California Friends —
If you are in the Carmel/Monterey area, we hope that you will join us on Sunday, August 21st from 2 to 4 pm at Erik and Lori Davidson’s home (25978 Mission St.). Caleb will share stories from his trip to Uganda with Lori and Maya earlier this year and we will provide an update from RUHU. RSVP by emailing Siska.
Friends,
We wanted to share with the Beautiful Response community that Sonja and I are moving to Sydney, Australia at the end of August. We have loved living in Chicago for the past 7 years but we are excited about this next season for our family.
Why are we moving? There isn’t one particular reason. We have long hoped to live internationally as a family and an opportunity came up for Sonja to transfer within her company to the Sydney office. We also have family who lives in Sydney, so we made the tough but joyful decision to lean in to this opportunity.
What does this mean for Beautiful Response? We’re grateful that our moving doesn’t impact the work of Beautiful Response at all. Nothing we do hinges on our geography and we’ll still be able to get to Uganda. One change we are making is that Laura Hoekstra, who has served as the Program Director for Beautiful Response for the past 5+ years, will be stepping into the role of Executive Director. This is a necessary and good change for Beautiful Response, regardless of our move. We’re so grateful for her leadership over the past decade as a board and staff member. We’re so grateful for her willingness to lead Beautiful Response in this next chapter.
Sonja and I will continue to be on the board of Beautiful Response working with Laura, Patrick, and William as we always have.
As a part of the move, I was going through old files that neither of us had touched in years and I came across a Beautiful Response income statement from 2011. We sent $20,500 to RUHU in 2011. We had NO idea that the $20,500 was just the beginning. This year alone we’ll send close to $500,000 to Uganda. We’ve had the absolute privilege of watching RUHU grow and thrive and we’ve also had the privilege of watching Beautiful Response adjust and thrive in its own way. God hasn’t let us down. There’s a passage in Malachi that describes our journey so well: “Test me in this,” Say the Lord Almighty, “and see if I won’t throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won’t have enough room for it.” God won’t be outdone by our generosity.
