Dear Friends,
October brought two milestones into our lives. First, we welcomed a new, precious granddaughter into the family. Katelyn Joy was born October 12 to our daughter Karla and her husband Andrew Bright. Karla is now a full time mom, having taught school for the past 5 years. Before getting married, Karla spent one and a half years in Haiti, teaching school in Port-au-Prince and fell in love with the Haitian children. She is now able to help us with the home part of the ministry. It is so good to have little Katelyn close to us so we can see her often. Our other 4 equally precious grandchildren live in California.
The second milestone happened ten days later. On October 22, 1945, I was born, and if I did the math correctly, I hit 60 this year, joining my wife, Sheryl, in the 60’s club!
The past seven years have truly been a blessing. It was in August of 1998 that I completed chemotherapy for lymphoma. The doctors said at that time that my non-curable cancer could return in two years. Now as I continue to go for regular checkups, there is no sign of the cancer. We take this as a gift from God. He is in control and continues to give me good health, and we do not take it for granted. We praise Him, the Great Physician, for another year of life. We look forward to continuing to follow His purpose for our lives as we serve Him at home and in Haiti.
Four of us are traveling to Haiti on November 4th. One of my goals is to make the trip to the village of Corail. This is the village where we started a school a year ago and have recently built an eight classroom school building. We now have over 350 students in Corail. This is one of our school villages that is not accessible by vehicle. I was supposed to be getting in shape to make the three hour hike. I haven’t done too well in that department but I did make other plans for the trip. While in Haiti in August, I talked to a young Haitian, named Colo, who has access to a motorcycle. He made the trip to Corail to play soccer and it only took him about 55 minutes. He has agreed to give me a ride to the village so I’m ready to go. Thank God for alternative methods!
Serving the Lord together,
Bernie and Sheryl Bovenkamp
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