"Birdies for Brent" Update

Brent had a wonderful time with his golfing buddies, and this longhorn, in Texas this past weekend.

And now, the final tally is in. In five rounds of golf between four players there were a total of 61 birdies and 5 eagles! Well done gentlemen!

At the rate of $1 per birdie and $5 per eagle, that's a total of $86 per donor. Thank you to all who pledged and are now partnering with us as we go to Swaziland!

God's Wonderful Surprises

This past week was mostly spent in Maryland, visiting Brent's side of the family and speaking at two churches there. Our time there was wonderful!

Wednesday evening's service with Frederick First Church of the Nazarene was a great time to be with family and friends that Brent had known while his father was an associate pastor there some years ago. They were all so encouraging, and lifted us up in prayer at the close of the service. We were also surprised to meet two people who had very close connections to Swaziland.

Pastor Rob Merki's father had served several years at the hospital in Manzini, Swaziland -- right where we will be living! He had some wonderful stories and helpful tips about life there. Another church member, Eunice Rockwell, had lived in Swaziland for five years in hte 1960's, serving as a nurse in the hospital and traveling to clinics. I was especially astounded to hear that I had already read about her in a missionary book. Dorothy Bevill Eby had written about Eunice in one of her stories in the book Wherever God Plants Us!

Eunice had an accordion that she carried with her and played at the "tree Sunday schools" that they established out in the bush before churches were built. The accordion would attract so many children and they would sing to it. Eunice told me that one of the little boys who became a Christian at one of the Sunday schools is now serving as a District Superintendent there in Swaziland! I could see the tears of joy glistening in her eyes as she told me this -- and I'm sure I had some too!

The surprises did not end there, however. In attendance that evening were Brent's Aunt Karen and Uncle Kurt, who lived about 40 minutes away in Hagerstown, MD. After the service they asked if we could also speak at their church in Hagerstown at their Saturday evening service. I had to preach Sunday morning at our home church in Mt. Vernon, so we hesitated a bit before saying yes. But I'm so glad we agreed to!

Saturday evening we spoke at a Nazarene new start church in Hagerstown, called Hope Bridge Church, pastored by Pete Zerphy. What a wonderful evening! The passion their people have for the lost is exciting, and very evident. That evening a lady named Gina was there for the first time. After I finished preaching, and the pastor opened it up for a Q&A time, she asked why I had chosen to preach about Luke 4. She said the other night, just after having been invited to come to church, she turned on the TV and found a movie about Jesus, quoting the passage in Luke 4:18. I told her with joy that I hadn't been spying on her television, but that this is the message God had given me more than a month ago, and that maybe God was just trying to get her attention! She agreed, and was quite joyful when I talked with her after the service.

At the end of the evening, the pastor invited people to pray with us down at the altar. Mind you, we had never met any of these people before -- yet their prayers were so fervent and Spirit-filled! I remember asking God in the middle of our prayer time -- "why do these people care so much about us??" and He said, quite clearly -- "They are not responding to you. They are responsive to my Spirit." And I am so thankful! It is further confirmation to us that we are only a small part of something much bigger God is doing. We are finding quite often that God is already moving hearts and minds before we even open our mouths.

Among those prayers that night were prayers for our safety as we traveled through the night back to Ohio. God proved faithful, and we thanked him for our protection as we pulled up next to our house at 2:30am Sunday morning. After a few hours of sleep we were again blessed to be in a rich time of worship and fellowship with our church. Again I felt the Spirit's presence as we sang and I preached -- I know it all went much better than it should have on such little sleep. God is so good and so faithful!

For all who are praying -- know that your prayers are already being answered, before we even leave. Thank you, thank you for your obedience and faithfulness to God!

"Birdies for Brent" Golf Tournament

This coming weekend, Brent will be traveling to play golf with several buddies who were on the golf team at Southern Nazarene University together. His good friend, Justin Pusey, has come up with a great way to make the weekend into another way for people to support us on our way to Swaziland. The following is an email that is circulating right now, in preparation for this weekend.

"Four old golfing buddies are getting together as one of their rank is going overseas for the next year. They are all traveling from different parts of the country (Oklahoma, California, and Ohio) and meeting in San Antonio to play golf from April 24th to the 26th. This weekend will be the second playing of the annual Ol’ College Hackers Open. Brent LaVigne and his wife are going to Swaziland this next year to serve with the Church of the Nazarene in their efforts to provide HIV/AIDS relief. Swaziland (a small country in Africa) has the distinction of having the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate per capita in the world. He and his wife are quitting their jobs and will have to raise their own funds ($15,000) for the year.

