As a family they visited Zimbabwe for 3 weeks in December ,seeing old friends, sharing and praying about the needs of East Asia ,& of the thousands of Chinese moving to Zimbabwe.
Give thanks for this trip & the opportunities it offered for refreshment ,support & sharing. Pray for the Christians in Zimbabwe to reach out to the growing Chinese community.
Praise God that Anna received the "all-clear" following an MRI in January- 3 years post surgery.
Josh (18) has now finished school and is hoping to do medical studies in the UK from September. He did very well in the International Baccalaureate and is now awaiting the outcome of University applications. He has two interviews this month- 1 in Kuala Lumpar & 1 by Skype ! Meanwhile he is making plans for the next 9 months.
Pray for him as he prepares for interviews ,waits for the outcome of University applications & as he applies for home student status to study in the UK. Also as he helps with youth work in Chiang Mai at an OMF conference Feb 1st-9th.
Aimee (15) attends the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore and sits IGCSEs this summer.
Pray for her that she would continue to trust the Lord as she works for her exams.
Ministry
Steve & Anna are involved in oversight of four main areas in OMF:
Candidate selection and training: Along with IT specialists they have developed a new
International Personnel System (IPS) for handling all the details of members of OMF electronically. Most members have logged in & entered all their data. New people from around the world wanting to join OMF can now apply on-line & update their personal details securely whenever they want. They are now managing 263 candidates with the IPS e-recruiting system.
Grace (in the foreground) is part of the recruitment team.
When candidates are accepted they attend one of the four Orientation Courses held in Singapore for a month's training. Their colleagues, Philip & Elizabeth, are running the OC courses.
Pray for Steve & Anna as they run the February Orientation course for 37 adults & 16 children. Pray that they all settle quickly into life in Singapore. Praise God for those He is raising up to serve God in East Asia.
Personnel Policy: As IDPs they are responsible for setting guidelines, parameters and standards for those serving with OMF.
Give thanks for the smooth introduction of a major change to their IT systems, reflecting 3 key fields.
Member care, including medical care: In each country OMF has medical advisers, some fulltime, some volunteers, and in Singapore there is usually an International Medical Adviser, who is part of their personnel department. The former one has had to return to the UK.
Give thanks that a temporary IMA has got permission to work in Singapore for 6 months.
Pray for a longterm IMA to be found soon ,so Steve & Anna do not have increased responsibilities.
Care and Education of members' children: There are over 800 children of OMF missionaries below the age of 24, who are in full-time education. The International Coordinators, David & Ros Dykema, have taken over responsibility for these Third Culture Kids' care & education, which relieves Anna of much responsibility.
Link person is Lesley Howard :
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