Issue #65
August 20, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,
This has been a good week. All of the missing luggage arrived on campus
including mine. I think it was a total of 25 pieces. I'm sure everyone was
glad to have their things. I know I was. I have most everything unpacked
except for the things that need to be put away in my classroom.
This was a fairly quite week. We spent Wednesday and Thursday in
orientation. Since the Interim Director is in the States preparing for
cancer surgery, and the Acting Interim Director is in Ferke at the hospital
waiting for his wife to have a baby, we were on the "third string" director
for the meetings. I think this was the fastest orientation I have been
through here. (The "third string" director is in Abidjan picking up is wife
at the airport. I wonder who is in charge now. Oh well, he'll be back
today. I don't think anyone has noticed that no one is in charge.)
The political situation remains about the same. On Thursday, there were
demonstrations in town, but since we were all in meetings no one had even
planned to go to town. We also knew they were going to happen ahead of time
so that we needed to stay on campus. Town seems fine. The stores are a bit
emptier after the mutiny in July when a lot of things were torn up or
stolen. Most stores still have boards up on their windows. The boards will
probably be there until the elections are completely over.
The new students will arrive on campus tomorrow and everyone else on
Tuesday. The quietness of the campus will be gone, but the excitement of
the kids will arrive.
Please continue to pray for:
Mr. Baxter, Interim Director - He has surgery this week for prostate cancer.
Becky Reierson - She is waiting in Ferke to have her baby. She is
hoping to have it before school starts. Her husband is the high school
principal.
Parents and Students: Pray for safety of travel and their last few days
together. Pray the Mali students will get the papers they need to get over
the border. Apparently due to the political situation the Mali border has
been closed, so the students have to obtain permission to be in Cote
d'Ivoire.
Staff - Pray that everyone will be ready for the students to arrive. We have
several new teachers this year, so they are having to figure out what they
are supposed to be doing. After moving people around, we have most all of
the slots filled. There are still a couple of empty ones. Pray they will be
filled in the next couple of days.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support!
In Christ,
Traci