Newsletter January 2006...
2005 Photo Highlights – People in our Lives at Home and Abroad
We thank our God every time we remember you. In all our prayers for all of you, we always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:4-6
Kemit and Sarah Baumgardner, retired to Albuquerque from Indiana years ago, are dear friends and strong supporters of our work in many ways. Besides shared meals and conversations with counsel and prayer, Sarah designed Paul’s initial business systems. Kemit and Paul read books together, and Stephen and Kemit have spent countless hours in Kemit’s garage building balsa wood model airplanes in earlier years.
Extended Family ...
Throughout our almost twenty years in Albuquerque we have spent many enjoyable holidays with family in Kansas. Thanksgiving week of 2005 was another of these times with Paul’s sister Carol, Mom Ford, and “sister” Susan McConnell.
After a two-summer hiatus, what joy to again be involved in a Bible study this past summer. With life-long friends Janet Spence and Sheryl Anello, we delved into Colossians. I always enjoy including a fresh face, here being Rita Garcia.
Every Wednesday at 6:30 a.m., whether Paul is in town or not, these gentlemen descend upon Paul’s office to discuss Scripture and related issues of importance, and to pray for each other. No only are Alan Fowler, Marshall Moranz, Randy McComas, and Mike Hermann precious friends of ours, but their wives and children are as well.
As Stephen’s mother, “We the People” National Competition in Washington, D.C. in May will always be a highlight of our son’s high school experience. Pictured with Stephen are Chad Adcox and Mario Osornio who are continuing their studies this year at the University of New Mexico. Stephen has been accepted at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan and plans to attend beginning in the fall of 2006.
The Randy Marshall family (father and three sons here minus Mom Shelley) in Kiev, Ukraine, continue to bring smiles and laughter into our lives. Oleg, a brother in Christ, is representative of the hundreds of nationals Paul has privilege to come alongside each year. His leadership is critical in their cell church in Kiev.
Heldur, an Estonian, plus Pastor Nicolai and his wife, both Russians, welcomed us with open arms in Estonia in early April. They are Christian leaders of the future in this small Baltic nation, a former soviet republic just south of Finland in the Baltic Sea.
Praise God for my return to health for 18 months now! In July, our Board of Encouragement asked that Paul step away from ministry to re-coup two more months of his lost Sabbatical in 2003, amidst my ill health. Paul is hoping to take March and May, in part to coincide with Stephen’s high school graduation. While there will be no formal fund-raising process as there was in 2003, you are welcome to participate in providing the needed $6500 for Paul to step away from his fee-based side of his work for those two months. Contact us here.
