December Newsletter '11

Greetings,

December is finally here! Emily kept on saying on how long it took for November to end, but now we're already a week into the last month of 2011, oh how time can fly! Look to this month's report to include our wonderful Thanksgiving Day celebration, our Windermere Fund Raising Banquet, and our playoff bout with the "underdog" Windermere Warriors Boys Basketball team!

______________

Happy Thanksgiving

We were so blessed this year to have all our close friends over for a full day of giving thanks and enjoying one another's friendship. Thanksgiving Day in the Bahamas is quite different from in the US, but once you get everyone around the table and dishes start passing hands and stories told and games played - it feels just like home!

Micah had a great time with his new friends. One little girl named Javana is his same age and the two of them always love to play together. However, Micah has a friend back in the US named Savannah, and he has a hard time pronouncing Javana, so instead he says, "Ja-Savannah!" Its pretty cute, and she doesn't seem to mind.

We are so thankful this year for all God's loving provision. For heath and joy, for our loving families, and for the joy of serving Him. We pray that you find throughout the year and especially during the holiday months ample opportunity to express your "thanks" to Him.

Click HERE to see pictures from Thanksgiving 2011

______________

The Windermere Warriors

The basketball team here at school has all but disappeared. From years past, once the last missionaries in charge of the team left for the US, not much has happened for developing a basketball program. In conjunction with the slow demise of the team, the school itself has a lower enrollment, so putting together a competitive team is more difficult to begin with.

Fellow Coach, Dale Bourne, and myself have taken it upon ourselves to breathe new life into the basketball team. This past month we had our first ever Island Tournament. It didn't start out so well. We had to enlist our team made of 7th - 10th graders in the varsity division! We only have 2 seniors, and 1 of them has never played basketball before in his life! But by the time we played a few games in the tournament, you'll never believe what happened…

Click HERE to read more about the Windermere Basketball Team

______________

Update

This past month we held a fund raiser for the school. Like any private Christian school, the fund derived from tuition are not enough to keep the organization going. Thus, we depend on the generous donations from alumni and local sponsors. While this year's banquet could have had a better attendance, it was still almost record breaking in donations!

Emily has been staying very busy, enjoying teaching the 5th grade. She is very excited about all the Christmas decorations and she has started the advent calendar with Micah and having so much fun. We are both looking forward to going home for Christmas and celebrating with family and friends.

Micah is getting more and more independent. He picks out his own clothes now and tries to dress himself. He has also been preparing for his Christmas concert with his preschool class - so stay tuned for more information and pictures from that in next month's prayerletter.

______________

Prayers and Praises

Praise God this month for His lovingkindness and His faithful provision. While we've got some immediate needs, we know that He has proven Himself in the past - and so we can trust the future.
Praise God for our local fellowship of friends in the community
Praise God for the many opportunities I've had to speak in churches and develop relationships with many local congregations

Please pray for God to meet all our needs, both presently and for the upcoming Christmas season
Pray for safe travel as we will be heading back to Ohio for 2 weeks
Finally, pray that God's people will welcome the Christ child as our great champion who has freed us from slavery to sin, death, and fear!

______________

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers and your involvement in our ministry with God's mission. To find out more about support CLICK HERE.

- Ryan Emily and Micah Flunker