Dear Friends and Family,

       I hope that you all celebrated a meaningful Christmas Season and a
Happy New Year. Ours was especially joyful since our daughter Hannah
and a friend were able to come out and spend a couple of weeks with
us. We have missed her so much and it was good to see how well she is
doing.
       Our work is going well. Michael just got back from a good week at
Kikongo. He had nothing out of the ordinary to report. Michael said
that he taught his classes
and loved his time interacting with the pastoral students.
       Our ministry with the International Church is going well, too. It's a
huge learning experience for both Michael and me. We're learning that
there's a lot more to pastoring a church than just delivering a sermon
on Sunday morning. Saturday we hosted a dinner for the church choir.
We wanted to thank them for their service to the church and also
encourage them in their ministry. It was such a blessing to get to
know these folks and learn how deeply committed they are to their
ministry of leading our church in worship each week. We finished up
the evening with a time of prayer and then they sang a few of their
favorite songs. It's an amazing thing to have a whole choir belting
out praise in your living room!
       Sunday was also a busy day with church in the morning, a fellowship
lunch, and then I had youth group in the afternoon. Our youth group is
doing well. We're in the midst of planning for our annual retreat.
We're very blessed to have a special speaker coming from Kenya who is
a specialist in  working with 3rd culture kids. We're still looking
for a good place to have the retreat that's not too far away. This
week our leadership team will be visiting retreat centers just outside
of the city to see what we can find. It should prove to be an
adventure in itself.
       This week I'm also working with the CBCO women on finding a new site
for our ministry to unwed mothers and girls in prostitution. For now
we are unable to keep things going out at Mitendi - it's just too far
away and we are overwhelmed by land disputes and other problems out
there. We've been praying about a creative solution and it looks like
we might have one. A few months ago one of our largest CBCO churches
in Kinshasa turned over a building to CBCO's national women's office.
Supposedly, it's a large building in a densely populated area and
centrally located – perfect for our needs. Tomorrow we're going to see
what kind of condition it's in. Please keep us in your prayers. There
are so many obstacles keeping this ministry from moving forward. The
women are determined, with the Lord's help, to push on through. It's
my privilege to stand alongside them as they do so.

 

Blessings,
Jill and Mike

       “...but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching
forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”    Phil 3:13-14