Dear family and friends,

“The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; not those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray.” (S. D. Gordon)

Dear family and friends,

Wow! Do I have some great news to share with you. A week or so ago I was talking with one of the retired residents here at NTM Homes. Linda was telling me about the different Bible dedications that have been happening in Papua New Guinea lately. The most recent one was on May 22nd. The team working with the Abau people group completed the New Testament and had a huge Bible dedication celebration to mark the special occasion. Not so long ago this happened among the Waxe people group. Then there was the Bagwido and Bises as well. The Dom New Testament is in the last stages of formatting and printing. The Kumon team finished with their final checks of the New Testament just a couple weeks ago.

Dear family and friends,

Greetings in the Name of Jesus! With spring, comes Easter. Resurrection Sunday is my favorite holiday of the year! As a Christian, we have so much to celebrate! Christmas is nice. It is truly amazing that God sent His Son down to Earth in order to bridge that gap that was caused by the fall, way back in the book of Genesis. His coming to Earth was just the beginning. It was His words on the cross “It is finished” that gives the solution to our sin problem. We continue to rejoice in His finished work on the cross. Wow! This really is the greatest message ever told. This is the very reason Christ has left us here on this earth. He still has a job for us to do. This is why Brad and I are part of New Tribes Mission. We desire to be a part of His plan in reaching a lost world with the precious good news of the gospel of Christ. Over the years this job has taken us to the countries of Thailand and Papua New Guinea. Now we are in Florida, but still working for the same Lord and still desiring to be part of the team going out into all the world reaching lost souls that so desperately need Him.

Dear family and friends,

I so enjoy the American holiday of Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for! I enjoy the special focus of giving thanks for all the great things God has done.

On November 15th, I attended the dedication of a Cessna 206 that was soon to be on its way to Brazil. The photo below was taken on the day of the dedication. It can take missionaries up to seven days to get to their place of service. This includes days of walking, taking a truck, and then going by boat. If they were to fly, it would take just one hour!

Dear family and friends,

It is a beautiful day here in Sanford, Florida. It is one of those nice autumn days where you don’t have to be reminded of why you enjoy living in Central Florida. It was 68 degrees this afternoon. According to the weather report it will only get down to 61 degrees tonight. The sky has been overcast all day, but I saw the sun peeking out from behind the clouds as I started to write this letter.

Dear family and friends,

Greetings to you from sunny Florida

Happy Labor Day to you! Brad and I actually have the day off of work! When we lived overseas, we only took off work for holidays which were celebrated in that particular country. Brad did not have to go into his office to work today and I did do not have any students to teach as the school is closed for the day. Brad is in his office here at home doing some scanning of photographs. He wants to have all of his old photos scanned and in digital form on his computer and therefore more easily accessible. He already has all of his slides in digital format and now wants to do the same with his photographs. Since Brad has taken a whole lot of photos over the years, as well as collected miscellaneous family photos, it is a project that will take some time to complete. It seems to be a relaxing thing for him to do on his day off.

Dear family and friends,

We celebrated our country’s 238th birthday on the 4th of July . There is always a big fireworks display over Lake Monroe. I could see them from our yard. We live in a wonderful country. We feel privileged to call ourselves Americans. We have lived in 2 other countries over the years and visited numerous other ones and we KNOW that we have a lot to be thankful for.

In our Assisted Living Facility (we call it the ALF) there is a framed copy of Psalm 23 for Seniors. It was written by Jim Sheffield who is the administrator for this facility. I thought that I would include it in my letter since it gives you an idea about the different things that our residents here face as they are finishing up their race for the Lord:

Dear family and friends,

Greetings to you from warm and sunny Florida! Summer is here. I know that this sounds like a comment by a teacher. You are right! Teachers enjoy having a bit of time out of the classroom during the summer break.

I am finding that I have plenty of things to keep me busy!

Dear family and friends,

As I was thinking about what I could share in my monthly update, I received an e-mail from NTM Homes that gave a lot of statistics for this past year. I found it very interesting and thought that maybe you would appreciate a glimpse into our lives here as part of this missionary community.

Dear family and friends,

Greetings to you from sunny Florida! For us the month of March came in like a lamb. I wonder how it came in for you? Was it like a lion or a lamb? I still remember talking about this when I was in elementary school in Michigan many years ago. Last year I did an art craft with my first and second grade students. Some chose to make a lion and other decided to make a lamb. We had an interesting discussion while they worked!

Dear family, friends, prayer warriors and members of our team,
I like to keep in touch and let you know what is happening in our lives. Even so, I have trouble coming up with new and exciting things to say. I have decided to fill you in on what the month of January looked like for the two of us. I hope this will give you an idea of what we do here in Sanford, Florida as missionaries with New Tribes Mission.

Dear family and friends,

Wow! 2013 is now history! As I think about the different things that happened in 2013, I have to wonder, have I made good choices with how I have spent my time? A month or so ago, I read a quote that keeps coming back to mind. “All that is not eternal is eternally useless.” (C.S. Lewis). That puts things in an interesting light. How does God look at the way I have spent my time this past year? How does one let go of the things that are eternally useless? It is definitely something worth thinking about.