"These things I have spoken to you so that, in Me, you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

Loved ones,

This letter is written to the body of Christ as well as to those who have not come to know Him and have yet supported the missionary endeavors, of which we write, for Christ's sake and the sake of His lost sheep.

To our dear loved ones who are always demonstrating a sincere and loving spirit and have yet to know Him - may peace be upon you and may you know that the love of God extends to you and a Grace so intense to the point of scandal awaits you. All you need do is confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:7), know that He is the son of God & God (John 10:30), and that salvation from death in all its forms (actual, metaphorical or otherwise) comes from Christ alone (John 14:6). This is faith. And you acquire such faith by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). This is what you sent Alyssa and I out to proclaim. May we one day have the courage to extend the perfect love of the Lord to you also who do not know Him. Pray for us that we may do this for you may be one of His other sheep.

I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also and they will hear my voice… - John 10:16

Alyssa and I returned on June 9th, 2007 from two back-to-back missionary expeditions into east Africa. We asked for your support and you provided. Whether it came in the form of diligent prayer or your financial means we are humbled by your generosity.

Please forgive the lateness of this report. We struggled over and again to write it but our words failed us - failed to reveal with clarity what it is that took place and how we have been permanently changed. We have been engaged in a spiritual battle over this correspondence. The result of this battle has been that we have come to terms with the limitation of our intellect and have been blessed to weakness so that we may rely solely on Him alone. May our inability to do justice to what that the Lord has done in Africa with our weak words be a demonstration of the Spirit as we become less and He is all.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:1 - 5 We first went to Rwanda - to the province of Kibuye. We were accompanied by a team of 27 North Americans to include our cousins from Saint Louis, MO - Shaun and his lovely wife DeeDee. There, Alyssa and I were witness to and participated in the Lord's planting of a church. We were stationed in a rural area where we, with the help of several Rwandan nationals, went hut-to-hut proclaiming the Love & Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Salvation He has made available to all by His suffering on the cross and subsequent resurrection.

When we arrived at our mission point there was a trained pastor ready for a congregation, a pastor from a mother church, and about 30 Rwandan nationals that were members of the mother church (a church planted two years before by e3) - they were there to help with the evangelism and church planting efforts. There was absolutely no congregation.

We trained, we prayed, we evangelized… When all was said and done, God had put a church in that rural area of Kibuye with 60 confirmed members. Most were new believers. In this same area, Alyssa and I were able, by the Lord's will, to provide a month's food supply to an elderly woman who was raising her two young grandsons on her own (2 & 6 years of age). Disease had taken their mother. Also, God blessed us by allowing us to provide a month's worth of food to a woman that had been left lame from an accident and was no longer able to mind her plot of land for sustenance. In addition, the new church took up this woman's cause and became responsible for her future well being - food and otherwise. The only true lasting relief work in Africa comes from Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit and under the authority of the Father. Their salvation in this world and the next comes from Christ and not of the feeble work of men. Nothing truly gets done until we forget our work and pick up the work of God.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows… - James 1:27

Time and space limits us, so Alyssa and I had to decide on single story, each, to relate. Here is one from each of us… from Rwanda:

Joshua's story:

I came to a little dirt house one day in the rural province of Kibuye and knocked on the door. Inside a man was on the floor, sitting on a mat. He'd been praying. We (I and my Rwandan counterparts) had entered through his "prayer room." He was blind and spoke in a quiet and even voice. The air in the room was tense and relaxed at the same time - surreal. His quietly spoken words were interpreted to me by Rose, my ministry partner. He said that he'd been in that room praying for three days. He said he'd been praying for God to reveal Himself to him. The arrival of a white man - an American, in this desolate area, who'd come to talk about God was so unlikely that it could be construed as nothing less than a direct answer from God to his specific prayers. Or, so were his thoughts on the matter as translated to me. He believed that I had come all the way from America and that everyone who had helped with this endeavor, that every step taken to that point was to bring me to him at that exact moment. And he was right. He had known that there was a God for the majesty of existence spoke to His presence. He knew that there was a God because the sun rose and set everyday. Or so he was told…

The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises - Ecclesiastes 1:5

Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory - Isaiah 6:3

But he did not know that Jesus Christ and that God were one and the same. He received this truth with solemn understanding, not with an extreme outward joy that is so often attested to in these situations but with a sincere and calm understanding that this was truth and an attestation of the Lord's presence and interest in him. It made so much sense to him that the Lord was graceful. Was that not why after all we two were sitting together in this the most unlikely of places? He came to know Christ and became a member of the church the Lord planted there in Kibuye that week. Again when this man - Matee was his name - heard the church was to be planted so close to his home, he understood the Lord's grace and interest in him specifically… He was blind and would not be able to make it far, but this new church was to be only 30 yards in a straight line from his home. The church welcomed him and the new pastor began to visit him daily. His spiritual and material needs were being met by the Lord the last I saw… I hope this is not all too mystical for some to hear, for all I can do is report the facts as they happened. God is real and his Holy Spirit works.

