O God, You are my god.  Early will I seek You.  My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  So I have looked for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory, because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You; Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.  (Psalm 63:1-4)

The morning after God spoke “mercy” into my mind, I read the memory verse that went with my daily Bible reading for the day.  It was Psalm 31:7:  “I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy for you have considered my trouble.  You have known my soul in adversities.”   Glory!  Surely His mercies are new every morning!

Someone asked me recently what we saw God doing in Georgia this summer and what are our plans for the future. I would simply like to share the answer to this question in two lists.  This is for you that care, have prayed and given!  You have blessed us and the children of Georgia so very much! We are very grateful for you!

First:  What did we see God doing this summer in Georgia?

• His strength was there for us in our weakness.

• A dear Georgian friend and brother in the Lord was imprisoned for drug deals about a year ago.   He was one of the first converts to Christianity that we knew in Georgia when we went there in early 1992 and is the father of one of our students.  After being sent to prison, his newly remodeled flat burned down to the ground leaving nothing for his lovely wife and two wonderful children.  The good news in all of this is that while he has been in prison, he has come back to a close relationship to the Lord and he is being used to bring other in-mates to the Lord.  Over 40 men have made a declaration of faith and been baptized through his testimony!   He says that sometimes God has to take everything but our faith away from us before we begin to realize what we have in Him.  

• Some of our teachers became true believers in the Lord Jesus and grew in their faith through-out the summer months.

• The beautiful new school wing of 6,000 square feet was built in 3 and ½ months. This makes it possible for all of our beloved 400 students to be able to attend their classes in one building and our lovely Director Nino says that the school is so much easier to administer and manage.

• Our annual Fall Teacher Training was well attended by our staff and each teacher seemed to be very open and touched by the Holy Spirit!  I was so grateful that my symptoms were under control during this time and I could let the Spirit flow through me as Earl and I team-taught and our Director Nino interpreted and also instructed.

• We were blessed to have Earl’s cousin and her son, Rita and Matthew Crews, with us for nearly two weeks at the end of the summer!  They were mightily used by our Lord as they ministered to many Georgians!!

• A friend in our church felt led to send nutritional supplements and toys to an orphanage in Georgia this fall.  She was able to raise the money and two young ladies volunteered to deliver all of it to the orphanage this past week.  They experienced a wonderful time as they blessed these precious Georgian children!

• We experienced great peace through-out the extremely hot and humid summer months!  God’s constant protection over us was evident, daily! 

And second:  What are our plans for the future?

• We plan to complete the landscape and playground plan on the lovely area around The School of Tomorrow.  Recently, we were blessed with a generous, sacrificial gift of $5,000 for this purpose.  Along with this wonderful gift, we hope to be able to raise enough more so that Earl can go back to Georgia in early spring.  Hopefully, he can take with him a team of folks that are called to help us accomplish this important part of our ministry to the children of Georgia!

• We continue to communicate through phone calls and email to our director and secretary as we assist the staff in the many decisions that must be made daily in The School Of Tomorrow!

• We hope to continue to provide and oversee American teachers who impart Biblical principles to our students through Conversational English classes.  Presently, our good friend Dennis Holt and his wonderful staff of YWAM people are conducting these classes, but their new YWAM Training School begins in January, making it impossible for them to teach the spring semester.  We have been communicating with a delightful young woman from Boston who is a Ph.D. student studying Georgia.  She plans to be there for the spring semester and has volunteered to take over at least some of these classes.

• Continuing to speak and share our vision for The SOT/Georgia with individuals, churches, and groups that are interested in our ministry to Georgia

• As you know, last year we began a satellite school with 20 precious first grade students in Sachkhere, a village two hours NW of Tbilisi.  We would love to send an American couple or team to oversee this small “arm” of our Tbilisi SOT and a church that is led to target this fabulous opportunity for ministry in this beautiful area of Georgia.

• With our excellent and awesome board of directors, Steve Rochat, Doug Max, and Dan Bennett, we continue to supervise the ministry of Mark IV Harvest.

• On a more personal note, Earl and I continue to try to make all the soccer, football and other activities of our grandchildren that live near-by.  October is a month of many birthdays in our big family, so we have had lots of get-togethers.  We had so hoped to be able to go to Thailand to be with our son, David and his lovely wife, Heka, and grandsons, Bovi and Luka, at the birth of their third child.  We thank and praise God that Zakavi Yepthomi Treat was born on October 30!  Glory!  “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, surely I have a delightful in heritance!” (Psalm 16:6)  

There is only one fountain that can quench our deepest thirst…
Only one love can hold us with an everlasting embrace…
Only one presence that can bring us an inexpressible joy!  (Roy Lessin)

May He who alone can fill the deepest desires of your heart bless you today and always!

Joyfully serving,
Earl and Jan