A few more pics...

Micronesia#3

Happenings...

Friday and Saturday Logan Memorial Church (the church Mizpah's connected with) hosted a Chuuk Church Leaders' Conference. I attended.
Here was the schedule:
9:00AM - supposed to start but didn't really start until 9:30 (this delay is known as island time)
1st Session - worship, offering, prayers, announcements, raffle, and preaching
(Preaching was either Michael Plant [minister from Eng.] or Barry Jones [my CCC minister emeritus])
1st Break - Tuna sandwiches (yum-O) and fruit is served
2nd Session - worship, prayers, announcements, raffle, and preaching
2nd Break - Lunch - Friday was pizza for the out-of-towners, Saturday was "island food"
3rd Session - worship, prayers, announcements, raffle, and preaching
3:00PM - supposed to end, Friday it ended around 3:30, Saturday it ended around 4PM

I'm hesitating to give specific things about the conference so I'll wait until Pat sends his e-mail. As far as I was concerned it was a great turn out and the worship was wonderful. I even know the words to "Sanctuary" in Chuukese now and have it almost memorized. Cool, huh? The preaching was also very good. Even though it was specifically directed at Pastors and Leaders of the Church I came away with lots of good notes.

Pastor Jones preached a little on the specific calling of God to His work. It was amazing the high responsibility that God gives. It was also encouraging, though, and gave me even more assurance that my coming here was His command, His direction, His call to me.

Here are the words to "Sanctuary" in Chuukese:
...to help pronounce the vowels: a (ah), e (eh), i (ee), o (oh), u (oo), ei (ay), ai (eye), ou (oh), au (ow)...
Samol alisi ei (Lord, make me)
Upwe emon chon angang (to be a working person [servant])
Nimoch o pin (pure and holy)
Tipe pos me enlet (trustworthy and true)
Fiti ai kinisou (with thanks [kee-nee-soh means "thank you"])
Upwe emon chon angang (to be a working person [servant])
Angang mi manou (a living servant)
Fanitom (for you)

Saturday the American team (+ Rev. Plant) took Junotte and me out to dinner to The Blue Lagoon Resort. It was beautiful and yummy. I had sashimi and fish&chips and they even let me have ice cream for dessert. I also was taught how to crack open a coconut. I have to say... I really like this fresh coconut.

Sunday after church we were all invited by Senior Pastor to lunch and so that was a feast and I was stuffed afterwards. Four hours later was the farewell barbecue for the American team (+ Rev. Plant). We arrived at 6PM, ate at 7PM (including a pig that was cooked in the pit [our friend Jonathan was making it talk to me, it was hilarious]), and had lots of singing and dancing through 9:30PM. Praise the Lord it wasn't any later. I was completely exhausted by the time I came home.

And for those of you at CCC who might here something about me getting up and dancing from the Trosaks, Mr. Brandon, or Pastor Jones... don't believe a word of it! A group of ladies (who I absolutely love so much!) went up (took me with them) to sing "Lean On Me" for the home-goers. Two of my students, Vanity and Doralyn went with me. We stood in the back and pretended to sway and sing along. Now when Diana (Stei's wife) and Junotte are leading singing and "swaying" their "swaying" turns into much more. Pretty soon the two of them were having a grand ol' time and the next thing I know Vanity and Doralyn have pushed me onto the dance floor. So what do I do? Shrug my shoulders... and begin to dance. Oh dear is right. At the end of the night, instead of just "good byes" I received "great dance," "that was wonderful," "can you teach me?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No joke.

Enough with the fun stuff...

Please, keep praying... especially especially especially for my sophomore class. I had an incident today which made me give the whole class zeros on their 30 point quiz. Ouch to their grades, yes, but I was utterly heart broken. I talked to Linda and Junotte about it but just please please please pray for my students.

Not all things are bad, though, I did receive word from another teacher, Mesewin, that the non-AP seniors wanted to take speech from me too. So that was special to hear.

I'm learning how to pray specifically. I'm learning patience. And I'm learning how I need Him every second... yes, second!

I miss you all.
Love, Katie

*grin*

I can’t resist quoting some of my students’ papers:

This is a part of Meriem’s evaluation of her recitation:
“Well as you can see I’m a very shy person. That’s why I don’t really do these kind of things, but I’ll try my very best to get over them.”

