Listen, obey and never give up!

“What is the secret of your leadership? And what were your main strategies?” These are some of the questions Loren and Darlene, the founders of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), often hear.
  

Over a span of almost 60 years, this mission movement has grown to become one of the biggest worldwide in number of missionaries. Between 5 and 6 million young people have done a DTS (Discipleship Training School), which is the entry course to join YWAM, and around 30,000 fulltime missionaries work worldwide in Evangelism, Training and Mercy ministries.

”Loren and Darlene, how did you accomplish all this?”
 

We are together with some 350, mainly Brazilian youth, at a conference where Loren and Darlene, the international founders of YWAM, personally take two weeks of their time to teach and encourage the younger generations.

“The answer really is quite simple,” Darlene replies, “it is just 4 words: “listen, obey and never quit! We listen to God, He is the leader, He tells us which is the next step to take. We obey, and even when things become difficult, we don´t give up!”
 

“This is really the basis of what we teach all the DTS students,” smiles Loren, “it is not a lot of strategies that I came up with, what the world would call ‘leadership qualities’, but it is submitting to the leadership of Jesus, listening to Him, then obeying and never, ever giving up.”

Darlene throws her hands up in the air and adds enthusiastically: “We say ´YES´ to the Lord, even before we know what He will ask from us! Lord, here we are, use us!”

The words stick in my mind. I am so thankful for leaders who obey the Lord and do not try to gain honor for themselves, but give all the glory to the Lord Jesus. They remind us that we should always have Jesus in first place in our lives, then follow Him whatever it costs, through love and servanthood to the people around us.
 

During the conference, we were asked to give some workshops about working with children at risk, and how to help refugees and children with trauma. It was wonderful to be able to teach and encourage young people to use their gifts and talents in service to God and for children who are so often in very difficult situations.

Dinosaurs with a Mission
Loren is 83 years old and Darlene just a few years younger, but you would not believe it, as they have plenty of energy. Of course, we ourselves are also not as young as we used to be 😊. Sometimes people look at us a bit strangely when we tell them we work with Youth With A Mission. Youth? Well, the overwhelming majority of our co-workers are young people between 18 and 30 years old, but there are also some “fathers and mothers” with graying hair. The missionaries from our generation are sometimes lovingly called “Dinosaurs with a Mission!”

During the conference and the previous week, we gathered with leaders from various bases around Brazil. We have maintained a friendship with some of them for more than 30 years. It was wonderful to be together with such a group of Dinosaurs! 😊
 

First national meeting of leaders and staff from the Children at Risk Schools in Brazil

Last week, for the first time ever, we gathered a group of leaders and staff from the different Children at Risk Schools that are offered regularly in different cities around Brazil.

We held a similar meeting in 2017 in Costa Rica with leaders from schools in different countries, but for Brazil this was the first time. It is very important for the school leaders to be on the same page, understand the curriculum well, and continue to meet the requirements of University of the Nations. (The Children at Risk School is an accredited course of the University of the Nations, a YWAM institution based in Kona, Hawaii.) But even more important is to worship God together, listen to Him and to each other.
 

It was wonderful to hear plans for multiplying the school over the next 2 years to Brazilian cities like Manaus, Boa Vista and Salvador, as well as to other countries like Chili, Peru and the Philippines! More Children at Risk Schools means that more young people will know how to start ministry projects with needy children, improve their ministries and reach more children with the love of God. That, of course, makes us very happy.

Finances
We thank all those who have helped us financially. We are so thankful for those who believe in our work, pray for us and support us in many ways. We would like to give you all a big warm hug, a real one, but since that is not possible because of the distance, we will have to “make do” with a digital hug… not as nice, but given with love!
 

Christmas baby!?
Davi, our adopted son, was born with Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida on Christmas Day 32 years ago. A Christmas baby. This most probably saved his life, as the neurologist who treated him decided to give him a Christmas present: a special shunt he had just received from the US. It was a very expensive piece of equipment in those days and was not yet widely available in Brazil. But because it was Christmas, the doctor decided to bless this baby and implanted the shunt.
 

We are so thankful for this very special Christmas present! But, of course, we are even more thankful for the greatest Christmas gift of all, Jesus, the Son of God. God who created everything and is infinitely great, was born as a small tangible baby--Immanuel, God with us.

