Prayer Letter December 2016

December 2016

Dear Family and Friends, 

Merry Christmas from our home to yours as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  He is the hope of mankind and the very demonstration of God's grace and mercy towards us.  We pray the world will wonder why we celebrate the birth of Christ, and we will be bold and speak of the hope we have in Him!

We are excited to share we will be moving to Africa this summer, God willing.  An opportunity has opened with African Inland Mission (AIM) for us to serve two years at Rift Valley Academy (RVA) in Kijabe, Kenya.  RVA was established in 1906 and has a long history of serving the needs of the children of missionaries and their families.  It is a K-12 school, serving about 500 students a year as both day and boarding students.  We have accepted a position, and John is slotted to teach 6th grade at "Titchie Swot", the elementary portion of the Academy.  

For John, this move will be a little like going home, but for Becky and the girls, everything will be new.  John served at Rift Valley Academy between 1999 and 2011 in several different positions, including 6th grade teacher, elementary principal, 7th grade math instructor, and high school history teacher.  John and Becky met and married while John was home on furlough.  Now, John will be returning to the mission field with a family.

We plan to leave for Kenya in July 2017.  Many things will need to happen between now and then.  Our list of things to do includes passports and packing, checklists and shopping, speaking engagements and all the other details of preparing to move to Africa.  We will need to build a team of people who will pray for us and support our mission.  That is where we need our help.  We would love to come and share more about our upcoming mission in Kenya.  Please let us know if you have a group of friends or an organization that would like to hear about our mission to the children of missionaries serving in Africa.  This could include groups like Sunday School classes or small groups and civic groups such as Optimist Clubs, Red Hat Societies, and sororities.  

Our need for prayer is great, and I would ask you to be in prayer for us as we prepare to serve the children of missionaries in Africa.  Pray we will have wisdom and insight to meet their needs effectively and to help them grow in their relationship to Christ.  Pray for John as he finishes his final year in public education.  Pray our family will adjust well to living in Africa.  Finally, pray we will grow in our relationship to our Father, better understanding His love for us.  

We have created this blog to share our adventures, prayer requests, and pictures.  We want to share with you the many ways God uses our family in Africa.

May you and your families enjoy a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

In the love of the Savior we serve,

John, Becky, Gracie, and Ruthie

Email:  jbmyrick@aimint.org

Gracie (on the left) and Ruthie 2 1/2 years old

As 2017 gets closer, our to do list keeps growing!  But we are closer to getting the twins passports.  On Saturday, we took the whole family to the post office (We don't suggest trying to get passports in December!!)  and sent off all of the paper work to get their passports.  The postal worker was VERY kind and patient!  She gave the girls two suckers for being patient and helped us with the details we missed on the passport applications.  It took some time, but now we wait.   It will be nice to check that off our list!

Many of our friends and family would like more information about Rift Valley Academy (RVA),  the school we will be working at in Kenya.  Here is a link to a video created a few years ago.
RVA Video 

 John is in the middle of the video.  Can you find him??

We will create a new tab at the top of our blog to give more info about the school and to share pictures.  This blog is a work in progress....Becky will get it all up and running but it may take a few weeks (she is working mostly during the twins' nap time)!

Please post any questions you have below and we will do our best to answer them.

Thank you for your love and support as we begin our mission!!

Africa, here we come!

We are excited to share we will be moving to Africa in July, God willing. An opportunity has opened with African Inland Mission (AIM) for us to serve two years at Rift Valley Academy (RVA) in Kijabe, Kenya. RVA was established in 1906, and has a long history of serving the needs of the children of missionaries and their families.  It is a K-12 school, serving about 500 students a year as both day and boarding students.  We have accepted a position, and John is slotted to teach 6^th grade at “Titchie Swot”, the elementary portion of the Academy, a position he served in for seven years previously.  For John, this move will be a little like going home, but for Becky and the girls, everything will be new.
We will soon post our prayer letter and information on how you can join our prayer support team!