| Last month was a doozy and Angela had just sent her newsletter now so I'll let her hit the "high" points. What you prayed for: - Health - I feel like we're zeroing in on what need to be doing to feel healthy...I wouldn't quite call it divine health yet, but more along the lines of understanding what the aging process is doing to us. Now to fight back! ;-)
- Regroupement Familiale - Step 1 is a pile of paperwork. I got a packet ready to put in the mail this week. Just that feels like progress!
- Finances - November has been very tough, but Angela has some interesting news in her newsletter about some changes coming up.
- Weekly Worship - I'm discovering how to take a blank slate (either of time, or literally) and determining how to fill it in a way that honors God's presence and calls for more of it. It's not easy!!!
- Team Building - Angela's team is finding their rhythm and moving forward...if haltingly...in building the foundations of the inner healing ministry. Our short-term-soon-to-be-permanent missionary Alana Smith has been doing an incredible work in raising up a new youth worship team. I'm in awe of her skills in this area and would love to have a fraction of them to work on the technical team as well!
- Relationship Bridge - Well, I didn't go to the conference in Germany, but I've begun a weekly German class with Olivia's German teacher that I'm really excited about. I've had two classes and am loving the German-only time...just right for me. Looking forward to growing this relationship-building skill here where we're just a stone's throw from Germany!
- Covering our Backside - Still at an impasse...
|
- School Atmosphere - Our Christian school has always walked a fine line between being a "hospital school" for "broken kids" from "broken families" and a place where Christian kids would not have to face the on-slaught of the world before their "time". Noah had some difficult years there in his class because of that. Olivia's class, on the other hand had been spared that and seemed to be a haven for good kids from good families. That has changed this year with the arrival of some kids who had run out of options in other schools. This has provoked some difficult moments for teachers and students alike...and not just in Olivia's class. This is not a situation with easy and clear solutions. Emotions can run pretty high when certain conflicts arise, and we've seen in our family missionary school experience that the enemy can be especially ruthless in using children to separate adults. I feel like this Christmas break will be a key time of reflection about the current climate. Please pray for the leadership of the school as they wrestle with how to best deal with the problems when they arise. Please pray for the families, that they would be engaged in the difficult processes of educating their children. Please pray for the students to be healed in their identities if they are broken and to be protected in their identities if they are intact. Please pray for the teachers who are on the front lines of conflicts to know, by the Holy Spirit, what are the root issues that need to be faced...even in the heat of conflict. Please pray for the board to know what environment God is asking the school to establish.
- Holiday Season - The holidays have too often been a time where our expectations (as individuals in the family), our finances, our traditions, our health, etc. have all collided and left a bit of an emotional mess. We would really appreciate your prayers for a season of rest, rejuvenation, grace and peace that reminds us of Who cares for us and why we care for each other.
Joyeux Noël !
David |