John writes in his gospel (1:14, Message Translation): “The word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

We pray that in the years to come, many more people, families and children, refugees and kids in need, may see Him and acknowledge His Lordship.

We wish you all a holiday season of great significance, and His rich blessings for the year to come!

Much love from Johan and Jeannette
 

Prayer points

• Thank the Lord for leaders like Loren and Darlene, who go before us, show us a great example and are a great encouragement.
• Pray that we will continue to always listen to God, obey Him, and learn to never give up but persevere.
• Pray that we will always be willing to say ´Yes` to the Lord, even before we know what He will ask from us!
• Give thanks for all the seminars and classes we are able to give about Children at Risk. 
• Pray that many more young people will be equipped through these schools and seminars so they may reach out to many more children in need.
• Pray for God´s blessing and leading in the multiplication process of these schools in other cities and countries.
• Give thanks to the Lord for the greatest Christmas gift of all: His Son!

Married for 40 years and back to Brazil

Short update!

"Lord here I am, do you want to use my life", one of the students prayed with tears in his voice last week, after I taught about the children of refugees.

We are back in Brazil! The last 2 weeks we taught at the Children at Risk School in Belo Horizonte. It is nice to see how the work here on the base, which we started in 1986, is still going well. And it is wonderful to see all those young people who give their hearts and lives to God and let themselves be led by Him.

It is wonderful to be back for a while with our daughter Michele and son in law Romeu, and their 2 children, we feel at home again!

Johan and I have been married for 40 years this week. We had celebrated it a bit earlier with family and friends in the Netherlands. We are very grateful for all those beautiful years together. Johan digitized a lot of our old photos, when we just went to Brazil and when the children were still small, what a wonderful memories!

Will you pray for us, the next 4 weeks we will teach in Curitiba, a city in the south of Brazil, for health, and that the plans we are going to make for next year will be led by God.

Thank you very much and God's rich blessing!

About scratching the surface and a growing impact...

The small girl I am holding on my lap is still severely trembling after her outburst of crying. We are in the middle of a Syrian refugee camp in one of Syria’s neighboring countries. More than a million people have already fled to this country and this camp since it opened in 2011, at the very beginning of the war. 

 

Some children have been born in this camp, while others arrived later as refugees with their parents and still must adapt to the situation. Like the little girl who is holding tightly to me with both her arms and legs and freezes when I gently try to put her on the chair next to me… tears still welling up in her big brown eyes. She is new in school and is so insecure. I keep her on my lap a few minutes longer…

This is at one of the little primary schools where our students from the Children at Risk School in Holland have been helping for two months. Johan and I traveled to be with them for the last two weeks before we go with them to the next country bordering Syria where millions of refugees have also arrived.
 

Improvised primary schools for Syrian children

After it became clear that many Syrian children stranded in refugee camps had not been going to school, people started to teach them in small improvised schools. Sometimes these schools are led by refugees themselves, or in other cases by local people who then offer teaching jobs to some of the refugees. Often the teachers have had no prior training, which makes it extra challenging. But it is wonderful to get to know these courageous teachers in their makeshift schools and see their great dedication and love for the children. And it was, of course, exciting to see our students in action too!
 

Teaching the teachers

The teachers that are working in those primary schools craved input and training themselves. So they gave our students a long list of topics they wanted to study and problems they had encountered. Our students divided the different themes among themselves to prepare lessons, then gave those teachings on various days. They so enjoyed seeing how eager the teachers were to learn new things, and they could take their time because another group of volunteers was taking care of the children during these teacher-training sessions.
 

Free

Those teachers were so pleased. “We had been trying to have classes like this before, but it was always too expensive to arrange for such seminars, and here you guys come and offer this for free!?!”

Yes, we are so grateful this was possible. We and our students had paid for our own travel costs and stay. Some had saved money through the jobs they had before the Children at Risk School started, while others, like ourselves, have been sponsored by a group of friends for an extended time. We were pleased to be able to help these refugees, often families that had lost everything. We could be an encouragement to them, demonstrate to them that they are not forgotten, and show them a little bit of God’s enormous love for them.
 

Play and laugh
What a reward it is to see these children, who have gone through so much trauma, play and laugh again. The little girl who had held onto me tightly for over an hour slowly stopped sobbing and started to look curiously at the brightly colored toys. A little later she wanted to play, and by the end of the morning, she sat proudly on a little chair at a desk with a pencil, trying to write in the new notebook before her.

