Kathy Keller- Prayers for 2011

Dear Friends, Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support.  I appreciate you!  Thanks for praying for me as I was in Michigan for three weeks learning so much at a growth retreat to help build my skills as a leader.   I am praying that God strengthens me as a person and as a leader through all I learned.  We studied many topics, some of which were stress management, burnout, communication styles, conflict management, goal-setting, Sabbath, parting well, facing adversity, third culture kids, depression, joy, forgiveness, anger, loss and grief, community, positive parenting and the list went on and on!  Let’s just say that I definitely learned a ton!  Pray that I will both apply all I can to my own life as well as be better equipped to helping others who are going through all kinds of joys, sorrows, culture shocks, adjustments, and such on our team.  Please keep praying for me as I am still working with potential candidates to help them decide if joining our Training in Ministry Outreach (TIMO) team is a good fit for them.  Pray for the folks who are interested in our team and going through the process of applying.  Pray God would clearly lead and direct all of us involved.  Pray for us as we are preparing for the September 2011 start date.  We have decisions that need to be discussed with our partnering missioXn, homes to find for our new teammates, and ongoing ministry to boot. We are excited about receiving two teams this summer, both of which are from teammates sending churchXs (including mine!).  We are facing a few roadblocks in terms of scheduling with schools, timelines the teams are on, and our team timing as well.  Pray that we can work all of this out. One thing I took away from the three weeks was to make sure that we have margin within the boundaries that we believe God has set for us.  Pray for us as we live in a world that is not as scheduled and regimented as the USA and our desires to have these boundaries and margins often get blurred.  Pray for Claudia right now who is holding down the fort for the next few weeks in the midst of lots of communication with leaders in our community.  I am going to visit my sending church next weekend during their missioXn month.  Pray that God will bless that time together.  I depart for xxxxxxx on February 19th.  Please pray that I can get lots of work done in the states that is easier to do here, as once I leave I do face some limitations—i.e. having good conversations with potential future teammates, sending out packets of information to them, and so on. As I am sure many of you who have followed my letters closely for the past five or so years have noticed my pictures have often had a little dog in them (Goose).  Pictured above, Goose is spending time with one of our IndiXn families and on the lower right he is acting in a Bamba skit (he had been to all five Bamba Camps!).  He has been a part of many kid’s lives.  He sadly died on December 31st.  I can’t tell you how many parents would come up to me and tell me their kids just loved Goose, or how many times I ran into someone on the street walking him and ended up building a relationship.  I am thankful for the time that he was able to be part of our lives and ministry.  I know many children and youth are going to miss him (they tell me on Facebook!) and of course, so will I.  J Thank you God for your blessings that come in all shapes and sizes! Well, I do look forward to hearing from you too.  Drop me a line when you get a chance. In His Grace Alone, Kathy Keller