January, 2015
Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings
to you! Well just like that, we are about 3 weeks into the term. Just a
warning, this may be one of my longer letters, so I apologize in advance. :-P
The girls and I are day-by-day getting to know each other and strengthening our
relationship. (some more than others) At first it was really hard to start over
with new girls. I was getting sad that they spent so much time in their dorm
lounge and didn't know what else to do to make them feel more welcome to come
into my apartment. I had to remind myself that my previous dorm girls and I
didn't start out as being close right off the bat, relationships take time!
Something that was so encouraging to me at the beginning was our superintendent
of RVA challenged us as staff to make personal and corporate prayer a priority.
We so often say that we are depending on God to work, but then we keep doing
everything possible in our own strength to make things happen that we often
don't have much time in prayer in all the busy things that we take upon
ourselves. One of my big challenges is my tendency to be a "Night
owl" which works great for a dorm parent of high school students except
that then I want to sleep in. I have been challenging myself to wake up early
with the girls and to spend that time in prayer. This continues to be a
challenge for me since I don't get to bed until midnight most nights, but God
has graciously given me strength for each day. I am enjoying the unhurried time
in prayer and scripture each morning. I'm terrible at keeping a journal, but am
keeping a prayer journal and have been so blessed to see so many answers to
prayer recorded as I keep it up to date. It has been such a good reminder that
the Lord is the one who works in hearts and to get to see all these answers
where I can see Him working!
The girls
in my dorm are Juniors this year and are very busy with academic and
extracurricular responsibilities. It is funny to me how different two groups of
teenage girls can be from each other, you certainly can't compare them to one
another! One of the big focuses this term is the Jr/Sr. Banquet. (known here as
"BQ") The Junior class is responsible for putting this event on. They
have spent all year planning and coordinating the details. There is a secret
theme each year and when I say this is a big deal, that is an understatement!
They will spend their whole mid-term break setting up the BQ hall where they
will build a set and everything for the following weekend. All of this is for
one night of fun. To me its overwhelming and a little crazy watching all the
work they put in for this one night, so I can't imagine what its like for them.
:-) Other activities happening this term are Field Hockey and Soccer for some
of my girls, SATs, Interims (a week-long destination trip to study African
Cultures and other unique African experiences), and oh yeah, SCHOOL. ;-)
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| New Dorm, New decor :) |
One burden
I have for the girls is to see them grow in their walks with the Lord and to
put Him above all these things. It is easy to get caught up in their schedules
and their truly busy lives. However, I pray for them to grow in their desire
for knowledge of Him and His truth in scripture. Please join me in praying for
the girls! We are going to work through the book, "War of Words" that
I mentioned before in a letter. We meet each Tuesday night at 8:30pm so if you
think of it, please pray for us during your Tuesday morning that we would
humble ourselves and be open to what God would teach us through this book.
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| 1st Dorm Party! Love the huge space for entertaining. :) |
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| Notice I have a set of twins in my dorm? appropriate I would say. :) (the girl on the 2nd right is also a twin! she has a brother) |
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| plenty of room to spread out! |
I shared
with some of you an answer to prayer about getting a couch for my living room!
I praise God for His provision of a really nice, comfortable sectional sofa. I
bought it second hand from a person in Nairobi for a very reasonable price. The
girls love it and it's often difficult for me to find a seat on it each night
as they come in to study. ;-) (LOVE THAT)
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| new couch! |
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| A big ol' pile of girls on the new couch :) |
Please
continue to pray for provision of my monthly support. Overall I am about $300
short a month. It can be very difficult to maintain life here being that short
each month because things are so expensive and I usually need every bit of
monthly support I get to be a dorm mom and all the expenses that go into that. God
knows these things and I am trusting Him to provide for my daily needs. I am so
thankful for each one you and your support, financially and by prayer! If you feel led to support me monthly or with
a one-time gift, Checks can be sent to AIM at: (Africa Inland Mission, P.O. Box
3611, Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611) with AIM in the subject and Amy Jarrett in
the memo on the check. You can also give online at: http://aimint.org/usa/
(Under "Give")
Please join
me in praying that God would continue to grow me into His likeness more and
more each day. I am praying through this scripture each day trying to be
intentional in every interaction with my dorm girls and fellow staff:
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with
one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put
on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace
of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And
be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and
admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or
deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17 ESV)
As always, I would love to pray for you. If there is anything specific will you please
send me an email and let me know? I pray that God would continue to bless you
and to work in your hearts a love for Him and His work that He has for each one
of you this year.
Serving with you,
Amy
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| The sunsets never get old here!! New view this year. :) |
