Brief update on the Venture:

Kathy and I just had a Skype conversation with the Global Ministries Director, and CFO at our mission.  Great guys to work with.
Trying to keep track of where we are, in regard to our fund-raising has given me greater sympathy for economists.  It's not quite looking into a crystal-ball, but trying to balance verbal assurances of, "We are going to be part of your support team. . . ." with hard numbers that come from monthly reports, and then comparing that with estimates of needs, which are just that, estimates, involves a measure of art as well science.  I say that, because I need to leave some room to be wrong.  That being said, we praise the Lord, that through the kindness and sacrifice of many it appears that we have passed the 70% mark for funding for 2016.
As always, when we look at these reports we are humbled.  We see names and numbers and are aware of some of the burdens being carried by those represented there, and we feel unworthy of such support.  Thank you.

We continue to work the lists.
Lift-off is just a few days away.

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

Two weeks till wheels-up.

Two weeks from this Sunday, on January 3, I'll take off for Palau.  Because of some commitments she has, and in order to give me a chance to take care of some things there, Kathy will follow a week later.  Each of us will have a long layover in Guam.  We'll be able to spend the night with our friends, Dave and Joyce Owen.  That will certainly make our trip more pleasant.

We can't count chicks that haven't hatched yet, and we are told there are eggs yet to be laid, but based on some news that we just received, and the reasonable expectation of one good-sized egg hatching, it would appear that we have just over half of our 2016 mission-service budget covered.
We are very grateful for all of you who pray for and who partner financially with us.

I just talked to the young lady in Palau who is our receptionist, secretary, and all around handy-person.  She informed me of several potential students who are somewhere in the process of applying to take classes at PIU-Palau.  I have actually been in touch with a couple of interested persons.  Some of you have been praying 7 (explained here).  Keep praying with us.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas

Punch list:

Project managers often have a punch list.  As the end of a project looms it takes on increasing

importance.  Kathy and I are working on a punch list--or more accurately, a couple of them.

• We recently purchased our airline tickets.  
• We have made arrangements for an apartment and a car in Palau.  
• I have a Skype appointment to meet with some administrators at PIU.  
• We saw a lawyer and our financial adviser to get some affairs in order, etc. etc.  
• We are updating our mailing lists.  
• We need to make sure that we have luggage suitable for our trips.  

Somewhere there is  a balance between being burdened with the cares of this world and being a good steward of what God has entrusted to us.  Pray that we can find that balance.

Gauging where we are as far as financial support is a bit frustrating.  While online giving is instantaneous for the donor, it takes a while for the report of a gift to work its way through the various cyber-hoops.  We get reports from the mission around the first of every month, so we don't hear about gifts given close to the first of the month for about thirty days.  Then we can't always tell whether a gift represents a monthly commitment or if it is a one time donation.  (We rejoice in either.)  All that being said, at last count, it looks like we are at about 40% of achieving our 2016 budget.  Thank you, and Thank You, Lord.

I fly on January 3, Kathy on the tenth.  She is remaining so she can play for a wedding, and it will allow me to get some things set up.  From the time we leave the house here in Covington, until we get to our place in Palau will be well more than two days.  Fortunately 21 hours will be a layover in Guam.  Joyce and Dave Owen have opened their home to us so we can get a night's sleep--or as much of one as jet-lag will allow.  We have an apartment in Palau--an extended stay hotel suite.  Thanks to the help of a friend we have made arrangements for a car that will fit our budget.  Other details will be worked out, hopefully by the time Kathy arrives.

I have gotten good reports of folk being interested in taking classes at PIU-Palau.  Pray that there will be follow-through.
We want to be a  blessing in Palau.  Pray that we will know how.

We have been very humbled with the encouragement, prayers, and giving of those who are partnering with us.  We'll do our best to stay in touch.  Please do the same.

Howard (for Kathy, too)

Prayer Update #3:

Here is a copy of our latest email Prayer Letter.  If you would like to receive future updates in your inbox, let us know.