"As people who know Brent, or know one of the golfers who are taking part in this event, we ask you to take part in a little fund-raising venture called "Birdies for Brent". Here is the premise. The four golfers are going to be playing five rounds in three days (90 holes a piece, 360 holes between the four of them). We ask you to partner in this program by pledging a certain amount per birdie and another amount per eagle (example $1 for a birdie $5 for an eagle) or if you don't want to leave the amount in the hands of the competitors (they have been practicing) you can also pledge a one time amount. As these four who used to be really good at golf now have jobs, wives, and children…(well, you know we don’t play golf every day anymore) the odds of 360 birdies are not very high, yet we thought this would be a fun way to continue to raise funds for this exciting journey for Brent and Michaele LaVigne.

"If you would like to take part please let who ever sent this e-mail to you know the amount per birdie or eagle or one time donation amount and they will get the information back to the "Tournament Committee" (aka Justin, Jonny, Brent, or Chad). At the end of the weekend we will send you an e-mail with the totals of birdies and eagles for the weekend (the winner of the weekend will be reported as well..just to exercise their bragging rights). Step by step information regarding how to complete your tax deductible contribution will be distributed when results are distributed."

We are so appreciative of the support of the golfers as well as those who are pledging per birdie or eagle! If you would like to be involved in Birdies for Brent, let us know!

New Address and Updated Speaking Itinerary

Thank you for your continued prayers -- we are feeling incredibly blessed by so many who care so much about us! Several people have asked about our address there in Manzini, so here it is:

Brent and Michaele LaVigne

P O Box 1460

Manzini 200M, Swaziland

Also, we have another speaking engagement to add to our list:

--Wed. April 15, 7pm -- Frederick First Church of the Nazarene (Frederick, MD)
--Sun. April 26, 10:30am -- Mansfield First Church of the Nazarene
-- Sun. May 3 -- Comissioning services at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene (Oklahoma City)
-- Sun. May 10, 11am -- Comissioning service at West Side Church of the Nazarene (Mt. Vernon)
-- Sun. May 10, 6pm -- Lakeholm Church of the Nazarene (Mt Vernon)

Finally we are happy to report that we have reached the halfway point toward our financial goal for the year! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness, and for so many wonderful generous people who are supporting us!!

Stay tuned to hear what Brent's golf buddies are planning to help us reach our goal as well!

May is not too far away!

Well friends and family, we are now only 6 weeks away from departure to Swaziland!! We are so thankful for your prayers and support, because even getting ready to go has its challenges!
Here are some updates and answers to prayer for which we are already praising God:

• While in Cleveland last month, my father's friend and fellow pastor, Roscoe Heath, invited me(Michaele) to share about the Swaziland Partnership with his congregation at New Praise Ministries. The people were so encouraging and blessed me tremendously with their prayers, their enthusiasm, and their pledge to support us financially and with prayers!
  

• We spoke at Bedford Church of the Nazarene (my parents' church) on Sunday, March 29. This was a wonderful time! The people were so welcoming and affirming, and prayed over us a great deal. They also gave us a very generous love offering that is moving us closer to our goal!! You can hear audio of that service by going to the BedNaz website. http://www.bcn.org/media/media/recent.php?mediatype=Audio
  

• As of today we are close to 1/3 of the way to completing our financial goal! In order to live for a year as volunteers in Swaziland, we need to raise $15,000 -- and God is certainly providing.

• The packing at home is also getting underway. I'm so thankful for friends (Kristin VanValkenburg especially) and family (Robin & Cal, Beth & Matt) who are helping us to pack and store our belongings while we are gone.

• Several other churches are supporting us as well, and have asked us to speak in their services. Here is our speaking itinerary if you'd like to join us!

-- Wed. April 1, 7pm -- Mount Vernon First Church of the Nazarene
-- Sun. April 5, 11am -- Kelloggsville Church of the Nazarene
-- Sun. April 5, 6pm -- Cherry Valley Church of the Nazarene
-- Sun. April 26, 10:30am -- Mansfield First Church of the Nazarene
-- Sun. May 3 -- Comissioning services at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene (Oklahoma City)
-- Sun. May 10, 11am -- Comissioning service at West Side Church of the Nazarene (Mt. Vernon)
-- Sun. May 10, 6pm -- Lakeholm Church of the Nazarene (Mt Vernon)

As you can see, we will be busy in the next six weeks! We are so appreciative of all prayers and support. Packing and planning are far less exciting than actually going to Swaziland -- and we feel very ready to go! Yet we know there are many important things to be done here. Please pray for the following in these next weeks:

• That God would continue to prepare our hearts and minds for Swaziland
  
• That all necessary finances would be raised
• That our speaking engagements at each church would be blessed of God, ane encouraging for us and those congregations
• That our time with family and friends would be wonderfully rich in the next 6 weeks
  
• That God will grant us, me (Michaele) especially, a greater attention span for the packing and arrangement-making that needs to be done! :)

Thank you for partnering with us on this exciting journey! God bless you!!

ps -- the picture is what we are giving out at churches as prayer card reminders. If you want one, let us know!