Many Thanks from the Gunn's

Twenty one years ago yesterday, Miriam and I were married at Grace Church! I still refer to Grace as my "home church", and it continues to be that to me. Thank you so much for remembering our anniversery and sending the card and Starbucks gift cards as part of your service day. It was a real encouragement, especially for Jessica as she continues to nurse her broken leg. She LOVES Starbucks and we often have Dad/Daughter dates there.

In April I got to spend some time with Gary Peterson at Wycliffe HQ in Orlando, as I was there for a conference. He gave me the "insider's tour" and it was incredibly inspiring to see all that God is doing through Wycliffe-and Gary and Robin. If you ever get to Orlando, be sure and make time to visit there and be sure and take your kids-you will not forget it.

God Bless you all!

Rob Gunn for the Gunn family

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.

Esther Peterson is going to Nepal

Hello, friends!

I wanted to let you know about the latest happenings in my life. I am finishing up my third year at Bible College (Trinity College of Florida) and I have one more year to go. I am currently working part time in the Admissions office to help pay for tuition. Last semester I officially changed my major to Christian counseling, after having really enjoyed a few of the counseling classes already. Though I do not see myself becoming a professional counselor, I am certain that learning some counseling skills will help me in whatever ministry God leads me to. This semester I am taking a class called Marriage and Family Communication, and it has continued to increase the desire God has given me to have a Godly, healthy, Biblical family myself and to help others to do the same. Along with counseling classes, I am still taking 54 credits of Bible and theology, so I believe this major will give me well-rounded preparation for ministry.

As part of my requirements for graduation, I must complete two counseling internships. The guidelines for these internships are fairly general, and I have been encouraged to intern in an area that I would like to be involved in after college. Many of you know that I have always enjoyed kids and teenagers, and of course, I love seeing other parts of the world and experiencing other cultures. I also feel a special concern for orphans, and hope to be able to adopt one or more myself one day. Combining these things, I have decided to spend the month of June in Nepal, helping at an orphanage run by some friends of my parents. This will fulfill at least one, possibly both, of my internship requirements, which will also decrease the load for my senior (last) year.

While in Nepal I may be helping out in the school where the orphans attend, assisting with Sunday school, tutoring in English, homework help, and generally being useful wherever I can. Most of all, I will be learning about working with orphans and relating to the people of this very different country. Some of the challenges will be learning some Nepali and trying to communicate with children who do not speak English. This is also a very different part of the world than I have ever been before, so I am sure there will be many challenges in adjusting to the culture. As with all overseas travel, safety and health will also be a concern.

Living expenses should only be a few hundred dollars, but because Nepal is so far away, traveling expenses will be high. I need to raise approximately $3,500 for this trip. If any of you would prayerfully consider helping me with the finances for this trip it would be greatly appreciated! This will be a bigger challenge financially than any trip I have done before (including the six months I spent in Argentina!), but, as always, I know that if God wants me to go, He will supply the means to get there. I would also appreciate all the prayer support I can get for this trip. It will be a great challenge spiritually and emotionally as well. I have learned a lot since my last overseas ministry experience, and I am in desperate need of God’s grace to enable me to put what I have learned into practice.

If anyone would like to contribute financially to this trip, please make a check out to “Esther Peterson” and send it to my parents’ house: 4418 Lake Trudy Dr., St. Cloud, FL 34769. If you would like a tax deductible receipt you can give the money through my church. Make the check out to “Cornerstone Church” with the memo line left blank and mail it to my parents’ address. I will be sending out periodic updates before, during, and after my trip. If anyone has any questions or would like more information, please e-mail me or write me a letter.

In Christ ~ Esther Peterson

Peterson's Prayer Guide - March 2009

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Cor. 9:8 (NIV)

As I type this, Gary & Josiah have just returned from their trip to visit The King’s College in New York. It was a full, but very helpful and informative trip for them, and a good father-son time as well. Believe it or not, I enjoyed having 3 quiet days all on my own! Josiah is feeling the pressure to make a decision about college soon, but needs to pray and process some more before he feels ready. Please continue to pray for him.

Gary & I leave on Saturday (Feb. 28th) for California. We’d be grateful for your prayers while we’re out there: for safe travels, good health during what will be a busy time, good connections with our supporters, family, and any new folk the Lord wants us to meet. Pray for wisdom in what to share in each setting, sensitivity to the Spirit as we interact with people, and that we would be a fragrant aroma of Christ. Please pray too for our kids during our absence. This will be Josiah’s first time to be home alone for a week, and Esther will be doing some travel to come home during her Spring break.

