A Growing Team!

by Jess Cropsey

We are pleased to announce that we have officially increased the size of our team (and no, I am not pregnant)!  A family and a single have recently been approved to join us here in Burundi.  This fall, we are looking forward to welcoming Sherry* who will help with teaching our kiddos at Kibuye Hope Academy.  She is a passionate, energetic, and hard-working young teacher with a heart for evangelism.  We are thankful for her 1-year commitment to our team and praise God for how He answered our prayers for a teacher.  

*Given that she hopes to serve in a sensitive area overseas in the future, she would like to remain anonymous on the blog.

A little further down the road, we will welcome Caleb and Krista Fader.  Yep, you read that right...there are more Faders headed our way!  Yippee!!  Caleb (Jason's brother) is a civil engineer and Krista is a pediatric nurse practitioner.  Both Caleb & Krista are missionary kids who grew up in Kenya and also have experience serving in Africa as adults.  They visited us in February, along with their barely 6-week old firstborn, Liam.  Although they were only here for a week, their visit "just happened" to coincide with an important water project that has significantly improved the availability of water at the hospital.  In the midst of so many projects, we have keenly felt the need for someone with Caleb's skills to work alongside the Burundians on building projects & hospital maintenance.  Also, we hope that Krista will have the opportunity to be involved in nursing education at some point in the future.

Please pray for Sherry & the Faders as they prepare to join us in Burundi.  If you would like to partner with them financially in some way, see the information below. 

Sherry:  Please contact me (jesscropsey@yahoo.com) for details

Caleb & Krista Fader:  http://www.whm.org/give/missionary?ID=51319 

Each of them meet critical needs here and we are eager to have them join us as soon as possible.  A financial gift to help them along their way would really be a gift to all of us on the team. 

In the fall, we will also be welcoming some short-termers.  An anesthesiologist and his family (with 3 kids in our kids' age range) will be joining us for about 10 months.  In addition, we are excited to host a high school graduate whose family is known and loved by all McCropders who have spent time in Ann Arbor.  He plans to be here for about 6 months beginning in October to help with childcare & education for our kids.

I was encouraged and challenged by a quote from C.S. Lewis that Sherry recently sent me.  God has ordained and called each of these individuals to be involved in the life of our team and we look forward to seeing how He will change us and others through each of them!

“In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves