Newsletter – Summer 2018

Dear friends,

The summer is quickly passing and here in Fairbanks we are starting to see the gold leaves of fall. Like life itself, the days fly by from the spring of our life with all its anticipations to the summer with its daily chores, to the fall when things slow down a little for many.

In June, Jack Benson, Steve Weis, Gary Woody, and I of the Reap board met in Manila and traveled together to Virac. (Lorrie is also on the board, but she helped Cindy Weis in Florida care for Steve’s aging father.) Below is Gary’s report on the trip.

“It has been a fruitful week in Virac. I knew when we came to Virac that there had been a change in the administrator of the school and there were some new programs being added. Since January, the school staff had built and stocked a fish pond, started a piggery, planted fruit trees and started a vegetable garden.

I didn’t know how many decisions we would be asked to make or the men of God I would get to meet during our brief time in the Philippines. After meeting with several people, we decided to open the school to many more churches. We joined with a local vocational school to do values training. They agreed to send 80 students per month for a two-day Values Training seminar (they have 1500 students in their school.)

I believe the school is in a very good place but needs our prayers as it expands in new directions in the future.”

Since returning from the Reap board trip, many local pastors from other churches have expressed their support for the school and the new administrator. The local vocational school has begun their Value’s Training classes on campus. I am particularly excited about these classes as we will have the opportunity to influence about 1000 young people per year, many who do not know Christ as their savior.

Please pray for the new administrator and his wife, the school board, the staff, and the students as they continue to walk through and implement changes. Though we do not know the future, we anticipate God will continue to lead us as He has faithfully in the past.

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Nels, Lorrie, and Amy