20190113 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

I am so grateful for your continued support in prayer, finances and in so many other ways. I am so blessed to have friends and family like you! Thank you for your faithfulness to me and to the Lord. Most Americans have enjoyed a nice Christmas/New Year break and are back to work. Christmas is often the busiest time for missionaries and a time of great fruitfulness in ministry. This year was no exception for me.

Praise God for the blessings and opportunities He has given me to serve Him doing what I love-teaching and training.

I wish you could have seen the faces of the staff and children during Christmas at Welcome Home. Welcome Home (in Uganda, north of Rwanda) is a safe place for children who need a home (www.welcomehomeafrica.com) until they have a forever family. Sue Bruce, a pre-school teacher in Rwanda came and spent the week with me. The children enjoyed balloons, balls, water activities, face painting, bubbles, songs, dancing, crafts, gifts and a field trip to a special place that has life-sized safari animal statues, playground equipment and overlooks the Nile River. The staff enjoyed a white elephant gift exchange, a special Christmas dinner and a game that brought a lot of fun and laughter into the home. Special thanks to Lisa Baldwin for providing the gifts, games, and fun and to Mandy Sydo for bringing it all over.

A highlight of the week was “preaching” in two villages. One village church was “open eyes and mouths” as I used a long pole to demonstrate tightrope walking while teaching on faith. Sue and I really enjoyed watching children lead worship in the church. The people have a deep hunger to know the truth but are limited in understanding and literacy. Please pray for the majority of the world’s peoples who have yet to be taught Scripture and the truths of God’s Word and His love.

After a few days of rest and preparation, I headed off to Burundi (country south of Rwanda) to assist a small, struggling school in starting up an ELL program (80% of the students are limited in English acquisition. They are mostly Burundians, but the school also has some Europeans and some from the Middle East). I arrived on Sunday with a bad cold. Monday, I did some teacher training and spoke for 4 hours with no voice! The remainder of the week I observed in classrooms, provided advice in structuring an ELL program and even modelled some ELL classes for teachers. Thanks to KICS for providing the funds to do this and sending me as their representative and arm of outreach.  

Points of Prayer:

• ·       A strong finish to the school year (in May) and to KICS as I finish my 3-year contract this year.
• ·       Continued health and provision
• ·       Community