Happy Thanksgiving! We are filled with gratitude to the Lord and to you for your faithful prayers which the Lord is answering. As we look back a bit, when I had a small heart attack five years ago, I wondered if I would be able to continue on the mission field. The answer was yes. The same way, when Liz had so many problems with her impacted kidney stone and recurrent attacks of pyelonephritis, I wondered about our future. Yet here we are in Suriname, and grateful to be here. Once again, we thank both you and the Lord.

Androe Kampoe: I have been praying for further outreach ministry for several years, but felt that the initiative needed to come from the nationals. I went soulwinning with a group of young men several times in the past to Androe Kampoe, which is about 40 minutes drive from our house on the other side of Lelydorp, on the way to the main airport for the country. The area consists of nearly 70 small wooden houses with electricity and water supply on three small streets owned by a man who rents them out at a low cost. There is also a small store and an open area to play football (soccer), and a sort of hall that is currently unoccupied. A couple church groups have been there, but not permanently. The young men were interested but not in a position to commit themselves to anything regular.

I had been praying about the camp when in the USA, and Kalow Palata, my replacement as senior pastor, went there while we were gone with one of the deacons. One of our ladies moved there a few years ago, and has tried to reach out to the neighborhood, even paying to rent a bus on one occasion out of her own money. She asked him to look at the area, because some neighbors want to come but cannot afford the cost of transportation. He became burdened about the area, and last week the leadership of the main church agreed to look into having some sort of regular program there if there is adequate response. Kalow would also like to use this area, and perhaps a second one, as areas to train young preachers, and he was recently approached by a young man about 17-18 years of age. Tomorrow Kalow, the young man and I are scheduled to go to talk with Androe about having services there. We would pray that the Lord would guide us and go ahead of us. If indeed this is in His will, we ask that He will open the doors, and that we will walk through them.

Advanced Bible Institute: began this week with 14 students. We anticipate a number of students by correspondence as well. I ran into some problems trying to record the first lesson, and spent part of two days trying to solve the problem. I think that I see a solution at this time. We also started recording our TV programs again, and made 8 programs over the last week. They will go to Jonathan Champlin for the real work of making them alive using FinalCut.

History of Missions: I have been working on a series for the third section of our advanced Bible Institute as well as for teaching in the USA. I am hoping to have a basic outline of church history as a backdrop for missions outreach, as well as seeing various principles of missions illustrated in the lives of different missionaries. It has been time-consuming but a lot of fun and very interesting. I will need to put the lessons in both English and Sranantongo before being finished.

Today is a national holiday celebrating 35 years of independence. We have seen many changes in the 25 years we have been here in Suriname. When we arrived, there were about 40,000 vehicles - now there are over 200,000. There were no cell phones in 1986, and now even the older children have their own cell phones. The stores had little available - now you can buy most things, though they may be quite expensive. Most of the side roads were dirt - and now the majority are paved. Lots of material progress, but I cannot say the same spiritually. Thus we continue to pray and reach out. Monday I had a very good lengthy conversation with the husband of a lady in our church, and Liz had the opportunity to see their teenage son make a profession.

Prayer requests:

1. Continued health and strength for the work
2. Our spiritual growth
3. Safety driving
4. Souls saved and discipled
5. The Lord’s direction for Androe Kampoe
6. Independence of the churches
7. The church building for Sunny Point
8. Getting DVD’s and other materials for the Bible Institutes