We just returned from many miles of travel.  We are spending a very busy month of December finishing up responsibilities here at Covington Bible Church and getting ready for four months of ministry in Micronesia.  You will pick up more news in the list of praise and prayer items below.  Please share your prayer requests with us.  We want this to be a partnership. Part of the busy-ness of this season is Christmas.  For a number of years our church has presented a Live Nativityto our community. Kathy is one of the leaders in setting up Bethlehem.  I get to wrangle goats & donkeys, as well as play a part in the presentation.  Tonight is the first of the three night presentation.  Please pray for this outreach. I am working on our mailing list, so some of you are receiving this communication for the first time.  (For some of you who were just this morning added to the list, most of this note is repetition.  You have already received a note with the rest of what is in this email.)  If these communiques are just clutter in your inbox, let me know and I will remove you from the list. Our life is really busy, right now, but that is how it is supposed to be. Below are some items for which you can join us in thanksgiving, and which you can present to our Lord as petitions.  Thanks for partnering with us. I (hm) just returned from a short trip to Guam and Palau.  Pacific Islands University's main campus is in Guam.  There I met with some key administrators to get up to speed on some procedures and policies in regard to running the Teaching Facility in Palau.  Most of us would call it an "Extension," but for some reason, that I don't understand, our accrediting agency doesn't want us to call it that.  I'm calling it PIU-Palau.  In Palau I met with some key leaders in the Palauan Evangelical Church.  This is the group of churches that was planted by Liebenzell Mission.  Liebenzell also started PIU.  LMUSA is the agency through which Kathy and I are undertaking this mission venture. We will continue to post information about our mission venture at http://micronesianadventure.blogspot.com/.  It always does my heart good to look at the stats, there, and see that someone has clicked on our page.  Kathy likes it too, I tell her about it.  :) Here are a few items to pray about, and matters for which we are thankful:   Our many thousands of miles of travel--me to Micronesia, and Kathy to Louisiana--were safe and mostly uneventful.   HM's time in Micronesia was productive. Kathy had a great time with family at Chad's house near Monroe LA.  Howard was able to join the rest of the family for their Thanksgiving meal, via Skype, and offer the Thanksgiving prayer over the meal. Thanks to our partners in the Palauan Evangelical Church, we have been able to reserve an efficiency apartment for our stay in Palau, January - April, this spring. We have also been able to make arrangements for a car, that should meet our needs for the four months we are in Palau. I asked you to pray for the things I needed to get done before I left a couple of weeks ago.  Mostly, I finished. Kathy and I continue to be humbled and encouraged by the support we are receiving.  One of our young prayer-supporters gave a fist-pump when he heard that I was home safe.  Wow!   We are finishing up our long time of pastoring at Covington Bible Church.  At the end of this month, for essentially the first time in my adult life, I will no longer be a pastor of Covington Bible Church.  We are very thankful for the way our church is working with us, but there is some emotion involved in this transition. The key human ingredient to the success of our venture in Palau is having students enrolled in PIU-Palau.  Pray for the contacts that are being made as I write. Pray that we will be a blessing to the Palauan Evangelical Church and other sound churches in the nation. Pray that Kathy will find the right place to plug in. I'll have new numbers in the next day or two about our support level.  I'll share them when they come.   Our Prayer card is copied at the top of this email.  If you don't have one, and would like to have one, let us know. Again, thank you.  Stay in touch.

Ten minute AV presentation:

A couple of weeks ago we were privileged to share at Fellowship Bible Church, Shenandoah Junction WV.  The tech crew kindly provided us with the audio of our presentation.  I put it with the slides we used so we could share this 10 minute presentation with more of you.

Prayer & Praise:

I just edited an email that I sent to someone who signed up to be on our mailing list.
Included in the letter is a list of items for prayer and praise.
I figured I'd post it here:

Here are a few items to pray about about, and matters for which we are thankful:
 

• We will be traveling during the second half of November, but not together.
  HM will be flying to Guam, leaving 11/15.  It will be about a 25 hour trip.
  On 11/27 I fly to Palau.  It is about a 2 hour flight.
  I fly home on 12/1.  That trip will take about 35 hours.
  Kathy will drive from Covington VA to Monroe LA to spend Thanksgiving with our sons and their families.  She'll leave the car there and fly home on 11/30.
  (When we fly back to the USA in early May we'll land in Monroe, attend our granddaughter's high school graduation and then drive home.)
  Pray for safety as we travel, and that we will be a good witness.
• While in Guam HM will be learning procedures for record-keeping, reporting, etc., in regard to running the Teaching Facility in Palau.  I'm looking forward to fellowship with friends, colleagues, & students there.
  In Palau, I'll be meeting with key people and seeking to move the program ahead.
• Especially for Kathy:  We have lived at 2106 S. Carpenter Drive for more than 40 years.  We have rebuilt the little house a bit at a time.  We have various things to do to get the house ready for a 4 month absence.  I'm trying to get some stuff done this week, before my 2 week trip to Micronesia.
• Ditto, various business arrangements.  
• This is the final piece in our transition out of a 42 year ministry at Covington Bible Church.  There is some emotion involved.
• Pray 7.  7 is the "foot-in-the-door" number to being successful in Palau.  We need 7 students.  We'd like to have many more.  The news I have gotten from PIU is that there is interest.  Some correspondence is already going back and forth.
• The last numbers I have indicate that we are at about 31% of what is needed to finance our project for the coming year.  Pray that our account will fill up.

 

Here are a couple of things we are thankful for:

• This past weekend we were at the LMUSA headquarters in Schooley's Mountain, New Jersey.  Kathy spent a couple of days helping get a new guest apartment ready for mission related visitors.  Shopping and decorating for Jesus!  HM was there for the LMUSA board meeting.  He also met with 2 new families who have been appointed as missionaries with LMUSA.  It was great to meet them and to get some on the job training for working with "new recruits."  Since Kathy and I are new recruits, we were worked on, while we worked with.  :)
• That I, HM, had enough Frequent Flyer miles to book this 2 week, training/promo trip to Micronesia, and to book Kathy's flight home from LA. 
• The churches where we have shared about our ministry have treated us very warmly.
• That 31%.
• The momentum at PIU is moving in a positive direction.
• That we are healthy enough, at this stage in life, to pursue this new ministry.
• Again, thank you.  Stay in touch.

Thanks.