Hi All,

After a long stay in North America, we are back home in Malawi. We had a good time visiting with friends and family. We also welcomed the newest member to our family, Eli James.

It is 0500 hrs and I am sitting on the veranda listening to the birds and the other sounds of early morning nature. As I sit here, once again I am so grateful to Jesus for picking me up out of my mess and sin so many years ago and calling me to this life here in Mozambique. I truly love my life, I guess because I am so in love with the Jesus who lives in me.

As we said at the end of our last update in July 2012, we returned to Canada for a season, primarily for the birth of our first child. It was a time of stretching and change, and while it was great to spend time with friends and family it was also strange to have our involvement with everything in Nepal be placed on hold for six months. Sometimes it felt like our whole journey in Nepal was like a road trip and our time in Canada was like lingering at a rest stop on the highway. We were still traveling but not exactly going further down the road either.

Returning to Malawi (after a season in Pemba and Canada) made my heart jump for joy! It’s always so good to renew friendships and partner with what God is doing.

It has been almost 4 months now since I uprooted from all that was comfortable and familiar and planted myself on Cambodian soil. What a learning curve it has been! From the practical learning of an Asian language that sounds completely foreign to anything I've heard before, to the spiritual deepening of the fact that God is the only solution and being completely dependent on him.

We are in training of various kinds. Patrick and David are training for an international bike race in Luwawa. They try to ride 30 km three times a week. With another years growth and much more intensive training, both expect to improve on last year’s race. Patrick, Daniel, and Kalina have all been part of our Iris Running Club in preparation for the CURE Hospital Fun Run in late April. My physical training is a lot less strenuous.  I try to walk, ride or swim several times a week.  

Our missionary life in Pemba, northern Mozambique has never lacked for challenges. And in the last few months here even more challenges than usual have confronted us.

Much has changed since my last update.  I became the Media Director for our Yei base, which means that I am now  in charge of our website, Facebook, twitter, photos, videos and pretty much anything else that has to do with media.  And so, I am always busy making videos, updating our website, taking photos or coming up with new ideas that will help others to understand the ministry of Iris South Sudan.

Our time here has passed so very quickly. It is hard to believe that we are returning home to Canada next week. We are hoping/planning on returning for a longer period of time later in 2013.

It has been wonderful being with the boys and girls and our missionary friends again these past three months.

It has been a busy time in the workshop. Bob has 3 Mozambicans working alongside and together they have been able to accomplish quite a bit for the centre. Here’s a list of what’s been built:

17 small tables for the school

One of our Iris girls recently had her 16th birthday. On the eve of her birthday she ran over to my house wanting to spend to time with me. We were chatting about life and getting ‘older’. I asked her what she wanted to be for real when she grows up. She took a minute and then said, “I really do want to be a teacher.” She continued to say “I am going to be a teacher here and they will not even recognize where I have come from!” Curious about what this meant, I asked her to explain.