Coming up

Only three more days left of this semester!!! What an exciting time it has been serving here at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) this semester. So what now... the semester is over. There is still a lot that needs to be done over the summer. MTC hosts a week long "Refresher Course" for all of the New Tribes Missionaries from the States. We will be helping the campus get ready.

Traveling is also a part of our summer. We are planning on visiting California and Arizona mid June through mid July! We are excited for another opportunity to reconnect with family and friends in the area. John will be traveling to Wisconsin the beginning of August. His buddy, Grayson, is getting married and has asked John to be a groomsman. :)

We will be students in the FALL!!! Starting in August we will be students, and go through the training! We are very excited! Please be praying as we begin preparing. One of the needs we are facing is purchasing another laptop. Amanda's laptop was getting extremely sluggish, so her sister Katie gave her her old one. Well Katie's old laptop is faster but it has a mind of it's own as it randomly shuts down. :( Not good. So we are working on looking into investing a more reliable laptop.

Life

Hello from Roach, Missouri! (The name of the town is priceless!) Seasons are changing once again, yet this state can't make up its mind. Last week was rather cold and this week has been very warm. Yay for Missouri weather!

Life in child-care has been a bit crazy this week. We were low on staff, due to sickness and other reasons. Chelle, one of the women I work with, took an emergency trip to visit her father in Florida on Monday. He is home with the Lord as of Thursday night. Please be praying for her and her family. Please also pray for all the ladies who work in child-care as this week has been difficult, due to it's abnormality. Pray that everyone will be refreshed this weekend and ready to begin a new week. (I found out next week will be a lot like last week. Please be praying for the ladies who are working and please don't forget the kids.)

Construction of the five-plex has been moving right along. We are just about finished with the wiring. Things have been moving fast it seems. I have been learning a lot that will help me serve better where-ever God has us in the future. I have really enjoyed learning everything. I am currently wiring the electrical panel for the last unit, the guys here that know the most, have been very willing to teach me anything I ask as we are going along. This has been a great learning experience. We just had the first 2 units rough in inspected and they passed with some minor alterations. We are praying that we can get the last three inspected by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. From there they will be insulated and dry walled, while we are finishing up the siding. Pray that we can stay focused on why we are here building so that others can train and learn here and go reach the unreached. We all have a part to play to further the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, some give, some pray, we build. Would you guys also keep in your prayers funding for the building projects here. God has been blessing us through and through, for this building, and as we move forward in planning for the new classroom building and more housing please pray for wisdom as that moves forward and the finances. Your prayers have been a real encouragement to me and Amanda as we serve here, thank you. If you could also keep in your prayers our goal, it is to get this built, so the new missionary students can live in them by August first. Please pray for continued safety on site.

There are four more weeks left in this semester here at the Training Center. Please keep the students in your prayers. Please pray they finish strong. Pray for adjustment as many will be leaving campus and serving others over their summer break. (There is one group that is headed to Indonesia.) Pray for the children here on campus as they know things are changing due to the parents packing up.

The end of the semester also brings transition even among the staff. Please be praying for people to fill in where others have stepped out. For example... us! It has been a joy serving here at the training center; however it is time for us to begin the training in the fall. That leaves one less person in child-care and one less person on the new construction crew. Please pray that God will bring people along to serve where we had served.

Praise and prayer

First I will go with the prayer request because it is needed right now. Our crew chief broke his collar bone over the weekend and due to it not setting right he is going into surgery today. If you could be praying that the surgery goes well and that he has a speedy recovery. As for the praise the building project is going smoothly, but slowly without Todd on the site. We have passed our first inspection, and are currently getting 2 of the units ready to be sheet rocked. The sewer and water have gone into a few of the units already, the main thing we need right now is the electrical put in. Pray that it can get done soon so we do not fall behind schedule and it's ready for students in the fall. We have also got a modular building to help with our classroom space until we can get the new ones built. It was a real blessing, to get it for the price we did.

As for Amanda and I, we are doing well, the warmer weather has been a blessing, it just sort of lifts our spirit to get out of the cold. Work gets started quicker and we get more done with the warm weather. Also thank you for your continued prayers and support we are both glad to have people praying for us all over, and just being apart of this ministry here.

Your brother and sister in Christ,
- John and Amanda Stro

ps. A picture will be added later today :) It just needs to be taken!


Update on Todd~
Todd's surgery went well. It took a bit longer than anticipated as the surgeon found a three inch gap in his shoulder bone. He had an overnight stay in the hospital and is currently home resting. Please be praying for a speedy recovery. He is getting a bit anxious to be back into the swing of things.

Amazed!?

A picture from us to you!!! Praise God, it finally worked!!! Hopefully it will continue working.

I wanted to share this picture with you all. In it are the ladies from a Bible study I attend on Wednesday nights. They have been such a blessing! Last semester we were studying the attributes of God. This semester we are going through the book Crazy Love by: Francis Chan. It's all about love and our relationship with God.

