Rattin family preparations for pastoral and medical ministry in Northern Uganda with Action International Ministries.
June 30, 2010
Dear friends,
June took us by surprise. Suddenly it’s summer time!
Five Graduations in the Rattin Family
We are grateful for God’s providence for us as we achieved milestones in our final preparations for the mission field! Within the last two months, Josh graduated from Southern Theological Seminary with his Masters in Divinity. Abby graduated from UMass Amherst with her Masters’ in Public Health. Gracie graduated from Kindergarten. Ana graduated out of pull-ups. And “Baby Brother” graduated into the 3rd trimester of pregnancy!
Kids’ Korner
Gracie graduated kindergarten this month – she’ll continue into summer school and 1st grade in the fall in her same intensive needs classroom in public school as we finish up our preparations to move to Uganda. We’re learning everything we can about how to best educate her on our own and provide all her therapies on our own. When we move to Uganda, we’ll be shifting from an intensive needs classroom, therapies in school, and 5 sessions of therapies outside of school to homeschooling with all therapies provided by us! Pray for us as we learn how to best provide for her! She’s an amazing, loving kid and we praise God for this season of great health! Ana is excited about baby brother coming at the end of the summer. She is working on new skills daily and is so much fun and full of character! We’re working on important “missionary kid” skills with the girls: learning more daily about our amazing God first and foremost, but also, not being picky with food, being friendly and polite, and being flexible in expectations.
Book Nook
Abby: For those interested in community health, I highly recommend the following book (as well as others by the Hesperian Foundation): Disabled Village Children (http://hesperian.org/index.php). This is a book written for community health workers, designed for low-resource settings. It describes how to make equipment that is sustainable, able to be manufactured in the community, and is easy to use.
Uganda Blurb:
We will be primarily ministering with the Acholi people of Northern Uganda. They have finally emerged from decades of civil war and rebel activity. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) took many of the Acholi children captive to serve as child soldiers and slaves. The LRA is now out of Uganda, likely hiding in the jungles of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Northern Uganda is now trying to rebuild, reunite, and heal. We will focus our first year in Uganda on learning Acholi language (a Luo language that is tonal) and culture. It will be especially important for Josh to speak Acholi well so that he can minister directly to pastors in remote areas and their congregations. It is also important for Abby to learn Acholi well so that she can gain trust to go into village homes, find children with special needs, and help provide what these kids and their families need to survive and thrive.
Prayer Requests:
- Wisdom and smooth transitions in bringing in a new pastor for our church.
- Focused priorities.
- Our condo to sell at our “break-even point” (or higher?) in the next 6 months.
- Continued good health for Gracie and Abby & baby (and the whole family!).
- Increased prayer and financial support.
Departure date: January 2011 (goal)
Current Level of support: 40% of our needed monthly support, ~10% of our needed outgoing funds.
WWW.ACTIONINTERNATIONAL.ORG/RATTIN
June 30, 2010
Dear friends,
June took us by surprise. Suddenly it’s summer time!
Five Graduations in the Rattin Family
We are grateful for God’s providence for us as we achieved milestones in our final preparations for the mission field! Within the last two months, Josh graduated from Southern Theological Seminary with his Masters in Divinity. Abby graduated from UMass Amherst with her Masters’ in Public Health. Gracie graduated from Kindergarten. Ana graduated out of pull-ups. And “Baby Brother” graduated into the 3rd trimester of pregnancy!
Kids’ Korner
Gracie graduated kindergarten this month – she’ll continue into summer school and 1st grade in the fall in her same intensive needs classroom in public school as we finish up our preparations to move to Uganda. We’re learning everything we can about how to best educate her on our own and provide all her therapies on our own. When we move to Uganda, we’ll be shifting from an intensive needs classroom, therapies in school, and 5 sessions of therapies outside of school to homeschooling with all therapies provided by us! Pray for us as we learn how to best provide for her! She’s an amazing, loving kid and we praise God for this season of great health! Ana is excited about baby brother coming at the end of the summer. She is working on new skills daily and is so much fun and full of character! We’re working on important “missionary kid” skills with the girls: learning more daily about our amazing God first and foremost, but also, not being picky with food, being friendly and polite, and being flexible in expectations.
Book Nook
Abby: For those interested in community health, I highly recommend the following book (as well as others by the Hesperian Foundation): Disabled Village Children (http://hesperian.org/index.php). This is a book written for community health workers, designed for low-resource settings. It describes how to make equipment that is sustainable, able to be manufactured in the community, and is easy to use.
Uganda Blurb:
We will be primarily ministering with the Acholi people of Northern Uganda. They have finally emerged from decades of civil war and rebel activity. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) took many of the Acholi children captive to serve as child soldiers and slaves. The LRA is now out of Uganda, likely hiding in the jungles of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Northern Uganda is now trying to rebuild, reunite, and heal. We will focus our first year in Uganda on learning Acholi language (a Luo language that is tonal) and culture. It will be especially important for Josh to speak Acholi well so that he can minister directly to pastors in remote areas and their congregations. It is also important for Abby to learn Acholi well so that she can gain trust to go into village homes, find children with special needs, and help provide what these kids and their families need to survive and thrive.
Prayer Requests:
- Wisdom and smooth transitions in bringing in a new pastor for our church.
- Focused priorities.
- Our condo to sell at our “break-even point” (or higher?) in the next 6 months.
- Continued good health for Gracie and Abby & baby (and the whole family!).
- Increased prayer and financial support.
Departure date: January 2011 (goal)
Current Level of support: 40% of our needed monthly support, ~10% of our needed outgoing funds.
WWW.ACTIONINTERNATIONAL.ORG/RATTIN
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