January abbreviated update:

It is only 8 more days until we fly to New Jersey for our 3 month leave of absence to have our third boy. We have finally decided on a name: Blake Mensah Beil. Mensah means third born male in Twi (the language spoken here in Kumasi).

The last month has been very busy and eventful.

1.      1. Our friend, Nathaniel Lutes, from Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar, California came out to visit us in the beginning of the month. He brought TONS of presents for all of us. Some were from church members, others from family members, and the rest from him. It was great to have another person to fellowship with for two weeks. He has been a great encouragement to our family and was a perfect guest. To view misc pictures of Nathaniel’s visit please press here. To visit ministry related pictures of Nano's visit please press here.

2.     2.  I hosted the January ladies meeting this past month. I chose a luau theme. To view pictures of this event please press here.

3.     3.  The extreme highlight of my month was having my dad come to visit us for a few days. It was really an act of the Lord how it worked out for him to come. Here is the story: Dad had a man named Dr. John Nelms come to his church a few months ago.   Jon Nelms is the founder of Final Frontiers. Their mission statement since their beginning in1986 has been: "Through the funding of national and native preachers, we endeavor to effectively advance the Gospel where it has never been preached before."  In early January Dr. Nelms emailed my dad and another preacher inviting them to go on an upcoming trip he was taking to Ghana. My dad was very interested! To make a long story short Straightway Baptist Church (where my dad is a pastor) offered to pay a large amount of the expenses of the trip and my dad was able to spend some great quality time with us. The first day he was in Ghana he had to walk 1 hour to get to an internet café that had no air conditioning. He spent 3 days in Ghana before arriving in Kumasi. Needless to say he got the real African experience. Usually when people come to visit we try to take such good care of them in our facilities and vehicles that they “Don’t think living in Africa would be too bad.”! As soon as dad got off the airplane in Kumasi he told us how much he respects us and how much more he will pray for us! That was refreshing =). While he was here with us he preached an African funeral for one of our Sunday school class members who recently passed away, he taught our Together Forever Sunday school class, and preached Sunday night church. He was a huge blessing to our family. Jackson and Judson still pray for him at the dinner table and can’t wait to see grandpa in about a week. To view pictures of his trip please click here.

4.      4. Fundamental Baptist Academy is going strong. Brett has been extremely busy trying to get everything organized for when we leave. They had a picture day in January. To view these pictures please press here.

5.      5. We had our annual team valentine banquet on Monday the 7th of February. Didn’t feel so pretty being 8 months prego; but, thoroughly enjoyed the time I got to spend together with Brett and the other couples. To view pictures of this event please click here.

 

Travel Plans

Ghana to New Jersey February 17th

New Jersey to California     March 1st

California to New Jersey April 19th

New Jersery to Ghana May 17th

 We love you all and cant wait to see most of you soon =)