Spring 2011 Newsletter

Hello Family and Friends!

We hope Christmas and New Years went well for you and your family. We enjoyed spending Christmas in Chicago with the Madsen family, Amanda’s dad’s side of the family. What a blessing it was to see Grandpa Madsen as we have not seen him for 3 years. New Years was rather low key for us this year as we had a brief break from traveling before flying to California to visit with John’s family. Praise the Lord for being able to spend our Christmas break with both sides of the family.

The Lord has been stretching us and growing us in so many ways over the past year or so. The best way to summarize it all would be to say that He has been teaching us to keep our eyes fixed on Him no matter what goes on around us. We have loved and valued our training here in Missouri with NTM. Throughout our time here we have observed a few concerns within the leadership of NTM. Many of the concerns started off minuscule; however they continued to build upon each other. We have looked to the Lord for guidance and have come to the conclusion that NTM is not the best fit for us to serve with overseas. We are still very passionate in serving the Lord cross-culturally, and highly value the training that has been received through NTM.

Another thing that we have learned time and time again is that our own plans can change rather abruptly. At first we were planning on moving back to California after graduation in December, however we were made aware of the possibility of John taking a more in-depth technology course during the Spring semester. He was accepted under the condition that we are still planning on serving overseas. Life got a bit topsy-turvy for a few weeks as we were trying to figure out what Amanda could be doing while John is in classes. Praise the Lord that it was all straightened out and she was asked to work in childcare with the preschoolers. We are so grateful that John is able to take this extra course that teaches him to fix and maintain “common” missionary equipment, and that Amanda is able to be a blessing to the student families with preschoolers.

Thanks so much for partnering with us in serving the Lord. Words cannot express how grateful we are for your prayers and financial support. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have, or even if you just want to chat.

Keeping our eyes fixed on Christ,
John and Amanda Strozewski <><

Prayer Requests:
- Wisdom in discerning what’s next.
- Attitudes while we study and serve here at the MTC.
- Keep our eyes fixed on the LORD.