Nadolski trip to Ghana

Many of you took the time to pray for Steve and me on the Living Water trip to Ghana.

Thank you. John and Marcia

Here are a few of the answers to your prayers:

People. We met hundreds of people. Most of them lived in small villages in the north-east region of Ghana. In each village, the people came out of their small, mud homes to greet us and to thank us for the pump LWI installed last year.

Real needs. In Kandinga, a small village in the north-east region, we met Elizabeth and a six-month old baby named Sydney. He had a grossly swollen head, and the health workers diagnosed him with hydrocephalus. I took him to the regional hospital, and we met with the head pediatric physician. His name was Dr. Garcia and he was from Cuba. He told me that Sydney needed a drain placed in his head, and this could only be done in the capital city, Accra. We talked to people at the governor’s office, and they helped get Sydney health insurance. Our partner will follow up with Sydney, but he continues to need our prayers. Please pray for Sydney and Elizabeth.

Appreciation. Your prayers matter and we appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

You. While you are praying for us, we are praying for you. Thank you.

Everyone needs clean water. Most of the villagers rely on hand-dug wells. If done right, these wells can provide a good supply of water. However, many of these wells go dry during the dry season and local women and girls are forced to walk miles to nearby rivers and ponds. These water sources are polluted and lead to many cases of water-related diseases. Far too many children die when they get diarrhea, dysentery, and/or typhoid fever.

Riding in the truck. We were riding in the truck on an average of five to 12 hours a day. Riding in the truck was OK. We talked and played games. We usually ran the air conditioning.

Schools. Too many schools have no water supply and the kids come to school with a plastic bottle of water. It’s their only water for the day, and the temperatures range up to 110 degrees. LWI is working to bring new boreholes to these schools. So far, we have drilled over 600 boreholes throughout Ghana. In the past year, we’ve drilled about ten boreholes for schools. Each time, the teachers tell us stories of how the student performance goes up when they have nearby water to drink and the girls don’t have to walk miles to fill jerry cans of water for the school. LWI needs help to raise funds to drill these boreholes. Maybe, you know ways to help. If you do, please feel free to contact me.

Petersons’ Prayer Guide - April 2009

“All goes well for those who are generous, who lend freely and conduct their business fairly. Such people will not be overcome by evil circumstances… They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.” Psalm 112: 5, 6a & 7

Gary & I returned from our trip to California encouraged and blessed by the generosity and warmth shown us by our supporting churches and friends. The specific requests we gave you to pray for in the last prayer guide regarding this trip were all answered in wonderful ways. Thank you for lifting us up! We really felt the Lord’s enabling in what was a very full but rich time. Special thanks to Wayne & Lois Peterson for hosting us in their home for the whole 17 days. For those interested in statistics, we had 40 meetings, visits or meals out with folk during that time, and we spoke 14 times. Our kids did just fine without us, and Josiah met us at the airport like a pro. I went to Esther’s college last Friday and brought her home again just for the weekend so we could see each other and get some college paperwork done together. It was lovely to be a family of 4 again for a couple of days.

We’d like to especially welcome to our team, those who signed up to receive this prayer guide for the first time this month (some 17 couples or individuals). We are so grateful to have your prayers added to those of the others on our mailing list. We have truly seen God answer prayers in wonderful ways as we have brought specific needs to our Father in heaven. I’ve added an explanation of abbreviations we use often at the bottom of this letter. We hope you’ll feel free to share your prayer needs with us also. This is a partnership!

Josiah has just about decided on The King’s College in New York City as his choice after High School. We’ve been busy completing forms and trying to stay on top of all the paperwork involved in this process. Please continue to pray for God’s confirmation and for Josiah to finish this important senior year of High School strong. Esther would appreciate that prayer for her third year of college, too. She is making good grades, but it’s a constant challenge to keep everything in her life balanced.

Praise God that the dreadful fires in Australia have all been extinguished. Cooler temperatures and some rain have removed the threat for the time being. Continue to pray for those who suffered losses from those fires.

We are looking forward to hosting the Dost family from Washington State for the first week of April as they vacation in this area.

Josiah has his Spring break April 4-12. Pray for refreshment and good use of his time. Pray that Gary & I can get a little break somewhere in there, too. We are both feeling tired from the busy schedule of late. Spring allergies are also still affecting both of us.

Gary’s April 09 Schedule

3^rd *A-Z Program - Friends Academy after school group and *Mission Encounter program for a group from Illinois

9^th M.E. - Riverbend Academy

10^th Good Friday – office closed

12^th Easter – May you know the joy and power of His resurrection in your life.

13^th Host in visitors center and give the morning tour of Wycliffe

16^th A-Z for Pinecastle Christian Academy & Corporate 5Km. Fun Run in downtown Orlando. Wycliffe and Campus Crusade staff will participate. We have special shirts made up to get our messages out – a great promo. I have run this 5-6 times, and this year, hope to run my best time ever. Last year 10,000 people took part!

17^th A-Z program for Christian Education of Osceola Home School Group

21^st Morning tour and later, a special tour for Asbury Seminary students

23rd ‘Bring your kids to work day’. We put on a special program for the Wycliffe kids to make them feel a part of the ministry.

24^th A-Z for Sarasota Calvary Chapel School

28^th A-Z for International Community School

30^th Special Wycliffe Men’s luncheon. Gary will be MC.

* A-Z Adventure program is for Elementary School ages.

* Mission Encounter (M.E.) program is for Middle School – College age students.

These are 4-5 hours long with the goal of opening the students eyes to other cultures, Bible translation needs, and ways they can help, even as kids.

Ways you can pray for these:

-For the hearts of the participants (and their teachers/chaperones/parents) to be open to what God wants to show them.

-For the staff to connect well, communicate clearly, and work well as a team.

-For strength and fresh enthusiasm for the staff with each group.

-For each participant to be impacted in a powerful way and challenged to get involved as a pray- er, give-er, or go-er.