After I had my senior Peterson read his narrative of Jesus and Peter walking on water to my sophomores, I made my sophomores write what they thought.
Here’s a bit from Gracelynn:
“If I am Peter the one who walk toward Jesus, after if God saved my life, I will be happy because it is just the same as he’s saving my life on the cross, that he died for me.”
And a bit from Patsy:
“I was impressed and amazed but I didn’t hear that some one was walking on water. But I am so impressed by him. ---WAOOH!--- It’s a miracle but ---WAOOH!--- I feel so amazing for that story.”

I can’t believe another school week begins tomorrow! I have a farewell party to go to tonight but I might post again about this weekend and so forth… if not… I will tomorrow after school.

More pictures!

http://photos.yahoo.com/servantofveritas

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for praying!
I thank God for all my partners in the Gospel!

Another 3 Day Weekend

Last Monday was a holiday, Weno Constitution Day. Weno is the name of the island in the state of Chuuk in the country of the Federated States of Micronesia where I reside. I'm sure I could have posted then but I was totally engrossed in a book about the life of William Carey, father of modern missions and missionary to India. It was great and I finished it before we had to get back to school on Tuesday. Now I have a quote from W.C. for my screen saver, "Expect great things from God! Attempt great things for God!"

Tuesday and Wednesday my Junior and Senior Speech classes gave their first recitation in front of the class. I was fairly hard on them as a grader so I think they were a little disappointed with themselves. But considering everything, they did an outstanding job! Even the girls that I hadn't hardly heard (heehee, alliteration) a peep out of projected quite nicely. One of my juniors, Alvin, recited the lyrics to "Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken" and I almost lost it crying in the back of the class. I pretended I was grading but I was just trying to get control of my emotions! That's funny too, considering on a lot of their papers I told them that it was okay to show feeling and emotion in front of people! Then Peterson, a senior, who had recited a sort of narrative about Jesus and Peter walking on water did it for my New Testament class today! What a wonderful sport! I dressed him up and everything. I thought he would be even more intimidated by the sophomores but he did an excellent job. I had been praying for him all morning and that my sophomore class would pay attention - they did! It was so great. Praise the Lord! And thanks for those of you who prayed.

My sophomore and freshmen class are beginning to settle down a little bit but, please, don't stop praying! Most of my little freshmen seem to be overwhelmed by the work that I give them. Pray that I draw back and slow down and make sure everyone is with me before I go on. They're still getting their east and west mixed up - never eat salty watermelon (I had to change never eat shredded wheat as they don't know what shredded wheat is). You can also specifically pray for one little sophomore named Sinie (c-nee-ay) as her English is very poor and so things are very hard for her.

Overall, school is going well. On Monday we'll start our six week stretch without breaks and half-days all the way to midterms! Wow! Continue to pray that my students know that I love Jesus Christ more than anything and that it's worth it - a thousand times worth it - to give up everything else.

Tomorrow is Friday and we have no classes again, another three day weekend, the kids were so disappointed (hah! they're still teenagers over here). This time it's because it's the Pastors' Conference! I was soooooooooooo excited to see people that I knew from home - Pastor Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Trosak, and Mr. Brandon! It has done wonders for me and I didn't even see them at all yesterday. Just knowing they were on the island though made me smile. :o) But pray for the Pastors' Conference as many of you know the separation of churches here on the island and the unforgiveness and selfishness. Pray that the Word of God exhorts and encourages and that a new life of revival will take place. I'll be attending tomorrow.

As far as other news, the power was out for a looooooooooooong time today and I seriously thought my blood was going to boil. But, praise the Lord, because two packages came from home! Yipee! So now I have more books to read and CDs to listen to... my quiet retreat in my room is a gift from God (not forgetting my big bed, of course). Also with the packages came lots of yummy American food! Thank you, Mama!

