Greetings from Alexander in Malawi

We recently (Jan 24 '08) heard from Alexander in Malawi. Thought we'd pass it on so you all could enjoy the news and pictures.

Dear All,

It’s exactly two weeks since I left Guelph, and I thought it might be a great anniversary to write back.

I arrived well and have spent most of the time visiting with my wife, friends and relatives around the country. It’s mango and pineapple season here; I plucked and ate them fresh from my grandmother’s trees. My mother-in-law grows pineapples and she gave us lots, which we will continue to enjoy for a significant while.

I’m not starting work until next Monday, but I have spent a few hours at the office, getting to re-acquaint myself with how things work here, know who is and who is not here, and of course I’ve spent some time meeting the students that I’ll be teaching.

Southern Africa is receiving some of the heaviest rains in decades, resulting in floods. It’s been raining heavily everyday since I arrived, with a break only in the past 48 hours. We have floods in some parts of Malawi, but not as serious as it is in other countries south of Malawi, whose part of their catchment area lies in Malawi.

Attached are pictures of my family on the day of arrival (Jan 12) and after my first church service on the 13^th.

Kindest regards to you all, and thanks for all that you were to me while I was among you.

May God bless and keep you,

alexander

Annual Church Picnic 2007

This year the weather was great as we celebrated our annual picnic with the usual festivities of Fun, food and church on the front lawn. Here's a few pictures of the highlights.

You can access Dennis Gray's full picnic album by clicking on the icon at right.



In Addition to the usual festivities we had the added blessing of watch three of Kortright young people declare their faith publicly by being baptized... through full immersion yet!

There was Jordan,

and Tabitha,

and Beverly.

Worship was led by a great worship team.

There's Mike,

and the other Mike,

and Reg,

and Rob.

The kids enjoyed a great time with Joel and Wally the Camel.

And then they sang for us.

The scriptures were shared by a great team of storytellers, including:


Catherine...
and Dennis

and Phil

And of course everyone was having a great time.

The Banner people were out in force...

Father Frank said the blessing for the food.

Near the end some of the kids showed us a different way to baptize...

Gabrielle's dedication

Here's a couple of pictures of Gabrielle's dedication.
Parents Sean & Shuhong are understandably pleased.

Off The Wall Pictures

Thought I'd give you all a look at this week's Off the Wall. as Joel and Pete were off at a conference this week, and the number of kids was a little on the short side, we held the events in the Children's pod.

Leading Worship...




Games in the Gym...





Crafts in the east pod... (That's Joseph and his coat of many colours)





It was Bradley's birthday... (his 9th I think)





Closing with a signing prayer...

Off the Wall is a great time for the kids to learn and play together while learning more about Jesus. Check out the children's ministry portion of the Kortright web site for more information.

New Members of Kortright Family

Well.. someone finally sent me some new pictures to post.

Allow me to introduce you to the newest members of the Kortright family.

Kaelan Nathaniel born at 8:43am on February 26 weighing in at 6lbs14oz.
Eden Dawn born at 8:44am weighing in at 6lbs7oz.

Dave Rekker reports that Kristen and the twins are home and doing well. Dawson, as you can see by the photo, is getting into the big brother gig. Dave's best estimate is they'll be beck into the social scene sometime in 2008!



We all wish the family well and will keep them in our prayers as we eagerly await meeting Kaelan and Eden in person.

Nicaragua Update

We received some pictures from the Guys in Nicaragua this week.

Here they are along with the comments they emailed along with them.

This was taken on our first visit to the site on Saturday (Nov 18).

We didn't do any work that day but did have a great time of worship and prayer on site with Pastor Elvis, his family, and many of the children of the church.

This was our first day of work, Monday, Nov 20.

Laying block was a new experience for many of us. Very exciting!

And this was taken this morning (Nov. 25).
We were getting a bit concerned as we had run out of brick by Thursday. But God was both faithful by seeing that brick was delivered in time for us to work as well as blessed us by giving us time to spend with the children that are *always* around the job site.

And here are many of those kids.
Blessings, Vince Tan (on behalf of the Men's Team)

Men's Team Leaves on For Nicaragua

On Friday morning the Men's Team finally left for Nicaragua. Here are a few pics.

Family and friends were there to say Good-bye.

These teams always take a lot of supplies with them.

Balancing out the weight among the hockey bags and medi-packs.

Hockey and Tim Hortons ! Can you get any more Canadian than that?

I guess the only thing left to do now is collect their stats and issue collector cards.


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