The F&F team has been in the UK since the end of January. They share a number of praise items:

Christian Union Group - Our team was invited to be part of the very first group meeting at Plumstead Manor Secondary School (a large public school of about 2,000 students). We were told to only expect three students from the Slade Evangelical Church and Miss Lamm, a Christian teacher, to be at the meeting. But there were eight students! We sang a song, shared some of our testimonies, and spoke of the importance of meeting together in small groups.

We have made changes to two our our programs: our Friends & Followers team has been shortened from 11 to 9 months, ending in June rather than August, starting the 2007/08 team year. In addition, we have put the 4WRD program on hold for the time being. We will continue to send our Spring Breakout teams (we have one team going to Mexico and two going to Costa Rica) and GAP teams (going to Quebec, Peru and Malawi). Location options for the 07/08 F&F team are Russia/UK/Germany, Mexico or Uganda/UK. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   for more information about our upcoming teams.

Greetings from the Church here in Russia! For the last few weeks, our team has been going to churches in the communities north of Krasnoyarsk. Our main goal has been to "raise flags" for the pastors our here. Sadly, many Russians have been taught to believe that the church (Baptist, here) is a cult. So by our Canadian team coming, it draws people in to hear the truth about God and you aren't crazy to be a part of the Church. Many first seeds have been planted.

We have a new name for our Training Centre: Discovery Lodge! Discovery Lodge Retreat & Training Centre is located on 20 acres of woodlands an hour northwest of Calgary and is being used to train our teams and as a retreat centre for church and other groups. Our hope is that this will be a place of discovery for you: discovering peace, hope, fulfillment, knowledge, friendship... the list could go on. For more information on Discovery Lodge, go to Retreat Centre on our website.

"What on earth are they doing?" you must be asking. "Why do they have fly swatters on their heads?" We were playing "Name That Tune" at our Staff/4WRD team Christmas party. The first person to recognize a tune would swat the table with his or her fly swatter; hence the starting position of the swatter - to keep everyone honest! We had a lot of fun playing the game, visiting, eating and singing Christmas carols. The 4WRD team returned from Manila two nights previous (December 6), so we had the privilege of being able to celebrate Christmas with them. On Sunday morning, the team took the service at Bergen Missionary Church. Their theme was the Power of God... displayed in their lives. It was a witness to what God can accomplish when we let Him use us... even when we feel unprepared, unfit or broken. Praise God for how He used this team to accomplish His purposes in the Philippines. Please pray for each young woman as she decides what God wants her to do next.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and God's blessings in the coming year!

Mark Sorell
Executive Direcctor