A Great 40th Anniversary
The year 2022 began with a hope and a prayer. Biblical “hope” means confident expectation and prayer anticipates that “God cares and acts.” Entering our 40th year of ministry my goal as President was to thank God for sustaining us through some wonderful experiences, people and financial substance. As a board we prayed and settled on a series of Zoom presentations to faithful supporters featuring 3 special projects to celebrate 40 years of service. There was a lot of “hope” and “prayer” in December 2021 :).
Two of our projects came out of our 18 years of outreach in Ethiopia – enhancing our ministry to the Dilla Prison church and increasing the capacity for the Tino PK-1 grade Christian school in Tino. Project No. 3 was to open avenues for building opportunity for low-income youth and immigrants in the Rainier Valley of S. Seattle.
As I sit here in Kirkland, I am in wonder of God’s blessing in each of the 3 missions during this year. Whether it be school administrators, parents, inmates, new believers, the prison Commander or community members, lives were touched by God’s love. I am thankful for the commitment of my colleague, Sebsibe Walassotene, our prison chaplain and school project manager, who dedicated himself to successfully completing our projects.
Two doors opened for the Living Perspectives anniversary project in Seattle. Our desire to bring hope to the Rainier Valley became a reality. Many individuals connected to the area gave their time and thoughts through interviews. Plans began to develop. At the same time the undercurrent of revival arose through the interviews. This led to a new series of interviews with pastors and non-profit leaders. I became a catalyst for bringing like minds together. Much is going to happen in 2023. 2022 was a year of blessing from the Lord.
Paul