More Children at Risk Schools in Holland

We are extremely thankful that this first Children at Risk School at the Heidebeek base of YWAM Holland was very well co-lead by Joke, a young lady from Holland. She did an excellent job and will continue to offer and lead the next CAR school in January 2019 at Heidebeek. For info, see the website: https://ywamheidebeek.org/nl/dts-training/children-at-risk/ That means we can now focus our time and efforts in other countries and locations.
 

African students

This week we are teaching at one of the YWAM bases in Switzerland, where many of the students are from different countries in Africa. Some of them are directing primary schools in their countries of origin and want to be better trained. We are teaching here on the topics of children at risk, like street children, sexually abused and exploited children, but also about refugee children and how to deal with the traumas they’ve experienced.

In Africa there are millions of children who have had to flee their villages and towns because of violence and war. Some flee with their parents, but an alarmingly growing number have lost their parents because they were killed or disappeared. You don´t hear a lot about it in the news, and more and more, we meet people who don´t want to hear or read about those huge problems. For many it seems so hopeless. “Well, what can I do about it?” they ask, and then answer their own question: “Nothing!”

But that is not true. We can always pray (this is often underestimated, but soooo needed) and support churches and organizations that help these children and families.

Scratching

During all the years of our work with street children in Brazil, we often heard people say: “Well, you can only help so few--you are only scratching the surface!”

But now there are a lot of those ex-street kids who were saved through this “scratching the surface!” They got to know the Lord, have studied, have good jobs, are married and have children. Some became missionaries themselves and are now helping children in hopeless situations. The “scratching of the surface” has yielded a growing impact!

So, please don´t believe the lie that doing “something small” doesn’t make any difference. God wants to extend His kingdom and He invites us all to participate. Together with Him, we may witness how children and families are saved and brought to healing.
 

Back to Brazil

In September we hope to return to Brazil, which is still officially our country of residence, but because of all our travels, we haven´t been there for quite some time. We are planning to meet with the various Children at Risk School ministries and leaders in South America. Then we plan to visit those locations in 2019 for teaching and encouragement.
 

We need help

We usually don´t talk about finances in our newsletters, and we are so thankful for all the people who have regularly supported us financially over many years. But during the last few years, our support base has been slowly decreasing. Some of our long-term supporters have passed away, while others were forced to stop because of financial crisis. We have always had enough, but sometimes we are down to the bare minimum. So we would like to ask those who are receiving this newsletter but are not (yet) supporting us financially, if you would prayerfully consider doing this.

We hope there will be people who can start supporting us on a monthly basis, but of course one-time or sporadic gifts are also very welcome. Please check our blog on how to give—you can find the link here. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to write us.

Prayer points 

• Pray for the children who have had to flee, that God will help them heal from their traumas. 
• Pray for the teaching staff of the makeshift schools in the refugee camps, that they will know God’s presence and blessing with them. 
• Pray for the students of the CAR schools and seminars, that they will experience God's guidance in the work they do, and His wisdom and blessings. 
• Thank God for all the children who have already been reached through the years with God's love, which has transformed their lives. 
• Pray that many more students who want to reach out to children in need will participate in CAR schools. 
• Pray for our plans in Brazil and the various CAR schools that are running there. 
• Pray for our ministry, that we will have enough people who will pray for and support us.

We wish all of you God’s richest blessings!

Lots of sweet coffee and tea!

Just a little note from us!

"We are so happy with all the help your team of staff and students have given to our children!" the teachers of the school for Syrian children told us.

Our team helped two and a half months in a country in the Middle East, at a school for Syrian refugee children. That was quite a challenge. But they did a great job. Johan and I were there with them for the last two weeks.  But now we have arrived with our team in the next country, to help another two weeks and to teach the teachers. It is also an immersion in Arab culture, with different ways to dress, lots of sweet coffee and tea, and lots of beautiful children.

And how thankful the people are! It is great to be here, and to see our staff and students in action, we are so proud of them!

Will you pray for us and the team, for health, safety and that each of the team may be guided by God in the next steps.

Thank you very much and God's rich blessing!

Thankful of how God is using us and our students to reach out to the refugees.

