Click here to view this newsletter as a PDF.
My new house and some of my recent helpers: Jackson, Kyrie, and my dad.
I love autumn! I love the colors. I love the smells. I love the tastes. I love Thanksgiving. I love the imagery of the trees letting go of the past year’s leaves and settling in for a ‘down’ time before the next year’s growth. I can’t say that I like the cold, but I DO like cuddling up in a warm sweatshirt or under a fuzzy blanket. You see, we don’t have autumn in Cameroon, so over the past 11 years I have come to appreciate this season even more. In fact, for the past several years in Cameroon I have dug out my fake leaves and other autumn decorations for the staff room at school – a practice that the other missionaries seem to enjoy but totally baffles our Cameroonian friends.
Some North Dakota highlights: catching up with Caryn Young (NAB International Office) and Marci Jones (NAB missionary to Brazil) at the STEER conference, visiting with Wilma Binder (former missionary to Cameroon), and meeting the Century Baptist crew who have taken on our White Cross shipments (Paul, Dan, and Deb).
It has been a busy couple of months, but a great time of connecting with family and with many of my churches here in the Midwest, settling in, and replanting some roots here in Kansas. Though I miss Cameroon and my friends there, the prairies are ‘home,’ my churches here are ‘home,’ and the people here are ‘home.’ At the same time, the past month has held some painfully vivid reminders that the ‘home’ we experience in this world is only temporary and that our citizenship and true ‘HOME’ are in heaven.
RFIS has managed to continue in-person instruction so far this school year, though they have had MANY staff and students out with sickness and/or in isolation because of ill family members. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to navigate these and other challenges, as well as all the extra work associated with our re-accreditation. Also, please continue to pray for God to call additional staff members to join us in the coming years.
My plans continue to include returning to Cameroon in May or June, though the details of what my role will look like are still less clear. At this point my prayer is that I will be able to return to my teaching role, though that will be somewhat dependent on who they recruit as a director and their opinion on the matter. For now, I am moving forward with all that in mind until/unless God leads otherwise . . . and holding loosely to the future that I know rests much better in God’s hands.
In this season of gratitude, I pray you all recognize how incredibly thankful I am that God has put you in my life. I have been so tremendously blessed by your prayers and encouragement! By the time this letter is posted, I will just be finishing up my first wave of church visits, but I would love to visit and share with more of you! If your church or group is interested in setting up a time when I can visit, either in person or virtually, please let me know! Email me at tenclayk@gmail.com.
Blessings to you all!
Kristi TenClay
412 Colorado Ave NW, Orange City, IA 51041, United States