I am now a very happy owner of a Kindle Touch!  A big thank you to my mom who surprised me by sending it out with Ginger Hock as a Christmas gift!  I had been comparing Kindles on line and had it on my list of things to buy someday so I was very excited to receive it as a Christmas gift.  I’ve been downloading free books faster than I can read them.  This is a great gift for a missionary because instead of filing up your luggage with books you can download them onto the Kindle and use the luggage weight for other goodies.

I’m thankful for a good internet system that allows me to download books without any problems.

Frank Puhl and Ginger Hock arrived with all their luggage; three days after they arrived they went to Carnot to attend General Conference with Doug and Jacquie Jensen.  While they were gone I welcomed Berno and Janet back.  Berno is hard at work overseeing the building of the Learning Center at the James Gribble Leadership and Training Center and Janet is back doing the bookkeeping which has significantly decreased my work load and stress level.

Please continue to pray for Berno to pace himself well as he works and for Janet as she does the bookkeeping and returns to teaching women.

During National Conference Pastor Nadjilao was voted in to replace Pastor Mboi Andre as the leader of the Grace Brethren Churches here in the Central Africa Republic.  We will miss having Pastor Mboi Andre in that position but after six years Pastor Mboi is ready to hand over the responsibility to Pastor Nadjilao and focus his time on his ministry out East.

Pray for Pastor Mboi as he continues to work out in the East and for Pastor Nadjilao to have wisdom as he takes over this new position.

Barb Wooler and Miriam Pacheco ended up changing their plans so they did not arrive in January but are making plans to come later on in the year.  For now the guest house is empty, which doesn’t happen very often, so the ladies are busy doing some extra cleaning which is hard to do when we have guests.  We have Mike Taylor, Dave Lewis and Sean Cannone arriving on February 22^nd for one week and then on February 25^th we will be saying good-bye to our colleague Wilfried Dengler as he returns to Germany for home ministry.

I’m thankful for a lighter month of visitors as it gives me extra time to work on other things.

Have a great month!

Heidi

One of the highlights of December is hosting our workers’ Christmas Party.  Above are some pictures that I thought you would enjoy seeing.  Everyone went home with a full stomach, a bag of Christmas cookies, gifts to enjoy with their family and an envelope of cash to help make their Christmas special.

Pray for our faithful workers who serve and minister alongside us each day.

I had a great Christmas here in Bangui!  Supper at the Chinese Restaurant on Christmas Eve was very good and then Doug, Jacquie and I enjoyed ringing in Christmas with the Kasai GBC until after two am.  Sleeping in on Christmas Day was a treat and then I enjoyed Brunch with missionary friends.  Opening up Christmas gifts that my mom had sent out in October was fun and the missionary community got together on Christmas afternoon for a carry-in meal, gift exchange and Christmas games.  I ended the day by Skyping with my family to wish them a Merry Christmas

This was my family’s first Christmas without my dad and I’m thankful for the way the Lord cared for each one of us.

January will be a busy month as Frank Puhl, Africa Regional Director, and Ginger Hock, C.A.R Field Director, arrive on the 4^th to be here to attend the General Conference of the Grace Brethren Churches in Carnot.   Thanks to many of you who prayed for Berno when he had a massive heart attack; he returns on the 8^th!  It is incredible to see how God has restored Berno’s health so that he is able to return and help oversee the building of the Seminary here in Bangui.  Janet Varner received a clean bill of health and she returns on the 11^th which means I will be giving the bookkeeping back to her.  Barb Wooler and Miriam Pacheco will arrive at the end of the month too, so lots of coming and goings around here.

During the General Conference of churches a new leader of the Grace Brethren Churches in the CAR will be voted on; Pastor Mboi Andre has held the job these last six years.  Pray the vote will go well and for the new person who will be taking on this huge responsibility.

May this new year be a good one for all of you!

I wanted to let you all know that my new email address is hsisson@EncompassWorldPartners.org.  Please delete hsisson@gbim.org and put in hsisson@EncompassWorldPartners.org and no you don’t have to capitalize it.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Heidi

I thought you would enjoy seeing a picture of the seminary students who I teach English to every Thursday morning for two hours.  They are all in the second year of classes and have two more years to go before they graduate.

Pray for Daniel, Francois, Cyriaque, Jean and Guy and their families to have good health and learn a lot as they are preparing to be pastors.

I had a very nice Thanksgiving at the US Ambassador’s home and we even had turkey!!!  The Ambassador had two turkeys sent in from Cameroon that we all enjoyed, with lots of yummy side dishes and desserts.  The weather was very nice and everyone was enjoying visiting so much that no one ended up swimming.

Pray that I will have the opportunity to get to know some of the Americans that I meet even better.

In November we hosted Barb Wooler, Frank Puhl and Dan Balmer for the Project Hope and Charity board meetings.  We then said good bye to Karen Foster, who returned back home to Cameroon, and welcomed a team from the Aiken GBC.  Janet Varner left on November 24^th for the States and Lord willing she will return on January 11, 2012.  We then welcomed the Project Hope and Charity Christmas Team of four who came out to put all the orphan Christmas back- packs together.  We have had a lot of people coming and going over this last month, so needless to say the airport badge has come in very handy.

Pray for Janet Varner as she sees her doctors to receive a clean bill of health so she can return to Bangui as scheduled in January, and for me as I do the bookkeeping while she is gone.

This month we said goodby to Tim and Ginger Hock, who left on the 4^th and are returning to the States full time.  Ginger will continue on as a Field Director and Director of Hand and Hand and Tim will be looking for a job stateside.  We will welcome Greg Burgess and Harry Walker who are working on the Pastor Book Set project for one week and will say good-bye to the PHC Christmas Team.  The Jensens and I will host the workers’ Christmas party on Dec 17^th and Christmas Eve will find us at the local Chinese Restaurant with the rest of the missionary community enjoying supper and a time of fellowship.  Christmas Eve we will also join the Kassai GBC as they celebrate Christmas.  We will go out around 9 pm and stay until the end when the young people of the church put on a Christmas play like none other you have ever seen.  The service usually lasts until around two am and then it’s home to sleep in.  On Christmas Day we will get together at the Baptist Mid-Mission for a time of fellowship, gifts and playing games.  New Year’s Eve will find us attending a party to ring in the New Year.  Like many of you we will enjoy yummy food, a white elephant gift exchange, games, talking and praying in the New Year.

Pray for Tim Hock to find a job and for the Hocks as they adjust to living back in the States full time. Also please pray for our families and for us over the holidays for added Grace as we are separated from each other.

Have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Hello everyone!  I wanted to let you know that I no longer work for Grace Brethren International Missions but for Encompass World Partners.  Don’t worry I didn’t change jobs after fifteen years of working for the same place but the mission I serve with has changed their name.  If you would like to know more about the name change go to http://www.EncompassWorldPartners.org. and read all about it.

Heidi