May - June 2008
On Furlough
We had a very smooth flight back to the USA on Swiss Air. The airport in Zurich, Switzerland is a great place to rest up between flights. You can shop, take a shower, or rent a small room for a nap.
Our daughter, Cindy, picked us up at the airport and brought us to the apartment where we will be staying this summer. Three years ago we came to America with Cindy and our son, David, to help them get settled in to Bible college. Now they were here to take care of us and help us get settled in for our furlough.
My dad came down from Michigan to see us soon after we arrived. He recently remarried after my mom died a few years ago. We were glad to meet Barbie, my new stepmother. She is a very nice lady who lost her evangelist husband many years ago.
Alan and April both plan to start school this fall at the same Bible college where Cindy and David are. They both found good jobs right away. Alan is working for a lawn care company, and April is cleaning houses with a Christian business lady. They already have money saved up to pay for their school expenses.
Enclosed with this prayer letter is a DVD video presentation that we plan to show to our supporting churches during this furlough. Please take about 12 minutes to watch this up-to-date report about what God has been doing in Oryol, Russia. If I don’t get a chance to visit your church this summer, you may want to show this video to your people.
We were excited to be here to see Cindy graduate in May with her 2-year secretarial certificate. She plans to continue, working on a 4-year education degree.
Our youngest, April, took driver’s training, and finally received her long-awaited license.
Ruth’s mom is still in pretty good health, and it has been great to spend some time with her. She had a leaky roof, so I spent a few weeks removing the old roof and putting new shingles on her home.
Since there were so many family matters to attend to, I only visited a few churches during the first few months of this furlough. I have a full schedule of meetings for the rest of the summer, so I will be traveling to the south, and then to the east coast.
We have paid $28,850 for our church building, which is about 55% of the loan amount. You may want to help by sending a gift to: BIMI, P.O. Box 9215, Chattanooga, TN 37412. Designate it for “Ossewaarde - Project Russian Church Building”.
In the service of the King,
Don Ossewaarde