NEWS MID DECEMBER 2016

Dear Friends,

A colleague recently asked me, how many miles I actually cycle on a regular basis? I estimated, a slack week 50 miles, but some weeks easily 100 miles per week.

Five evenings a week, I find myself sat at the supper table with 6 boys. Their ages range from 10 to 20 years old. Often, there has not been much to say. Recently I started teaching them Luo (that is, their own mother tongue). It has been fascinating! Not that I know Luo better than they do, but they do not always know what they know. The assumption is that Luo ‘works like’ English, which it doesn’t at all. So, I can talk to them about what it is to be a Luo, i.e. what it is to be not-English. I hope in future this may help them to value themselves. (While talking to the boys, I notice that the girls who eat sat in the kitchen are often also overhearing. Sometimes we bring them into our conversation by asking questions into the kitchen.)

As I write . . . I am shortly to return to the annual youth conference of my home-denomination here in Kenya. We have about 140 young people. The 4-day conference is going very well. I have been doing some translation for an Indian visiting-preacher, as well as taking a session or two myself. It is a privilege to be involved at such an event, with people many of whom I’ve known well for up to 23 years.

Below is my anticipated programme for a visit to Canada and the USA next year. Details may still change. Prayer valued, and any suggestions as to additional visits that I might make. I hope to share, especially with young people, about Christian mission in practice, at the various locations and colleges:

15th to 17th September 2017 – Evangelical Missiological Society conference, Dallas, USA.

18th to 22nd September 2017 – visiting the Woods family in Vancouver, Canada, plus visits to local seminaries /Bible colleges.

23rd to 29th September 2017 – visiting Bible colleges and seminaries in and around Portland, Oregon, USA.

30th September to 6th October – visiting Bible colleges and seminaries in and around Los Angeles, staying with family.

7th October to 11th October 2017 – visiting Oklahoma Christian University.

12th October to 20th October – visiting Bible colleges and seminaries in and around Dallas.

21st October to 29th October 2017 – visiting Bible colleges and seminaries in and around Chicago.

30th October to 3rd November 2017 – visiting Eastern University and Palmer Seminary, Philadelphia.

4th to 6th November – visiting relatives.

7th to 12th November – Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pittsburgh (including : our vulnerable mission conference).

13th November to 21st November 2017 at Anderson University (Church of God), Anderson, Indiana.

Jim