She Said, “Yes”!

As we look at this new year, we have several exciting events to look forward to as a family—the arrival of our 2^nd grandchild, a Bible school graduation, and a wedding! Having our grown children as young adults now does not mean we are any less busy!

Over Thanksgiving break Josh proposed to his girlfriend, Sarah Elroy, and she said “YES!”. Sarah’s parents are also missionaries with NTM and they have served the Lord in Asia Pacific, specifically in the aviation program, as her dad is a pilot. Josh and Sarah met at New Tribes Bible Institute and quickly developed a friendship, that started mainly through dorm events (they were brother/sister dorms), which soon blossomed into romance. Josh will graduate from Bible school on May 14^th and they are planning their wedding for July 23, 2016 in Waukesha, WI. We are happy to welcome another daughter to our family! We would appreciate your prayers for all the planning and preparations for their special day.

Bethany and Zach continue in their ministry at NTBI Waukesha. They enjoy parenting Mason (1 ½ yr.) and are excited to welcome their baby GIRL (our 2^nd grandchild!) to their family, due April 15^th. We enjoyed a few days with them over the holidays, and had so much fun with Mason, who is constantly growing, changing and learning new things. Please pray for them as they prepare for another little life to make her appearance and for her health and growth and a continued safe pregnancy for Bethany. Her pregnancy was considered high risk because she had placenta previa, which thankfully has resolved itself, but the baby has been measuring small, so they have been monitoring her frequently with ultrasounds. Praise the Lord with us as we recently received word that the latest ultrasound showed a marked improvement in the baby’s growth—she’s up to 22% from 9%! Please keep praying for her proper growth and development.

BJ and Carissa had an incredible ministry trip to Argentina and Brazil over their Christmas break. During their 3 weeks in Argentina, they volunteered at a hostel for Israeli backpackers—a place they hope to model their own future hostel after. They were able to see and experience first-hand the day-to-day running of it and gain better understanding of this amazing ministry. The week they were in Brazil was spent checking out possible future ministry locations and scouting out the Jewish community. Please pray for them as they continue the Jewish Studies program at Moody and prepare for the ministry with Israeli backpackers that God has called them to.

Charity continues living and working in Chicago. She loves her nanny job and her involvement with the Children’s Ministry in her church there. She is still dealing with health issues and we would appreciate your prayers for her with that. We are trusting the Lord with Charity to provide for her to go to Idaho this summer for treatments with a doctor there that BJ & Carissa both treated with and have had great results. Please also pray for God’s provision and direction as she and her friend/housemate are currently looking for a new apartment to rent with a little more space, hopefully in their current vicinity, as it is close to their employment, church, etc.

Here at the MTC we are preparing for a 3-day MK Summit where we will host people who represent MK education and care for our mission. After this we will be involved in a class for our missionary candidates covering the topics of education and care for their children. John is getting more involved in various committees and areas of responsibility here at the training center. Please pray for wisdom for us to know how much he should take on without getting overloaded. Melanie is thankful to be feeling better after battling a bad sinus infection and cold the whole month of February. Please pray for her health as her load will be increasing in the coming days.

So you can see our whole family has a lot going on! We are trusting for the Lord’s provision as we anticipate making some trips to be with our kids for these extra family events (and other related things) happening in the coming months. Thank you for standing with us!