Esther has found a good option for her internship in June, helping friends of ours who work at an orphanage in Kathmandu, Nepal. I (Robyn) spent 3 years there as a child, so I’m really excited that Esther might get to see where I lived. There are many details to work out yet, so please continue to pray that things come together if that is God’s will for her.

Most of you are aware that Australia has been hit with catastrophic fires in the south east, and floods in the north in recent weeks. My family is safe, but they feel the stress of not knowing when fires may threaten them. There are still several fires out of control and more bad weather conditions just ahead. Join us in praying for God’s protection, for the hundreds who have lost loved ones, the thousands who have lost property, and all those trying to help. Our thoughts and prayers are with them many times a day.

Gary’s report: We’ve had lots of visitors to Wycliffe’s Discovery Center in February, some great kids and youth among them. As usual, the month’s schedule changed after we sent it out to you… I received a letter from a 12 year old today saying how much she enjoyed her time with us. She was very excited and has committed to pray daily for the Bibleless People group she adopted in Indonesia. Another class also adopted a people group to pray for until they get the Bible in their language. Wow!

This month we’ve had a lot of help in the kids program from Wycliffe Associate volunteers. These mostly seasonal volunteers, along with several locals have helped fill our staffing needs, and they have done it with great talent, commitment and passion. Most of them are retired teachers so relate well to kids. Half have been here previous years so know our programs. Though none had worked with the older students (the age groups I’m in charge of: middle school – college) and they were terrified of them, many of them have stepped forward to be trained, and they have done a great job. The problem is that most will be gone by the end of March. Pray that the Lord will provide more locals who can help out year round.

Gary’s Schedule

February 28 – March 16th in California for the Mission Conferences at Grace Church, San Luis Obispo and Grace Bible Church, Arroyo Grande.

Pray for the Wycliffe Discovery education team while I’m away. They have a full schedule of groups coming in, including two large groups on March 13th when they have 98 6th graders and 46 adults coming for a Mission Encounter (M.E.) program, and 30 Campus Crusade college students, also for a M.E. program. Pray that they find enough staff, but also pray that those who come would really be challenged and impacted.

18th Mini M.E. for Blue Ridge Bible Church (a youth group from out of state). They are here for their week of Spring Break to do work projects for Wycliffe.

19th A-Z Adventure and M.E. program for Lighthouse Home school Group (40-50 students + adults)

20th Special devotional for Wycliffe Associate volunteers on the center. Pray that I will inspire them and challenge them to take back the vision to their churches as they return home after a few months of volunteering here.

24th M.E. for First Lutheran School (20 students + adults)

25th Teaching on missions at First Baptist of Eustis, Florida. This is a bit of a drive and will be after work, which means I’ll be getting home late. But this church is trying to grow a mission vision, so I’m excited to be a part of it.

26th A-Z Home school group (details still coming)

27th A-Z program for Friends Academy & Living Waters Fellowship (43 students & 9 adults)

Petersons’ Prayer Guide - February 2009

And we can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will. And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that He will give us what we ask for. 1 John 5: 14-15 (NLT)

Here are some items to thank God for:
I have been released by my surgeon and physical therapist because I’ve made great progress with my knee. I have full range of motion in it again, although it’s still painful with a hard flex. (I’m told it could take up to a year to get over that).

Most of you (everyone with e-mail) received a special prayer request from us on January 8th telling the sad news that the father of Esther’s boyfriend (a fellow Bible college student) had just committed suicide. We so appreciate the prayers and notes from several of you. Although it will obviously take a long time to get over such a difficult experience, Charlie is doing pretty well. The college community has been very supportive, and the practical details that need to be taken care of are gradually happening. We ask you especially to pray for Esther, who wants to be there to support Charlie as he works through things, but has a heavy study load this semester and has already been feeling overwhelmed at times. Pray for wisdom in knowing what’s important to do when.

We are keeping an eye out for good airfares for several trips coming up, and were recently able to purchase our tickets from LA to Melbourne at much less cost than we’d expected. Praise the Lord! We plan to be in the Melbourne area from June 2nd to Aug. 1st.

Esther is working out the details for her internship in June and we would be grateful if you’d pray for that process. Pray for clear leading as to where she should do it, diligence on her part in getting preparations done in a timely way, and provision of funds to cover the cost of travel.

