Greetings from cold Florida. Our temperature was down in the 30s last night, but it has warmed up some since. Our house is still cold and my fingers are a bit slow in typing this letter. Guess all those years in the jungle really thinned my blood and cold weather is harder for this Montana boy to endure.
We praise the Lord for the extra help we have at the mission. January always brings a number of snowbirds our way. To some people up north our coldest days here in Florida feel like spring so they are glad to come and lend a hand for a few months. We always have a couple of big maintenance projects planned out for them. This year we are again doing some remodels for missionary housing and guest rooms. Also we are doing the second phase of a project started last year and are making some major changes in the layout of our computer department. Dr. Wally (he will be 86 this year) will be here to build a number of sets of kitchen cabinets, so I will be his right hand man and help with the lifting of heavy plywood and finished cabinets.
Cody is at Bible school up in Wisconsin where it really gets cold. He longs for some of our warm 30 degree nights. He is in his last semester of study. The job he liked last year ended when it got really cold and he started to work at MacDonalds. Now with the economic crunch hitting so many people, even fast food places are hurting and Cody is not getting the hours he needs to pay his school bill. Please pray with him that he could finish this semester without owing a lot on his school bill. His future plans are to get his pilot and mechanic licenses and become a missionary pilot. He is looking into Moody flight training and a few other options. Please pray for him in this decision.
We got word a couple weeks ago that our son, Jason, got laid off from his job in Grand Junction, Colorado. They went to Arizona where Tiffany’s father lives and Jason was able to get a job down there while staying with some of her family. Now his other employer wants to hire him back so they must decide what to do. Their house is in Colorado so that is a big plus for moving back to Grand Junction. Please pray that they will know the mind of God in this decision.
Our daughter, Heather, has two more years to go at the University of Central Florida. Please pray that she will maintain her Christian testimony and principles in a secular society. Heather with new baby bunny.
Haley, our youngest, is a sophomore at Crooms Academy. She is doing well in all her classes. Crooms is a public school, but is much smaller that the high school where Cody attended. It is the magnet school for Information and Technology here in Seminole county.
Please pray for us as we continue to minister here at New Tribes Mission USA headquarters. It is our desire to be a blessing to all our missionary family, both those who pass through here on their way to and from the field and those still ministering in the tribes. Our work here enables them to better do their work there of translating and teaching the Bible. Your prayers and support for us are appreciated and we want to remind you that you, too, are having a part in reaching the unreached with the Gospel.
Thank you for being a part with us in this. We pray God would bless you and meet your needs in this new year.
Reaching the Tribes for Him,
Phil and Jackie Burns.
Leave a Reply