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Masters' Newsletter May God’s gracious Peace Abound! As this precious season of anticipation evolves into another new and wonderful year, our family extends the warmest thanks for your continued support in our shared mission. We continue to be blessed with health and great happiness. Everyone is home for the holidays. Christian will be preparing for his performance in Verdi’s Masked Ball with the Memphis Opera in February. He has three semesters remaining at Rhodes College and is pleased to have reached the stage where he can focus on his elective coursework in English and Philosophy. Matthew has finished his first exams as a freshman at Overton High School. He was awarded a varsity letter for cross-country this fall and has run over one hundred training miles since the close of the competitive season. You may know that part of our decision to stay in the U.S. for the next few years was to provide a consistent venue for Matthew to finish secondary school. Well, true to God’s sense of humor…. A few weeks ago Matt informed us he is interested in becoming an exchange student to Germany!!!! Mark has had a most challenging and rewarding semester at Vanderbilt. He enjoys his role as a Teaching Assistant and his community-focused coursework but struggles mightily with Statistics. You can see we are continuing to adapt and adjust. Many of you have heard about the continued financial concerns at GBGM. These are causing significant changes at many levels. Executive and support positions have been reduced and the coming year will also see reductions in the number of missionaries in the field. Although our positions are not threatened, this is a painful time for all. Please join us in prayer for wisdom and grace as these changes are instituted. Kathleen’s experience of this fiscal crisis is that we… the GBGM… are taking great pains in addressing the situation with integrity and honor. The Mission Resource Center will no longer exist as it has in the past. This is actually a very positive step… instead of committing resources to a central location; we will take the training to the local church and annual conferences and identify and utilize local resources. As the Training Officer it is my responsibility to develop a support structure for persons who are applying, discerning and preparing for mission service. This will be a cooperative task shared by persons from the sending and receiving communities. 2003 will find me involved in a collaborative effort to create this new paradigm for training. This is an exciting time…. Please join us in prayer for the ability to see God’s will in each challenge and accomplishment is greatly needed. We hope you enjoy the family photo, and know that we hold you in our prayers… without your prayerful support we would not thrive in God’s mission… you are essential to our being able to continue sharing God’s love, wherever we find ourselves. May Gods richest blessings of peace and joy abound with you and your loved ones this holiest of seasons, and into the New Year! |
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