Hargrave Update - Resurrection 2016

[James Hargrave]

Dear friends,

Kristo amefufuka! Christ is risen!

Just after Pascha 2010, I arrived in Tanzania as a brand-new Missionary
with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center. My job assignment seemed
clear: learn Swahili, work at the Church office in Mwanza, help with
OCMC Teams and Archdiocese youth programs.

By God's mercy, with your prayers and loving support, I did these
things. But I found myself deeply underqualified for other assignments
and expectations. Within months, I realized that I desperately lacked a
solid theological education. Six years have passed, and now we're off to
seminary!

Springtime is bright here in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Trees are in
bloom and strawberries are in. A lush and brilliant summer awaits. Peter
is now three years old, and Daphne has been working in Home Health as a
Registered Nurse for over two years. Our time near Daphne's family, and
with Holy Nativity Antiochian Orthodox Church in Langley, BC has been
richly blessed.

We are eager to return to service as long-term OCMC Missionaries, and
grateful for my opportunity to study for a Master's of Divinity at Holy
Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA.

When we visited campus, we rejoiced to encounter a place where Christian
families are nurtured as they prepare for ministry in Christ's Holy
Church, both in North America and overseas. We were grateful to witness
students' fervor for global outreach and service. We were awed at the
prospect of living and studying in such a place.

Classes start in three months.

We have to pay for school.

I've received a partial scholarship. We pray (and work hard where we
can) that Daphne will be granted a US work permit, a Massachusetts
nursing license, and a job while I study. She also needs to spend
significant time on campus raising Peter (and more children if God
wills) and participating in the spiritual formation available to
seminary wives.

With a scholarship and possible work for Daphne, plus student loans,
many of our expenses can be covered. We trust in our good God's
providence. If this is his calling, then he will provide the means.

We ask you to work with God in providing the means for my education and
for our life at seminary. First, we beg your holy prayers. Without your
prayers, and without the Holy Spirit's continued work in all of our
lives, all the resources in the world will be for nothing. With your
prayers, however, anything is possible.

We also ask for financial help. OCMC has approved our missionary account
to receive donations towards tuition and other expenses. While on the
field, God used you to provide all our financial needs, mostly through
small donations. Most supporters made long-term commitments between $25
and $50/ month. Some of our most faithful and loving supporters gave $5
or $10/ month. Others were able to give significantly more, or to make
one-time donations.

Please consider renewing your previous pledge, or making a new commitment.

You can give online by clicking “Support” on our webpage at
http://tinyurl.com/ocmchargraves . You can call OCMC toll-free at
1-(877) GO-FORTH or 1-(904) 829-5132, and press 4 to make a pledge. Or
you can write a check to “Orthodox Christian Mission Center” with “M:
Hargrave” in the memo line, and mail it to: OCMC, 220 Mason Manatee Way,
St Augustine, FL 32086, USA.

Funds not used for school will be applied to field missionary service.
By receiving funds through OCMC, we are committed to a minimum three
years' missionary service. (Our intention is to serve much longer, God
willing until retirement.) If we do not return to OCMC service for at
least three years, we are obliged to repay funds disbursed from our
missionary account.

Thank you, dear friends, for walking and praying with us this far. We
owe very, very much to your love, friendship, encouragement, and
prayers. We hope to have you alongside us also in the years to come.

Truly he is risen! Amefufuka kweli!

James, Daphne and Peter Hargrave