3 Weeks?!

Wow... embarrassed, ashamed, slackers... yep, those are all us. We haven't given you an update in three weeks, which means we are not holding up our end of the bargain on this blog. You've been hearing this far too often lately, but we're sorry. Again.

Let's see, what have we been doing since the middle of July? Ah yes, that was about the time that Tricia and Jake were both very sick for three or four days. There was a very bad cold going around, and they both happened to catch it. Then from there, we have had quite a bit of action here!

Jeremy spent the following week planning for intensive planning sessions for his World Mission Communications staff and a representative from Headquarters in Kansas City. These meetings took place last week and involved putting the goals for the Africa Region into a concrete vision of how World Mission Communications can help accomplish those goals. Jeremy and his staff were excited and energized by the meetings and you will definitely be hearing more about those efforts as they are put into place and/or completed.

Tricia has been working tirelessly on staying in contact with her missionary candidates here in Africa and will begin publishing a newsletter to them soon. She is also still working with managing the guest flats for the various guests that come from all over the world to the Africa Region offices. Another task that she has recently been given is preparing a week-long, Africa-specific training session for new missionaries that will come to our region from the United States. This will be an ongoing part of her duties in the future as well.

In our personal lives, we took a little getaway this weekend, as this week we will be celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary (August 8th)! Well, we still feel young anyway! :) We praise God for blessing our marriage to this point and thank him for every day that we have together. We have made it this far solely by his grace and love that allows us to love each other the way we do (and patience that allows Tricia to put up with Jeremy!). :)

Jake's Quote of the Week

Trying on sandals at Woolworth's: "Dad, these sandals look like 'le fruitcake'!"

(He got that little term from the movie "Flushed Away", not his father)

Praises and Prayer Requests

As mentioned above, we praise God for nine wonderful and exciting years together. We have definitely been through a lot of "life" in those nine years, with a lot of ups and downs, but we praise God for every minute of it, as he shapes us into the people and the couple he wants us to be!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Good health (only a few more weeks until spring!)

-- Labor strikes that have been affecting the South African economy

-- God's blessing on our work here

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake