Travel to Thailand

This October, Craig traveled to Bangkok, Thailand to take part in two conferences. (This marked the third trip for Craig to Asia since March of this year-- and approximately 70,000 flying miles!) Both conferences were a great opportunity to connect with people from all over Asia and he also was able to catch up with  colleague from our time in Tanzania.   A highlight was working alongside one person who is working with the persecuted church in East Asia. It was a time of mourning for the people of Thailand as their King of 70 years died. The King was loved by the Thais so it was a difficult time of transition. As I reflected on the death of this earthly King I was able to celebrate with 8 new Thai believers who were baptized and now have an eternal relationship with their King.

Near the Grand Palace in Bangkok

While Craig was gone, the girls were busy with their home school work and preparing for the upcoming productions with their theater group.  The next show is a Christmas show and will be presented at an outdoor venue in downtown Tampa.  (Please let us know if you would like more information on attending!)  Their director has said that she feels that God has called us to "not waste a platform" so they are planning this show in order to share the Gospel through Christmas scenes and songs with the hope to impact Tampa with a message of hope. We are so blessed to a part of this amazing group!

We are also excited to announce that Wycliffe US celebrated the dedication of 29 New Testaments, including a children’s Bible. If you are interested in seeing this celebration of God’s faithfulness please click on this link  https://www.wycliffe.org/blog/posts/sharing-the-joy-of-scripture-celebration?utm_source=pardot&utm_campaign=11SCVID02&utm_medium=enews . The celebration is just over an hour long.

Summertime

Anissa and Ariana headed to Louisville, Kentucky for the Challenge conference that is sponsored by the Evangelical Free Church of America. Thousands of Christian youth from all over the country descended on Louisville. It was a time filled with great speakers, praise and worship as well as doing community projects around the city. Both the girls came back inspired and energized about the work of the Lord through his people.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with two small trips-one to Mount Dora and one to the Green Mountains of Vermont. It was great for us to get away and have time together. Things will get back into full swing soon with home school and CAST (the Christian performing arts group the girls are in) starts back.

Only 30 miles from the base of the tallest mountain in the world is a people group, the Lhomi, who after much hardship and perseverance celebrated the completion of the  New Testament in their own language. Here is a link to a half hour video of this incredible story.   https://www.wycliffe.org/himalayas  Watch it and be inspired of the work of the Lord.

Craig will be heading back to Asia in mid-October. Stay tune for more details on the trip. Craig is also excited through the Lord how he connected an organization based in Tampa with  our director of the work in Togo, West Africa. That organization is going to help a small Christian radio station our director works  with on  updating its transmitting capabilities in order to reach more people with the Gospel.

We are humbled by your prayers and partnership in helping to bring transformation to communities and people in Asia and Africa. We praise God for you.  We hope you had a great summer!

10 Years!

We can't believe that it has been 10 years since we officially began to work in ministry--ten years since we took our first assignment with Wycliffe and moved to Washington, D.C. to work in the International Relations office.  We are grateful to each of you for your prayers and support. Thank you for your faithfulness over the last decade!

10 years ago

Now!

This last year, Anissa completed 10th grade and Ariana completed sixth grade.  Where has the time gone?!  They have both been a part of DeArmon CAST, which is a Christian performing arts school. They love it so much and we have been so blessed to be a part of this amazing group.  CAST performs several plays a year and Anissa just concluded Mary Poppins where she was part of several ensembles and Ariana played Mrs. Darling and an Indian (Brave Shrub) in Peter Pan.  They have also gotten to take part in some of the summer classes that were offered and are looking forward to another exciting year of performances starting in the fall.

Anissa in Mary Poppins (ensemble)

Ariana as Brave Shrub in Peter Pan

Since March, Craig has been busy traveling in East Asia, including visiting Bangladesh, Thailand and Cambodia. He just arrived back home from Cambodia where he visited a partner organization which is involved in Christ centered transformational development. There was also a dedication of the Phnom New Testament happening in northern Cambodia right after Craig's visit. This Bible dedication was the result of a 15 year project.  In Bangkok, Thailand Craig helped facilitate a training course with participants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal on learning how to integrate sustainable development goals into their work.

Craig with colleague and leaders of a community in northern Cambodia

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over already!  We hope everyone has had a blessed year so far and we thank you again for all your prayers!

Circle of Change

Craig at Easter  sunrise service celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh

For the last seven years or so, I have been fascinated by the study of how communities, churches, families and societies change. I actually went back to school to get a masters degree in the principles of transformational development. As a great philosopher once said, "Change ain't easy!"

What is so tough about change? Change is tough because people are involved--and the  systems and institutions they live in are also involved. People and how they relate to each other and their environment cannot be fully measured by normal methods of evaluation.

