UPDATE - John & Wendy Bovard, IGM Missionaries, Kenya, Uganda and DRC 1/29/10

Greetings from the Heart of Africa in the name of Christ. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, God promises to “make all things beautiful in His time”. We begin this New Year with thanksgiving to our God and Savior for His faithfulness to us. We thank God for a very good ending to a very difficult year, as we were able to spend the holidays with all of our children and grandchildren. It is so nice to have them all so near in Kenya, and it’s amazing to see what wonderful parents our kids have become. I don’t remember having that much patience, but they say I did.
 
FAMILY NEWS
Reah is doing beautifully and continues to serve as the director of the Morning Star Ministries since the death of her husband last year. Her little Sandra is gaining weight and loves her mommy. Reah and Sandra are both miracles and we know that God has tremendous plans for both of them. Sandra’s father had a real vision for children and I know that Sandra will see the victory that her father could only dream of.
 
Beka and Ryan and the girls are doing such a precious ministry for the children of Kenya. Beka is awesome with the puppets in 3 languages and Ryan is turning into quite a preacher. They have moved closer to Nairobi so they can be nearer to Reah and minister together with her. They are giving much needed support to Pastor David and the NaroMoru Children’s Home as well.   
 
Jonathan and his wife continue working hard and caring for little Jimmy. He is so much like his daddy. I got a great picture of him parking his little tricycle next to his daddy’s big motorcycle and recalled Jonathan beginning his career in engineering at a very young age. It must have been a good thing since he is drilling some of the most difficult water wells in Africa these days.
 
Ruthie is just recovering from the H1N1 Swine Flu. There was a terrible outbreak at her school, but the kids are all responding well to the treatments and the school is doing everything they can to stop the flu from spreading.
 
David is back in school and is walking without assistance after almost a year of body casts and wheel chairs. He still has quite a limp, but the sparkle in his eye says that he wants to take off running at any moment. He turned 15 last week and has more courage than I’ve ever seen. His testimony has touched so many here and in Uganda as they watch him struggle and finally overcome. Stanley has gained some weight and is a very good reader. He has many friends and his laughter is quite contagious.
 
MINISTRY NEWS  
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) we are working with 13 Bible churches. Ruthie went with John to the Congo for the December Mission with some of our Kenya pastors and they had a wonderful time blessing the church members and pastors. Ruthie taught them several songs and it was great to hear their praises to God. John held a Pastor’s evangelism conference and in the evening showed the Jesus film. They saw many come to trust in Jesus as their Savior. John returns to the Congo in February to organize the year's planning and to develop a headquarters where we can base our Congo and Rwanda operations. The goals for this year include Through the Bible training and Bible literacy, and distribution of 10,000 French Bibles. Bearing Precious Seeds, out of Ohio, is helping us get the Word of God into the hands of Congolese who need to know God’s love. Ryan and Beka will be passing out thousands of New Testaments to the children in the public schools.
 
Just across the border, Wendy was able to re-open the in-house ministry for the formerly abducted child mothers in Northern Uganda, and during the 9 week program saw 26 of the 28 girls accept Christ. These girls literally turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Wendy opened another 40 literacy classes so the women can learn to read the word of God in their Acholi language and has distributed hundreds of Bible all over the district. She is a tremendous blessing and encouragement to the missionaries in Northern Uganda. Pray for the new group of girls coming this month, that God will continue to transform lives for His glory.
 
Wendy has been asked to go to Haiti for a few weeks and lead a trauma response team there. She will be developing a national trauma program for the children of Haiti with a team of African trauma specialists. It is a tremendous opportunity for Africans to give back what they have been given over the past several years. Pray for the people of Haiti; our hearts and prayers are with them.
 
Special Needs:

• Monthly support and Prayer for Reah Bovard Githaiga and her children’s ministry.  
• Continue Praying for the Congo Outreach and support needed; $750 US a month
• Health and strength for David and safety for Jonathan
• We need a TEAM of prayer partners
• Support for NaroMoru Baptist Children’s Home
• Funds to bring the Bibles from Nairobi to DRC
• Need a covered trailer to pull behind our truck and funds for fuel to take the Bibles into rough areas.  - Please mark any donations "Delivery Funds For Bibles"
• Need a new LCD projector and generator to show Bible films and do teaching.

 
Thank you all for your financial support this past year and for your continued prayers and love. May God bless you all so much. Proverbs 3:5-7