Buzzard Bylines 1987

• Marlita & Bill Walker
  God supplied a new home for us-we moved Dec. 22 with lots of help from my folks. The church provided the down payment loan and we are tickled with the extra space and particular answers to prayer concerning this. Youth ministry continues to have its ups and downs, yet we feel more than ever that we are relating to and enjoying the teens. We want a servant's heart and look forward to really discipling teens, not just programming them (as some parents want). Continue to pray for my parents' salvation. God seems to be doing some softening. Stop by our way!

• Marlene & Paul Wenzel
  Hi everybody! We're keeping busy in our 8th yr. of the pastorate here in Perkasie and enjoying it still. This past summer we had a Wenzel reunion at Lake Gaston NC and it was great! Dad is still teaching but has reduced his load due in part to Mom having chronic back pain for the last year. Traveling seems to be our big news at the moment. Paul will be going to Colombia for 2 1/2 weeks in Feb. to speak at SAM's annual field conference. He plans to visit Strombergs while at SAM's home office in FL. In March, the girls and I hope to San Francisco to visit my sister. Our love to each of you.

• Martha & Jorge Cuevas
  At the present, several things are in the works. We re building a house . We may move into it if it doesn't sell right away but our goal is to build several "spec" houses and make enough to build a house we really prefer, all paid for. God enabled us to pay off the 13 acres we bought a year ago in Sept. I am teaching JB kindergarten at home. We set up school in my folks' basement next door. JB has just started his first reader. We also include Spanish and guitar. My sister & family will be moving to NC right after Christmas. We covet your prayers. The `locusts' have eaten a lot of holes between my sister and both me and our folks. These need to be healed and restored.

• Tricia & Dan Miller
  We're slowly settling in at Waxhaw. Scott and Kim have been doing very well in school although they both sometimes question "whoever invented school anyway?" Dan has been helping out at the hangar part-time and assisting with helicopter flights. They say I'm doing well on the new leg. It becomes more a part of me every day. I wear it until time to hop into bed. My cane stays parked in its little corner even when I go for my daily mile walk. My stump has not yet totally stabilized so I have had several trips to Atlanta to have maintenance and adjustments done on the prosthesis. Thank you so much for praying for me during this time of change and learning. We need wisdom to know when we can plan to return to the Philippines and as we consider either buying or building here in Waxhaw.

  [For those who don't know, Tricia's left leg had to be amputated
  above the knee in April, 1986, several days after a serious
  motorcycle accident in the Philippines. She and Dan were hit from
  behind by a speeding jeepney.]
  

• Rhonda Hartell
  We are into our `winter' a little early. We jumped practically directly from rains to harmattan dust. It's getting into the low 60's at night. I'm working on the 16 survey books that went through a correction of French. I come home an furlough in Aug., but before that I have a workshop in Lome, Togo, and a conference plus teaching a linguistics course in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

• Doris & Neil Wolfe
  Neil is currently coordinator of flight operations at the JAARS Center, a temporary job that includes both management and flying. Please continue to pray concerning a future overseas assignment. There are several possibilities. We need wisdom to decide what is right for our family. Pray too that Andy (7th grade) and Elaina (3rd grade) will be positive testimonies in their schools and on their soccer teams.

  [Update: Wolfes have requested assignment to Brazil; they expect
  to leave Waxhaw around June 1 to visit families and supporters
  and depart on Aug. 1 for the field.]
  

• Ed & Margaret Maehlmann
  We've adjusted to being in a home with just the 4 of us instead of in a dorm with 20 boys. Ed's schedule is quite full with teaching 2 sr. high and 3 jr. high Bible classes. Ed finds a lot of enjoyment and fulfillment in teaching. His contact with students is increasing since his is a work director for the grounds crew. Margaret now works 7 hrs. a day at the radio station, with the first hour spent in production. Rick is progressing well in piano and Monika enjoys singing, doing craft projects, gymnastics and reading.

• Mark & Linda Thomas
  Life is full of happy times and sad times, encouraging times and difficult times, hard times and joyful times. Mark needs wisdom to know direction in future planning and staff needs, as well as local contacts and ministry. Linda is much better but still needs prayer for physical well being. Kyle needs prayer for physical well-being as he has asthma, and both he and Heather need Christian friends. As a family, pray that we will desire and seek a growing deepening relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and with each other.and that we will use our time wisely. Thank you for your thoughts and love and prayers. Each of you is very special to us.