How do refugees really feel? And how can we identify with them just a little? It’s complicated, when they have lost so much and we have abundance in most things. It is really worlds apart.

Our Children at Risk (CAR) students were given the task of teaching a seminar about how to help children of refugees with their trauma. One of the leading organizations working with refugees in Holland had organized the evening in a local church and asked our students to give this presentation. We have great materials for a presentation such as this, but before launching into the seminar, the CAR students tried to help participants reflect on all the losses refugees have suffered, imagining how that might feel.

It´s really impossible to sense the loss refugees have experienced, but this interactive exercise was used as an imaginary bridge to their reality.

Your life on 16 slips of paper

Everyone received 16 pieces of paper on which they had to write their 4 favorite people, 4 favorite things to do, 4 most important possessions and 4 dreams for the future. Soon the slips of paper contained the names of husbands, wives, children, parents, hobbies like ice skating, running, cycling, photography, things like laptops, washing machines, cars, cameras and dreams like marriage, having kids, a new job, etc.

With the staff of the Children at Risk School

Only 4 left 

The atmosphere was nice—people smiled as they wrote all those things down. But when the next part of the exercise was announced, people suddenly became very quiet: Your neighbor would randomly choose 4 of your 16 papers, and you would tear up the other 12.

“An attack happened in your city, and you had to flee”, one of our students explained to the group.“ Those 12 things and people on your little papers, you just lost…” You heard people gasping. “But the four remaining pieces of paper you neighbor selected, you can take them back—you still have them”.

Quickly people looked at what was written on the remaining papers. Some thanked their neighbor: “You saved my brother”, I heard one whisper, “I’m so glad to still have him”. But the atmosphere felt loaded. Wide eyed, they looked at our students who gave each participant a balloon.

Popping balloons

“Please blow up the balloon and write the four items you still possess on the balloon. The room was very quiet as everyone was busy and still in shock trying to imagine what would happen next. Suddenly a few of the students went around and popped all the balloons. “As you were fleeing your city, your group got attacked, and now you have lost those last 4 things”, one of the students explained. “How do you feel now?”

“I am so angry”, called out a blond-haired lady.

“I feel scared, fearful”, another said quietly, “seems there is no reason to continue living”.

“I feel as if there is no more hope for me, I lost everything”, said a young woman with tears in her brown eyes.

“Angry, fearful, depressed, hopeless…” Suddenly the penny dropped—yes, that is how refugees must feel. Only for them it is not just an exercise with 16 pieces of paper, but their everyday reality….

"There is Hope" booklets

We sometimes give this kind of introduction for people in western countries who have not gone through a collective trauma, in order to help them understand a little bit of what refugees experience and identify with refugees’ feelings. Then we can explain how the “There is Hope” booklet can be used to help children deal with their trauma. Children who have suffered so many losses need a lot of help.

We teach parents, caregivers and teachers to listen to the children’s stories as they proceed through the booklet, in order to give them closure and new hope. It helps the kids see that God loves them, that He is with them and willing to help. God has not deserted them but wants to comfort them. In all the fear and uncertainty, Jesus remains the rock and point of reference in whom they can trust. Children learn to put their hand in the hand of Jesus.

Refugee camps in the Middle East

Our students did a great job, and it served as preparation for the three months of practical outreach among refugees in the Middle East, where they are scheduled to give this same presentation (but without slips of paper and balloons!) to parents and caregivers of children in the refugee camps.

Lecture phase is finished

The three-months lecture phase of our Children at Risk school at the Heidebeek base in Holland passed so quickly. Besides practical experiences as described above, the students received a broad spectrum of classes about Children at Risk, how to help them, how to structure different ministries, some pitfalls and best practices. The course is registered at the University of the Nations (the training arm of YWAM). They had to write book reports, make journals, take tests and develop projects. At the end of the course, we were so proud that all the students had passed with flying colors—so we celebrated!

Now the students are away for an international outreach, using the things they learned during the lecture phase. We plan to visit them in June, then move with them to the next country in the Middle East. Please pray for protection on the whole group!

