Happy New Year! We trust you are looking forward to what God will do in and through you in the year to come and can testify with thanksgiving to everything He did in your life in 2011. Were we to recount every detail of His faithfulness to our family in the past year, there would be a shortage of room on this blog, so we will settle for giving you a quick update of what's new in our ministry starting with a HUGE answer to prayer and just one sign of God's faithfulness to us:
*Our VISA extension has been approved! We got the letters on December 23, 2011 and were so grateful to be able to enjoy Christmas without that question of our future still unanswered. God is good!
* Our students graduated on December 21, 2011 and have now gone their separate ways throughout the world! Some have gone home returning to jobs or other studies and some will be returning as YWAM UofN staff in future quarters. Two of our students along with two of our staff members are getting ready to begin the Outreach trip this Friday to Costa Rica. This team will be taking part in Bible distribution as well as conducting seminars on how to read and study the Bible. Please pray along with us for this team!
* The next few months will bring some changes as far as Ryan's responsibilities go. With our SBS school ending, he is now considered SBS department staff rather than being tied to one specific school. Aside from helping teach in the other SBS school that started in September 2011, he will be taking on some SBS Departmental work that will include website and software development, re-organization of resources and documentation and the possibility of training and then teaching Bible seminars in the DTS schools around campus. He is also hoping to do some work on a Greek course that will help him in his studies and teaching. He is excited about a break from grading, as the next SBS school he will directly staff will not start until September.
* This next quarter that starts January 5 promises to be one of the biggest on record at UofN Kona! As of yesterday 503 students were confirmed to be descending on our campus starting tomorrow - not including the children and other family members that are accompanying these students and taking part in many of the programs for children on campus. Wow! These numbers will put an obvious strain on our campus, as evidenced in some news we received just this morning concerning the Keiki Corner program that KaraLyn has been giving leadership to. Due to unforeseen numbers in another Children's program on campus, we have been displaced from our classroom of over 15 years! With our orientation program set to start on Friday, January 6th and 7 confirmed families ready to take part in this discipleship program for Moms and 2&3 year olds, we are praying God will provide a space on campus for us to move our ministry. Please pray for this situation!
* Along with shepherding the Keiki Corner program and walking them through the changes this quarter promises to bring, KaraLyn will also continue to help with beginning curriculum development for another Children's program on campus, FireStarters - a discipleship program for 4-11 year olds. She also has been asked to help edit the Open Source Bible that is being written and developed here on our campus along with finishing co-writing the curriculum for the Keiki Corner program and potentially developing curriculum for other programs locally. In addition to this, KaraLyn was asked to consider taking on the short term leadership of our Church's nursery/Sunday School program for birth - age 3 while the Nursery Director is away for 3 months. Please pray that we can discern which of these opportunities to devote time too. To be honest, after the primary ministry of taking care of three kids and a husband there's not much time left to give to outside things!
* We are thankful for the way God has financially provided for our ministry here. We are anticipating that Ryan will be able to begin rotating back to Fort MacMurray, Alberta for some work in the months of March-August. While still being able to work, he will also have his weeks off here in Kona to devote to his SBS responsibilities as mentioned above.
* Our family intends to return to Canada (Three Hills) in early June, as soon as Molly has finished Kindergarten. We are looking forward to a few months reconnecting with family and friends in Canada, while Ryan continues to rotate to work in Fort MacMurray. Our kids are very excited about reconnecting with Alberta friends and family and being able to live in our house that is right across the street from the pool and water park! We plan to return to Kona to staff the nine month long September 2012 SBS school sometime in mid-September, Lord willing.
That's about it! Thank you so much for your continuing prayers and support! As we continue in ministry here, we are constantly ministered to! The more time we spend studying The Bible, the more excitement that grows in us to see Christians hunger for the Word of God. Our prayer for you is that you will begin this New Year with a commitment to feeding on God's Word daily, and that it will ignite revelation as promised in Hebrew 4:12, which in turn will ignite faith, which in turn will ignite BELIEF!! And may that belief cause you to live DIFFERENTLY!
Walking in His Grace,
Ryan, KaraLyn, Molly, Henry and Tilly
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