Ah, the adventures!

Whew! We have been SO busy here lately! So I'll try to give a brief recap. Last week, I was able to do a skype interview with my home church for their missions conference. It was such a blessing to be able to hear the voices of friends and family from back home! We revisited Cherith, an orphanage about an hour and a half away, where we were took some time to just sit and play and talk with the kids. Dr. Peper arrived a few weeks ago. He also brought another pastor who will be staying here for six weeks and is doing a Walk Thru the Bible seminar, so we spent some time preparing for that. We had our first session on Monday, where we spent six hours covering the Old Testament (and memorizing 77 different hand signs to go along with it!) About 25 fellow missionaries and national pastors attended the training, and we will have the New Testament seminar next Monday. The biggest upcoming event on our schedule is Easter weekend. Friday, Moses, our driver, will be taking us upcountry to his village where we will show the Jesus film. We plan to have a children's service first, followed by the film, and then a message from Pastor Owens. Please pray for this opportunity to minister in a new area.

My Wednesday night Bible stories with the children has been going great. It's wonderful to see the kids getting so excited about the stories, asking and answering questions. What a blessing! Our adult service on Sunday mornings has also been growing, which has been such an encouragement. During the "Sunday school" hour, we have several who have really started asking questions and wanting to learn more. We also have a group of men who have started a choir, and one who has been leading worship for us. They come twice a week for practice, and have been very faithful.

Unfortunately, it has not all been good things which are happening. Thankfully, the political situation remains mostly stable in our region for the moment. However, there is certainly potential for another outbreak. The people here tend to have extremely fiery personalities, and clashes happen often. Lately, there has been some major conflict between some of our neighbors and our caretaker, who lives in our compound, which has really started to put a strain on our ministry to them. They took thier conflict before the chief, and were told to stay off of each other's property, meaning that the neighbors (along with all of their children, who are really a core group within the church) will no longer be coming to church, since it is inside our compound. We are currently looking to find another place to hold services in hopes of resolving some of the issues, and have been trying to encourage both parties to reconcile. Please pray for peace in this situation, and that we would be able to provide wise counsel without being thrown into the middle of the controversy.

As always, your prayers are very very much appreciated (and needed!) Thank you so much for taking the time to keep updated with the things going on here, and for your continued prayer support.