Since our last post we have been busy with ministry activities. We pray that these “activities” will prove to bear fruit that remains (John 15:16).

We are soon to be traveling to the States for a few months. When we first arrive back to Seguin, Texas we are having a doctrinal interview on July 7th with our Lifegate elders (Lifegate is our home sending church) and ABWE leaders. Then, July 9th, we travel to ABWE headquarters in Harrisburg for missionary orientation as Associate ABWE missionaries. RAU and ABWE are coming together in a closer partnership which we we pray will bear much godly fruit until Jesus’ return. We need faithful ones to who we may pass on the baton and have come to the conviction through God’s providential orchestrating that it is with ABWE. Please keep praying for the Pryce family and the Langworthy family who are ABWE missionaries looking to join us long term at RAU.

After missionary orientation as Associate ABWE missionaries, we have a family time together at an Air bnb in Colorado. There will be 17 of us–Carol and me, our children and their spouses and 9 grandchildren–in one big house! We have not all been together in one place since 2018 for Josiah and Unyae’s wedding.

Following this precious family time, we will be doing a lot traveling, visiting supporting church’s and friends. Where I have the opportunity to preach, the text I am seriously studying is Hebrews 11:13-16 along with 11:1. Oh my! what a passage! Please pray with me that I will preach faithfully, rightly, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…. (13)These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” ( Hebrews 11:1,13-16 )

Now on to what has been happening here at RAU on the Ugandan/South Sudan border. Shortly after our teaching module, “Helping Without Hurting in Africa”, we welcomed long time friend Ron Zeiner to RAU. What a blessing it was was to have Ron with us for eleven days. Ron and I have been friends since before I was married to Carol and that is soon going to be 42 years. It was a grand blessing to have him teach over 50 church leaders for five days in RAU’s Hall of Tyrannus. The module was an Old Testament Overview. So far we have had around 50 of these module trainings for church leaders in the Hall of Tyrannus since our move to RAU in 2013.

Ron also ministered in two local churches during the two weekends he was with us. What a joy and encouragement it was to have him join us! Many thanks to his wife Joanna, and the Bread of Life Church in Uvalde, Texas where he is the pastor. Bread of Life Church is one of the churches we will be with during our visit to the States.

Throughout the week, the church leaders had access to ESV Global Study Bibles which they took back with them to their places of ministry for their fellow church leaders, e.g. elders, deacons, Sunday School teachers, evangelists, youth leaders etc.. We also had visitor come by who would be taking some of these study bibles to a Bible School in Juba during that week. The following weeks more were distributed to several other ministries. Since our last post, well over 2,800 have been distributed and are going to places as far north as Blue Nile State and Nuba Mountains in the Republic of (North) Sudan, various places in South Sudan, Yumbe District, Obongi District, various nearby refugee settlements, Moyo District and the Metu Mountains. Many biblically sound books have also been placed into the hands of church leaders as well as Yumbe Sheikhs since last writing. Praise God for these books which have come to RAU as well!

A special thank you to all who prayed and contributed so that we could receive the 20,861 ESV TruTone Global Study Bibles and the container in which they came which now sits on the RAU campus…praise God! Because of our Lord’s gracious hand and God’s people’s loving support, with this last shipment, we have had, in total, around 30,000 ESV Global Study Bibles come to RAU to be distributed. Pray that we can continue to get them into the hands of church leaders.

Recently, Carol’s and my dear friend, Kevin Kolb, went to be with Jesus. Kevin was one of the Reaching Africa’s Unreached Board Members. He was instrumental in RAU getting its 501c3 status. His friendship, wisdom and guidance will be greatly missed. Last year he set about getting a good number of Sudanese Audio Bibles which we placed into the hands of those who would take them in the Republic of (North) Sudan, South Sudan, and to Sudanese refuges in our nearby refugee settlements.