In our last prayer guide, Gary mentioned needing to prepare to teach Perspectives classes in February. Well, to his surprise, he found out that two of the classes were scheduled in January, not February! So he’s had a very busy time getting his prep done so he could teach a lesson he hasn’t taught before (probably 30 hours in about 4 days!) The first class was on Sunday (my birthday), so I didn’t see much of him, except when he and Josiah made me a nice breakfast. He felt that the classes went well, so that’s a huge relief! See his schedule for when the other 3 classes will be.

We would like Josiah to attend a college preview weekend in New York City this month. Please pray that we’d find good airfares, there would be no bad weather to interfere with the travel, and that Gary can find accommodation with people instead of having to pay for an expensive hotel. Josiah can stay with the students. Pray too that this visit would help Josiah in his decision.

February 25th is our wedding anniversary! We are so thankful for God’s blessing of a happy marriage these past 25 years.

There are mission conferences at our two main supporting churches in California for the first two weeks of March. We haven’t made it to these in quite a few years, so feel it’s important to attend this year. Josiah won’t go with us since he will still be in school, but Esther will come home and keep him company for a week during her Spring break from college.

Gary’s schedule
2 & 3 Host in the Discovery Center and do the morning tour (Because we are short staffed I’m filling in).

5 Mission Encounter program for Sarasota Christian School. (45 7th graders & 13 adults)

9 Teach lesson 5 of Perspectives at noon for Pastors in Gainesville, Florida and from
6:00-9:00 pm in Ocala, Florida.

10 Teach lesson 5 of Perspectives from 6:00-9:00pm in Gainesville, Florida – then drive 2.5 hours home.

11 Special tour for a senior pastor from Sarasota, Florida.

16 Mission Encounter for youth group from New Covenant Church, Kissimmee.

19 A-Z Program for Orangewood Christian School. (42 second graders & 10 adults)

20 A-Z Program for Glencoe Classical Academy. (25 K – 5th graders & 5 adults)

19-21 Josiah and Gary visit The Kings College in New York City. (They meet in the Empire State Building!)

25 Our 25th wedding anniversary !

26 A-Z Program for Shores Christian School (30 second graders & 10 adults)

27 A-Z Program & Mission Encounter for Classical Conservation Home School Group (38 students grades 1-12 & 15 adults).

28 Robyn and I leave for California for 2 weeks of mission conferences.

Dudecks Coming to California

We will be coming to California from January 17 to February 10 to visit with the churches and friends who support us in our missionary work, whether by prayer or financially. We hope to rekindle old friendships, make new friends, and share with you about the work that we are committed to.

This time Pam will be joining me, and Jennifer will be with us for part of the trip. We would love to meet as many of you as are interested in getting together. There will be several opportunities in various meetings, or if you would like to get together one-on-one, please get in touch. Here is our tentative itinerary:

Sat Jan 17 - arrive in LA.

Sun Jan 18 - Grace San Diego.

Mon Jan 19 to Wed Jan 21 - available for one-on-one in San Diego County.

Thurs Jan 22 to Tues Jan 27 - Global Opportunity Festival at Shadow Mountain Community Church, El Cajon. Available for one-on-one in the San Diego area during "down" times.

Wed Jan 28 to Fri Jan 30 - Whittier, visiting with Pam's family.

Sat Jan 31 - Jennifer leaves from LAX to return to college. John and Pam will drive to San Luis Obispo.

Sun Feb 1 to Tue Feb 3 - Grace Church, San Luis Obispo.

Wed Feb 4 - Return to Whittier.

Thurs Feb 5 to Mon Feb 9 - Fullerton Evangelical Free Church and Sonlight Fellowship. Available for one-on-one visits.

Tue Feb 10 - return to Charlotte NC.

If you would like to get together during any of the one-on-one times above, please drop me an E-Mail right away, as I am planning our schedule now and don't want to miss any of you.

Blessings, John Dudeck

jdudeck@zenia.simcsg.sim.org Charlotte, North Carolina
--
"Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees." -- Victor Hugo

Petersons' Prayer Guide - January 2009

Pray for us… for we want to live honorably in all we do. May the God of peace…equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ all that is pleasing to Him. Heb. 13: 18, 20(NLT)

Happy New Year to you all! We enjoyed Christmas as a family with a few traditions; a picnic breakfast at the big lakefront in town, and the watching of “The Nativity” movie in the evening. In the afternoon we also accompanied many from our church choir to take part in a Christmas production at Sea World. For serving in this way we were each given two free tickets to return to the park in the next year – quite a deal! We are spending New Year's Day helping with a fundraiser for a high school Christian group, manning concession booths at a big football game.

