Author name: Lois Gillespie

Yes, we are students again; and like students everywhere, we are very thankful for Christmas vacation! Even though this past semester has flown by, we can see many things that God has been doing. Here are just a few: 

• Not only are we learning French (slowly), we are being reminded of what it’s like to be a student! During some of our frustrating times, we’ve found ourselves saying, “If I ever teach again…” Hopefully, our future MK students will benefit from this! 
• The French program in Quebec is truly a cultural melting pot. We share classes with students from as far away as Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Israel, Korea, China, Japan, etc. As you can imagine, it’s also a religious melting pot, and whether just out of curiosity or even loneliness, we’ve had many opportunities to share the gospel of peace. 
• In November, we gratefully received the news that a faithful-in-prayer supporting church has joined our team of financial supporters as well. 
• Even though our vehicle has an ‘owey’, we were not injured when we did a 360 on a 4-lane highway covered in black ice!
• In the past month, we’ve lined up some extra-curricular activities that will greatly help our French studies. 
• New friends, the Totmans, Gayles, Snyders and Bobergs, are helping to make our time in Quebec very special. Thanks, guys!

…if we were to consider all of 2003, our newsletter would be too long…and we thought about starting with the evacuation from the Cote d’Ivoire in September 2002! We thank you for the part you’ve had in these blessings; your prayers have made it happen.

We’ve definitely faced some challenges as well:

• Living in four different countries within a year has been difficult, not only financially, but emotionally as well. Although we feel we’ve said entirely too many good-byes, we’re enjoying the experience of having friends all over the world. 
• Learning another language is never easy, but we’re finding it’s actually hard work! 
• The need to raise more support before we can return to the mission field (hopefully Summer 2004) as well as the uncertain future of International Christian Academy (ICA) in Cote d’Ivoire has kept us wondering what God is doing in our lives. We’re continually reminding ourselves that we are walking in faith.

The biggest blessing of all has been God’s peace. At ICA, we sang a song with these words: “We can rest content, untouched by troubles.” We are frustrated at times, but His peace has been there for us when we let our walk of faith have its perfect work.

Peace – that’s what this time of year is all about. We?ll hear these words of the angels in Christmas musicals and children’s plays, and many of us will read them again on Christmas morning:

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men.

While many of you will enjoy a “day off” tomorrow (except for the cooks in the family), we will be attending classes as usual. I am surprised each year that a day so important and full of meaning to us in the United States passes unnoticed by the rest of the world.  After classes, we will be sharing Thanksgiving dinner with four other missionary families. We are very thankful that God has given us these friends here in Canada. All of them have “gone before us” and are so helpful in making our way easier. Tomorrow, they will help ease the “missing” in a very big way. Our EBM team members have invited all of the single American students in our class to share dinner with them – a very special way of reaching out. I wish I had thought of it first!

As we near the end of this trimester, our coursework has drastically increased. Although this is a little (OK, very) stressful, we are realizing that we have actually learned some things. We’re finding it almost fun to put together the presentations in French; even delivering them before the class is not as stressful as we expected it would be when we read about it on the syllabus 10 weeks ago. We’re still not comfortable with conversing in French, but we’re beginning to understand more and more. Being comfortable just takes time, as “those who’ve gone before us” keep telling us. We continue to have opportunities to witness. We’ve never had so many people want to know what we believe.  Antonio has gone to church with us several times. Sarah continues to ask questions. Bob’s language partner has asked him to share the differences between Catholicism and our faith during their next session. He has written up an explanation in French that he has asked another language partner to correct for him – very clever! We didn’t anticipate being missionaries here in Quebec. We thought we came to learn the language, not sew the seed. We’ve always heard in our churches that all of us are always on the mission field – we have really learned that truth here in Canada!  

Thank you so much for your prayers and e-mails/snail-mails of encouragement. Please do not hesitate to e-mail us and ask how we’re doing and share your concerns with us. Have a very, very special day together tomorrow as you reflect with us – even though we’re miles apart – about all that God has done, is doing, and wants to do in our lives. Ps. 42:8 says: “the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me.” That covers us all the time! 

Praises:

• friends with whom we can share Thanksgiving
• opportunities to share our reason for Thanksgiving
• progress in learning French
• God’s protection (2 members of our family have had serious car accidents in the past month – God has miraculously protected them both!) 

Prayer Concerns:

• those with whom we share the gospel
• continued progress in learning French and the extra ability to finish all these projects well
• financial needs
• peace in Cote d’Ivoire
• wisdom for the ICA school board as they review the situation in Cote d’Ivoire and make decisions about the coming school year.

Greetings from Quebec. Although we have no snow yet, we are continually warned that it’s on the way. We’re very content to wait!

When last we wrote, we were happy to have found a church home for this year. We continue to enjoy this church and have had some opportunities to fellowship with some of the french-speakers. This has definitely been an added blessing and helps with our learning. On a Sunday night a few weeks ago, all of us who are learning french (There are five missionary couples at this church.) gave a very short presentation – in French. During a cookie fellowship after the service, we all gathered around our displays and fielded questions – again in French. There are several families from West Africa at this church; Bob finds it very interesting that he can better understand their French – after all, that’s where he has learned most all of the French that he knows.

God is giving us opportunities to reach out to others who are learning French as well. All of us are away from home and some are very lonely and open to friendship. Many are drawn to us missionary couples possibly because we are families like the ones they miss, and possibly because of the light that we bear. We try to include them in our get-togethers and invite them to church with us. Even though witnessing is sometimes difficult because often we don’t share a common language, we have had opportunities to share our faith. Reaching out to these new friends involves ‘teamwork’; one of our missionary friends has shared the gospel with Antonio who has gone to church with us and is interested in coming again as well as attending a Bible study. Sarah, a Muslim, has asked Bob what the difference between protestants and catholics is – the same question Bob’s tutor in Dakar asked of him. Juan, whose mother is a Jehovah’s Witness and whose father will have nothing to do with religion, likes to hang around our EBM co-workers, giving them the opportunity to witness. Please pray for these new friends and others who will cross our paths in the days ahead.

We received very welcome news this week of some increased support. Since we believe that God will provide for us, hearing news like this just reaffirms in our hearts what we already know. We trust that in the new year ahead, we will once again see God fully meet our support needs.

Please continue to pray for the missionaries who will soon be making decisions about their future ministries and for the ICA school board who will need to make a decision about re-opening in 2004. Some missionaries have already made the decision for their kids to continue at Dakar Academy because of the continuing instability in Cote d’Ivoire. As we read the news from Abidjan each day, we can understand their decision even though we are saddened by it.

Please pray for:

• our witness to other students;
• Antonio, Sarah, and Juan;
• unusual God-given ability to learn French;
• peace in West Africa;
• wisdom for ICA school board in their decision making;
• direction for missionaries in determining their future ministries;
• increased support needs.