Ron Zeiner carried them to us here.. They can be solar charged or plugged in. In the picture below are some of our Sudanese brothers who were with us for the O.T. Survey module training with Ron. I told them Kevin’s story with a few tears in my eyes. Praise God for Kevin and his vision to get these audio bibles!!

We are are also grateful for more Chapin Living Water drip bucket irrigation kits that Ron carried to us from Doug Neal and M.A.R.S.. M.A.R.S. has been a great supporter of RAU on the agricultural side of RAU’s ministry since our move here in 2013! The Chapin link above has a story where they refer to Reaching Africa’s Unreached.

Speaking of agriculture, below is a picture of me with my good friend, Zakeo, and some of RAU-grown grafted mangoes! He has been a trusted and reliable friend since our move in 2013. He and five others (along with others who joined later) put their backs and brains into making RAU’s 25+ acres into a beautiful biblical training center and demo farm. It was previously bushland. Our co-workers have been and are a gift from God! Our good Lord has added others to give wise counsel in many ways, especially in cultural matters.

This year’s grafted mango harvest has been our best so far. I jokingly tell people in our area and the groups which visit that, “I preach grafted mangoes second only to the gospel“.

We recently planted more grafted mangoes bringing the total to around 1,000. Zakeo has been instrumental in this. Grafted mangoes are perfectly suited to our area. They are the most reliable, long-term income source for our community. If our community at large will plant–a juicing plant will come to Moyo! That is the hope, anyway–and that would bring jobs and other benefits to this region.

Our agricultural training has been extending beyond our church leaders to our community and to other organizations. For instance, we recently received around 120 Moyo Secondary students (morning group and afternoon group) along with some of their teachers who were at RAU for a tour of the demo farm.

On. June 7th, we hosted a wonderful group from “Pipeline Worldwide” who have been very generous for the good of Moyo District, especially toward Moyo Referral Hospital. Their mission: “Our Mission is to make sustainable impact in East Africa’s most vulnerable communities through the donation of time, talent, and resources.“

The following weekend, they had a ground breaking on some property outside of Moyo town where they are looking to build Lonyi Village. “The Lonyi Village will be a 4-acre humanitarian short-term lodging and training center built with sustainability in mind, designed to improve the lives of the people of Moyo, Uganda across Development, Healthcare, Education, and Economic Empowerment.“

They were also interested in what other groups and individuals are doing for the Moyo Community and asked to take a tour of our RAU campus. Zakeo and I explained the vision and mission of RAU and, particularly, the good things happening on the Demo Farm and how they can impact the community. I had the joy of collectively planting a grafted mango from RAU on their new land. We wish Pipeline Worldwide blessings and wisdom as they push forward on their many projects.

Let me close with a few exhortations. As John Piper has wisely stated, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t”. As Christians we are to be “fishers” of men and women (Matthew 4:19).The bait we have is superior to all others and the only one that is effective (Romans 1:16). Our rods and reels are potent means of getting the bait to the fish, e.g. one on one witnessing, gospel literature, open air preaching, and “Jesus” film in the native tongue. This ,along with fellow fisher’s (Matthew 4:19) support and encouragement (prayers), the fish will be drawn to the bait (John 6:44 and 65), their mouths will be opened (Acts 16:14) to bite the bait (John 1:12) and they too will follow their master (Revelation 1:8) and begin to fish in streams where there are very many fish (Matthew 9:35-36) and few who fish for them (Romans 15:20). We go (Matthew 28:18-20) knowing success is guaranteed (Isaiah 55:11) at some point ( 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 ).

