Spring Update

Dear Friends:

Happy Easter! We will be celebrating our Lord’s Resurrection at River of Love church on Sunday with communion and a children’s program. Join us as we pray “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead” Philippians 3:10-11

We arrive in Ohio on June 1st for a Home Assignment year of visiting family, travel, and ministry in churches. Please pray for the right place for us to live, and for the right schools for the kids. Praise the Lord we have options.

Maggie will be in 6th grade next year. She is an avid reader of good books, getting into algebra, and enjoying piano lessons and art. Lydia will be a 5th grader next year, likes reading, writing, but also enjoys math and science a lot. Johanna, who is growing tall, will be a 3rd grader next year, and is already writing cursive and learning her times tables. Clara will enter kindergarten officially next year, but has enjoyed Miss Natalie’s MK school two afternoons a week this year. She even gets to join her sisters for ballet lessons after school once a week. Josiah will turn 1 year old the week we get to Ohio. At nine months, he’s been crawling for more than a month already. He’s even dabbling in walking and talking a bit, but mostly loves eating and waking up at night often.

Teaching English at the prison is winding down. We will have our last lesson on April 15th. Transitioning out of leadership at the Project Center is underway. We now have a Celebrate Recovery teacher who holds meetings every Saturday for people struggling with ‘hurts, habits, and hang-ups’. Pray for this ministry to seek, save and serve the lost.

Renee and her cosmetic team our planning a trip to serve our old neighborhood in Bulgan, a 3 hour drive away in April. Pray that God’s elect put their faith in Christ.

Jeremy’s big excitement these past months is the basketball teams and coaches he is training. This past week, one of the coaches, who is not a believer, and was against us talking to the players about Jesus, asked me if I could mentor and shepherd her own son, and “talk to him about Jesus”. She is afraid he’s starting down a wrong track, and is now open for help. Praise the Lord with us and pray for Toya’s son to come to faith.

Our two teams had their first game on Saturday. The girls were a little overwhelmed and lost 24-2. But you should have seen the celebration when they finally scored that basket! The boys starting five were stars, all 7th graders, and trounced their 8th grader schoolmates. Our bench held their own and came away with a victory. This weekend we have another game, and plan to show the movie “Facing the Giants” afterward. Please pray for open doors to deliver the gospel to the players and their parents. The season culminates in a citywide tournament we’ve planned for April 13th. To God be the glory.

Also, we will be transitioning out of shepherding River of Love and Light of Selenge countryside churches. They will be getting their encouragement and support from the Association of Alliance Churches whose president is Dawaa, and works at the project center. I am excited for both the churches and the Association to mature through getting less foreign help and presence from us. Pray that they will grow in dependence on God.

That’s actually a good prayer for all of us.
Blessings in Christ,

Jeremy, Renee and family