Flying October

October is flying by! Today is our second day of parent/teacher consultations and at noon, we are sent off for 9 days of mid-term break. I know, it seems like I go to work far less than I have vacation. :-) It's one of the joys of being in a country with two presiding religions and the British school system- long breaks, Muslim holidays, and Christian celebratations! All of these things make for a lot of days off school!

Want to hear some recent events of interest and for prayer?:

1. My compoundmates and I had church on the rooftop last week and it was awesome! We talked about unity and how God has blessed us with an extraordinary supply of it! We had a chance to have half hour one-on-ones with each other and talk about where our relationships were with God and each other. The time was then ended with a hand-washing (rather than a foot washing because two of my friends are phobic about feet. :-)) and time of prayer! Praise God for His answer to all of YOUR prayers for our unity! Please continue to pray for God's work through me relative to ministering to those who live around me though. Pray especially for two ladies whose names God knows that need his healing and his help in being open and genuine before others. They have been afraid of rejection and deeply hurting, so PLEASE pray that they would know God's touch and His power to overcome Satan's strongholds.
2. After we return from break, my housemate Emily and I will be taking our community service club for their first session of community service. Please pray that their hearts would be open to the poor and oppressed and that you would give us the opportunity to preach the gospel in our words and our actions as we play sports, eat food, and play games with the kids!
3. My compoundmate Laura and I have had it very much on our hearts to have more desperate times of prayer for HOPAC and this country, so we have begun getting up at 5:30 in the morning 3 times a week in a spirit of discipline and love for the Lord and His people. Please pray that God would grant us perseverance in this and that our humble and desperate prayers would cause the Lord to come down and move in us and this place!
4. One of my students, Shanev, is new to HOPAC and is in 3rd grade this year. He is Nepali and his parents are split up, mom living in Germany and dad living here. He has been going to school in Germany until this year and has now moved here with his dad. He has fit in well here with the other 3rd graders, but his academic ability is just not suitable for the class. While the rest of the class is studying multiplication and division, he and I are working on basic addition and subtraction. While his fellow students are studying 25 spelling words, he is doing a reduced list of only 10 and maintaining a 38% average. As such, we had to inform his dad today at parent/teacher consultations that it is very likely that he will not be able to continue at HOPAC past Christmas. Please pray that God would give his dad wisdom in discerning what is best, that He would grant comfort to Shaun, and that He would give us opportunities to minister to him (his family is Hindu) as well as make a wise, Godly decision about what will be best for Shaun in the long-run.
5. I am going with 5 other HOPAC teachers tomorrow for a quick 3 day, 2 night safari at Mikumi Game Park! Please pray for safety and for a good time of fellowship.

Thank you for your prayers! God is answering and He's doing mighty things!