Thursday, December 4, 2014

Email

Hi! I wanna just know how about your travel? I hope that it's fine? We love you so much... Our heart will stay always with you.

Sent from my I-phone
Doulgue Laomi Valery, vice principal of Bere(Tchad) Adventist school

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Its Been an Amazing Journey!

We did try and send this message to you a few weeks ago but the internet in Chad was so bad!  We are in Washington right now and realized that all the emails did not get sent even though it said they were a few weeks ago.  Sorry if you are among the ones that didn't get this earlier and sorry to those that are getting this message again. 


Dear Friends and Family, 

June 29, 2009 God clearly sent us to this little bush Hospital in Bere, Chad Africa.  Now we are sad to announce that our time is coming to a close here.  We believe that God is sending us back to America.  We have just as many questions as to "why" as we did when He sent us here 5 years ago.  We know that God is still leading us, we hear his voice but He has not reviled everything to us yet.  We want to do His will but it seems as though the doors are closing for us here in Chad.  

As we are packing our things and going through everything, we have come across so many pictures and memories from our time here.  We are going to miss our Chadian family that has become such a big part of our lives .  We will miss working with the people and being someone they can come to when they need help.  We are going to miss our missionary family as well.  We have met so many wonderful people that have come through here that have given so much of their love and support.   When you live in a third world country as a missionary there are ties with people that will be there for life.  Jamie has told me that this has been his dream job and that is something that he is going to miss.  We are also going to miss this old, dirty, hard cement floor, full of spider web home that has so many fun memories.  In our living room we have put a saying up on the wall for everyone to see and it says, "May all who enter as guests, leave as friends".  We believe that this is exactly what has happened with everyone who has been here with us. 

We don't understand it!  There is so much more to do here!  But we have learned that we need to do what God wants and that His ways are not our ways.  We know that He could have worked things out for us to stay but so many of our prayers have lead us to this decision.  We have a peace in our hearts that this is the right thing to do for what ever reason.  We just want to go where God is leading us.  

To all of you, thank you everyone for going with us on this amazing journey.  We will keep you posted on what God has planned for us next.  But for now we are headed back to the states December 1st.  This has been an experience that we will never forget and one that we will cherish forever.  The experiences that we have had will make an everlasting difference in our lives.  We hope that by sharing our journey it has helped you with your own walk with the Lord. Thank you for supporting us through it all, we couldn't have done it without you.  We have been a great team with God as our leader. 

We ask that you stop any donations that you are sending in to AHI.  We will not be receiving any of this money.  If you find it in your heart to still help us we invite any gifts to the address below to help us through this transition.  But there will be no tax deduction for these gifts but we would really appreciate anything you can help us with.  We really have no idea what our next step is or where we are going to live.  We are just trusting that God will continue to take care of us and lead.  

With much love, 
Jamie and Tammy Parker

For any further donations, please send to: 

James and Tammy Parker 
P.O. Box 1366 
Collegedale, TN  37315


parkers4bere.blogspot.com

Our phone #'s in the states when we get back. 
Jamie phone:  (423) 310-2485
Tammy phone:  (423) 284-0242 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Goodbye Everyone!

We are on our way back to Chad this morning with 2 hours of sleep behind us!  Woke up at 2 a.m. to start our three day journey back to Bere.  Thank you to everyone for all you have done for us while we were in America.   We are so ready to see our friends and family back in Chad but you all will be missed.  Keep us in prayer for things are crazy in Africa right now!   We love you all and will be in touch to let you know we made it there okay.  

Jamie and Tammy Parker



Sunday, October 12, 2014

Returning to Chad!

Dear Friends and Family,

The time has come for us to go back to Chad.  Jamie met with his doctor and he said that we can move forward with our plans to go back to Africa.  He has one last appointment at the end of the month and he still has problems with his foot but the doctor believes that it will just take time to improve.  We have tickets to leave Monday November 3rd. So we are now getting serious with packing and saying our goodbyes. 
As you all know this year has been quite a challenge for us but God has once again shown us His never ending love and grace.  God has used many of you to reach out to us in so many ways to encourage us and for that we are forever grateful.  We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.  God is good, all the time!  All the time God is good! 

