June 2007

Thank you for your prayers! God went before us, and guided us each step of the way. We now have a comprehensive understanding of what it is like working at JAARS, the services division of Wycliffe Bible Translators. We toured the campus, had daily interviews, and explored the area. We received two dinner invitations, where we met people working for JAARS, and learned more about the area, housing, etc. Our visit confirmed to us that God is leading us to volunteer at JAARS. We have submitted our applications, and are waiting for them to accept us.

The JAARS campus covers 600 acres. It has two multi-story buildings and numerous other buildings for the ministry. It has single and multi-story temporary housing for staff, volunteers, and conference atendees, as well as housing for missionaries on home assignment. It has sports fields for missionary kids and staff. It has a landing strip for airplanes and helicopters. It has large areas for the construction & maintenance and transportation departments.

There are close to 300 openings in IT worldwide, with about a third of them in Waxhaw, NC. They include software development, testing, training, project management, and hardware / software support. There are also numerous uses of computers for departmental and business needs. They have data in about 100 "silos," and are working to adopt an enterprise view of their data. And they have a God-centered approach to matching people's gifts and passions with the areas of needs. A picture of the IT building is on the left.

Please pray that God will give us wisdom regarding our next steps. Specifically, pray for wisdom in preparing to sell our house, and selecting an agent. Pray that God would provide the buyer of His choice in His timing. Pray that God will reveal His priorities to us as we make plans. Our contacts at JAARS would like for us to begin there in early September.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer. We really appreciate it. We will provide more details next month. If you have prayer requests, we would be happy to hear about them and pray with you.

In Christ's Love,

Wayne & Linda Steele
[email protected]