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Kasalehlia! We are the Kihleng family and we are missionaries to the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. This blog is to keep friends and family (and whoever else is interested!) updated on what we are doing in the islands. So check back here often to see updates on our ministry as well as our ever growing family!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

June, 2013 Newsletter

Kasalehlie from Pohnpei!
     We are heading into one of our busiest summers ever!  With our upcoming furlough just around the corner, we have a great deal of extra responsibilities in addition to our regular summer ministries.  

Summer Ministries
     We had originally planned on holding camp in June this year; however, because of the drought in February that cancelled school for so long, most schools on the island had to extend the school year through June.  As a result, we're having to fit all our summer ministries into July!  
     July 1st thru 5th will be our Vacation Bible School, one of our favorite weeks out of the summer!  For the past two summers we've had approximately 100 children attend this ministry program and are praying for an even bigger attendance this year.  We're praying for many salvation decisions and for opportunities to reach the families of the children that attend.
     July 15h thru 20th are the new dates for our Summer Youth Camp.  This is another important week out of the summer here on Pohnpei.  We have taken a close look at past summers and evaluated what worked and didn't.  Based on that we've made some changes in how we'll do camp this summer and are praying that as a results, will see even more lives changed and decisions made!  Please be in prayer for this ministry as it's always been such a great time for the youth of Pohnpei to turn their hearts towards God.

Furlough
     July 30th is the date that our family leaves for furlough in the Unites States.  We have many mixed emotions as the dates gets closer.  While we are excited to see friends, family, supporting churches, and more in the US, leaving behind our home and extended family, our ministry, and life here is not easy.  It is especially difficult for the older kids as leaving behind friends and the activities they have grown up with is tough.  Of course we keep reminding ourselves that it's only temporary, but it's still hard to say goodbye!

     We will be in the States until June, 2014.  Pastors, if you have specific dates that you would like to have us give an update on our ministry, please contact us at rkihleng@hotmail.com.  Our schedule is filling up fast! We're looking forward to being in as many of our supporting churches as possible while we're in the States. 

Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei (BBIP)
      We've just completed our 5th semester of the BBIP.  I'm sure all of the students are enjoying a little bit of a break!  It's been a great year and we're going to miss our students while we're in the States on furlough. We're thankful for John and Christa Boylston and the other pastors families on island for being so willing to keep things going in our absence.  We're working hard to have all material, handbooks, and forms ready for the Fall semester before we leave.  It's been exciting seeing so many of the students progress.  Many have gone on to attend Harvest Baptist Bible College on Guam and we have two students who will be leaving with us next month to attend Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, NC.  We have several students who are only about 3 semesters away from graduating from BBIP, one of whom is making plans to return to his home island of Nukuuro to plant a church there.  Our primary goal for starting the Bible Institute was to enable locals to be able to plant churches on the outer islands so this is a huge answer to prayer!

The Boylston Family 
     The Boylston family has been settling well here on Pohnpei.  We have been meeting with them regularly for language study, which they are doing an excellent job of picking up!  Their kids and ours became friends immediately and love playing together every chance we get.  This, of course, is another reason why our kids would prefer we skip furlough altogether - they don't want to leave their new friends behind!  Please keep the Boylstons in your prayers while we are off island for furlough as much of the responsibility of the ministry here will be handed over to them.  I have complete confidence that they will keep things running smoothly, but I'm sure they will appreciate your prayers! 

New Mailing Format!
      We are working to stream-line our mailings in order to be a better steward of our time and money while still giving you all more frequent updates.  In order to receive future mailings from us, please go to http://kihlengfamily.blogspot.com/ and sign up to receive our updates.  You will then need to confirm your subscription, but then you won't miss out on any of our future newsletters, ministry, and family updates!  Over the next few months, we will discontinue mailing through the postal service to reduce the cost of postage.  For those of you that still would like a printable version of our newsletters for posting on church bulletin boards or other purposes, a printable PDF version will be posted on our website as well.  Thank you for your help in this as we work to stay in better touch with those who support us through prayer and finances!  
We look forward to seeing so many of you over the next 10 months!  Thank you again for your prayers and support.  Please keep our family in prayer as we head off into this huge adventure called "furlough"!
Because of Calvary, 
Rickson, Susan,
Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler,
Katrianne, and Kaylinn

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