When I wrote back in November, I knew that our life-future was completely taken up until the end of January—and here we are in February. We will let the pictures tell the story and keep this short if possible.
Our Thanksgiving Day was very sweet. Seth and Paige, Nathan and Hannah, and all the GRANDkids came over for dinner. Seth and Paige spent the night. We had a great time —though no cranberries. Hannah made a wonderful stuffing with real celery. We sang. Seth had a devotional, and we each had a slip of paper that asked a thought-provoking question; good interaction.
December: We help when Nathan and Hannah go on trips by keeping some of the grandkids; when the adult-to-child ratio is more balanced, life is easier. On the 15th, Josiah brought four young adults to visit over the holidays. On the 21st, Baby Jesse Joel Schrock joined the party. Praise God for a smooth delivery, and Hannah and Jesse are healthy and strong. The other four grandkids came to our house party. Everyone had fun with all the kids.
Christmas in Africa - the 24th: At church, besides singing and prayer, we had a Christmas Eve film (8-10 p.m. - showed The Nativity) and New Year’s Eve services (9 p.m.-midnight - showed A Case for Christ), plus special services on Wednesday since that was the regular church time. We had a baptism and lunch at the church on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year too. Praise God for the one young man who was baptized and is faithful to church. One of our lady friends agreed to do the cooking—YAY. I WAS prepared to use my huge rice cooker, but she runs a restaurant and was happy to cook for us all.
Then January 8th, Dan took the group back to Abidjan to catch their plane (another story about canceled flights and arriving a whole day later…). Nathan and Hannah went to Sassandra for a Red Cross seminar (we kept the three older kids). Dan and another former missionary, Rodney Fitzsimmons, made a 10-day trip to the northern villages during Nathan and Hannah’s trip. Our car was needed for the school bus, so Dan borrowed Nathan’s car (which also had problems 2 hours into the trip—these are long road stories…). Nathan and Hannah borrowed Seth’s car for their journey. Don’t forget: those of us left here taking care of the kids and the church and the church school bus and teaching. Also, very bad coughs hit us one by one—I lost my voice for a few days (now that was bad.) We can see that this “flu”—fever, cough, etc. is a worldwide event.
Saturday kids’ class continued. It was great having Josiah here to help teach them. Kids are getting saved at school and here in the kids’ class. We won’t know until heaven.
Dan is overseeing the major construction project of the church's main sanctuary. We started small, meeting in a schoolroom, but now we would like to have a sanctuary designated for the church only.
Prayer and future plans, Lord willing: We are planning to go to America in March—Dan’s family is having a wedding which is a good time for a family reunion, Alyssa is due the first week of April, and Josiah is graduating the first week of May.
We have not seen you all in a long time; meetings need to be planned, and our house and pets—cats, dogs, and mongooses—need to be taken care of. Dan has the ministry pretty well covered—preachers and an interim pastor are in place—but it is hard to get a house sitter.
Birthdays are always fun: Lydia in December and Gideon in February. Also we let Gideon’s beautiful owl go. What amazing creatures God has created for our enjoyment!
Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support over the years! Please continue to pray for us and for the ministry here.
In His grip,
Dan and Joan
No comments:
Post a Comment