This has been a year of transition for our family. Eileen
homeschooled our children Josiah, Evie and Luke for 5 years with some amazing help from her
Mom and Patti Bozman! It was a wonderful
season! Last Fall the children went to
public school; for Evie and Luke it was their first time in public school - 5th
& 4th grades at Northern Shores Elementary. They are both doing very well. Josiah attended kindergarten and 1st
grade at the same elementary school and is now at John Yeats Middle School as a
7th grader, also doing good!
Eileen jumped right back into teaching 4 year-olds at Kinderprep as well
as catering some events at the local Hilton Garden Inn. It has been a good transition for us
all. There is certainly the challenge of
what the children are exposed to in school.
It’s not easy for any parent to navigate, but we’re keeping open lines
of communication and trying to disciple our children as followers of Jesus.
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Summer
fun on a fishing trip on the James River.
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Devon, Chiereme & Korinda
were
with me at a District Youth Event
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Being
full time at Virginia Wesleyan College is a good thing! There are open doors all over to share Christ
with the students. Our emphasis on Jesus’
method of small group ministry in order to know and understand His teachings
and to embrace His life, His death and resurrection are central.
We have more than a dozen different offerings
during the week for students to connect with and our worship gathering: SOAR on Sundays. I continue to serve as an Evangelist and take
students with me. They are often sharing
testimonies, words of encouragement, singing or sharing ‘spoken word.’
There is good time for mentoring and discipleship on these trips. Marlin Ministries, the name of our campus
ministry at VWC, has a vision to evangelize and disciple students who in turn
reach out off campus as well. College
students have a lot of energy and passion – when they embrace Jesus and His
good news it is powerful!
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Myles loving life at Camp Hope
Haven!
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We
can go out without hiring a babysitter!
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A
great example is Myles Shipp, who served as an intern with me at the
College. He grew up in the church, but
didn’t know the love of God in and through Jesus. It was awesome to see him grow in his
understanding and then receive Christ as Savior and Lord. Myles served at Camp Hope Haven in Virginia
Beach this past summer. It is a
Christian camp for children who cannot afford camp – a tremendous
ministry! Now Myles is beginning his
second semester at Denver Seminary! God
is amazing and specializes in changing people’s destinies! We actually had 7 VWC students go on to
seminary last Fall!
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in
Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat
prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
We
are gearing up for another trip to Nicaragua over Spring Break, March
25 - April 1. We have 14 students going, 7 are returning from the previous trip. In addition, I'm thrilled that I have two wonderful friends and partners in the Gospel going: Robin Jones, a registered nurse, who has served in mission in Afghanistan, Africa, Jamaica and in country. Alex Fanjul will be with us as well. Alex and his wife Judith served for 8 years with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Nicaragua and other parts of Latin America.
This will be the 3rd VWC trip.
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Jonathan
Burke with precious cargo!
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The VWC ladies with the women of Masachapa
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We
will spend 3 days at the House of Hope, a ministry to women and children coming
out of prostitution and human trafficking. More info about this amazing ministry can be found at their website below: www.houseofhopenicaragua.com
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Piñata time in Tipitapa
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We do a lot of manual labor at the House of Hope – our goal is to be
servants, helping wherever needed. April
Havelin, the founder of House of Hope spoke at VWC this Fall to a packed room
of students. We welcome your prayers as
we go! The Elizabeth River District of
the United Methodist Church has some set aside some money to help us, which is
wonderful! I do have some students who
want to go, but will need some financial help.
Finally,
I want to share about an amazing family on their way to the Democratic Republic
of Congo as missionaries with Mission
Aviation Fellowship. Timo and Laura
met while attending Averett College in Danville, VA. Laura was the pianist and choir director of
Stokesland United Methodist Church, which was the first church I served out of
seminary. Timo came to worship at
Laura’s invitation and got connected with our Men’s Discipleship Group. Jesus worked through us all to make Himself
known to Timo. Timo was diligent in
seeking the LORD in the Scriptures and other Christian books. He often came to the Men’s Group with a copy
of notes and an outline for each of us,
from the latest book he had read! Timo
is from Finland. He is saddened that
only a small fraction of the Finnish people know Christ. He says that people go to church for
baptisms, confirmation, weddings and funerals, but it isn’t a living
faith.
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| Timo, Laura and Janey & Richard |
Laura,
unlike Timo, grew up in a Christian home and on a mission trip to Zimbabwe as a
teenager, she felt a call to be a missionary pilot. Now that dream is coming true as they fly out
in faith. Timo graduated from Asbury Theological Seminary (where I
went) and they served Unicoi UMC in Tennessee – Timo as the Youth Pastor and
Laura choir director. They adopted
Janey, 13 and Richard, 11 from Brazil.
They share that their family is from 3 different continents and going to
a 4th! Eileen and I gladly
support them.
They
are close to 90% in their support needs for Africa. If you, your church or someone you know has a
heart for Africa and would like to help them, you can find out more about them
at: www.maf.org/harkonen
On
behalf of the Board of Life in His Name, Pete Kovalcik, Laura Houck, Brian
Sixby and Michael Senecal, I thank you for your gifts, prayers and love.
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