Happy New Year. Thank you for all the prayers for 2010 and those we anticipate for 2011!

Inventaris: Every year at this time the big businesses may actually close a few days for inventory. I would like to take inventory of last year, thanking the Lord and your prayers for what He has done - and look to the challenges of 2011.

Liz’s hospitalization: The biggest “event” of the year was Liz’s impacted kidney stone resulting in 3 episodes of severe acute pyelonephritis and eventually an early trip to the USA. We are grateful for Dr. Terhune’s prompt skillful handling and that Liz is back to health. She is staying on some medications and a diet and especially pushing fluids to avoid further problems. We are most grateful to all - especially to Jeff and Annette Voegtlin, who opened their home to us while Liz was recovering and we were on the road over 4 months, and to Fred and Joan Hubele, who also have made us a “home away from home.”

In terms of the work here, the biggest event is my turning over the pastoral leadership of the main church to Kalow Palata. The original transition was difficult with about 10 persons leaving including two pastoral staff. However, the church has accepted Br. Kalow and rallied behind him, and we are seeing people step forward to fill the holes in our church program and move ahead. I am encouraged, but we need continued prayer for several problems that need to be handled. We are convinced that it is important that we are still here.

The next major event is the Sunny Point Building Project. We have made progress, but the last several weeks have been slow. We are promised that the roof will be started on January 10th, and we trust that we will once again resume good progress. We would certainly like to see the building completed - perhaps by Easter????

The third significant project is opening a new work at Andoe Kampoe. It is too early to predict how things will go, but we are anticipating that a solid work will eventually emerge there, but may take several years. Our next service is January 9th.

Another significant event is the completion of the third and final year of the Advanced Bible Institute. I have just finished preparing the materials for the last module. We are putting all the materials also on DVD. The regular Bible Institute is now strictly by correspondence this year, and I anticipate that the Advanced Bible Institute will also be by correspondence next year.

While we were in the USA, we also had the privilege of teaching an introductory missions block course at Faithway Baptist College in Ajax, Ontario, Canada, and a graduate level course on worldview and world missions at Crown College in Powell, Tennessee as well as further missions classes at Fairhaven Baptist College and Indiana Baptist College. Our originally scheduled course at Independent Fundamental Bible College in New Paris did not work out, so we prepared the materials by DVD. We were also blessed by presenting at a number of our supporting churches as well as new churches.

We continue to pray for the independence of our four churches. The necessary paperwork for the main church is in the hands of the government. If they are satisfied that everything is in order, we should hear within 6 weeks or so that Bijbel Baptist Kerk Jowjowstraat is a governmentally recognized entity. Without that recognition, all business must be done through the mission organization, and we want our churches to be standing on their own two feet. Without recognition, they cannot own property, buy or sell or do any sort of business. Our hope is that quite soon all four churches will be recognized as independent entitities, and that we can then turn over the properties to the churches. We do plan to have an association of the churches to help them work effectively on projects together such as youth camps, speakers from overseas, etc..., but the churches will be independent, and not under another authority - missionary or otherwise.

Thus we thank the Lord for what He has done in 2010, and look forward to 2011. Would you join us in prayer?

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health to be able to continue the work here
2. Our personal spiritual growth
3. Safety on the road - both here in Suriname and in the United States
4. Independence of the churches
5. Continued growth and outreach of the churches, especially Andoe Kampoe
6. Completion of the church building at Sunny Point. We thank the Lord for several gifts over Christmastime toward its completion
7. Solid growth and unity within the churches