Wow - hard to believe it has been a month!

We are now just days away from Christmas and I realize that it has been a month since my last post. Here is an update on our lives: Luke got his cast off and his pins removed. It is healing great - most of the swelling is gone and it feels pretty normal. Thanks for your prayers. The outreach was a huge success. There weren't a lot of people saved, but who was saved that made it a success. On our first night, the chief of the village came forward along with 2 young girls. The next night only a few came forward. The following week, we received a text saying that the chief's wife also accepted Christ, so the process begins!! I was driving once again for VBS and we went to 10 villages and saw around 2500 people. It was exhausting as the sand was deep and I felt like I was driving in snow for 2 days! Ron was on the foundation and brick team - they finished the foundation and made several hundred bricks.

Our next outreach is January 20-22 and we are so excited that a team from our home church Northwest Baptist Church will be joining us - can't wait!!

We will be starting our second semester January 11th and that only leaves 5 months until we leave for the States for our stateside term. It is hard to believe it is that close. We are in the process of getting ready - a lot is in place, but still need to work on some details. We are very excited to be able to spend that 6 months in the States with our family and friends. We would love to come speak at your church if you have a missions Sunday or Wednesday - please let us know. When it gets closer, we will post our contact information or you can leave a comment and we will contact you!

We miss you and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!

Outreach

Update on Luke - got another x-ray and the second doctor was pleased with how it is healing. He had the upper part of his cast removed and is awaiting the bottom half to be removed - maybe Thanksgiving morning! Thanks for your prayers.

We are with preparations for our Thanksgiving outreach weekend. This is going to be a big group again this year -- about 140 of us, including a group of 15 students from Faith Christian Academy in Colorado. There will also be 10-15 Senegalese pastors and lay people who will join us in ministry when we arrive in the area. During the days, we will be busy with a number of ministries:

1) the drama team and children's ministry team will be traveling to a number of villages

2) a team will be painting a church in Bikol (the church of which we laid the foundation and made bricks by hand last Jan.)

3) a team will be painting a mural on the front wall of a church in Diofane (the church we built last Nov.)

4) our medical team which will include 3 nurses and a Dr. will minister in Diakhao

5) a team will be digging & laying a foundation and building bricks by hand in Diakhao

6) we will be staying at the YWAM center in Niakhar and a team will be setting up camp

7) a small team will be building 20 benches for the new church

In the evenings, we will be holding evangelism campaigns in the following villages:

Fri., Nov. 25: Diakhao, Gandiaye, Poukham Tok

Sat., Nov. 26: Mbelakadio, Ngouloul Peul, Mbouscene

We REALLY covet your prayers. We will be ministering in an area that is predominantly Muslim and we'll be ministering in villages that have just begun to hear about Jesus. Please pray for open doors and open hearts. Pray against spiritual resistance and that God will prepare the way for us. Pray for protection in travel, both Ron and I will be driving there and Chris will be working with the children's ministry where she will be driving all over the bush in and out of villages and at all the ministry sites.

Sun. morning, we plan to worship on our way home in the church that we helped build last Nov. in Diofane. We're looking forward to the blessing of worshiping with our African brothers and sisters and seeing the results of our labor there last year.

Luke

We have had an interesting week this past week. It started Friday night during an event called "Harvest Fest", a fundraiser for the Senior class. Luke was in a water balloon battle and was being hunted and ran backward and stumbled and tried to break his fall with his left hand. He proceeded to start crying and thankfully a nurse was sitting right there. They helped him up and got ice and tried to clean him up. His wrist swelled immediately and was very distorted looking. They ran to get us and we took him immediately to the hospital. Thankfully they called ahead because the radiologist and the orthepedic surgeon were waiting for us when we arrived. They did an x-ray and quickly it was determined the wrist was broken. The surgeon spoke ridiculously fast french and whisked Luke away. We panicked and called our mission nurse wh0 came to the hospital but after Luke was taken up to the surgical floor for the doctor to reset his wrist. It was so frustrating to not be able to understand what the doctor said!! We went back the next day and saw the x-ray and found out that he put pins in his wrist - what??? They explained that his growth plate was broken and it needed to be set with these pins. The doctor said that they set it right, but we had a second opinion. The other doctor said that it was set well, but not excellent. We need to go back to get a x-ray Thursday to see if there has been any shifting - if so it might need to be reset. Please pray that it doesn't shift and that the pins hold it in place and that his arm will heal perfectly.

Update

We are continually amazed at how fast the time flies here. We just finished our first quarter and only a 1 1/2 months until Christmas break. The kids did great this first quarter. Zach received straight A's, with one of his classes being AP French. He is really wanting to be on National Honor Society, so that really motivated him. He was cast in the play "The Curious Savage" and that happens in 2 weeks. He is nervous, but really excited. He was also selected as 1 of 12 high schoolers to be on a peer mediation committee. He had to be recommended by the faculty - we were very proud of him. He continues to grow in the Lord and has quite a reputation for spiritual maturity. Luke did well on his report card - with all A's and B's. He probably won't be the scholar that Zach is, but has so much personality teachers love him!! Luke has really thrived in the dorm. His dorm Mom says that he is her right hand man and is constantly in the kitchen helping her cook. He really has taken an interest in cooking - he even joined the cooking club. Faith loves being in the dorm surrounded by all of these girls. She did great on her grades, earning all A's and B's. She loves her teacher and still loves being in Africa. She is on the junior basketball team and really likes playing.

Electricity has been much improved in the last month. Although we have lots of brown outs, we rarely lose power. That is great! We have heard that this is just until February when the elections are being held. You can pray about that - pray that it is a smooth, fair process.

We are excited to be in the process of coming home for furlough. While we love being in Africa and know that this is where we are supposed to be, there are days it is hard. We are excited to be back in the States and see our family and friends. We are continuing to work on figuring out schooling for the kids, living arrangements, travel, visiting churches, etc. We know that time will fly and we will be home before we know it! We love and miss you all greatly and look forward to when we are hanging out!

We have finally settled in and really feel like we are in a groove! Our transition to the girls has been a smooth one and we really feel like this is where God wants us! We love being with the girls and love discovering all of the differences between parenting both. School is in full swing and has started with a bang. In addition to being dorm parents, we are also in charge of student senate. We host our first event this Friday night and are hoping it goes off without a hitch. Zach is a rep for the sophomore class and really enjoys being part of this leadership team. Luke is finally adjusted to being downstairs and has settled in to the role of helper. He loves being in the kitchen and helping his dorm Mom and she loves his help too! Faith is playing basketball and learning piano and is doing really well with both. She loves being with all of the girls and is totally included in their lives. She has been given a secret sister and loves writing and receiving notes and gifts. The kids are really thriving here and are growing in their relationship with the Lord!!

We are continuing to plan for our time in the US this summer. We are happy to report that friends of ours are letting us use their mini-van, so our transportation is covered. We are still looking for a furnished apartment or in-law suite, if you know of anything please email us!

Life in Dakar continues to march on - power still has been an issue, despite tons of money being dumped into the economy. The economy still continues to be an issue with the nationals. There is an election slated for February and it promises to be interesting. Our current president Abdoulaye Wade wants to run again, but has already met his time quota. Some want him to continue more want another leader. The people are tired of no electricity and staples being so expensive. We pray that it is a peaceful election!!!!! Many of the staff here have gone through an evacuation and nobody wants that. We are preparing for the worst - praying for the best! We will continue to update as the time gets closer!

We love and miss you all!

School is here

Our 3rd year of dorm parenting started Wednesday with the arrival of our 12 girls. They arrived with lots of luggage and hugs and giggles. Faith has loved being with the girls - she definitely feels a part of the dorm. We have some younger girls, so that has been nice for Faith. The boys are down stairs and are loving being in the dorm. They have come upstairs often - so that has been nice for us! We definitely miss them being in our apartment though. But the fact that they have amazing dorm parents with 23 years of experience, I think is going to be such an great time of growth.

School started Thursday - so we only had 2 days of school and then the weekend. That was nice to be able to get started, but then have a break to get settled. We are finding the differences between boys and girls pretty great - not that we didn't know that with our own children, but when you have large groups of boys and then have large groups of girls, the differences are vast. The biggest difference of course is food - they barely eat compared to the boys. However, I did discover they can chow down on some brownies!! I have heard that the first week is a little bit weird with nervousness, etc. So hopefully it will increase a little bit once they get settled. Another big difference is communication - in these 4 days the girls have talked with me about missing their parents, periods, nervousness, etc. Boys tend to keep it tucked inside. But so far it is great - we love the girls and think it is going to be a great year!

PRAYER
Here are our girls names if you ever want to pray for them: Erin, Susanna, Akinyi (pronounced like bikini with an a), Yea Lim, Hannah, Rebecca, Heather, Gloria, Ha Young, Grace, Allison, Yea Rang.

Pray that they would transition quickly - especially the new girls. Pray that the home sickness won't last long.

We continue to make plans for our stateside time - pray that the detail will come together.

Thanks again for your support and prayers for our family!

Zach took this and edited it - the roman aquaduct in Segovia.


Royal church by the palace

Royal palace

In Mallorca

Statue in the park

Went to the bull fighting arena - there are bull fights every Sunday



Streets of Madrid - 11 o'clock at night

In Segovia



Mallorca


Met this priest and his brother who is a baker and baked this bread for communion - they loved Faith!