Prayer Request

Today my husband and daughter left for Liberia. They will be gone for nine days, serving with a team from the Harvest Bible Chapel Fellowship. There are eight members on the team. Dave will be preaching and working on elder training and yearly budgets for the church and school. Katherine will be the official photographer, work with a soccer camp and serve on the praise teams for the 5 church services that they will be holding.

Please join me in prayer for the travel safety of the team and for the various responsibilities they have. Stomach ailments are a common problem, and prayer that they would stay healthy would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you would, pray that Jesus Christ would be first and foremost on their minds and hearts as they minister to these dear people. Three of Dave's messages are specifically gospel centered and will be used by the churches to introduce the lost to the Lord. So, this is an exciting week for my daughter and husband, as well as the whole team, and I appreciate your partnering with them in prayer.

Now as for the pictures I have posted, these are from Dave's first visit to Liberia. I thought initially that Dave loved to go there (this is his third trip) because he loved the ministry and the people. But I was a bit off. There is a more specific reason. He loves Jeremy. That is the little boy in the top picture. You can see him on the far right, behind the little boy with the beige buttoned shirt in the second picture. I think that Jeremy is the reason Dave keeps going back.

I might get the details wrong, but I think Jeremy is the son of one of the pastors. He attached to Dave on the first trip, because he found out that Dave was the American with an endless supply of candy in his pocket. He would sit beside Dave at church and out of the corner of his mouth he would say, "Candy." Dave would reach in his pocket, grab a round sour and pop it in his mouth. It was all on the sly, because there were about 200 kids there and Jeremy had no intentions of sharing Dave or his candy.

Recently a group from church returned from Liberia and Todd Hostetter asked Dave if he remembered Jeremy. He also asked if Jeremy talked much when Dave was there. Dave said, "I think he only said one word to me and that was candy." Todd said that when he got off the plane in Monrovia, Jeremy was there and he ran to him and said, "Where's David?" The little boy apparently has a great memory.

So in the next 24 hours Jeremy and Dave are going to reunite and spend the week together. I sent him with a five pound bag of Jolly Ranchers. That should hold their relationship in good stead until we visit again in April. Dave is taking the twins, Christopher and a couple of boys from the youth group, as well as myself, back there for spring break. Or at least that's the plan. And I am sure we'll be bringing more candy when we go.

So now you are caught up with what's new around here. Thank you for your prayers. I am sure there will be stories when they return.

And most likely more pictures of Jeremy.

Have a great weekend!

Kristen