January 15, 2014

One of my favourite photos captured
during this past 4 years in Kenya.

I’m not sitting in a field of banana plants or in a mud hut as I work away from home this morning, but in a friend’s breakfast nook after speaking at a Women on Mission meeting in eastern North Carolina last night. We are staying busy and loving the opportunities to share what God is up to at the Kenya Baptist Theological College (Jack) and in His harvest field among Sub-Saharan African Peoples. 

We were at a Church Planting Seminar
in western Kenya where most of
those attending were very attentive...

Thanks for praying for our time at the conference last week for IMB missionaries on Stateside Assignment. It was truly “a time of refreshment and learning” and a great time of making new friends and enjoying being with friends we have known for years. It was a joy to hear the God-at-work stories from other parts of the world, but we also heard stories of heartbreak from many of our workers. Thus, one prayer that you can add to your general prayers for missionaries is for protection from attacks from the devil as he does not like God’s work going well!

... although a few preferred looking my way and posing for the camera!

The ‘learning’ bit at the conference was sessions on retirement (yes, we will do that one day) and dealing with ageing parents (which I found rather humorous as we are now the age of the ‘aging parents’ of many of the young missionaries). Jack was enthused by the sessions on new ways to involve others in our work, as I attended sessions on using Social Media, photos and newsletters as tools to share God’s stories (yes, I do this daily, but there is still so much to learn and use). We are benefiting already from a day long course on ‘modular speaking’ which I attended which hopefully will help us share our stories more effectively with you!

And a few cute kids such as this mischievous toddler
led to my not paying full attention as Jack preached! 

As always in recent years, one required session was on security, which leads to the need for you to add ‘prayers for safety’ to your general prayers for missionaries. Our session began with questions of who had been affected by a robbery, car-jacking, hi-jacking, terrorism, etc. in the recent past. There were only ten of us in our small group, but the tally was high. So please pray for safety and especially for wisdom for missionaries as many of us live in areas where one must always be alert to possible threats.

No, this wasn't the meal we had at the rural church during the
Church Planting Seminar, but our lunch today and one of the
foods we enjoy while on leave - Eastern NC pork barbecue!
I took this photo to try close-ups on my NEW camera!

Before heading out to a local McDonalds for a cup of coffee and their free Wi-Fi so I can send this newsletter (I ran out of time and am sending this from home hours later), I will close with our ‘general’ Stateside Assignment prayer requests. Pray for God’s guidance as we meet people and speak to groups.

Still on our wish list while on STAS is to eat at a Pizza Inn,
which we skipped today, but the seagulls were busy!

Join us also in thanking God for the opportunities for Jack to share how God is at work at the Kenya Baptist Theological College and as I share what God is doing among Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Pray that we will entice more people to join in His work! Pray also that we will clearly share how God answers your prayers, uses short and long term volunteers to accomplish His work, and blesses your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Cooperative Program and other ways that allow us to be at work in our Father’s Harvest Field in Africa. BERT
--- --- --- --- ---
Daily Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples are found at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Saharan-African-Peoples/100173880060607.

The other place we skipped today for lunch - which was difficult,
but made easier as we are freezing so far north of the equator!