Recent Updates!

 Trying to catch you all up here at once! Lots of things going on here on Pohnpei!

February 22nd marked our Ten Year Anniversary living here on Pohnpei! Wow! Has it been that long already?!! God has truly blessed in these 10 years and so much has happened, there is no way I could list it all in this one post! We have seen the beginning and growth of Ambassador Baptist Church, numerous islanders saved and baptized, the birth of 4 of our children, the building of our new home, the beginning of the Bible Institute, and so much more! We praise God for bringing us here and for what He has done in our lives and ministry.

We celebrated Kaylinn's 1st birthday on February 25th. Traditionally, here on Pohnpei, the 1st birthday is a HUGE celebration so we had a big BBQ and invited our whole church as well as other friends and family. We had a great time and Kaylinn enjoyed all the attention!

We have a total of 45 enrolled in the Bible Institute now! They all got to experience their first exam last week. So far God has really blessed with the Institute and we are so thankful for these students who have joined with such an eagerness to learn more about Him!

On March 13th we begin revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan. Please be in prayer for these meetings. We are praying for God to prepare the hearts of the people here and that we would see good attendance to each service. Satan has been hard at work lately so these meetings especially need your prayers!

Have a great weekend! We're praying for some great pre-revival services this Sunday!

Mommy and the Birthday Girl

Our pretty angel

A new toy!  Does it bite?

February, 2011 Prayer Letter

(Sorry I'm posting this so late!  Our internet has been down a LOT lately and it has been hard to keep up with things.)

Kasalehlia! We trust you all had a wonderful New Year and are looking forward to a great new year in the Lord!  It’s hard to believe that we are already one full month into the new year! And much has happened this first month of 2011!

Ministry

Our attendance has remained high over the past month, with some services over 100! I want to share with you a huge answer to prayer. For the past year we have prayed for a young man named Jun who started to attend our church with his wife. He was unsaved but really liked what he saw in our congregation and for a year simply came, observed and asked a lot of questions. I spent time with him, encouraging him and witnessing to him during this time. I am excited to tell you that at our very first service of the new year, Jun accepted Christ as his Savior!

Another huge answer to prayer is the opening of our Bible Institute! On January 29th, we had the dedication service and on January 31st, we held the first class session of the Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei (BBIP). We are praising the Lord for the 36 students that attended this first session.

In upcoming events, we will be having revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan in March. We ask that you pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of our people, and that we will see many islanders saved and Christians revived during that week.

We have continued with the jail ministry on Tuesday nights. Over the holidays we were able to be a blessing to the prisoners by getting together gifts for them. This really touched them and we pray will be used to soften and open hearts to the Gospel.

A big prayer request that we’d like you to partner with us in praying for is the building of our new church. We have prayed about this for some time and are asking the Lord to provide this in the year 2011. It is a huge step and may look like an impossible request, but we know that our God is the God of the impossible. Please pray for this with us!

Family

Our children are growing like a bunch of little weeds! Kaylinn will be turning one this month and after the choking ordeal we had with her in November, we are especially praising the Lord for the chance to celebrate. She is quite the little joy in our life and keeps us laughing with all the new things she is learning each day. Kaleo is doing fairly well in 6th grade, though he’d much rather be outside playing, and he is surprising us with his talents musically, especially on the guitar. Kestra is as opposite Kaleo as can be and loves school. She is doing exceptionally well in 1st grade and enjoys playing the piano. Kyler is in K5 and quite the little intellect. He never appears to be paying attention but then surprises us by getting all the answers correct. Katrianne is a typical 4-year-old and loves trying to distract her siblings from their school work. Each one of our children are unique in their own way and we thank God for them all.

We thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. Please continue to pray for us and our ministry here on Pohnpei.

Because of Calvary,

Rickson, Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn