January 15, 2009
Dear Friends,
I plan to keep this letter newsy and to the point. Happy New Year! Hello, 2009. In the last half of 2008 I settled into my new home with two new roommates. That makes a total of four of us in the house. The neighborhood has truly been a gift to me as I have begun to build relationships with my neighbors. First Lutheran Church located across the street from my house even invited me to go Christmas caroling and sing in their Christmas choir. I loved singing with a group again! I also settled into a local church at the end of 2008. It is a small congregation with lots of opportunities to be involved. There's a lot I'm looking forward to in 2009.
In less than a month I leave for a trip to Asia. I will be traveling February 10 – March 6. Word Made Flesh has four communities located in Asia. I will be visiting three of the fields in Kathmandu, Nepal; Kolkata, India; and Bangkok, Thailand. I will begin my trip in Nepal with a visit to the community in Kathmandu. There will be a Servant Team (the group internship program I coordinate from the U.S.) on the field. I look forward to meeting the team! Calvin Smothers, the Servant Team Coordinator, will teach me all about the specifics of the program in Kathmandu.
The following week I will be acting as the note taker at the Field Forum. The Field Forum is a part of the lifecycle of Word Made Flesh; it brings together representatives from all ten communities to discuss and begin implementation of vision for Word Made Flesh. Please pray for an alert mind and stamina for me as I type type type my way from February 16th to the 22nd.
The next stop for me will be Kolkata (Feb 23 – 28). There will be another Servant Team in Kolkata to meet and lots to learn from Beth Waterman, the Servant Team Coordinator in India. I will also get to visit the women of Sari Bari, which is a business initiative of Word Made Flesh employing women who have left prostitution (saribari.com).
Finally, I will spend some time in Bangkok, Thailand with Tim and Amy Hupe and their two adorable children, Ella and Arielle (February 28 – March 5). The Hupes are an incredibly energetic couple who arrived in Thailand in July 2008 to establish the field there. They will receive their first Servant Team in August 2009.
I am looking forward to spending time with the Servant Team Coordinators of the Asia region and meeting the folks they spend their lives serving. I do ask for your prayers as I travel. Please pray for genuine connections with the people I meet. I anticipate my travel will be exhausting and overwhelming at times; pray with me as I focus on mindfulness of God's presence in every moment.
As always, thanks for your prayers and support.
Love,
Marcia