{"id":820,"date":"2021-01-03T13:41:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T03:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/?p=820"},"modified":"2021-01-03T13:41:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T03:41:26","slug":"happy-new-year-2020-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/2021\/01\/03\/happy-new-year-2020-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year – 2020 in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our family at Christmas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dear Friends and supporters,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your faithfulness to us over this past year. It’s been quite a year for all of us. Although the world has been crazy, God has been so faithful to us. I would like to use this update to look back over 2020 and give glory to God for all He has done in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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January and February<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We started off the year as mom and dad to 6 young men.\u00a0 Robin did a lot of cooking, while my time was spent discipling and working one on one with the boys.\u00a0 It was a real honor to be able to invest in their lives. We enjoyed our 3 semesters with these boys.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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With March came the mid-term school break.\u00a0 During this break we had the opportunity to participate with the senior class in a ministry trip to help build a school building for the first Christian PNG High School.\u00a0 It was an amazing experience, and we had a many great times together with the seniors (including our son Caleb).\u00a0 Little did we know how things would change after that trip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of March, COVID had rocked the world, our school was closed, and we were encouraged to find our way back to the US, since we were \u201cout of a job\u201d, and would have been leaving in June after Caleb\u2019s graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before leaving we were able to have a modified graduation ceremony for the seniors.  The US State Department organized a repatriation flight, and all of the Americans in the senior class, except 1, and their families were able to travel back to the USA together. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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March<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The work team in front of the school<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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NCA Class of 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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April – July<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In America under COVID-19, life felt like it was on pause.\u00a0 We were not able to attend church.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t travel to share ministry updates. \u00a0We stayed home and away from people, except for family.\u00a0 But, God gave us the huge blessing of being able to spend some good quality time with our adult children.\u00a0 We spent time with our future son-in-law, Noah, and got to know him.\u00a0 We had some good quality time with Caleb before sending him off to Bible School.\u00a0 It was a very special time.\u00a0 We also found out that Andrew and Emily are expecting!\u00a0 Their baby is due at the end of January, so we are planning to return to PNG in mid-February.\u00a0 We are very excited to be grandparents, although we haven\u2019t figured out how we got old enough for that. \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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August – September<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah and Noah got married on September 5.\u00a0 We were able to have her wedding, and we were so thankful for our church\u2019s desire to make it happen.\u00a0 Our venue for the reception was canceled, but we were able to have the reception in a tent on the church lawn.\u00a0 God gave us a beautiful day, despite it being the first weekend in September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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October<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We had the opportunity to visit friends of ours who are ministering in Alaska.\u00a0 We had a great experience, saw beautiful countryside, and enjoyed time with our friends!\u00a0 We learned about their member care ministry and were encouraged to pursue training in Biblical counseling.\u00a0 Upon returning from Alaska, Robin was sick with COVID.\u00a0 Thankfully, it was pretty mild for her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

November-December<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here we are at the end of the year.\u00a0 We have been able to share in a few churches, and it has been encouraging to connect with them again.\u00a0 We also recently learned that our family will be expanding again.\u00a0 Hannah and Noah are expecting! \ud83d\ude0a\u00a0 Their baby is due in mid-July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

God has been so faithful this year.\u00a0 He has been in control despite many unexpected twists and turns of life.\u00a0 We have seen God provide financially through your support, and God provided employment for us which enabled us to help our kids with some extra things.\u00a0 We appreciate your prayers, your support, and your love for us as we have continued to minister in PNG.\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends and supporters, Thank you for your faithfulness to us over this past year. It’s been quite a year for all of us. Although the world has been crazy, God has been so faithful to us. I would like to use this update to look back over 2020 and give glory to God for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-prayer-updates","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}