So I'll close with this... (by the way, Rebecca, my students notice that I start a lot of my sentences with "so" and catch me on it all the time - I find it annoying, I find it hilarious, I find it helpful)
Anyway, my closing...
The other day I was thinking about being here as I've begun, by the diligent working of the Spirit, to get used to life here in Chuuk. My heart truly has such fond affection (could it be love?) for most (pray for the rest) of my students! I was thinking how I didn't even have a clue that I would do anything like this just a few months ago! I can't even believe I'm here, that I've been here for three weeks! I remember the day on the beach crying out to God, complaining, ranting and raving even that He had not shown me His plan for my life. His simple answer of "Trust me." was accepted by His grace alone. "Can I doubt His tender mercies, who through life has been my guide?" So I praise God for bringing me here to teach at Mizpah and I'm sooooooo glad He gave me the grace to trust Him.

Secure in the everlasting arms...
In the uttermost parts...
Katie

Pictures and Comments

If you want to see some pictures you can go here: http://photos.yahoo.com/servantofveritas

Also... If you would like to make a comment on here and haven't figured out how... click on "comment" and type up what ever you want to say including your name at the bottom and then just press anonymous and it should work without you having to do anything more.

Thank you again for all the prayers! I'll post more soon!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

my side of the story

For those of you who receive Mr. Chiles' e-mail newsletters, I just want a chance to tell you my side of the story:

Late Saturday night I was sitting at my computer reading through all my saved files that I haven’t read in years. Junotte was busying herself in the kitchen as usual. All of the sudden, she says, “Uh oh!” I look over and see a small shadow coming up over the stove. I do not pay too much attention at first because Junotte seems so calm. About a minute later I realize Junotte is just staring at the stove so I go over to take a look at what’s happening. To my horror, a huge cockroach is sitting on top of our stove wiggling his little feelers around. So we calmly think about what we should do. Junotte won’t kill it. I won’t kill it. We don’t have Raid. Our neighbors are gone for the night. The next best thing? Junotte tells me to call Pat. She tells me that she’ll do anything he says except hit it with a shoe. Of course, that’s exactly what Pat tells us to do. The cockroach is still on the stove. So I ask if it flies. Pat says that it might a little. The next thing you know, Junotte and I are both on chairs. Pat says to call back in 15 minutes if we still need help. I told him that if we weren’t in church the next day, they would know where to find us. So we make all the gadgets to try and kill the cockroach (i.e., flyswatter taped to the end of a long pole). Junotte goes into the other corner of the room and starts praying to the Lord to give me courage. I’m saying to myself over and over again, “Get mad at the cockroach! Get mad at the cockroach!” To make a long enough story come to a rapid end… we both end up on chairs again and on the phone talking to Linda (she should be a 911 answerer the way she was trying to calm us down). The cockroach isn’t on the stove anymore by this time. We made him unhappy so he ran across the counter, I jumped onto my bed in the bedroom, Junotte’s trying to throw Boric Acid on him which supposedly kills cockroaches. He flutters down to the carpet, up on the wall, across the ceiling, and all the sudden there’s a knock on the door. Junotte races to let in Pat and Matt. Smack! The cockroach falls to the floor. Smack! The cockroach is dead. “Good night!” Pat says. I think I’ll have enough courage next time.

School

7:45AM – Staff devotions and prayer in the office. It’s short, but always encouraging.

8:30AM – 1st period begins. I don’t have class this period so I continue to work on lesson plans, make copies, and other such things.

9:20AM – 2nd period. I teach in the only finished new classroom building. If the electricity is on then there’s air conditioning. This is my junior AP speech class. They are just a great group of kids. The speak English really well. Sometimes they say certain words or ask to do something and I just can’t quite understand them. Most of the time, eventually, I figure it out. One time I thought Job was saying, “Can I go outside to sit?” I’m thinking, “Why on earth is he asking me that?” Finally, I realize he’s saying, “Can I go outside and sPit?” Well, honestly, I can’t figure out why he’s asking me that either but at least it makes a little more sense. My class? Job, Ray (son of the Filipino pastor and his wife, Pearl, who teaches Chemistry), Texter, Franky (just an all around great kid), Doralyn (has the most beautiful smile), Ermy, Alvin, Arlene, WayOne (pray that we get along, kinda too smart for his own good and needs a kick in the pants every once in awhile), Narcisa, Sumantha, and KI (yes, that’s pronounced kay-eye). (Done from memory, thanks for praying!)

