Sunday, May 06, 2007

Spring 2007 Update

Dear Friends,
We sure hope that all is well with you, and that this letter contributes to building you up in your most holy faith. Since we wrote you last (in early December) we have had 2 more additions to the family. Devon Andre Ashton was born to Chia and Jeanie on December 3 and Halle Jordan Peters was born to Andy and Cheryl on December 31. Both babies are doing well and are growing up too fast. While we’re on the subject of family, we would like to announce that CLIMB’s first missionary family is the Ashtons. They applied for missionary status under CLIMB several months ago, and just 2 weeks ago were accepted. Their focus will continue to be on reaching the Indo Canadian youth of Abbotsford, but now they will do it on a full time basis. This is a huge step of faith for them as they have to raise all of their support.

CHANGES
Okanagan Language School has existed in the facilities of Emmanuel Assembly for the past 4 years. We believe OLS has been a blessing to the nations. In 4 years, students from S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Armenia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Mexico, Guatemala and Quebec have studied at OLS. Many of these students have come to faith in Jesus Christ. We give Jesus all the glory. It’s been almost 2 years since we resigned as the Associate Pastor of Emmanuel and launched CLIMB Intercultural Society. One of the clear purposes in the missions' mandate of CLIMB is to bring ESL (English as a Second Language) to the nations, showing indigenous churches and missions organizations how they can use this powerful tool for evangelism. The Lord has clearly impressed on us and the leadership of CLIMB to move towards being more proactive in taking ESL to the nations - developing the mobile side of our ESL calling. The Lord has shown us this through His Word, prayer and fasting, clear signs, and as a result of Him taking us back to our original and primary call - going to the nations. Because of this we will close the doors of OLS at Emmanuel on June 30, 2007. For us this means yet anther step of faith as OLS has been a personal source of income for us.

How do we proceed from here? I will continue with Climb projects currently underway and in the works. Carrie will be devoting her time to developing curriculum for taking ESL camps and schools to the nations. We have done this successfully 4 times in the past two years. We are already working towards going back to Thailand at the end of 2007. We look forward to taking young and/or experienced TESL teachers and exposing them to missions’ adventures. Before us, we have many requests to come so it will be a matter of knowing from the Lord where and when. There will be numerous opportunities for others to join us on missions trips in the future. We will keep you informed of our comings and goings. We covet your prayers as we move in this direction.

Summit Pacific College has offered us the position of Missionaries in Residence (MIR) from September to December /07. They have also asked me to teach a course or two. We have felt for almost a year a tug in our hearts to move to the Lower Fraser Valley. The Lord’s prompting in our spirits, the offer from Summit, the fact that our house sold while we were in Guatemala and the CLIMB Board’s full support have all contributed to our decision to take the position at Summit. The college has offered us free housing on campus, however, more than likely we will set up the CLIMB office there, and look for a more permanent place to live in the Mission/ Abbotsford area. The college has assured us that we can continue the operations of CLIMB while there and that they will always find replacements for us in our absence. This position does not offer a salary. As always, we are moving forward by faith. Jesus leads us and He is our source.