Hungary, Switzerland and a national revival conference

Next week Johan and I are going to Budapest, Hungary, where we have been invited to give a few workshops at a conference called “Reaching Europe’s Children”. Many participants come from the eastern part of Europe and represent many churches and mission organizations. We have also been invited to teach in a YWAM school in Switzerland this July. Between these two programs, we will be camping in a rented camper at an annual revival conference with two of our grandchildren. This is quite a happening, as the conference draws over 50,000 Christians from all over Holland. We are looking forward to this special time!

Health struggles

Over the last few months, we have been spending some extra time with doctors and at the hospital. First, Davi became very sick when he came to stay with us over the weekend. We rushed him to the local hospital, and they sent him straight to a specialist at the main university hospital. They soon admitted him with a kidney infection. As he is prone to such infections, we were happy that it was detected just in time. They put him on strong intravenous antibiotics, and a few days later he was able to go home feeling a lot better. But on a diagnostic scan, they detected something strange on his stomach. They scheduled a special test to identify this, and just yesterday we got the results. Everything is okay--what a relief! Please continue to pray for his health.

Celebrating the Dutch kings birthday with some of our kids and grandchildren

l (Jeannette) needed to look for a better brace for my foot that is partially paralyzed, because the last brace I got fits in only one pair of shoes and is too hot for the tropics or even summer in Europe. Looks like I have been successful finding an appropriate one. But, as I had already given away most of my old shoes, now I have to go shopping for new shoes! That is certainly something to look forward to! 😊

A day at the beach in Johans birth place, Zeeland, in the south of Holland

I also had to get some skin cancer spots removed. This is something I must be very careful about in the future. Would you please keep this in your prayers also?

We thank you for the ways you participate with us—in prayer, with gifts and in communication. We wish you all God´s richest blessings!

Prayer points:

• Pray for the refugees and their children in the camps, who often lose all hope.
• Pray for the students as they try to carry the hope of Christ to those camps.
• Pray for the safety of long-term and short-term workers in the Middle East, and also for us when we go in June.
• Pray for the lectures and seminars we are privileged to give in schools and conferences in different countries.
• Pray for our health and also for Davi.
• Give thanks for God´s love and faithfulness.

How to help the children of refugees?

As we are having breakfast with our group of international students, a student from India put some red hot pepper paste on his bread, while another foreign student picks up a bowl with chocolate sprinkles: “What is this? Can you really put chocolate on your bread in the morning?” When we confirm this, a broad smile appears on her face: “Wow, this is heaven!” But one of the girls from Asia is a little less excited: “What, bread again? No noodles for breakfast?” Lucky for her, we have rice on the menu for lunch that day…
 

The first Children at Risk school in Holland started in January. The goal is to teach our students the Biblical foundation for reaching out to children at risk, basic principles and a lot of practical advice on how to start and maintain a ministry for vulnerable children. During a period of three months they get a wide variety of information related to this.
 

Kids’ clubs for refugee children

We have a wonderful group of international staff and students, who all have a special calling to reach out to children in need. The emphasis of this specific school is on refugee children. The classes our students receive during the week are put into practice on the weekends when they help in kids’ clubs for children from refugee families.

It is encouraging to see that in many places around the country of Holland, volunteers from churches have started support groups and programs to help refugee families and their children.

Leading a program for children until eleven o´clock at night
Another practical application of the lecture happened when the students were invited to help with a weekend conference for Arab Christians. The conference leaders had fled many years ago to Holland, and now they help other Arab Christian refugees, strengthening them in their faith and encouraging them to put their hope and trust in the Lord Jesus. All the kids in the children’s program came from an Arab background, and although they spoke Dutch very well and had lived in Holland for a number of years, there were some obvious cultural differences. Like going on very late with the program, until eleven o’clock at night! Of course this was no problem for the children, haha, but for the children’s workers?!? Well, they had to adapt a little ☺

To the monastery

In February we went for a week with the whole school, students and staff, to a European conference about refugees. It was held in a monastery in the south of Holland and brought together a big group of people from 60 different churches and organizations that work directly with refugees all over Europe. We heard a lot of impressive stories and had the privilege of hearing firsthand the stories of some of the refugees themselves. It was a very special week where we learned a lot.
 

Halfway

We are so proud of our staff and students, how they have adapted and are working hard! We´re about halfway through the lecture phase, and it is going really well. The first book report, newsletter and test are already done. And very soon the first three months will have passed and the practical outreach will be in front of us. The plan is that a team of staff and students will go to some locations in the Middle East to help refugee children and their families in the refugee camps.