“Remember that, every hour we live, we are getting nearer Heaven, and sinners are getting nearer hell. The time in which we can serve Christ by winning souls is constantly waxing shorter. Our days are very few, so let us use them all for God.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)

“Christ has called us to reach the inconveniently lost and go to inhospitable destinations and unwelcoming populations. Missions is not simply sharing Christ with a neighbor or co-worker. That is evangelism, a daily witness of our faith, a responsibility of each believer. Instead, missions is purposely crossing the chasms of geography, culture and language to share Christ with those who have never heard.” (Andy Raatz)

This is the mission, vision and heart of Reaching Africa’s Unreached! Read our Mission and Vision Statements here:

https://reachingafricasunreached.org/about/

Please pray for the church in the Republic of (North) Sudan. Pray that peace would come and the civil war be stopped. The situation continues to deteriorate. My heart especially breaks for our brothers and sisters in Christ there. For years now we have been sending Arabic Study Bibles, books, and Kindle Fires loaded with Christian materials. Reports were coming back through our contacts the church was growing. In fact I had tentatively planned to visit brethren in northern Darfur–BUT then! this war! This is a note from our co-worker, Joshua Abraham, who currently lives in a nearby refugee settlement who is originally from northern Darfur: “Things in Sudan special in Darfur is very bad, we communicate with some believers some of them made their way to the refugees camps in south Sudan and Chad but some still within Sudan, praying for them always” Christ is still building his church there. Let us intercede on behalf of the church in the Republic of (North) Sudan!

Please pray for an increase in those who financially support RAU. While we are very grateful for those who give to various projects we especially are grateful to those who give monthly. As the Lord has grown the ministry of RAU, our monthly supporters are the ones who are carrying the daily ministry of RAU’s Mission/Vision, e.g. 2 Timothy 2:2 modules (it cost RAU around $40 per church leader per module; e.g. cost sharing in transport, sleeping arrangements at RAU and feeding them for the week), evangelism outreaches, church planting/discipleship and running the agricultural demo farm. If you are not giving monthly, would you please consider helping us in that way? Please take time to peruse our website and see how we have sought to be faithful stewards of the gifts given. It is our desire that any charitable gifts that are given to R.A.U. would not compromise what you are  ALREADY giving to your local church and/or to other cross-cultural foreign missionaries. At this link you can read about RAU’s philosophy on missionary giving and how to give—> https://reachingafricasunreached.org/donations/ Thank you!

Please continue praying for the fleshing out of the vision of a RAU FM Christian radio station, dental and eye clinics, and Bible Institute on the campus of RAU.

​Thank you,

Jacob and Carol Lee

PayPal Link for donations: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WAR99DL4JFWXQ

Donations are tax deductible

Checks may be written to RAU and sent to our secretary Beth and she will deposit them into RAU’s account : Lifegate-RAU, 395 Lifegate Ln., Seguin, TX. 78155

Go to RAU’s Facebook page for up to date reports, pictures, musings, and exhortations: www.facebook.com/ReachingAfricasUnreached

RAU’s YouTube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRmHafoBSemE7jS8kEHCG6Q/videos

RAU’s Mission and Vision Statements/Statement of Faith: https://reachingafricasunreached.org/about/

The greatest evil is having the gospel and not doing everything within our power to get it to those who do not have it!

Sowing seeds of love and kindness should not be separated from preaching the gospel of sovereign grace but completely intertwined with it!

When at least 35% of the world; “the unoccupied fields”, have no access to the gospel, we (believers) must all do all we can to reach them. We who are saved owe the gospel to every lost person, most especially the 2.4 billion who will not hear unless someone breaks into their “unoccupied field” with no thought of their own life!

I am sure that none of us will say when in heaven that we prayed too much, we sacrificed too much, proclaimed the gospel too much, and were too passionate to get the gospel to those who have little to no access to this gospel of grace. Let us together press on to make it our  ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named!

Our goal in our gospel witness is to take our eyes off the “risk” and place them on the cause for the risk. When God compels us like this he often will not tell us the risks…after all there are no risks for the all-knowing, all-powerful God. So let us be AMBITIOUS (Romans 15:20) to see that ALL are reached with the gospel of grace (Romans 1:16) in ALL places…there are no closed doors to the gospel, just some which are more difficult to go through!

Jacob Lee