10:10AM – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is chapel. At least one song is in English (hurray!) and the students have amazing voices. They really do. Pat preached (well, I don’t know if some people would call it that) this morning on Romans 10:9-10. He did a demonstration and used volunteers and so forth to get the kids interacting. I thought it was good and I was praying all the way through.

10:55AM – 3rd period. My senior AP speech class meets in the resource room which is connected to the office. This is great because it means that it’s air conditioned. This is not great because the room doesn’t have a door so any of the staff/teachers that don’t have class can easily hear me. *shrug* Ah, well. They have excellent English and, although shy, some are very outgoing. I’m having both of my speech classes do fun exercises and so forth to help them learn their vocabulary (articulation, inflection, rate, and so forth). I have a great time. They do their first recitation from a book next week for a grade. I’m sure they would appreciate your prayers. My class: Manvis (Mandi and Elvis’ son, can’t you tell?), Peterson, Justin, Nathaniel, Lillian, Memorina, K-Ann, Saileen (sigh-lean), Meriem, and Jasyuri (jazz-er-ee). (Done from memory, thanks for praying!)

11:45AM – 4th period. New Testament Survey with the entire sophomore class, 24 students. I won’t attempt to name them all. They’ll pay attention and do their work if I make them. I did write detention up on the board today and threatened with writing names down. They were pretty quiet after that. The biggest problem I’m having is that they don’t bring their Bibles to class. The textbook I chose for NT was the New Testament. Please, pray that they learn that it’s important and necessary. Pat said they do all have Bibles that they could bring.

12:30 – LUNCH Normally I bring my lunch and all the staff eat in the office with each other. Fellowshipping and all. :o)

1:00PM – 5th period I have freshmen World Geography. Today I wanted to cry. It’s right after lunch. It’s the only class I have with them. It’s the entire class, 30 students. Not all of them speak English great so they speak in Chuukese A LOT. They’re just younger and not paying attention. I threatened the class with detention but I didn’t know how to put all but three kids there. At the end of the day, Linda and Junotte comforted me and gave me tips and encouragement. Pray that I learn to discipline! Pray that I discipline! Pray that my students will settle down and know that I’m their teacher. Pray that they learn from me. I want to cry just writing about it.

1:50PM – 6th period sophomore World Geography. Same 24 kids from NT which is nice so I’m learning them fairly quickly. They pick up things much more quickly than my freshmen class and remember a lot more things from last semester. I really don’t want to have to write two different lesson plans for my freshmen and sophomore WG classes, but it looks like it may come down to that.

2:35PM – 6th period gets out and 7th period begins at 2:40PM. Praise the Lord that I don’t have a 7th period class. It’s nice to get back home early… and continue writing lesson plans.

But I’m alive and God is gracious. I still know this is where God wanted me to be.

Did I mention that my first Sunday in church when Elvis was introducing me in Chuukese he was saying how they needed to find me a Chuukese guy to marry so that I would stay here forever? Of course, I had no clue what he was saying and didn’t find out until the next day at school. The reason I mention this is because I think that one of the things I’m learning a lot about is just how to manage without a mommy. (Mom, I love you!) I think I’m a pretty good cook and house cleaner and all. But it IS different not having your mom living with you. Junotte’s teaching me a lot, as well as, allowing me to learn on my own.

Thank you again for all your prayers. They are sooooooo encouraging! God continues to work in me, teaching me more about His wonderful self. And I pray that my students see Christ in me. I pray at the beginning of each of my classes specifically for my students and specifically for me as I teach them. Pray that my devotion to God and my reason for devotion, my Savior Jesus Christ, would be abundantly clear to them.

I want to close with an excerpt out of the book Through Gates of Splendor. I would love to put all of the excerpts that I’ve been reading lately but I’ll only put two. I know they’re long, but they’re real real good.