That is why I was so encouraged by my trip to East Asia and Bangladesh this month. In Bangladesh I saw how women were co-learners  in understanding how to raise chickens and ducks and also how to raise crops next to their homes to increase food security for their families and communities. People were learning to save for the future and they were beginning to understand how to protect their families from things like arsenic poisoning which is impacting more than 20 million people in Bangladesh!  

So how are they doing these things that are leading to positive change in the community?

Learning circles.

A circle group of men co-learning together to bring change to their community. 

Learning circles are groups (of mostly women, but some groups of men) that meet on a regular basis to learn about topics that impact their communities. During my trip I traveled to many villages to see first hand how learning circles (many of these being facilitated by SIL-Bangladesh) are making a difference in the communities. 

Another type of learning circle is Generation Next that is run by young adults and deals with many of the topics studied by other adults in the community. I heard how, after learning about advocating for government services, members of a Generation Next learning circle successfully approached their local government about getting electricity in the village and drainage issues. These learning circles provide a safe place for people to co-learn as they grow and change. It was a privilege to see this work first hand.

Craig at a MLE (multi-lingual education) pre-primary school in Bangladesh.

Next up is traveling to Bangkok, Thailand for a community of practice event on sustainable development goals and then I will continue on to see transformational development work in Cambodia. Please pray for the upcoming trip that will start in early May. 

Asante Sana

Throughout our journey, the Lord has erected faith markers so we can look back and see his faithfulness.  At the foundation of these faith markers are our partners in ministry over the last 10 years. When our family looks back we see you... God is so good!

                              

Yours prayers and support have carried us to DC, Tanzania and all around the world in order to bring transformation through God's written word. So in Swahili we say "asante sana", thank you very much! We are humbled by your prayers and your sacrificial giving.

We are excited to announce our next steps in ministry.  As many of you know, Craig received his Masters in International Development this past  summer.  So, in October  Craig expanded his role to not only serve Africa regarding legal and partnership issues, but also to began to work with communities in Asia and Africa  in the area of transformational development. So what is transformational development?  It is the process of empowering   individuals and communities  to envision a future that brings about a spiritual and material change.  This is a change that is marked by restored relationships, renewed institutions and sustainable livelihoods.

So up next in the spring will be trips to Asia, beginning to work with a new team, and working with the leadership in Africa. We are excited about what the Lord is doing in both Asia and Africa. Thank you for your continued partnership in helping reach communities with the good news. We love you and could not be continuing this journey with  you. 

Reaching the Finish Line-- But It's Only the Beginning

    

 Many of you have been praying for us and watching Craig's educational journey as he began his Masters of Arts in International Development from Eastern University in May 2013. It has been an  incredible experience for Craig of how to bring holistic Christian development that does not bring dependency but empowers communities to discover their God given assets and opportunities. Carolyn also went on this journey with Craig as she reviewed papers and gave encouragement during the journey.  While it seems like the journey has ended with Craig receiving his Masters, it has really only begun with the possibility of a new assignment.

       

The purpose for seeking this degree is not the degree itself,  but the opportunity it provides to serving communities in the name of Jesus Christ. The degree has included training in areas of community development, theology of poverty, disaster relief and mitigation, advocacy and human rights, microfinance, program planning and marketing as well as economics. Craig has been honored to study with folks who have worked with International Justice Mission, Compassion International and Samaritan's Purse. It has been a transformation of thoughts on  how language communities are served.

 Please be praying for the next steps as Craig begins to explore assignments in the Wycliffe Global Alliance for a role that will allow him to use what he has learned over the last two years. We will continue to work with Wycliffe and are so grateful to all who have partnered with us. We want to particularly thank the Lord for individuals and churches who helped us with the funding of Craig's tuition the last two years. To God be the Glory. If you are in the Tampa Bay Area, don't miss the upcoming announcement of a graduation and partnership get together  that the Clendinens will be hosting. We hope to see all of you soon.

       

Blessings for the New Year

   

  As the New Year is now here, we want to wish each of you four specific blessings for 2015 and beyond.

1.      Grace- We live in a culture here in the US that is very much performance driven. From school, work, and sporting events we seem to be focused on outcomes, results and winning. The Lord does not live in the world of performance but the world of grace.  May you be blessed with living in his abundant grace.

2.      Enlarge your territory- For years, we have been inspired and encouraged by the prayer of Jabez. The central point of the prayer is that God would expand your ministry and work for the glory of his kingdom. Remember this is a blessing you need to ask for-- and then be ready for the increase.

3.      Glory to God- We pray a blessing that everything you do this year would be done to the Glory of God.  We were made to glorify the King.

4.      Forgive those as we have been forgiven- We all love to be forgiven by others and, in fact, expect others to forgive us. So how are we doing with forgiving others? Christ does not give us an option when it comes to forgiveness. Because he has forgiven us, we are commanded to do this for others. Will we heed this command or simply turn the other way? 

     

      We pray over each of you that you will practice the blessing of forgiveness.

May the blessings of 2015 extend past this year and may you experience the all that God has promised you. Praise be to our Lord and Savior.