December, 2018
Dear Friends,
Did you roast a turkey in the last week or so? I roasted three. They were all eaten and the soup from the bones as well. The fridge was emptied out. All that finally remained were wonderful reflections. The last few weeks have been so full of God’s presence and fingers tracing through our lives that we want to share some of those moments.
We started with a Thanksgiving meal for our community group. It is a diverse group from our church that meets every week in our home. If you don’t have such a regular engagement with a community that is on a journey of faith, then you are missing one of the joys of life. We carried a portion of the meal to a new mother and family who usually come to our group but were still too recently post-delivery to make the meal.
For most of our international guests, this was an American tradition first!
RUF-I minister Jacob Jasin on the right has brought new life to the outreach of the international house.
Then we had another Thanksgiving meal at the International House. Reformed University Fellowship International (RUFI) minister, Jacob Jasin, mobilized about 35 International students, scholars and helpers, and we packed the International House for a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. It was a wonderful time to engage people from China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the US and simply share the love of Christ. Years ago before we purchased the International House and began work on it, we dreamed of being able to host these kinds of events. We will have a similar time for a Christmas meal this week in December.
Thirty five people filled the first floor of the International House
And our family gathered from Chicago and Baltimore so that we packed all ten grandchildren and parents around our table. God has been faithful in His provision for us all through the years and generations. In the pains of our journey He has drawn us close. In sickness He has been our strength. In death He has been our comfort. We celebrated our traditional family reunion with Deb’s family on the Friday after Thanksgiving and for the first time brother Tim was not with us, and we really miss him. He is feasting with the Lamb. We also thought of Karl’s mother who now is 96 and was with us two years ago in Baltimore. This year she still managed to make Thanksgiving with his sisters in Florida.
Candle-making is a traditional Thanksgiving project
game time is just joyous chaos
Through these final months of 2018 Karl is processing a dozen new applications for the fourth cohort of the Peace Studies Program. Applications are from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zambia, Canada, Australia, and Sri Lanka. One of our early graduates is starting up a new program in Zambia, and several of our present students are making progress on their dissertations in spite of hospitalizations, ill ness, and super-human workloads.
Debbie graded more papers from her Covenant College courses and is still working with World Relief. She frequently treks to Washington DC exploring grants for the Families for Life programs which nurture the seeds of life and mutual support that God intends in marriages. The programs are rapidly growing and adding new countries. She is editing a final version of the manual developed in Congo this year and expects to travel in the new year to Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Haiti, and South Sudan.
In the last six weeks we have heard from a number of individuals and a church committing to financially boost our depleted support account--a reminder that God will provide as He has provided--one day at a time. We are so grateful to each of you for standing with us through many years and bringing tremendous encouragement.
PhD candidate from Uganda at a conference in Philippines in September
Part of Debbie's class on Women and Children in Global Health at Covenant College
Pray for the International House Christmas mealDecember 7, the work of the International House Committee recently re-formed, and the remodeling of the basement for use by Reformed University Fellowship-International as a meeting point.
Pray for the wise processing of our new fourth cohort applicants to the Peace Studies Program, and the provision of a new director needed before we start the new cohort in July.
Pray for God’s strength for Debbie in her diverse work from teaching to program planning to DC shuffling. Her arthritis medication is no longer very effective so she will probably be shifting to a new one, but meanwhile she feels a high level of pain.
Give thanks for the increase of funding into our support account, and the hope of being able to finish well. Like most marathoners, as we draw near to the end of our resources, we yearn to sprint well to the finish.