We are on vacation this week, as mentioned in the last prayer guide. There seems to be a lot of chores to take care of, but we are trying to find ways to rest and be refreshed in between the work.

I am now having physical therapy to try and regain full function in my knee, after the arthroscopic surgery last month. The good news is that the surgeon didn’t find any tears or arthritis. Although he cleaned it out, I have yet to find out if the pain I went in for has been taken care of or not. I didn’t anticipate the time it is taking to get back to normal! Please be patient with us if we take awhile to respond to your letters, etc. The days go by extra fast when you spend several hours each day on rehab!

Josiah has now been accepted at two colleges he’s applied to. He is also finishing an application to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago (it requires more essays...) and would like to visit that college soon, too. He had a good offer of scholarships from Columbia International University, but with the total yearly cost of a private school, he is still several thousand dollars a year short of what is needed. Please continue to pray for him in this decision.

Here’s what’s on the schedule for January:

Gary
The year is starting off very busy for me. We are short staffed and many of us are doing double duty.

I am also preparing to teach Lesson 3 for the Perspectives in the World Christian Movement courses being run in Central Florida in February. I have not taught this lesson before. Shortly thereafter I will be teaching lesson 5 on the north Florida circuit. I have taught this before, but it has been revamped, so I have to re-work my lesson. I love teaching Perspectives, but there is some work involved. I do these after hours (mostly evenings) so I can keep up at the office. Here’s the website if you want to know more about it: www.perspectives.org

5 I will be the host in Discovery for the day. We are down to one volunteer for hosting purposes from the 3 we had in the Fall. It means many of us have to step in as needed.

6 Leading devotions for Wycliffe’s Total It Up course here in Orlando (check out: www.wycliffe.org/Events/EventsList/TOTALItUp.aspx)

6 & 8 I will be teaching the “Anthropology” section for Total It Up. It’s a fun class to teach.

5-9 Wycliffe Discovery Education planning and preparing for new semester.

10 Josiah’s 18th birthday!

11 We will drive Esther back to college following her vacation. Please pray as she works to balance relationships, work, planning for the future and her studies.

13 Mission Encounter for Venice Christian Academy (12 High school / 2 adults)

15 A-Z program for Real Life Christian Academy (28 students / 12 adults)

23 A-Z program for Regency Christian Academy / AZ (28 3rd graders / 18 adults)

25 Robyn celebrates another year of life (:

27 YME Altamonte Christian Academy (20 12th graders)

28 Near Him Home Educators home school group. A-Z (70 1st–5th graders). YME
(30 6th–12th graders)

30 A-Z program for First Christian Academy (120 5th graders).

Greetings from the Dudecks - December 2008

It's been a year of challenges, but with plenty of hope and encouragement. Here are some of the challenges we've faced this year:

In January and February Jennifer was part of her school's Robotics team, and John was a "parent-mentor". The team had to build a robot in six weeks that would compete against other robots to play a game. The robot didn't win anything, but the team took the "Rookie Inspiration Award" twice. It was a lot of fun and a good time for John and Jennifer to work together.
Jennifer graduated from Olympic High School this year. She entered a competition with the National Center for Women & Information Technology, and was one of 28 nation-wide to be awarded a laptop computer and $600 cash.

Jennifer applied and was accepted by three universities -- NC State School of Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Taylor University. She decided upon Taylor. It's a small private Christian school in Indiana. She is majoring in Computer Science/New Media and minoring in Studio Art. She has just finished her first semester.

When we went to visit Taylor University in April, the engine died in our Toyota Camry. We had to leave the car in Indiana to have a rebuilt engine put in. It took two more trips from Charlotte to Indiana (an 11 hour drive each way) before we finally got this challenge resolved. We are grateful for a church in California that gave us a gift that covered 1/4 of the expenses. In August we took Jennifer to Taylor and participated in the International/Missionary Kids orientation week.

Pam's health has been our greatest challenge this year. She has been having trouble with insomnia for several years. Doctors had not been helpful. They just prescribed sleep medications that progressively were less effective. This fall Pam went to her doctor determined to break the pattern. She had to get off of her dependence on the medications, which was very difficult. She has been following a sleep regimen to establish better patterns, and has had definite improvement. She is now sleeping better with no medications than she did before when taking them. We are encouraged. It was very difficult for a while.

