8 January 2015
Greetings from Luanshya!
It hardly seems possible that we have finished the year. Over the course of 2014 we have seen a new congregation of believers started, baptised over 100 new believers and trained several church leaders to baptise still more, have seen two buildings completed for two more congregations and have started teaching at another location in an area designated for disabled residents.
In addition, two of our Lighthouse Children's Home wards (Dickson Siwale and Shadreck Mbayole) have completed their courses at Mobile Mission Maintenance Vocational Training Centre. Another ward, Nancy Chanda, has successfully completed her first year in secondary teachers' training at Mufulira Teachers' College and Andrew Silungwe (our youngest ward) has completed his first year (of two) of training as an electrical engineer at Luanshya Technical Business College. This has been a challenging – yet rewarding – investment into the lives of these young people.
Another exciting aspect of this past year has been the opportunity to assist and encourage other missionaries in their areas of focus. Some people think that "missions" is a romantic vocation filled with victories and excitement. That is not the case and many missionaries "burn out" because they are expected to produce regardless of their field of service. Without going into detail, we have been able to encourage several ministries this year with simple acts of kindness and the occasional moral boost. Because of this we have seen God work in miraculous ways.
This coming year holds many new and exciting opportunities. Sherry will join me in teaching at Mobile Mission Maintenance Vocational Training Centre. Her first course is "Overlooked Live of Significance – Seldom-Studied Bible Characters." I will start the year by teaching my Discipleship series. We are looking forward to working with these young people. The refocusing of MMM VTC this past year has been a success with the new director working to return the school to it's original focus of Bible study and vocational training.
As we look back over last year with all of the challenges and victories we thank the Lord constantly for His blessing and provision. We also thank you for YOUR faithful prayers and support as we continue…
In His Service,
Patrick & Sherry
