November

November is month of many emotions.  It is the month I think about the immediate family I was born into.  My father, mother, and sister all went to be with the Lord this month.  That one sentence alone has so much emotion.  Our family is one of those who were avid Cubs fans, too.  When the Cubs won the World Series, my thoughts went to my family, and I joined the ranks of many who have or would like to honor a family member by writing some family names on a brick on the wall of Wrigley Field.

Here is a photo of us, probably the first of all four of us after I was born.

It is in stark contrast to the fact that I now also am a PoPo again.   With great joy, here is a picture of the second generation after me:

The next generation is the focus.  Will they come to follow the Lord?  I pray they do.

Big Brother and Best Little Sister

Pursuing “youthful passion”

Pursuing “youthful passion” - toward ministry

We work alongside many young people, fresh out of college, with a passion for using their gifts in the service of the Master, for sharing the Gospel worldwide.

They are mechanical and electrical engineers, software developers, and digital media producers. They serve both short and long term, at great personal cost. They produce some amazing things, sent throughout the world, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

Apprentice, Mike  Tapia, with one of our Spring Break
Interns working on the Equipment Power Supply

Cody Hall with the Remote Water Monitoring System

The Andersons have a deep love for young people, and a calling to minister to them inside and outside the mission – hosting, Bible studies, one-on-one discipleship, and more.

Does it surprise you what many Christian young people seem to crave the most... spiritual depth, sound doctrine, authenticity, and purity?

 God is raising the next generation of workers for the harvest.

They are not the future, but the present!

David is writing code for Radio Lumiere

Yikes!  What is that? -- takes after his dad.

Grandbaby#2 on the Way!

Micah is a big brother as his little sib, our second grandchild is due this September!

What are we doing here in Elkhart?

John’s roles

Technical: John serves in I.T. as a Senior Developer, developing software for the SonSet® radio and critical software needed for mission operations, which now includes donation management. Outside the mission, John works part-time as a Senior Developer for FiServ.

Spiritual: John serves as mission chaplain, with roles on the Theological and Spiritual Enrichment Committees.

Outside the mission, John serves at McCoy Memorial Baptist Church in an elder role, and a teacher of a Bible study for college-age young people.

John’s mindset: to be a flexible servant, faithful and fruitful, who finishes strong like Moses (120 years would be nice!)

Jean’s roles

Technical: Jean primarily works in IT on the website. Along with updates and small changes needed, she gets her creative juices going with editing photos. Work on the donation management team involves processing the donations that have come in and receipting them. 

Other: Jean also volunteers on the SonSet committee for our Global Impact Celebrations (next one is August 6, 2016).

Outside of SonSet Solutions, Jean volunteers at Lifeline, a ministry to the youth of the “inner city” of Elkhart, and is active at McCoy in Word of Life, VBS, Pathfinders (college and career), RUSH (senior high youth), and occasional music ministry.  She hopes to continue with these after Anina starts nursing school.

Together

We continue to host interns, volunteers, etc. This summer we will host our own son, David, as David is one of our summer interns!  Plus, we still host David Palmer, who is a mechanical engineer - who was a summer intern, then apprentice, and now appointee. 

Friends and Family, Far and Near

We are so grateful for the friends and family we got to see over Christmas Break.  As we traversed the Midwest, back and forth and through the Chicagoland area, I thought, "Well, it could be worse" which, of course, indeed it could be!  Then, I thought to myself (not or the first time) that even though we moved only two hours away, it was still indeed a sacrifice.  We had to uproot everything as if we had moved overseas.

But the reality was that is was also a sacrifice for not only for us and the children that moved with us, but for the family and friends we left.  We miss those family and miss those friends! (We love our new ones, here in Elkhart, but miss the others, too.)

So, we are grateful for the visits we've made, visits made to us, and for technology, and all that comes with it, so we can continue to connect.  [Disclaimer - cyber baby snuggles are not the same.]

Love,
The Andersons

Haiti Update

John, Jean, and Anina with Emily Anderson, returned to Haiti from the end of November to the first week of December. Prayers were answered for the funds for the lab, and for Anina’s passport to arrive in time. Emily and Jean started off the week working in the health clinic to screen the school children.  This, then, led to screening of the staff. This year we were able to open clinic time to include the neighboring community as well.

John and Robenson begin set up.

John and Anina began to work right away at the lab and clinic. According to Robenson Gedeus, the field director of Kids Alive Haiti, we all were ministering with systems.  John was seeing to it that the new computer systems were set up and functioning well, and we ladies, ministered to the people’s health systems.

John was able to speak in chapel and during teaching times with the teachers and high schoolers, and was able to share the gospel during those times.  Jean was able to share a verse here and there as we ministered to people spiritually as well.

John, translated through John Pericles, leads a staff training on the computers we just set up.