Alyssa's story (Alyssa's writing):

For two days, in Rwanda, we were in a refugee camp. There were four churches planted in this camp, located in Kibuye. They live on the border of the Congo. The refugees are Congolese. 18,000 of them live on the side of a hill. Responses from gospel presentations were so overwhelming that we were the backups called in to assist on days when evangelism was not permissible at the site at which Joshua and I were working. These people were hungry for the gospel, hungry to be known and loved. God's word spread like wildfire throughout the camp, and God equipped us at every turn. One evening, during devotionals, the North American team and Rwandan ministry partners were contemplating their experiences from the refugee camp that day. Robert Mutijima, the Rwandan in-country leader, told us not to be dismayed by the living situation of the people. God knows first hand their suffering, He cares deeply about it and He cares also about them hearing His word. Robert then asked all of the ministry partners who had become saved Christians in similar camps in Uganda to stand … We were amazed as nearly half of these Godly men and women stood up testifying to the fact that God had incredible purpose for their time spent in refugee camps - as these former refugees are the people that are now shaping the spiritual landscape of their country. And these are also the people who would have been killed had they been in Rwanda during the well known genocide of 1994. It is our prayer that those people that were witnessed to in the Congolese refugee camp will take the gospel to their nation when they return home and that the light will leap from their hearts into the darkness. It is reminiscent of what the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel saw first hand.

In Ezekiel chapter 37, God comes to Ezekiel and tells him to prophecy to a valley of dry bones. God sees that these bones can live and He has a purpose for them…

"Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land."

- Ezekiel 37:9-13

Through one's obedience, God can raise the spiritually dead and despondent, and He knows for what purpose He has placed them upon the earth. May it be our prayer that this hope and knowledge of the God who is Hope will bless all the nations through the faithfulness of His people.

(End of Alyssa's writing)

Next we found ourselves in Kenya. Alyssa and I lead this trip out of Fellowship North Church in Scottsdale, AZ - our home church. We flew in from Rwanda and met the Fellowship North team in Nairobi, Kenya. They had been brought in by e3 personnel from the United States. This was the first international mission trip for our small church and the Lord led us to make it a youth mission. We went door to door on the outskirts of Nairobi and proclaimed the gospel of Christ. Churches were planted and/or strengthened. We saw Muslims come to Christ and proclaim his Holy name. Our teens, who had previously treated the gospel less than enthusiastically, came back with a zeal for the Lord, His authority, and His word. A zeal that still continues and is manifested in their fruit by which we know them. This would not have been possible without your generous intercession and contribution. Thank you so very much.

You will know them by their fruits. - Matthew 7:16

There are many stories but, again, the limitation of time and space do not allow us to relate them now.

In Rwanda, 15 new churches were planted and there were over 4,400 professions of faith. In Kenya, 5 new churches were planted or strengthened and there were over 800 professions of faith.

Romans 10:7 says you must not only confess with your mouth but also believe with your heart in order to have salvation. Out of these numbers, I cannot speak to the number of those who believe with their heart… but where previously there was no spiritual guidance, there is now a church to shepherd the believers and minister to the lost.

The Holy Spirit has lain on our hearts to convey to you, our loved ones, the profound change that has taken us - Alyssa and I.

We have seen the grace of the Lord and now we can think of nothing else.

Alyssa and I have decided to give our professional lives over to Him. For better of for worse in the practicalities of human cultural life, we will live our lives only for riches in heaven and perform only for an audience of God… Or we will try and yet have our failures covered by the blood of Christ himself.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:19 - 21

We have decided to go into full-time ministry. We can think of nothing else.

In short, we have been called.

It is no longer a matter of "are we being called," but is now a matter of "will we obey"?

For the next year, Alyssa and I will be on staff with e3 partners engaged in an internship program. In this program we will mobilize and carryout two international youth mission trips in addition to the one or two trips we will be mobilizing for our home church - Fellowship North. This is to the ends to see if it is possible to mobilize such efforts while maintaining a full-time class load in college. Alyssa and I feel strongly that the Lord is calling us to have a sound education for His glory.

During this time I will be maintaining full-time hours at Arizona State University and Alyssa will be maintaining a full class load at Paradise Valley Community College.

In addition to this, we have come on staff with our own home church - Fellowship North. We're heading "Mind the Gap" ministry which encompasses planting house churches in the Phoenix area, organizing compassion ministries, and coordinating international mission trips via e3 Partners.

During this year I will also be applying to graduate school at Phoenix Seminary for Fall of 2008.

We solicit your prayers, once again, for us in these endeavors. Please pray that we may have the serenity to accept the Lord's will whatever it may be. Pray that we have the courage to follow through on whatever Christ calls us to. And pray that we have the wisdom to recognize His will. Please pray that our will be smashed no matter the cost. Not my will, but Yours be done Lord - Luke 22:42

To all you who receive this letter know that we love you deeply…. so very deeply.

May the Lord bless you and keep you… May you know Christ and succumb to His will.

In His holy name,

Joshua and Alyssa Brooks