Even before our study began God amazed me with what He can do. For starters, I was a bit nervous about purchasing the book. As you know finances are rather tight, and I was having trouble justifying buying the book. God totally eased my mind when I was talking with my sister KT a few weeks ago. She had bought the book last semester to go through it with a friend and never did. Thus she was more than willing to mail the book to me so that I may borrow it for the study! God is good! There was no need for me to be concerned.

The first chapter challenged us to think about who God really is. What really struck me was how we often miss the little things that God blesses us with. Such as what we see, hear, touch, and taste. He lavishes us through the diverse colors that we see in a sunset. Or what about all the different kinds of laughter we hear? Think about how nice the sand feels between your toes when at a beach. And what about FOOD! Everything could have tasted like peas, but God had other plans in mind for us. Praise God for the diversity of senses!

God is constantly blessing us all throughout our week. The question is do we choose to recognize them. I am totally guilty of not always recognizing blessings. For example last Saturday it snowed here! Crazy I know! I was not so excited about it because I was thinking... Great another cold week! Winter is never going to go away. Boy was I wrong! As the snow was melting I saw a little bit of green poking out of the snow in various places. And then I looked over by our shed/shack there were clusters of green plants, which will grow to be flowers. Wow! Spring is really on its way. And to top it all off the past few days have been very warm... as in 70 degrees warm! Praise God for the snow to help emphasize to me that spring is on its way!

Serving an Amazing God,
Amanda Stroze <><

PS. Thanks for your prayers regarding finances. We are seeing God working! Please keep praying for us, and we thank you for being apart of our ministry.

Inreach

The Rock House, our church here in Missouri, held an inreach on Saturday. Basically the premise of the event was to reach out and help out the church body with various needs. One of the pastors, John Shelton, was inspired with the idea as the church has been studying through Acts. We all saw how the early church supported one another through meeting various needs. So John Shelton thought, "Wow the economy is a bit crazy right now and things are rough on many families... we can do that, help our fellow brothers and sisters at the Rock House" and thus the idea was born. So they held a "rummage" sale that was free to the church members. Everyone was encouraged to give what they could and those who had needs were encouraged to come and be blessed. It was great! John and I donated a bag of clothes to help out families who needed clothes. When we attended the event on Saturday we were blessed with food. It was awesome to see how the body provided for so many needs. It was such an encouragement to see how the church body provided for the needs of its fellow members.

Both pastors encouraged the church members to voice their needs. Their point was "no one is a mind reader, so how are people supposed to know how they can help when you don't tell them." Funny how this simple concept can seem so profound. We love you all very much and are blessed with your prayers. The reality is we have a need that still has not been met. Our current financial support is at about 30%. What we are receiving right now barely covers our bills. We know that God will meet this need. Please pray that God will move people to support us financially. Also pray that we will use the money we have wisely.

Thanks for your love and support!
John and Amanda Strozewski <><

life's blessings

Family and Friends,

Yay for more updates! The five-plex that John is working on is going up rather well. They have the roof on and a layer of tar paper. John says they are now working on framing the inside of the second floor. This particular building will be able to house five large families. Each home will each have three bedrooms. What a joy to bless a larger family with more bedrooms.

Child care is going well. What a joy it is to say that I love going to work in the morning. We now have 9 kids in the preschool room! It's been a joy and a challenge this semester. The dynamics in the room have drastically changed. We are really noticing the vast differences between five year olds and three year olds. Two of the students need quite a bit of extra attention, they have never been in a preschool setting. I am learning the balance of grace and timeouts for these youngsters. :)

Please be praying for the Milton family, their preschooler is in my room. His mom was hospitalized this week with a blood clot in her leg, and then found out they are no longer going to have a baby. Please pray for this family, as they cope with these new adjustments in their daily lives.

Our Current Prayer Requests:

• Safety for John and the crew on the job site.
• Health - we currently have mild colds. :( No fun!
• Patience for me as I work in the Preschool room.
• Our marriage stays Christ focused.

Amanda Strozewski <><

PS. We are still working on figuring out how to post pictures up. John's computer doesn't seem to do it, and my computer is being rather slow about things and times out before the picture has finished loading. Our appologies.

Back in Roach

Well we have made it back to Missouri safely. Thank you all for your prayers while we were traveling. We both enjoyed sharing our lives and what we are doing here in person with you while in California and Arizona. It is such a blessing to have so many people that pray for us and encourage us while we serve here. I had a chance to catch up with some other co-workers since we have been back; I have heard that the ladies in the preschool are happy to have Amanda back. I also was able to mosey around the job site. We are getting ready to finish framing the second floor and get the roof on. If you could specifically pray for continued safety on the job site as well as health in the child care. Thank you for your prayers and support in our ministry.

See you here, there, or in the air.
Your brother in Christ - John Stro