Greetings

Ruthanne, servant of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus around the world, together with the overseers and deacons,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing: that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart. For whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer:

That your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God!

FEBRUARY!!!!

February Edition

Hi Friends, 

how are you? I hope this finds you well. This intro paragraph will be random as I can't think of anything clever to say. Much has happened in January in my part of the world: Spiritual Emphasis Week, outreach, people evacuating from Mali again, my parents are on a cruise, and more. The weather here in Dakar can not seem to make up its mind: it is supposed to be cool, and we had about a week of that, but for a good part of the month it has not been cool. And yesterday and today are just icky, with a lot of dust and dryness in the air. But February will be wonderful as it always is. 

-Parents: Currently they are on a cruise in the Bahamas, probably getting back today or tomorrow. While they are not on a cruise they are taking classes getting their master's degrees and praying about their future. Please pray for their time on the cruise, that it will be relaxing and they will stay safe.Pray that when they get back they will be able to focus on their classes and do the work necessary. (I am hoping that having my sister the teacher in the house will motivate them to work harder.) A lot of people ask me what my parents are going to do after their year in the States... well, I don't know. And I don't think that they really know either, it is hard for them to know because the situation in Mali can change so quickly. They just have to trust God about their future. Pray that they will have faith in God about their future, pray that they will have patience, and pray they will trust God no matter what. 

-Mali: As you have probably heard and read about, much is happening in Mali. Only 3 weeks ago, the French started bombing cities that the Islamists had hold of. Because of this, many missionaries no longer felt safe staying there and so evacuated for the second time in a year. Earlier this week it was reported that the French and Malian forces had seized Timbuktu and Gao, two major cities in Northern Mali where the Islamists have been located ever since the coup last April. When they took these cities, it was reported that the Islamists fled farther North. Please continue to pray for this situation.Pray that things will continue to improve, and the Islamists are not just giving false hope. Pray for the missionaries who left, that they will trust God about this situation. Pray that they will have wisdom about when to go back in to continue to work. Pray that the church in Mali will rise up during this time and be a light to the rest of the country. 

-Danielle: First of all, she has a car! Praise the Lord! Right now she is adjusting to living in the States again and searching for a job. Please pray for as she goes about her job search, that she will have the motivation every day to do this tiring and courageous thing of doing something new with her life.Pray that she will have exactly the qualifications that some employer out there is looking for. Pray that she has faith in God about what job she should take. And pray that wherever she works she will be a living example of who Jesus is. 

-Brazilian missionaries: They finally had their hearing about the middle of January and in order to make a final decision, the judge had to go out to the compound and see the place for himself. It was scheduled for the 31st, and that is when he went. Here is a translation of how it went: "We just got back from the visit to the property on which we have the Obadiah project. It was an intense day with a lot of expectations. We left at 9 AM to travel to the project. Jose rode in my car with two policemen. Zeneide was in another car with another policeman. Marco, another Brazilian missionary brought the two lawyers from Thies. The Embassy of Brazil was represented by the Secretary, accompanied by another lawyer from Dakar. Among those present were the judge and his staff, the Secretary, the Registrar, the Prosecutor and two policemen. 

They inspected every part of the project and were very impressed with the facilities. However, they were determined to investigate the religious instruction the children receive. They spoke with each child, staff members and employees at the project.
Yesterday, the project was unexpectedly visited by the government agency responsible for the care of children. They also went through the same procedure of questioning all the children. They were very impressed with all they saw and heard.
At the end of the day, the lawyers stated that the impressions of the project were positive and they were going to request final release of the prisoners. There is the possibility of a temporary release if the judge needs to question more witnesses, which could take a few days due to official procedures.
We thank all of you who faithfully accompanied us in every moment of this process. We have no words to express our gratitude for the care of Christ’s body for us.
Continue steadfast in prayer and confident waiting for the return of our brethren to those who love them, and to see the triumph of the Lord and his work!!!!" 

Please keep this situation in your prayers. 

-Life at DA: This February here at DA we get to enjoy Olympic's Days (in the States this would probably be referred to as field day... pray that the students will be safe and not sustain any inuries), valentine's grams (freshman class fundraiser - pray for them, they only have 16 kids), WAIST (West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament)(one of my favorite times of the year - 3 days jam packed full of softball... plus, no school on Monday!), and senior cafe (senior cafe fundraiser in which people in the community have the opportunity to put on skits and display their creativity to songs, and the audience gets to laugh at them and eat desert). Pray that all of these go well. Especially, for WAIST, that we will be examples of Christ to the many people we will get to interact with. 

-Me: I finally have something to do! I mean, I always do, but now I have a lot and it is wonderful. We are getting into heavy recruiting days - which is part of my job. Also, we are starting to work on our container order for next year - another part of my job. So yesterday afternoon was exciting: recruiting, container, billing people for mileage and pop, and we finally received our phone and internet bills which I am in charge of entering into the computer. And I got it all done! Speaking of recruiting, if you know anyone who is interested in working overseas in a school setting, send them to this link: www.dakar-academy.org/employment_opportunities. Please pray especially for my work with recruiting and the container. Pray that I don't get overwhelmed or stressed about doing them. Pray also for the time I spend with the elementary kids. We got about 12 new kids this semester, and only lost about 3.Pray that the other recess monitors and I will be able to take care of them and watch over them well. Pray that we will be able to be examples of Christ to them. 

Well, I think that is all for now. I hope you have great February's as I am sure I will. Have a great day. Ruthanne

 

Psalm 37:4
****************************************
Contact Info: 
Snail Mail: 
BP 3189
Dakar 18523
SENEGAL

Phone:
77-227-9335