So far so good...

School is just completing it's second full week and we are slowly getting in the groove again of having a regular schedule. It has been especially trying as I have had the opportunity to teach a new class for this semester called Spiritual Formation. It is a freshman course, and all the freshman must take it. It has been an excellent opportunity to get to know them early and encourage them in the area of serving God in the harvest fields.

Friday evening, we will be having our first ever 'Harvesters Retreat' at the West Central Christian Service Camp in Lamonte, MO. Tom & Duonna Worstell are the camp managers there. We have about 40 students signed up to attend and we hope to plan out the semester activities including Missions Emphasis Week in October and get started on Spring Break trips. For Missions Emphasis Week, we were able to invite Ted & Bev Skiles, from the Home of God's Love in Taiwan, to be our guests for the week. This is a great opportunity for the students to hear as we did over 23 years ago! That was the last time Ted spoke at Central!

Dezi has been busy teaching Chinese and running the Harvest House. She has help this year from Tabitha Palmer, a graduating senior who has been a big help. They have been busy selling coffee, cookies, frappes, t-shirts, hats, water bottles, hoodies and other new things. With these funds we are able to have a missions program, send students on mission trips and provide help for students in need throughout the year. Many people simply donate directly in order to help Harvesters in their ministries. Harvesters is a student driven organization that exists to promote missions among the students. We are the faculty advisors and find many recruits for East Asia among the members.

All is well with the family and we feel adjusted with having a new toddler in the house. Raena is now enrolled in pre-school and after only two days, she is speaking many new things in English. We primarily converse with her in Mandarin and our goal is to keep her bilingual if possible.

Keep coming back as soon we will be posting some information about our latest recruits who are in China!