Signs of Progress

I wanted to show you the progress that was being made on the building. This big piles of dirt at the gate will soon be transformed into bricks for the second floor. Above you will see a wooden scaffolding in front of the building. That is how they get cement from one floor to another in the building process. It is amazing to watch as it all moves up a shovel full of cement at a time (or brick by brick). Thanks to all of you that have contributed to the project. Please pray that we will have the funds to see it through to completion.

Please pray for my little friends and their families. Pray that we would have good relations with our neighbours, that they would see Christ in us and come to know Him and that God would be at work in our community.

The school year is ending here soon. This was the final project for Ben's music class a musical that involved the 4-8 grade classes. Please pray that we would end well. Pray that our staffing needs would be filled and that I wouldn't take on too much for next year (It is so easy to do when there are so many needs).

Have a great week!

Good News and Disguised Gifts

This week we had the pleasure of going to a graduation ceremony for Pastor Soter and his wife Penine who both successfully completed their bible diploma through modular and evening courses. This was no simple task. The courses are designed to be the equivalent of a four year program but for many reasons it took them closer to ten years to complete. Soter completed two different diplomas during that time and was honoured for having the top marks in his class 96%. We are blessed to be able to work with them and pray that God will continue to bless them and their ministry.

The other piece of good news I received this week was that my washing machine is being replaced. My "semi-automatic" machine that had been through the flood needed some help and what seemed like an increasing amount of Fonzie style banging to make it through a cycle. So I was relieved when an email of sale items was sent to me by some missionaries that were leaving and included on the list was a washing machine. I will try not to complain about how long it takes to do a load again especially now that I don't have to listen and wait for it to stop so that I can restart it. Thanks to all of you that saw the flood pictures and prayed or sent gifts to help replace it.

I was also able to get a newsletter out this week. If you thought you were on my e-mail list and didn't get it or want to be on our mailing list drop me a note so that I can fix the problem. I am still trying to working out some of the kinks of the new program.

This week also held some gifts that on the outside looked like struggles. I had a really bad stomach bug that wiped me out for the first half of the week. Although I really wouldn't recommend getting sick to anyone, it did forced me to slow down, take lots of naps and the immobility allowed me extra time to focus on spiritual things and computer work. Thanks to all of you that have been praying for my health. I am starting to feel better and actually made it to school today. I am just hoping that I didn't end up taking too much pepto-bismol! Please pray that I don't pass my illness on to anyone else at this crazy time of year when exams are quickly approaching.

Possibilities

It is amazing how God provides new possibilities at just the right time. We have been working on the building of the Ministry Centre since the beginning of the school year and we are just about to the point where the ceiling for the first floor will be finished.  I was told this week that we may have to put the construction on hold for a little while as the funds have not yet arrived to finish the building ($70,000 of the estimated $170,000 has come in). It has been interesting to hear our kids when we do our family devotions in the morning pray about the construction with conviction and faith. I think that in many ways God honours that kind of faith and I am interested in seeing how He will continue to provide in this situation.  But I suppose that this is a bit of a tangent from what I started talking about.  The possibilities that I started talking about come in the form of people. In the last little while we have had two young men coming to our church in Kwara Taji that actually live in the neighbourhood of the Ministry Centre. (Theses are a neighbourhood or two apart). Then a couple of weeks ago I had a call from a missionary friend that asked if we had anything started on our new site as she had two friends that live in the area that were new believers that she wanted to connect to a church. We had these ladies come the church in Kwara Taji last week but our prayer is that God is building a core group that will be willing to go and start a new work in our Ministry Centre. Hopefully with the ceiling being completed soon we will be able to start a morning prayer meeting on the site.

Please pray that God will raise up the right group of people to start another FM church at this site and pray that the finances will come in so that we can finish the building process and move back to the neighbourhood

God's faithfulness in the dark times

I have had two seemingly unrelated things rumbling around in my head this week:

I went to visit the riverside campus of the boy's school to see the work that was being done there. I was struck once again by the amount of destruction that a flood of that magnitude can do. I am extremely grateful for the teams that have been coming to restore that campus and the bible school campus next door. I really don't know how we would have been able to return next year without them (and there is still an incredible lot left to do!). In the midst of the repairs and restoration the director of the school took the opportunity to make some upgrades to some of the buildings and facilities raising the roof of the "dining hall" (which is really a multipurpose building used for large group gatherings and multiple activities) and installing a sprinkler system. So, when we return we will not just be going back to a cleaned up version of the same old thing.

At the same time I have been reading Ruth in order to prepare for a ladies meeting that I am supposed to lead on Sunday. I was reminded once again of how God used the devastation of Naomi's loss and turned it completely around for His glory and for the benefit of the people of Israel. That the faithfulness of a foreigner would be the example to God's chosen people.

I needed these reminders of God's faithfulness this week. Lately it has been easy to get lost in my own circumstances and difficulties, to see the mountain of work and the immediate results of the destruction instead of looking with expectation to what God is doing. To remember that God uses even the most devastating events in our lives to bring about good not only for us but for generations to come.

Dave's dad dropped off five copies of his completed thesis on Tuesday, so all that's left is for him put on a gown and accept his diploma. Yeah!