicate what's going on with trip plans, prayer requests, and our adoption in general. Please check it out if you'd like the latest info!
* A video was made of last year's March missions trip. It is so good at showing you the sights and sounds and purposes of our own trip, that I would encourage you to check it out! If you pay close attention, you will see both Kelvin and Hawa!! (Hint: Kelvin is in a red fleece with the sleeves cut off, and is seeing our pictures and finding out we will adopt him. Hawa is in brown and is sucking on a lollipop while looking at our pictures, also finding out she will be adopted!) www.africanchildsponsorship.com/video.html