• Armand & Jean LeBlanc
  In Nov., Jean and her co-worker Harriet began a cooking class with 13 Arab girls. This class also includes a lesson from the Bible. In Mar. we hope to start another with a different group of girls. Pray for ability in Swahili and to present the Gospel clearly. During the next 4 months Armand will be meting iwht 5 Asian fellows twice a week because one of our missionaries is on furlough. Three are from Muslim backgrounds and it is encouraging to see their love for the Lord. Armand meets with Abdilahi almost weekly and Swahel occasionally. Both are dealing with God intellectually. Uphold Mohammed, that spiritual hunger would awaken his heart. The children have all begun a new year at school, going into grades 6, 4 and 1. So far they enjoy their new classes and teachers.

• Debbie & Peter Jones
  After one year of teaching missions conferences here in Costa Rica and seeing the need for a practical cross-cultural ethnic training camp, we are amazed at how quickly this burden and vision has become reality. ETNO '86 brought 5 campers to spend 3 weeks learning all they could be prepare them for their future service for Christ. It was a rough and rugged experience but a very precious one for all involved. The Cabecar church is on the move. Already Timothy is planning a short term Bible school for Indian leaders here on this same site. They look forward to the day when they will reach out to other tribes. Thanks to the camp setup, Debbie can be in on the action and yet not feel the stress of always having people around. With four children and visiting staff, our home is a happy hub of activity.

• Al & Daisy Ortiz
  After a difficult summer of travel and sickness which disrupted the continuity of the ministry, the team regrouped in Sept. during a 4 day retreat. Our son Edwin's kidney problem turned out to be a possible tumor needing observation, not the malignancy first thought. The Browers and Walters (Katy Walters was one of the group that prayed us into the Kingdom in 1968) joined our team this fall. Jacobo and Juhany got their visas to visit the States to raise their needed support so they can join us full- time as soon as possible. The house church, although going very slowly, had a nucleus to become the first cluster of churches in Santiago. Ten were baptized in Sept. even though some will face family and social pressures.

• Deb & Paul Haken
  In early April we will have our Cameroon/Chad branch conference which is held every 2 years. New branch leaders will be chosen and policy reviewed. This is a very important time both spiritually and organizationally. We are eagerly looking forward to our next furlough when we will be able to visit with many of you and share in much greater detail our life here. We plan to arrive in the States in early May.

• Pam & Fred Tuggy
  The last week of January, 1986, the Lord allowed us to build our own house out in the desert with a beautiful view of the Catalina Mountains. We designed our `octagon' together and as of May 18 we are living it it although we are still building around us. Pam's health deteriorated seriously during May-July. In July & Aug. we spent 3 weeks at the Mayo Clinic for extensive tests. Just before Christmas, she was diagnosed as having chronic Epstein-Barr virus, a recently discovered disease about which little is known. It is debilitating but not life-threatening. She has probably had it 12 years or longer. She has no responsibilities at the Center right now and few even at home. Please pray for Pam as she needs strength even hourly. The kids shoulder quite a lot of the household chores and are worried for Mom. I need prayer too, especially for patience, understanding and upholding Pam "in sickness and in health."

• Dottie & Stan Smith
  Agusan Sur is the largest province on Mindanao though the So. Bapt. never had a missionary family live her before now. I has the fewest kilometers of roads, which is why I use a Honda 200 trail bike in finding our churches. Week by week, schedules stay flexible as peace and order change or the rain closes down the road into an area or a scattered village will come back together and request that we teach them agriculture, Bible studies and literacy. The Del Monte church is small. Dottie is meeting with the teachers every 2 weeks to help them plan and also to teach. There are other potential opportunities, such as teaching Masterlife or a Bible study with the unsaved.

• Grady & Vicki Merritt
  Homeschooling has gotten us involved with starting a local support group this fall and into political lobbying which led to the defeat of proposed restrictive home school regulations. Our boys are now working on 8th, 5th and 1st grade levels., which is quite a challenge. We've changed local churches and I'm again involved in church library ministry. We've also `adopted' a CBC student from Communist China and are learning much about a culture so completely different from ours.

General updates:

• Chris & Anne Matthies are now part of Spainteam in Madrid.
• Allan & Cindy Bosson welcomed David Andrew on April 2. Allan's discipling has yielded laymen who were able to take over his pastoral duties during the summer while he attended seminar.
• David & Glynis Miller are now serving a church in Huntsville, AL.