I Need Your Email Addresses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two weeks ago our laptop died and we lost everyone's email info. If you follow this blog, please send us your email address so we can update our contacts.

We've Moved!!!!!

Check out our new blog at www.roadtobukavu.blogspot.com

10 Days!!!!!!!!!

Well we've only got 10 days to go until we leave for the Congo. We are getting really excited about this trip and what God is going to do through us while we are there. But before we go I have one personnel prayer request. The devil has really began attacking us, he really doesn't want us to go. I am flat out with back problems. These problems started again two weeks ago. At times I can be stubborn and pigheaded which is why I am off work until the beginning of next week. I kept working and trying to push through the pain. Through this time I've been questioning God as to why I am not seeing healing for my back. After I went to the doctor yesterday I realized the Lord had been trying to get something across to me for the last couple of weeks, but I did not listen. I realize now what it is He was saying. I took it upon myself to push through the pain so I could continue to provide for my family, forgetting who my provider is. The Lord made it clear yesterday that I need to slow down, rest and leave the providing up to Him. He needs me to be effective in Africa which means I need to be able to walk!!!! The awesome thing is that my manager at work is supportive of all I am doing (he is not a believer) and to wants me to be healthy for this trip. He has made it possible for me to take the time to rest from work and still be covered financially for the days missed. I thank God for this!!!!! Pray that my back will heal and that I would be ready to go by the beginning of next week. Pray for the group as we prepare to leave in ten days.

22 Days And Counting . . .

I can't believe that in 22 days we will be on our way to Bukavu. We are getting pretty excited and can hardly wait to go, but first we just want to say thanks to all of you who unselfishly supported us so that we can serve God in the Congo. We will be your hands and feet as we walk and talk with the Congolese people. We have reached our mark financially but would still like to raise more finances towards the work in the Congo. God has been truly good, He always is and always will be. . .

This Is Cool. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5HA5m0xyNs

Follow this link to take a small glimpse of a mission team in Bukavu, Congo.

50 DAYS AND COUNTING. . .

SUPPORT THE CONGO. . .

Send Donations to:

New Life Assembly

Box 1564

Killarney, MB

R0K 1G0

Getting Closer. . .

We have tomorrow and next week to reach our fundraising goal for the Congo. . .right now we are staying in faith, believing that the Lord will continue to provide towards this opportunity.

Yesterday we spent the day getting things done. . .passports and shots. We both received our yellow fever shots and tomorrow we will begin our Twin Rex shots. With every step we take, the reality of the Congo becomes more clear. We are looking forward to working with the people of the Congo. . .even though we know it will be hard to see the life that they live. If we can bring them some joy and put smiles on their faces, we know we will have accomplished much.

God is so good and we are honored to serve Him and do His work. . .

“Not Women Anymore”
The Congo’s rape survivors face pain, shame and AIDS
By Stephanie Nolen
It took Thérèse Mwandeko a year to save the money. She knew she could walk the first 40 kilometres of her journey, but would need to pay for a lift for the last 20. So she traded bananas and peanuts until she’d saved $1.50 in Congolese francs, then set out for Bukavu. She walked with balled-up fabric clenched between her thighs, to soak up blood that had been oozing from her vagina for two years, since she had been gang-raped by Rwandan militia soldiers who plundered her village in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Finally, she arrived at Panzi Hospital. Here, Thérèse takes her place in line, along with 80 women, waiting for surgery to rebuild her vagina. Dr. Denis Mukwege, Panzi’s sole gynaecologist and one of two doctors in the eastern Congo who can perform such reconstructive surgeries, can repair only five women a week. The air is thick with flies. It reeks from women with fistula: rips in the vaginal wall where rape tore out chunks of flesh separating the bladder and rectum from the vagina. Yet Thérèse, 47, is happier than she’s been in years. “Until I came here, I had no hope I could be helped,” she says.
Part of a Featured article from the spring 2005 edition of
Ms. MagazineCongo Facts


- Since 1994 the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC; formerly called Zaire) has been rent by ethnic strife and civil war, touched off by a massive inflow of refugees from the fighting in Rwanda and Burundi.
- A cease-fire was signed on 10 July 1999, but sporadic fighting continued.
- The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is arguably the world’s most deadly crisis since World War II and the death toll far exceeds those of other recent and more prominent crises, including those in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur.
- Today, in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, rape is taking place on a scale that is almost unimaginable.
- In the last ten years, hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped - but their suffering goes unacknowledged. Instead, they are invisible, shamed and mute.
- According to a new survey (click for more) released by the International Rescue Committee, an estimated 5.4 million people have died as a consequence of the war and its lingering effects since 1998. Survey Conducted: January 2006–April 2007
- 5.4 million people have died since 1998
- 45,000 people continue to die every month
- National mortality rate is nearly 60 percent higher than sub-Saharan average
- Most deaths are from malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition and other preventable diseases.

Bringing Hope To Those Who Have Lost Hope. . .

This past week has been exciting and draining. On Monday we made the decision to join a ministry team from our church who will be going to the Congo in November. This short term trip has been in the works for quite sometime, yet we have been so focused on our long term plans that we didn't see what the Lord was planning for us short term. He made that apparent to us on Sunday. . .and we knew that we had to join this team. So what's next for the Harder's? We need to raise all of our support by August 30. . .impossible? With God all things are possible. We know He wants us to go. . .He will provide. For those of you who are reading this. . .our support letter is on the way. Please keep us in your prayers over the next few weeks and thank you for your support.