“It was time for soul-searching, a time for counting the possible cost. Was it the thrill of adventure that drew our husbands on? No. Their letters and journals make it abundantly clear that these men did not go out as some men go out to shoot a lion or climb a mountain. Their compulsion was from a different source. Each had made a personal transaction with God, recognizing that he belonged to God, first of all by creation, and secondly by redemption through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. This double claim on his life settled once and for all the question of allegiance. It was not a matter of striving to follow the example of a great Teacher. To conform to the perfect life of Jesus was impossible for a human being. To these men, Jesus Christ was God, and had actually taken upon Himself human form, in order that He might die, and, by His death, provide not only escape from the punishment which their sin merited, but also a new kind of life, eternal both in length and in quality. This meant simply that Christ was to be obeyed, and more than that, that He would provide the power to obey. The point of decision had been reached. God’s command “Go ye, and preach the gospel to every creature” was the categorical imperative.” – Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor

“Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the cast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, and smile into His eyes – ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself.” --Jim Elliot, from Through Gates of Splendor

Serving the Savior of my soul,
Katie

Please, don't stop!

I didn't want to forget those of you who have e-mailed me and commented! Thank you! It is soooooo encouraging to hear from you!

DETAILS!

Here I am in Chuuk, Micronesia. I’m sitting in a very comfortable, less than a year old apartment with my laptop computer connected to the internet. (Actually, while I’m writing this I’m not on the internet. I’m trying to save money and not spend internet time writing and thinking and rewriting and so forth.) I have a bedroom of my own with a queen size bed, dark purple and green striped sheets, and five big fluffy purple throw pillows. This is important because if you knew my desires of having a home/apartment of my own, you would know that the first piece of furniture that I wanted to buy was a queen size bed. Forget that desire when God called me to Chuuk, right? Not so. God provided a queen size bed for free! It’s a small unnecessary thing but I think that’s why it’s so extremely cool. So I’m thanking God for my big bed. :o) I changed the furniture around in my room so I could look out my window. I can watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean every night.

But life in the “uttermost parts of the sea” is challenging and very very different. It’s hard to try and get you to understand how it really feels and what it’s really like living here. (I’m talking like I’ve been here forever and I’ve only been here a week and two days!) However all of this doesn’t really matter because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wanted me right here at this time teaching these classes at Mizpah Christian High School.

Here are some of the little things that some of you might be interested in:
There are pot holes on the one road on the island. The driver sits on the right side and also drives on the right side. I’m having fun. :o) The electricity is on and off and on and off and on and off. Even though my lovely little apartment has air conditioning, it can only be used when there is electricity. I’m already getting used to the humidity though. I do have an apartment mate. Her name is Junotte and she is 65 years old from New York. She teaches music at Mizpah and is quite a character. She makes me laugh and makes me listen. She’s a great cook and cleans almost to a fault. I’m learning a lot from her as I’ve never lived away from home before (excepting college and dorms don’t count). Our apartment is a duplex and an absolutely wonderful young Filipino couple lives there with their one year old baby (Anna, Nic, and Niko). Actually, Joshua Niko will be one year old on Sunday and we’re going to his birthday party! They have a fairly cute dog named Tootsie who just had puppies. Of course, I like them a lot too. What else? Everything’s expensive. There’s a lot of food from Asia and Australia. I’m not going hungry though and praise the Lord for variety!

School:
There are about 100 students enrolled at Mizpah. I’m teaching Junior AP Speech, Senior AP Speech, Sophomore NT Survey, Freshmen World Geography, and Sophomore World Geography. The kids are hilarious and we’ve had fun together (I hope) these first three days. My speech classes are my favorite. They’re smaller, better English, and more-or-less interested in what we’re doing. I do have a few who take some pushing before they relent to my speech exercises. Oh, I’ve made them do all sorts of fun things. They think I’m hilarious but when they finally do the vocabulary that I give them, it really helps them to understand. My NT class is probably the hardest. I did not like the curriculum they used last semester at all. I taught them the NT book song and they applauded for me when I sang it to them yesterday. Today they were happily singing along. My World Geography classes are going okay. I’ve done a lot of review from last semester because I don’t want to go on until I know they know for sure what I’m talking about. I was very discouraged yesterday after my freshmen class. I didn’t know if I was getting through to them, speaking to fast or using too big of a vocabulary. Mr. Chiles’ son who is my class said that I was doing a great job though. That was very encouraging. Because they have almost no motivation to do homework, I’ve decided not to assign any. In all my classes I drill the same thing into their heads over and over and over again. I teach like I learned how to study in college. Writing, drawing, filling in, saying, doing in their heads over and over again. Pray for my students!

