What a blur the last several months have been!  

 

Not coincidentally, this started with the arrival of our son, Joel Stephen Dunne.  We had a great birth, with a short labor and a smooth natural delivery.  Thanks so much for your prayers!  Joel is remarkably cute (yes, we’re biased), and we’re enjoying being parents a lot.  It’s amazing to think that we’re trusted with his life and character, and we love seeing him grow and learn so quickly.

 

Our joy would be complete if Joel would sleep through the night all the time, since sleep deprivation causes some bizarre situations.  Lia’s been mixing up words in sentences, and   one night I went in to check on Joel, and came back to bed.  While lying there, I thought “I hope LIA didn’t stop breathing!”  Fortunately, common sense prevailed, since SIDS doesn’t strike into one’s 30s.    

 

 

Ministry:

 

We kicked off our fall with a record number of students wanting to be matched with American friends: 85 new students, which doubled our program’s reach!  I spent most of the fall recruiting and training the 85 new American volunteers.  I also started a newsletter to continue encouraging and training the volunteers, which has been a desire of mine for the past year.

 

Our whole fall was bigger and better: we had 60 people come to a dessert night (at someone’s house!), and over 200 people come to our annual Thanksgiving dinner!  We’ve also had a more consistent group of students at our Friday night gatherings, with Adele and Mo choosing to come to all of our discussions about who Jesus says he is.

 

The exciting news this spring we’ll be starting a Bible Study for seekers and Christian international students.  We met to discuss possibly starting one before Christmas, and just a few days later, I had a student comment “There’s no good Bible Studies for us on campus.”  It was encouraging to know we’re on the right track!  Please be praying that we get a good solid group of students as we start.

 

It’s been a fantastic season, and we’re really enjoying life and ministry where God has placed us.

 

Thanks so much for your care for us,

 

Steve, Lia, and Joel