John's work at SIM International working on Information Technology projects has been a challenge. His current project has not been making rapid progress, although it is moving ahead. Pam has not been going in to the office, but hopes to soon be feeling enough better that she can return to her work in the archives.

Our financial needs continue to be a challenge. As you know we receive financial donations from supporters for our mission work. We have had increases in our needs, mainly due to the cost of medical insurance, and some of our supporters have cut back or stopped giving. But we have had some giving increases this year, which is encouraging, though we are far short of our requirements.

One of the things we have enjoyed doing is volunteering at various history sites. Pam has been doing living history for years, mostly hearth cooking, and John has started going along to take photos. John is looking into ways to try to make a little money doing photography, although he hasn't sold any pictures yet.

We are planning a trip to California January 17 through February 10, 2009. We will be visiting the churches that support us financially, and spending time with family and friends.
We are grateful for all your prayers on our behalf, and for your generosity towards us.

With all our love,

John, Pam, and Jennifer Dudeck
E-Mail us at: john.dudeck@sim.org.

P.S. We are all on Facebook, so be sure to look us up.

Peterson's Prayer Guide - December 2008

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be His royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

As usual, we had many more events than were scheduled when we wrote the last prayer guide. Overall it was another great month, but I (Gary) confess there were some groups that I felt I just didn’t/couldn’t connect with. One group showed up with less than 24 hours notice. Though I spent a couple of hours with them, I just felt there was no interest. It was discouraging, but I have to leave it with God.

Election Day! We had over 1950 people come to our center to vote. There were many opportunities to talk about what we do, and even to share the gospel with a few. It was fun hearing some of the voters in line accurately telling others all about us. Some of these new friends in the neighborhood have come back to volunteer at the center in various roles. Praise God!

I had a gentleman come up to the Discovery desk with his new bride by his side. She said, “He’s been anxious to see this place for 6 years and we are so excited to finally be here!” He had been one of the workers who put the Discovery Center together. That was just 6 weeks after his first wife died and he was struggling. Assembling it and reading much of the material he was putting up was a big part of his healing through that loss.

Our trip to Columbia International University in South Carolina was a fabulous experience. We hadn’t expected a program for us as parents, but they provided that concurrently with the potential student events. We were very impressed with the college, the lovely setting and the caliber of the staff and students they’re producing. Josiah is leaning strongly towards it, but we are still waiting to hear what scholarships he will receive.

The Last Languages Campaign Celebration on the 21st and 22nd went great – at least from my vantage point. We had lots of visitors from around the world on Friday, and from around central Florida on Saturday. We’ll tell you more about it in our newsletter. We are getting ready to produce that now, so be looking for it in the next few weeks. Pray that we’ll do a good job of communicating and inspiring the recipients.

December Schedule

1st I will be hosting in Wycliffe’s Discovery Center as well as giving the morning tour. Pray for divine appointments. Robyn will be driving Esther back to college after her Thanksgiving break with us (5 hour round trip).

2nd Robyn is having arthroscopic knee surgery. Pray that it will be successful and she’ll recover quickly.

3rd I will be speaking to a large group of Hispanic middle-schoolers (junior high) at Inglesia de Palabra Viva (Living Word Church). They support a colleague of mine who is heading off to serve in Cameroon, Africa.

5th 150-200 soccer players in Orlando for the National Christian College Athletic Association Soccer Tournament will be visiting our center. Pray we’ll be able to really connect with and challenge them. We are told that 10% of these players will not be Christians. We also have 90 elementary age kids and their parents here for an A-Z program at the same time.

6th Gary’s Mother leaves early in the morning to fly back home to California. It has been an honor, privilege and fun to have her here – except that she beat me in most of the games we played. Surely my mother wouldn’t cheat would she? That same morning I will attempt to complete the Orlando half marathon (13.1 miles or 21 kilometers). I haven’t run that far for 7 years! Robyn is taking part in a special fund-raising tea to support AIDS ministry. Pray that God will inspire her as she gives the opening prayer.

11th Mission Encounter for 20 middle school students and two adults from Otis Memorial Academy.

12th Mission Encounter for 70 8th graders from Orangewood Christian School. Pray I will get some extra staff to help me as we are short staffed at the moment.

16th and 24th. Face to Face – I will be the Mission Speaker for our 1pm public presentation to any visitors.

25th Happy Christmas to you all! Thank God for those who now have the Christmas story in their language for the first time.

26th – January 2nd Family staycation – holiday at home. Plenty of work projects to catch up on as well as getting ready for a busy new year.