Kabiye Team News
March 2, 2000

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello again from Albertville, France! We're experimenting with titles for our weekly update, so we beg your tolerance as we think up creative new titles! (However, don't be too surprised if we lose all creative juices soon!) We are enjoying the last few days of our winter vacation from school and are getting ready to get back to the books on Monday morning. We covet your prayers for this, because as of Monday no English is allowed on the school campus, even to ask how to say something!

We had a wonderful and relaxing time in Florence, Italy last week! We were blown away by all the rich history and art that Florence has to offer! We barely scratched the surface of all there is to see, but we saw enough to praise God for the artistic gifts he gives to be used by His perfect works of art (us!) Hannah did very well on the trip, but she was tired by the time we came home. We traveled with Matt, Andrea, and Abigail Miller who were wonderful tour guides and traveling companions! (They spent 6 months in Florence at Harding University's study abroad program while they were still in school.) Another important feature of our trip, especially for Dave, was the wonderful Italian ice cream called, "Gelatti". He and Matt got at least two dishes a day!

Some other big news for this week is that our teammates Bryan and Tracey Ries welcomed a new son into the world yesterday morning (March 1) at 11:10am. Graham weighed 8 lbs. 2 ozs. and was 20 1/4inches long. He and Tracey are both doing very well and all of us on the team are busy with meeting their needs in cooking meals, watching their other son Isaac, and helping Tracey at the hospital for the next few days.

We were able to participate in a ground-breaking event during the Wednesday night worship time at the Richland Church of Christ last night. We woke up at 4:00am to wait for a call from the preacher, Scott Koopman. He placed us on speaker phone hooked up to a microphone in the auditorium and Dave was able to narrate a slide presentation that was put together from digital pictures we have taken of daily life here at the language school. He was even able to share some scripture with the congregation and pray from over 3,000 miles away! Praise God for the way technology can be used to His glory! It was very encouraging for us to hear the singing over the speaker phone and to hear the familiar cry of babies at church. We praise God daily for the Richland congregation and their great support!

Well, it's getting late here so we will sign off. Thank you for all of you who email and write us. It means so much to hear from you and to know how you are doing. Remember, "God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Thess. 5:9) May you remember your destiny today!

In His Love,
David, Becky, and Hannah