Greetings from ever sunny Turkana!
Our website has a slight coating of dust on it from our last month of silence... let's blow the dust off!
Our family was blessed in April with a vacation unlike any we have ever had! We had been saving for a while for this trip and it was a great blessing to us. During our 3 weeks of personal time we were able to visit with family, friends and CMF missionaries in 3 countries. We travelled in three countries where we had never been and enjoyed most everything we saw and tasted!
We cannot post on the web where we went or what we did, but when we come to visit you later this year we would love to share more with you about that exciting trip!
Yep. That's right-- when we visit with you later this year... It must be furlough time again. We will be arriving back in the US July 5. Which is indeed much sooner than we are prepared for!
Please be praying... there is still lots to do here in preparation for furlough before we can feel good about leaving.
Pray for the Turkana Bible Training Institute. There are a few things that need to happen.
First, we need to complete the construction of the kitchen and dining hall that friends from LifeBridge Christian Church began back in February. The project was to be completed in April, but there was a shortage of cement. This month we are dealing with a shortage of water (because of a shortage of electricity-- but that's another story) in Lodwar. Pray that we will find the needed resources (water) and materials to finish the project by the end of next week. There is not much more to do, just the finishing cement work (a final coating on the walls and floors) and the painting are all that remain.
Second, be in prayer for the schedule of teachers at TBTI. With us leaving for furlough and Kip preparing and teaching 75% of all the classes, there is a gap to fill. This week Erus (a great church leader) is teaching his first full class. Kip has been encouraging him, and he is more than capable, but please pray for him and the 30 students who are there this week.
Other missionaries, church leaders and visitors are being called on to fill this gap. This is an important ministry in Turkana that we do not want to see fall away!
Please be in prayer for our family as we prepare for another time of transition. Coming back to the States for furlough means lots of things. Here it means packing things up and making certain everything is in order. It also means preparing for a place to live, a school for the boys to attend, and making plans to travel and visit with all of you.
Please be praying with us as these come together in the next few weeks.
Already we have a praise concerning a place to stay. Milligan College has accepted us at their "Visiting Missionaries" again for the Jan-May 2008 Semester. This will give us a chance to reflect on our ministry in an academic setting, an opportunity to spend time teaching about missions, and the possibility of raising up and mentoring some young folks who are considering cross-cultural mission service.
A bonus for us serving in this way is a place to call home for awhile. Milligan has offered us a newly renovated house on the campus to live in for the entire ten months of our furlough. This will give us a base and some stability for Patrick and Brian.
We will be doing most of our church and supporter visiting in the fall. We will be spending many weekends visiting with our friends in Snellville, Georgia and have already been ask to speak on a number of specific dates at churches around the country.
If you have a specific time in mind for when you would like us to speak or just be around to visit, please let us know.
Whew! I think that's enough to pray about now. Consider ejoka.com dusted!
Peace of Christ to you,
Kip and Katy