December 13,
2006
Dear Friends,
Elaine took on the job of coordinating senior Sunday school.
Our family preparations for Christmas this year have been enriched
by the fact that Elaine is now coordinating the senior Sunday
school (ages 9-11) in our congregation and decided to plan several
special workshops which have involved the kids in lots of new
activities—making Advent wreaths, exploring the Christmas
story through puppets, and making Bethlehem biscuits to share
with others in the congregation. At various times both Doug and
Stephen have been roped in to help. Attendance has jumped up and
feedback from parents and kids alike lets us know that the special
effort has been worthwhile.
Stephen is playing the guitar and leading monthly praise services.
Stephen has had a good year playing rugby for one of the school
teams and helping to lead music for various activities around
church. Each year our congregation runs a summer school week for
over 160 children from the area. A team of teenagers provides
music and helps in other ways. From September Stephen was also
given responsibility for organizing the music for a monthly youth-led
praise service, demonstrating talents that have surprised us.
Having paid for years of flute lessons and driven him back and
forth, the flute hasn’t been touched for a year, and he
taught himself guitar. If only someone had told us years ago he
would do that!
Niall is in his last year at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
This coming summer he hopes to go to Romania with a work team
from the church. In July Fiona and Niall were privileged to be
part of an all-age team from our congregation who went to Malawi
to work alongside teachers and senior students at the Henry Henderson
School in Blantyre redecorating classrooms and building relationships.
Together the groups accomplished more physical work than anticipated
and our members were greatly enriched by the contact not only
with teachers and pupils but also with adults and younger children
in a church in a very poor township on the edge of Blantyre.
The rest of the summer both of them worked in a local nursing
home and then entertained us with stories from their daily contact
with residents.
In September Niall began his final year of university in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Currently he is applying for a master’s in international
development at several universities.
Fiona is studying speech and language therapy at the University
of Wales.
In September Fiona began a four-year course in speech and language
therapy at the University of Wales in Cardiff. The transition
to university life away from home has been relatively smooth and
she is loving the course.
Doug’s work continues to be as busy as ever, but there
was also time this year for Stephen, Elaine, and Doug to enjoy
a holiday in the breathtaking Dolomite region of Italy. Lots of
hairpin turns with a rented motor-home, picturesque camping sites,
great walking areas, and a night celebrating Italy’s World
Cup victory with locals in a sidewalk café.
Wishing you and yours a very joy-filled Christmas and New Year!
The Bakers
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
175
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