When we get back to Chad we will continue to write our blogs but we are also encouraging everyone to check us out on Facebook.  We will be putting up a lot more pictures and short notes on what is happening with us in Bere. 

Please continue to keep us and all the other missionaries in prayer for times are getting tougher and I believe it will continue to be that way until God comes.  But there is so much work to do and many people to reach before that can happen.  Thank you for your support and we look forward to hearing from you as we continue working for God in Africa. 

With much love,


Jamie and Tammy Parker

Jamie phone: +235 93 46 46 35 
Tammy phone: +235 95 25 86 58 

Jamie & Tammy Parker 
Hopital Adventiste de Bere 
52 Boite Postale 
Kelo, TChad 
Afique 













Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Parker Update!

Dear Friends and Family,
We want to thank everyone for all the prayers for our family and especially for Jamie and his health.  God has really been using all of you to encourage us and for that we are so grateful!  We feel so blessed to have so many good people in our lives that love us and have taken the time to help us through this challenging time in our lives.  We have tried to be the people to do the encouraging whether it be here or in Chad and it is hard to have it switched.  But God has repeatedly been there for us and we know that He is not going to leave us now in our time of need. We also want to thank those who have helped us out financially.  This has been a huge relieve! So thank you all so much! 
The update on Jamie is that he is not going to have to have surgery again.  He had an MRI again and it didn't show that anything had moved or that anything was pressing on that nerve going to his foot.  "Thank you Jesus!"  So the next thing that we are waiting for is approval from insurance to give him a cortisone shot which is scheduled for September 12.  He is also taking some pills that are suppose to help his nerves.  Walking is suppose to be the best medicine though and so he has been out everyday trying to walk about a mile.  Walking has become a little more difficult with his drop foot but he is a very determined man to get this pain to subside.  I am very proud of him but it has been really hard to watch him suffer everyday the way he is.  So please continue to keep him on your prayer list for healing. 
This next paragraph is a little more difficult to write.  I sat here crying for a couple of minutes before I could compose myself enough to write it.  Satan is still attacking us.  A week ago on Monday we found out that our 19 year old son Cory got married to a 25 year old with 4 children!  Many of you may know this already and saw it on Facebook, which is the way we found out! It has been a difficult week of emotions that we are trying to put into perspective, but it has just been difficult for us.  So please put our whole family on your prayer list. 

Friday, August 22, 2014

Parker's Update!!

Hi Everyone!
We just wanted to update everyone on what has been going on with us.  Jamie had his surgery on the 29th of July and everything seemed to be okay.  He still had some problems with his sciatic nerve going down his left side down his leg.  We thought that it was just the swelling from the operation and that it would subside.  But three weeks later he is still having intense pain.  It has been such a hard three weeks for him from the pain and for the caregiver, me. I feel really bad for him after seeing him trying to work through all this pain.  But the bottom line is that it is just not going away. 
This Wednesday he started experiencing some loss of control  in that leg to control lifting his foot.   We have come to the conclusion that he has what they call "drop foot" for those of you who know what that is.  He has lost control of the ability to lift his left foot when he walks.  He went back to the doctor and he said that there was reason for concern and so Jamie had an MRI on Thursday, yesterday, to determine the problem.  He is going to the doctor today to read the MRI and figure out what needs to be done.  Another surgery may be what he needs.  
I am writing this because we are very discouraged.  It has been a very discouraging situation.  We never thought that it would be like this.  We are definitely needing prayer!  
We are also experiencing financial difficulty staying in the states this long.  Everything costs so much, just food and fuel and household expenses are catching up with us.  I have never wanted to write for help like this but it is getting to that point.  We need help.  I know that so many of you are helping with so many of the needs and programs that we have for the Chadian people but we are really having a hard time.   It is hard for me to ask for help but I don't know what else to do.  We are struggling financially.  Please, those that feel like they can help us please!  We will make sure that we are conservative with what we spend but we need help!  
Thank you all for everything you have done for us in the past.  Especially those that donate monthly to keep us going.  But right now we are looking for a sign that God wants us to go back. 

