Issue #61
June 4, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,
This has been a good week. There were two big activities this week, Community Service Day and Junior/Senior Banquet. Both of these activities kept a lot of people busy.

Community Service Day was on Wednesday. The whole student body was involved. The elementary stayed on campus to do various clean up and painting jobs. The middle school and high school divided up into different places. Part of them went to the orphanage in town to do some clean up and repairs. Some went to the round point in town to pick up the trash, mow the grass, and clean out the drainage ditches. (The round point is where several roads join together to make a circle. You have to drive around it to get on the different roads. There is a large piece of land with a statue in the middle.) The last group went to a village near ICA. They worked on their school and put on a new roof. In the afternoon the elementary went to this village to play soccer against their school. There are a few stories from this day that I will share with you.

The first graders' job was to pick up trash around campus. Some of the preschoolers joined them. Cody, a 4 year old, bent down to pick up a piece of trash and discovered it wasn't trash but a Night Adder. He yelled, "Snake," and it was killed without any harm to anyone. God's protection is evident around here.

Do you know how many people you can fit under one umbrella? A lot more than you would think. It had started raining in the afternoon so we had our umbrellas at the soccer game. I had already attracted a lot of the African kids when I got out my video camera. I was completely surrounded. When the game started, the referees made them moved behind us because they were on the field. The girls from the village kept playing with our hair. I wasn't sure what mine was going to look like by the time I left there. It started raining again, so I put up my umbrella. A bunch of the little African girls gathered up around me to get under it. I think I counted eight besides myself at one time.

I was coming back from town and noticed that a stop sign that had been so faded it could barely be read was now newly painted and very bright. One of the girls in the car told me that was the work of some of the staff on Community Service Day. She said to look at the back of the pole. There were three sets of initials painted on the pole. It was really funny. The question is "Will anyone stop at that stop sign now?" I doubt it. Only if the police are sitting on the other side stopping people which is a common occurrence these days, but at least now everyone will know the sign is there.

Friday night was the Junior/Senior Banquet. It was nice to see everyone dressed up as they were getting on the bus to go to it. The location is always a secret to everyone except the Juniors. They had it at a new hotel in town. From the reports I have heard, it sounds like everyone had a really good time.

This Saturday was the last free day between now and when school is out. It will be a busy four weeks. Everyone is already beginning the closure of leaving. We already had two kids leave today who had to be back to the States for medical reasons. Several more will be leaving in the next two weeks because they have to be back to Canada for mission meetings.

Please pray for all those traveling during these days. Remember the seniors as they are spending their last few days at ICA with their friends they have lived with for the past years. Remember the kids who are going on furlough as they have to transition back to their home countries. Pray for staff who will be leaving and have to get life set up back at home and for some who need jobs. Continue to pray for the staff we still need for next year. Pray for the new staff that are in the midst of preparing to come here in July.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We see answers to prayers almost every day around through God's protection, comfort, and wisdom that He provides each day.

In Christ,
Traci