February 2008

Where has the month of February gone? Between working at JAARS, registering our vehicles in North Carolina, and the long President's Day weekend, we have been busy. The closest place to take our driver's license exams and register our vehicles is in Monroe, about 25 minutes from here. Both of us had to take the written exam twice before we passed. The exams here are quite different from those in California.

During President's Day weekend, we drove about four hours to the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. The beach there is similar to California, except there were fewer people, and it was fairly warm. The pictures are from Surfside beach and pier, just south of Myrtle Beach. We were surprised to see houses or condos so close to the beach; they were on stilts! I guess that is in case the waves get too high.

Now that it is easier to navigate around the SPARK web site, the next step is to begin addressing some of the content. There are almost two hundred articles that are in varying degrees of completeness, and not integrated into the site. It has taken me a while just to identify them. I asked our director for permission to engage several VMS specialists to systematically review articles. They will provide feedback on about five articles a week, and help us determine whether and how to complete the articles, or eliminate them.

It is interesting how the weather here is similar to San Diego. It seems to rain here about the time it rains there. However, I do have a correction from last month's Newsreel. One of the locals here said that it did snow a little here last year, but not enough to suit her.

We continue to look for a church home. We have narrowed it down to about three churches. The one pictured here is Calvary Church in south Charlotte. It is about 45 minutes from our place. The auditorium holds about 5,000, and they only have one service Sunday mornings. It is hard to consider getting involved in a church so far from home.

It is not too late to sign up for Check-IT-Out if you have an interest in learning how computers support Bible translation. One conference is in Charlotte the end of March, and the other is in Silicone Valley mid-September. Learn more by clicking here.

Please pray for the following requests:

• Praise God with us that we passed our driver's license exams here in North Carolina.
• Praise God for the encouragement we received during the recent Spiritual Vitality meetings with Dr. Ken Boa. He spent two half-days sharing with the JAARS community about "passing the baton" and "finishing well."
• Pray that God will guide Linda to the right place of service at JAARS. She is still searching for a steady position of service.
• Pray that God will give us patience as we wait on Him for wisdom and closure regarding our house.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer. Don't hesitate to share your prayer requests. We really appreciate hearing from you.

In Christ's love,

Wayne & Linda Steele
8626 Karibuni Dr.
Waxhaw, NC 28173
[email protected]
[email protected]