Jahswel & Cheyenne Mpagaja Newsletter (Winter 2024)

Happy New Year to you all! We hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful time celebrating all the holidays.

TIME SPENT IN YORK, PA

We made the trek up north, arrived in York on October 28th, and left on January 27th. It was such a blessing to spend holidays and birthdays with family after a long time; I realized it had been five years since I had been home with family for Christmas! 

We also had many opportunities to get together with ministry partners to share what God is doing in and through us in ministry. Being able to share face-to-face was a great blessing and makes such a difference than just receiving an email or watching a video update. We were thankful to have a house to stay in that allowed us to host get-togethers as well. 

On December 16th, we hosted a Malawian dinner for our ministry partners in the area and it was such a lovely time! Jahswel put on his chef’s hat and cooked up a Malawian meal for everyone: Nsima (cooked maize flour and water, Malawi’s staple food), rice, beans, mustard greens, chicken, and goat meat. Sharing Malawian food opened the door for many questions and allowed us to share about Malawian culture uniquely. We wanted to do something in return for our ministry partners as a small way to say, “Thank you”, and everyone had a great time. And they enjoyed the food! We are hopeful to have more Malawian dinners like that in the future.

We had a couple of snow days while we were up north, and I am not sure who was more excited about it, Jahswel or Jedidiah! They had so much fun experiencing snow for the first time, shoveling, sledding, and having snowball fights. All in all, our time in York was a great blessing and we can see why God had planned this time for us. 

FINANCIAL UPDATE

When we left for York, we were at 64% of our monthly budget. We are grateful to share that we are at 80% of our goal! That means we have $700/month left to raise and we are trusting in the Lord to provide. We praise God for our new ministry partners who have joined hands with us and have committed to supporting us monthly. You are an answer to our prayers!

PREGNANCY UPDATE

JEDIDIAH
Our sweet boy Jedi is now two years old! We celebrated his birthday with family and had a “Bluey Dance Party”. He has grown up so much in just the last couple of months—speaking in full sentences, carrying on conversations, telling stories, playing much more independently, potty training, sleeping in a big boy bed… He is a sweetheart, a quick learner, a silly goose, and loves friends. We are so very proud of him! He knows that very soon, his baby brother is going to join us. We believe Jedi is going to love him to pieces! 

SUMMER 2024 – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

We have been asked to go to the Dominican Republic this summer! Jahswel will be the head leader of the team, along with a head female leader, and three assistant leaders. We expect there to be 20 team members. I will go as a family member so that I can take care of our children full-time and I am looking forward to getting to know the leaders and team members. The team project is to help with a children’s camp with Child Evangelism Fellowship and to continue constructing a chapel building. We are very excited about this opportunity, especially as Jahswel’s first time leading an American Teen Missions team, and to a new country!

The project assignment expense for us to go with Jahswel is $2390.  Please join us in prayer for this trip, for the funds to come in, and for the Lord to prepare our hearts to minister to the teens and all who we will come in contact with this summer. If you feel the Lord leading you to give, you can go to www.teenmissions.org/project/core-mission-fund and specify in the comment box that the donation is for “Mpagaja summer expense”. Thank you and God bless you! We are excited about what the Lord is going to do on this trip!

Blessings to you and yours!

Cheyenne, Jahswel & Jedidiah