Pausing for breath
Can you believe it's September already? We hope you've had a good summer. We have enjoyed our summer here in Canada, which has been a welcome quieter period for us. We especially enjoyed having a couple of weeks off at the beginning of August, including a week away at a cottage provided by friends. The first few months of 2022 were very busy and included a lot of travel so it has been nice to have a couple of months 'on the ground' with no travel.
Looking ahead
Being 'on the ground' ends quickly as we have a busy travel schedule ahead:
September - Phil has International Board meetings as well as Executive Team meetings in the USA. Andrea joins him for a week to meet with various people in the US and International offices, and to have handover from Helen, who Andrea works with, who is going on sabbatical.
October - We travel to 3 Middle East countries for Andrea to connect with her teams. We also expect to connect with our France team and the new leadership there.
November - Phil has an International Leadership Team retreat, then Andrea joins him for another Middle East country visit as well as a planning retreat in Kenya.
And those are just the travels! In between trips we'll be continuing to connect with people virtually. While we're away we still need to keep up with emails so prayers for stamina and good prioritisation of work will be much appreciated.
One major responsibility for Phil in the coming months is leading a team to implement integrated systems & data (finance, HR, ministry, etc.) within SIM. This is a huge initiative but one that SIM needs to equip us as an organisation to work together more effectively.
Paula, Phil's assistant for the last couple years, who also works closely with Andrea, has announced she is moving on to a great new role in October, though sadly not with SIM. Paula's absence will be keenly felt so this adds to the prayer need for wisdom and prioritisation!
Faithful Witness
SIM's purpose is about making Christ known in communities where he is least known. Many of these communities feel like forgotten communities. Faithful Witness is an initiative of SIM to seek to prioritise getting people to engage in 'forgotten communities'. We are glad to get to be involved with some of these Faithful Witness teams that are serving in these communities. This initiative is at the heart of our purpose.
If you would like to know more about Faithful Witness you can Sign up to pray for the Faithful Witness Initiative
Family update
We remain thankful for the privilege of living close to our young adult children, in fact we currently have Liam and Cara living with us. We're grateful for recent answered prayers for Liam to find a job in his field. Here are some prayer requests for the coming months:
Cara has moved in with us for her Sept-Dec academic semester. She will be looking for work for her upcoming 8 month co-op work placement.
Liam is starting a new job in September as a Sustainability Coordinator in London (Ontario) so he will be moving in the coming weeks.
Kieran and Mackenzie are still close by, enjoying their jobs and involved in their church. Kieran is also starting his first course of an online Masters of Divinity through Tyndale Seminary.
Prayer Corner
Praise God
for time at home this summer without travels
for some time off away from emails, screens and Zoom meetings
that we could go away to a cottage and enjoy the beauty of creation around us
for Liam's new job
for Paula and her faithful service to SIM
Pray
for the Faithful Witness teams engaging 'forgotten communities'
for stamina, health and safety for us in travel
that Andrea will serve other personnel coordinators well so that SIM's workers are well cared for
for Andrea as she takes on some extra responsibilities during Helen's sabbatical
that Phil will have wisdom to engage well with entities as they plan ministries
for wisdom for Phil in leading the integrated systems and data integration team
for wisdom for Kieran as he begins his MDiv
for Liam as he begins his new job and moves to London, ON
Thank you for journeying with us,
Andrea and Phil