Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Many thanks to all of you who sent wishes of Thanksgiving to Kigali.

I want to thank God for those of you who have supported me financially, who are praying for Rwanda and who faithfully contact me through e-mail with words of encouragement and updates from home.

Albert & Margaret Chen: I am thankful for your faithfulness to support the Lord's work.

Allen & Eleanor Odell: I thank the Lord for your encouragement to continue seeking the Lord's will even while I was discouraged by uncertain circumstances waiting to hear from the Lord where I was going to go overseas.

Anand Raj: I thank you for your example to me of faithfulness and courage in preaching the gospel to the Indian community in Portland.

Andrea Jones: I am always encouraged by your zeal to know the Lord more and am thankful for your e-mails about how the Lord is speaking to you.

Sally Arias: I thank you for your example of sacrifice service to the Lord while in Colombia for many years as a missionary . I also thank you for your sacrificial giving to the Lord's work while you are back home in the States.

Sunny Okorie: I thank you for your heart of service to Western Africa by prividing "the water of life" to those who live in a spiritual drought.

Bud & Dorris Lavely: I want to thank you for your perseverance in asking me to attend Perspectives; you are a big part of why I am in Rwanda today.

Benjamin Nkusi: I thank the Lord you came to Portland and invited me to come to Rwanda. It has been a blessing serving the Lord with you.

Colin Halstead: I thank you for being a true brother in Christ. Thank you for listening to me groan in the hard times and celebrate with me in the victories (with ice cream of course). Your life and testimony always inspire me to follow the Lord's commands even when it hurts and does not make sense to me. You are one in a million!

Curt & Debbie Keller: Thank you for your encouragement and support to the Bernhard family during and after my Dad's illness with cancer.

Steve & Darla Baliko: Thank you for listening to me when I faced difficult times back home.

Dave & Marlyn Hadidian: Those times you, Lih and I spent praying together at school strengthened me when I faced very difficult times in my life. Thanks for being there to listen and intercede for me.

The Parish family: I want to thank you for being my family in Eugene while I was away from Portland. It is always a pleasure to talk about life and pray with you. May God continue to bless you.

The Intercultural Faculty at Western Seminary: Thank you for listening to me during the hard times of life I faced while going to Seminary. I also thank you for teaching me about God's faithfulness in your life with the many stories you told me about your experience on the mission field. I look forward to debriefing with you about God's faithfulness and work here in Rwanda when I get back home.

Laura Uva: I look forward to seeing you when you arrive in Rwanda. I am thankful the Lord introduced me to you back in Portland so we could encourage one another in preparation for Rwanda.

Lih & Judy Chen: I loved the times we spent together praying and encouraging one another in the Lord while attending school. Sometimes seminary gets "heady" and it is always nice to find someone else who desires to seek the face of God together.

The Piedmont Home Community: Thank you for providing a community of support while my dad was suffering with cancer. Noel, you are a true brother in Christ; you have a gentle and caring heart for others.

Pat Brown: thank you for listening to me at ECF and praying for me when I was discouraged about the uncertainty of where I was to go overseas. The Lord has answered our prayers.

Robert Pyne: Thank you for coming to Portland to visit with me about the possibility of working with ALARM and providing the opportunity to work with Ben and the staff at YAP.

Roger & Janice Long: Thank you for hosting my mother and I in your home at Mead, WA before I left for Rwanda. It was a very nice time to rest and relax.

Rone & Jane Keller: Thank you for taking my mother out for lunch when my dad was ill and for your continued hard work of mantinence at the farm. You are such a support and encouragement to the Bernhard family.

Robert Stephens: Thank you for being there for me as a friend. You held me up when I was depressed and tackled projects around the house that I could not have accomplished on my own. The Lord bless you and your father.

The Family: I thank the Lord he gave you as my family and challeged me to grow physically and spiritually in areas of my life I would not have pursued on my own. You have all made me who I am today and I am truely thankful God gave you to me as a mother, brother and sister; cousin, Aunt and Uncle.

To those I have not mentioned...I thank God for each one of you.

God's blessings be upon you all as each one of you follows the Lord and grows in the knowledge of Him.

Amen.