Here is a summary of some happenings in our family since our last update in mid-2016:
In September, 2016 SJ visited family and friends in Korea. Andy, meanwhile, had an opportunity to go to YM Together, the biennial YM global gathering, in Kansas City. We had an excellent global communication group meeting at a retreat centre prior to the main gathering.
Around October, we found out that my father had cancer. We planned a last minute family gathering so we could all be with him for his birthday that December.
In January, 2017, Andy was at some meetings in Thailand and visited Myanmar for the first time. We had been praying for some P.G.'s there since attending C 2 A several years back. A long-time YM friend met me in Myanmar, and we got to learn about some of the min's happening there. One of these is a work among deaf people, one of the P.G's whom we had specifically been praying for from an unengaged people group listed at Finishing The Task (FTT) website. Unengaged peoples are those whom, as far as we know, do not have access to the Gospel. Several different tracking measures are used to determine this: For example, do they have access to a portion of the scriptures in their own language? Do they have a Gospel witness working in their midst? And similar questions.
Also in early 2017, our son started the five month DTS in Tauranga, the same city where our daughter did the course a year earlier. J graduated early from high school in December 2016 in order to be able to do this. He also worked many hours at our local Chick-fil-A to cover his airfare and school fees. J was on a team that did their outreach in the Middle East.
SJ helped out as a translator again in the Medical DTS in Kona during the early part of 2017. This time it was run at the Ships Centre in town. Andy got to visit for the last bit. Just before we came home we heard that Dad's health had declined significantly.
In April we made one last trip to see Dad, as he was by this time in hospice care at home. He was very alert when we arrived and completely comfortable, watching Giants baseball games on the bedroom t.v. He passed away on Resurrection Sunday. We had a special memorial service for him in May.
That summer, the annual Peace Corps gathering was in Denver. They invited Andy to speak at one of the meetings (the Shriver Circle Gathering) about Dad's history as a director in two of the largest programs in the world during the 1960's, in West Africa and India.
September, 2017 - February 2018: SJ and Andy were privileged to staff in the International Korean DTS in Kona. We also helped with the outreach phase, serving at a refugee camp in Greece, and doing some church min. in the US mainland.
Next Chapter, to be determined!