Tammy Parker


Jamie phone: +235 93 46 46 35 
Tammy phone: +235 95 25 86 58 

Jamie &Tammy Parker 
Hopital Adventiste de Bere 
52 Boite Postale 
Kelo, TChad 
Afique 



Friday, July 18, 2014

Parkers Update!

Dear Friends and Family,
 
It has been a while since we have written to you.  We have been in the states now since April.  We are enjoying every minute!   We started our time here with a two week, much needed, vacation.  We love being here with our children again. And we have been able to go around to quite a few churches talking about our work in Chad.  We have met a lot of new people and some have been so wonderful to us that we know we will remain good friends for life.  We have also spent some time in doctor's offices checking on our health and some concerns have come up.  

Some of you know that this last year in Chad was really rough on us.  Being away from our children for the first time was not easy and I know it is the same for so many others.  But me being a hovering mother was really hard to do from Chad.  I had many conversations on the phone with my kids in tears and that was the worst to not be able to go and run to their rescue.  But on the other hand, it was probably good for them to grow and figure things out on their own too.  It was a blessing to be able to pick up our kids from school and bring them "home".   Cory was at Andrews but is now in Chattanooga and he will be taking a year off of school and work.  Brichelle was at GCA (Georgia Cumberland Academy) and plans on returning in the fall.  I am proud of both of them for getting through this year.  

We spent some time traveling around to different churches and sharing what has been going on in Chad.  This is always such a blessing for us because it continually reminds us of why we are there.  We have also met so many new people that have been so great to us and I just want to thank them for opening up their homes and their lives to us.  We want to keep this door open for anyone that would like us to come to your church.  It looks like we will be here through October, at least.  We would like to continue to do work for the people of Chad from here as much as we can.  So please consider this if you feel like this is something your church would be interested in.  You can reach us through email or my phone number is (423) 284-0242 and send me a text. 

So for the big reason we will be here through October.  Jamie has been having severe pain in his back since February.  He was cutting a mahogany tree in Bere when something happened and he started having pain ever since.  He can't sleep and so we have been working hard to try and work with insurance and doctors to get something done ever since we have been in the states.  So now he is going to have back surgery July 29.  The doctor wants him to stay all year but we all know that we can't stay away from Bere that long so we are going to have his 3 month check up and if everything looks good we will be going back.  Until then I want you all to know that all of the programs will continue.  We are in the process of sending money to Chad now for the baby formula program and many other things that we have a commitment to.  This is a huge concern for me and I will be sure that it is taken care of.  

We need prayer for our future endeavor in Chad.  We are considering building an Orphanage.  We take care of so many children now and it only made sense to us.  We already have the land, which is in the perfect location just a 15 minute walk from the hospital and school.  We bought 8 acres already for $1,500 and we are looking into buying the land next to that which has so many fruit trees already.  The land is perfect because half of it is perfect for growing rice during the rainy season and the other half is on higher ground for housing.  We don't know if this is what God wants us to do but our hearts are into it 100 percent.  Please help us to see if this is something God wants us to do.  Pray for us! 

We now have a Facebook page for (Parkers4Bere) and we would appreciate you going there and checking it out and if you like it push the like it button and this will help us in many ways.  We will be putting up a lot more pictures and stories in the next week, so look for that.  This is new for us but we are so excited about it so that we can keep you more informed on big and little things that are going on weekly.  We also want you to know that our blog now has a donation button that is set up for credit cards and this still goes through Adventist giving dot.org which will still goes through our church and a tax write off.  One time donations are always welcome especially for the orphanage but for us to continue on a steady basis donations monthly are what we need.  

Thanks again for your continual support for what we are doing in Chad.  I can see that, since we have been in the states,  God really is coming soon.  Help us reach the part of the world that is in desperate need of knowing Him. 

Tammy Parker


Jamie phone: +235 93 46 46 35 
Tammy phone: +235 95 25 86 58 

Jamie & Tammy Parker 
Hopital Adventiste de Bere 
52 Boite Postale 
Kelo, TChad 
Afique 

To Donate with Debit Card and Credit Card click on link below.

All donations can be sent to: 

Harrison SDA Church 
P.O. Box 969 
Harrison,  TN  37341 

Make Checks payable to: 
Harrison SDA Church 
Earmark:  "The Bere Project"