Pat and Linda Chiles have been great. I love them dearly. They are so encouraging and always find something to thank the Lord for in difficult situations. And they both laugh all the time. It’s great. (Except when Mr. Chiles peaks in on your speech class when you’re making them do crazy breathing exercises. Heeheehee.)
Elvis is the principal and his lovely wife Mandi is the secretary. They’re great too. Mandi serves and serves and serves and never complains.
Steioshy (stay-oh-she) is the vice principal and is always so incredibly kind to me. Whenever his wife Diana sees me she holds out her hands and says, “K-T!” in a loud voice with a deep laugh tied to the end. She always makes me smile when I see her.
And there are more… the other teachers, the leaders and their wives from the church, the congregation. They are all so incredibly kind.

You say to me, “Katie! All of this goodness and you say it is hard?” I’m still getting used to living here. It’s just different. It’s not my choice living place by any means for a lot of reasons. I think it will take about two to three more weeks to get a little more used to things. Teaching three high school classes in a foreign country is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But, you see, this is one of the reasons why God wanted me here. I’ve prayed and prayed to be in a situation where I am forced to rely on Him, where I am forced to ask for His strength, where I am forced to pray and read my Bible instead of any of the numerous activities that are available in California. God has simply answered my prayers. “Forced,” you ask? Not exactly, I guess, because I know the God of the universe by the blood of Jesus Christ who cleanses me from all my sin. I do not know Him fully and perfectly, but I do have a relationship with Him. He has already taught me to trust Him, to live for Heaven, and to know that no matter what He is faithful. I’m not perfect, but I press on by the grace of my precious heavenly Father.

Praise the Lord for His greatness! Praise the Lord for His power! Praise the Lord for His might! Praise the Lord for His unending love!

Pray, pray, pray! The army of prayers the Lord has given me is one of my greatest blessings. It truly is overwhelming. God blesses our partnership for the sake of the Gospel.

And so I leave with a thought from the faculty’s devotion this morning. It comes from the book of Esther, chapter 4. This is when Mordecai has been grieving over the King’s decree about getting rid of the Jews and at first Esther says that she can’t do anything about it. Mordecai responds to her by saying, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Verse 16 is Esther’s reply. “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” May this be our attitude as we seek to whole heartedly serve the Lord.

Grace and peace,
Katie Masterson Eaton

PS Here’s my address!
Katie Eaton
Mizpah Christian High School
P.O. Box 571
Chuuk, FM 96942

Unfortunately, the Federated States of Micronesia has now been changed to international mailing. :o( But praise the Lord for a USPS post office! :o)

Also… I’m 18 hours ahead. 24 minus 6.

Arrival to the Uttermost Parts... but Not Alone

Sunday afternoon, January 8th...

Chuuk sure is the uttermost parts of the sea. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. The assurance of your prayers brings overwhelming gratitude and peace. I know to Whom they're being offered.

I was just thinking in church this morning about how there's just no way to explain what something really is like unless you experience it for yourself. It's been hard these first few days. My stomach was asking me what in the world I was doing which made my heart and mind ask the same question. God is with me. He brought me here to teach me about Himself. Yes, to minister and encourage and teach and be ministered to and encouraged and taught... but to know the God that I love because He loved me first.

Keep praying, please. I covet your prayers more than ever.
Specific prayer requests:
- School starts tomorrow for me and students start on Tuesday, that communication would go well between the other faculty who know what they're doing and me and also betweeen the students and their new teacher.
- That I would learn names and families, for correct pronunciation.
- That Linda Chiles and my relationship would blossom and we would be able to encourage one another.
- That my roommate (Junotte) and I would get accustomed to each other's different ways of living and be able to live in our little apartment well with each other.
- That God would give me loads of wisdom on how to teach and how to love and how to proclaim the name of our Savior, His Son, Jesus Christ.
- And I read in my devotions the other morning that our Lord gives "strong calm sanity"... pray this for me, please!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

"I thank you my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:3-6