I'm writing this on Christmas Eve.  Kathy is in the kitchen getting ready for company that will be arriving later.  Mannheim Steamroller is booming on the stereo.  Our "office" upstairs is piled full.  It's not the hiding place for Christmas presents.  It's the staging area for packing.  We have a couple of big suitcases to use for checked luggage, and we'll max out what we can carry on.   We have been making lists. Unlike Santa our goal is not to check them twice, but to check stuff off.  We are making progress. I leave on January 3.  The trip will take over two days, but 21 hours of that will be in Guam, so I'll be able to sleep at our friends and colleagues, the Owens' house, and likely do some business at the PIU main campus.  Kathy will leave exactly a week later--same schedule & layover.  She is remaining behind to play for a wedding and to give me an opportunity to do some setting up. Among our check-offs are these items for which we praise the Lord: The response to our fund-raising efforts has been very encouraging.  Over the past couple of weeks we have received gifts and/or words of commitment about gifts almost daily.  Our last calculations indicate that we are at about 60% of the need for 2016. This mailing list now has 120 email addresses.  I was hoping to have at least 100 people who would be praying for us.  Some of you just signed up.  To all of you, thanks. We have a place to live and a car to drive when we are in Palau. I just got word today that there are 3 students in the application pipeline.  Others are inquiring.  Keep praying 7. After consulting with our registrar, provost, and department head, the decision was made that I'll be teaching New Testament Survey and Introduction to Christian Doctrine in the classroom.  I think I have a schedule worked  out that will fit.  I'll publish it soon. At least part of the time that we are in Palau, a newly-wed couple will be house-sitting here in Covington. That's enough for now, except to ask prayer for three requests: Pray 7. Pray that we'll be a blessing. Pray that we'll get what we need to get done, done, before we go. Merry Christmas. Thank you, and thank the Lord. Howard (for Kathy, too.) You can find past prayer letters and other news about our mission venture at http://micronesianadventure.blogspot.com/   Our home address is: Howard & Kathy Merrell 2106 S. Carpenter Drive Covington VA 24426.  We'll be making arrangements to have our mail shipped in bulk every few weeks, so if you send us a snail-mail while we are in Palau, our response will really be snail-ish.  We aren't sure about the speed of our internet, but we will have some connection, so email will continue to be the best option.  Our covbchm@gmail.com and kmusiq@gmail.com, addresses should be just fine.  We are using my PIU address, hmerrell@piu.edu as our "official" missionary email address, while we are in Micronesia.  We'll let you know more about phone connection after we arrive. The contact information for our sending church, CBC is: Covington Bible Church 2140 S. Carpenter Drive Covington VA 24426 covbcsecretary@gmail.com, 540 965 4256 The address for Liebenzell Mission USA is: Liebenzell Mission PO Box 66 Schooley's Mountain NJ  07870 Donations can be sent to that address, or given online at http://liebenzellmission.org/give/.  If you want funds to go to our account designate them to Howard and Kathy Merrell.

Copyright © 2015 Covington Bible Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this mail because of your interest in the ministry of Kathy & Howard Merrell. Our mailing address is: Covington Bible Church 2106 S. Carpenter Drive Covington, Va 24426 If you would like to be added to our email list, write hmerrell@piu.edu