Refugees in different countries

Some of the countries around the world that have recently been overwhelmed with huge numbers of refugees are Bangladesh, Uganda, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. For example, Lebanon is a country of about 6 million people, but more than 1 million of those are refugees. That means that one in every six people in that country is a refugee. If you would have the same proportions in Holland, that would mean there would be 3 million refugees, but in reality, Holland has only 250,000 refugees.

Turkey is the country in the Middle East that has received the largest number of refugees. Official figures state 3.7 million. Roughly half the refugees are children. Most of these children have to deal with severe trauma from the past, and are now growing up in families that have to deal with losses and challenges of coping and providing on a daily basis.

Our team will go to reach out to these children and families in as many ways as possible, including dealing with trauma. We expect that this will be a great blessing and help for many children and families.

We are planning to join the team for the last month of their time in the Middle East, and will report more on this in our next letter.
 

Back in Heidebeek after 38 years

It is really nice for us to be back at the YWAM base of Heidebeek in Holland. This is where we did our Discipleship Training School (DTS) 38 years ago. At that time we had no idea how long we would be in YWAM. Our original plan was to stay just one year in this mission movement and then go back to our jobs as teacher and nurse. Yes, it all went a little differently! We are so thankful to the Lord for the privilege of participating in so many ministries with children at risk in Brazil and around the world.

Teaching in Australia

And how privileged we still are to be able to make new plans with Him, giving classes and schools, equipping students and staff. In April Johan is scheduled to go for two weeks to Perth, Australia, where a Children at Risk school has been running for many years with a focus on the children of Asia, in countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Since we were able to give a school and seminars last year on that side of the globe, the children there have been very much on our hearts!
 

Enjoying winter

All the before-mentioned countries tend to have hot climates. So we are enjoying the cold weather here in Holland this winter--especially Johan, whose favorite sport is ice skating! He enjoys skating at the longest artificial skating rink (3 km long) in the world, which is actually very close to our little cabin where we are staying.
 

Of course we had lots of fun with our children and grandchildren during the Christmas break. Celebrating Christmas, 5 birthdays (!), New Year’s Eve, throwing snowballs, building an igloo, going ice skating, going to a Christmas concert, to a playground, to a dolphin show and to church together. Our family even played a game of wheelchair basketball! We were challenged by Davi and his team, and we all had to use wheelchairs. It was not a very big surprise when Davi’s team won!
 

Our daughter Michele, our son-in-law Romeu and their two children returned to Brazil last week after a wonderful time of furlough, which we enjoyed just as much as they did, after not having seen them for a whole year. And now we look forward to visiting Johanneke and Jonathan and their 3 daughters after they move to England. And of course we enjoy the extra time we can have with Pieter and Melissa and their children, as well as Dilma and Davi, before we hope to travel back to Brazil again in September.
 

Thanks to all

We would like to thank all of you who help us and pray for us. We are aware that all of you have your ups and downs, small and big problems, but through it all, you have been faithful to God and have continued to be a support to us as well. Thank you so much! This week I received a very special poetic translation of Zephaniah 3:17 which I would like to share with you!

"The eternal God, the God who is three in one; He who abides in the center of your being, is a powerful and courageous warrior. He has come to set you free, keep you safe and give you victory.

We cheer for Him. He glows with extraordinary pleasure and enjoys your presence. He has engraved a place in himself for you, where He relaxes in love and tenderness for you.

He cannot contain Himself when He thinks about you and with the greatest joy He dances around as He waits for you… He has placed you above all other creatures and creations onto the highest level in His priorities. In fact He shouts and sings in triumph, with pleasure proclaiming the ecstasy in His heart in a song of pure joy!

All because of you”

May this God, who loves each of us so much, bless you richly!

With lots of love,

Johan and Jeannette

Prayer points 

• Pray for the students, that they will continue to learn a lot during the school, and will obey God´s will for their lives. 
• Pray for the staff and students during their outreach in the Middle East. 
• Pray that many families will be touched by the love of God. 
• Give thanks for our family and friends, and the way we were able to enjoy each other’s company. 
• Give thanks for the first half of the school that went really well. 
• Pray for Johan’s trip to Australia in April, where he will teach in a Children at Risk School. 
• Give thanks for our health.