BY MATTHEW AND NOELLE HARRISUPDATE
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15
After finishing their study through the book of Revelation in December, the church leaders returned for one last week to recap what they had learned through the Bible. It was a wonderful week of hard work, remembrance, and celebration. Each of the pastors had two final projects: they each had to present the Gospel through a sermon based on a biblical theme as well as prove their knowledge of the timeline of Scripture and the major points of the biblical themes, feasts, and covenants (if you do not understand what that is all about please ask me sometime). It was a blessing to watch them display what they had learned and how far they had come. To their surprise, on Friday morning, they retook the pre-course exam. We could not gain control of the room when the students received the scores they earned at the beginning of the school, along with the scores they had just earned. The commotion was thunderous! On the test covering basic Bible knowledge, men who had been serving as pastors for years and scored as low as 14% on their first day of class were overjoyed with scores of 99-100%! Directly after the excitement, we ushered everyone into the dining hall, where they received a word of encouragement to continue growing in Christ and serving Him.
Unfortunately, the day ended poorly for me as I broke my foot during the sermon that Friday (I had never known I could do that:)). During the sermon, I walked outside to ensure the catering would be done on time, but when I stepped two feet down off of the veranda, my foot landed in a hidden hole and cracked my navicular bone:(. Unfortunately, my right leg was badly mauled by a dog a week later, making it very difficult to walk with crutches. Unfortunately, due to the water scarcity in the dry season, the city water has been cut intermittently, causing Noelle to need to fetch water in cans from the church. Last-unfortunately, our daughter Emma fell backward into a row of large rocks while carrying her sister Charlotte on her back and badly tore a muscle in her upper arm (fortunately, Charlotte was not hurt). In light of all that, it goes without saying that Noelle is tired:).
This month, our family was blessed to receive an intern named Morgan Landrey, who will be staying with us for two months. Morgan is a wonderful young lady from Aurora who simply wants to serve God and experience life on the mission field. During her stay, Morgan will help Noelle homeschool our children, help minister to the widows in our program, teach Sunday School, help write curriculum for the Bible College, serve wherever she can, and most importantly, build relationships with everyone here, including us. By God’s providence, Morgan will also be able to utilize the Business Administration degree she just earned by assisting the ministry accountant and human resource manager in the office. We are excited to witness everything God will do in and through her while she is here.
This month, please pray with us that:
– God would comfort and bless the family of our head pastor, Fred Latim, as they are mourning the loss of Fred’s mother.
– God will bless the churches represented by the 35 church leaders who have just finished their last week of classes with the pastoral school of discipleship. Pray that their churches will be fruitful in the Lord and abounding with good works that are worthy of the name of our Lord Jesus.
– God will bless Morgan’s time with us that she will learn what God has sent her here to learn and accomplish what He has sent her here to do.
– God would heal my legs and Emma’s arm and give Noelle strength and rest as she takes care of us.
