May 1, 2010
…being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…
-Philippians 1:6
Dear Friends and Family,
We hope this finds you all well! Before we start with updates, we just want to thank you all again for your faithful support and prayers. We really couldn’t be doing this without you! Thank you. First off, April 3rd was the 1-year anniversary of Keyara’s adoption. It is hard to believe that she has been a part of our lives for 19 months now (and oficially for 13 months)!!! We can’t imagine what our lives would look like without her. She is talking up a storm these days. It is so much fun to see the little wheels just turning in her mind, as she figures out how to say words. We are trying to teach her all of the names of the lighthouse youth as well as her aunts, unlces and cousns back in the Sates to prepare her for this summer! She is sure trying 🙂
Speaking of this summer, we will be back in the States for a few weeks. We will fly into Des Moines on Sunday, June 13th and be in the States until July 25th. Ten days of this vacation (July 12-22) will be at a WMF Staff Retreat in Nebraska City. All American WMF staff serving in every WMF field in the world will be there, so we are excited to see old friends and meet all of the newest staff members. It is difficult when we all live on different continents 🙂 We are also hoping to have an open house in Omaha on Sunday June 27th at the home of Al and Shirley Harrell. We will let you know of the specifics once the time gets closer. We will also be hosting an open house at my (Erin) parents’ church, Grace United Methodist in Piedmont, SD on Sunday, June 20th.
Now back to life here in Freetown…. We had a very busy, but wonderful Easter season here. On Easter Sunday, we continued our tradition of meeting with our youth and friends along the beach for an Easter morning sunrise service. We all joined together in song as we watched the sun come up. Alimamy, one of the young men in Chris’ small group, preached on Jesus rising from the dead. He did great!! We spent the rest of the morning sharing a meal of fish and bread and swimming in the crashing waves. On Easter Monday, most of the staff and youth made their way up Sugarloaf Mountain. It is quite the view from the top 🙂 By the afternoon we were all pretty tired from the long hike and shared a meal at the Ale’ Ale’ house before washing up and going home.
A freind recently visited our community and reemphasized to us the essential nature of prayer covering in what we are doing here. So much of what happens here (or doesn’t happen) can be a result of the prayers that are standing behind it. We are so grateful for those of you who look forward to our updates each month. We would like to invite you again to be a part of intentionally praying for us and the work here in Sierra Leone regularly. We recognize how easy it is to forget, but we need a committed team of prayers standing up behind us.
-Please pray that God’s spirit would be at work in the lives of our Lighthouse youth.
-Please pray that God would open hearts in Kroo Bay to receive his Good News.
-Pray that God would lead us forward in expanding the reach of our work here.
-Pray that God would bring along the right staff, Sierra Leonean, American or otherwise to fill out our community here in Freetown.
-Pray that God would give us unity of direction and purpose as a community.
We cannot do this work nearly as well without your prayers. Thank you!
With Love from Freetown,
Erin, Chris and Keyara