We were blessed to have snow fall the day after we arrived in St Louis and Matimu had a great time playing in it! Though he experienced snow the last time we were in the US (2013), he’s forgotten all about it, so this was basically a first time experience for him! We hope for a few more snows in the next few months.
Sorry for the silence since we’ve arrived in the US! It’s been very busy so far, but also very nice and refreshing for us. We had a great time spending the holidays with both of our families, and then we came out here to the St Louis area where we’ve been loaned a great house to use during our home assignment. Matimu has been able to really enjoy the snow and ice we’ve received so far and David has begun walking! Matimu has also enrolled in Kindergarten at the local school and he’s very much enjoying it there. So there are a lot of new experiences for our kids and it’s been really great so far for us to enjoy this time together here with them!
Here are our phone numbers while we’re in the US – give us a call or text us your number!
Adam: 479-262-4578
Lora: 479-262-4508
Matimu joined Kindergarten at the local school here, which has been a big new experience for him, but also a great one. On his first day of school, he did a little mini-presentation about Madagascar for his classmates: showing photos and talking about them and showing the kids where Madagascar is on the globe. We’re very proud of him!
During this time we’ve also been working on our travel and speaking schedule while here in the US, and we’re excited about all the opportunities that have come up. Very soon we’ll be travelling to Tulsa and we’re hoping to see many of you there!
Listed below is our schedule for our home assignment so far, including some tentative ideas. Our time is beginning to fill up, but we still have quite a lot of time available to meet up with people and to share at your church or home group. During the school year (until May), we won’t travel more than about 5 or 6 hours from St Louis (so mostly just the Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma area) and we hope to limit most of our travel to the weekends only. If you’re within that travel distance and would like us to come share at your church or Christian group on the weekend, let us know! After May, we’ll be available to travel further within the US and we’re still working out the details of several potential trips. So just let us know if you’re interested in having us come visit or speak and we’ll make a plan! Or if any of you are passing through the St Louis area at some point, let us know and we can try to meet up!
And for those of you who may have missed our ministry video, here’s a link to it again: VIDEO: On Distant Shores. It’s a great overview of the Antakarana people and our team’s ministry to them over the last few years. Feel free to share it with anyone you’d like.
Feb 11-17: Tulsa, OK
Feb 11 evening – unavailable
Feb 12 morning – sharing at Sanctuary Church, 9:30 am and 11:15 am,
Feb 12 afternoon/evening – sharing at a local home church
Feb 13 afternoon – teaching on Sustainability in Missions and Development at ORU, 1:15pm and at 2:15pm
Feb 13 evening – meeting with First Fruits Ministry
Feb 14 morning – sharing with International Community Outreach Interns
Feb 15 – available
Feb 16 morning – teaching in the Multicultural History class at Union High School
Feb 16 evening – unavailable
Feb 17 morning – unavailable
Feb 17-20: Fort Smith / Van Buren, AR
Feb 19 afternoon – speaking at Regeneration Church at 2pm
March 4-5: Van Buren, AR
March 6-13: Tulsa, OK
March 7 evening – sharing with the International Student Ministry student gathering at 7:30 pm
March 9 evening – get-together with friends in Jenks (call me if you want to come!)
March 10 evening – unavailable
March 12 morning – speaking at All Nations Vineyard Church at 10:30am
March 12 evening – sharing at a home group Bible study in Jenks
We had a great time celebrating Christmas with both our families. Most of Adam’s family was in Arkansas for Christmas and it was a great experience for us and our kids.
April 13-17 – holiday with family (we’ll be unavailable)
April 23: De Soto, MO (near St Louis) – sharing at De Soto Community Church of God, interview at 10am service, and potluck and more sharing at 6pm
April 30: St Louis, MO – teaching about “folk Islam” at West County Assembly of God at 9:45am
May 7: near Atlanta, GA – sharing at Life Ethiopian Church in Lilburn at 11am
May 8-23: Destin, FL – time with family, but we can schedule 1 or 2 speaking engagements in the nearby area during this time
May 23-28: Atlanta, GA area (Clarkston and Roswell)
May 25 – sharing with a homegroup Bible study in Clarkston
May 27 daytime – sharing with a Malagasy church fellowship in Clarkston at 2pm
May 28 evening – sharing with a home group in Roswell (tentative)
June 1-17 – unavailable (anniversary/vacation traveling)
June 27 – July 2: Tulsa, OK
July 1 morning – speaking at King Solomon Baptist Church in Sapulpa at 10am
July 3-5 – holiday with family (we’ll be unavailable)
July 6-11: Nashville, TN
July 9 – sharing at Sacrament Church at 10am
July 23: Urbandale, IA – sharing at Urban Heights Covenant Church
July 25-30: Minneapolis, MN area
August 20: St Louis, MO – sharing at West County Assembly of God at 8:15am and 11am
Many of Lora’s family are in the St Louis area, so it’s been a great opportunity for us to spend more time with them. This is Lora’s grandma in the middle. And David has learned to smile for the camera!
If you’re in one of those places at the same time as us, we’d love to meet up with you and see you, for a meal or coffee or just to hang out! And if your church or Christian group would like to have us come speak or share, we would love the opportunity. Just let us know when you’re interested and we’ll do our best to schedule it in our available time. Especially for all our friends and supporters in Tulsa: our first visit in February is already very full, but we still have some time available and we’d love to see you. And if February doesn’t work out, then we’ll try again in March and probably in April. We’re excited to be here in the US for this time and we want to make the most of it by visiting with as many of you as we can, and by sharing about what God is doing in the far reaches of Madagascar!
In Christ,
Adam, Lora, Matimu, and David
Along our return to the US, our whole team stopped in South Africa where we held our “Final Debriefing”. Our team successfully graduated from the two-year Training in Ministry Outreach program in which we taught and led them for the last few years!
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