The first day of school!

Moira saying bye to Reece before heading off to school.

The sign in front of their classrooms.

Kelly with her teacher!

Unruh Update

Dear Family and Friends,

We are off and running!  A new year has started and as is usual for RVA it has come with many changes.  For starters we have only 16 dorm boys this year instead of the normal 20+.  However, we have a mix of 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th graders instead of the usual 9^th & 10^th graders only.  This is unusual to have 3 grades in one dorm, but the junior and senior dorms are overflowing.  So we will have 5 junior boys in our dorm as well.  We are excited about this group of boys and our year together.  The sophomores and juniors will all have had us for their dorm parents for one year already while our freshman boys are all completely new to RVA.  Please pray with us that we will be able to have meaningfully relationships with each of our boys and can point them toward a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Another change for this year is that Rodney is no longer School Purchaser.  We asked that he no longer fill this job this year as driving in Nairobi is highly stressful, was taking a toll on him and he needed a break.  So he is now in the classroom.  He is not a full fledged teacher yet, but will be shadowing the Wood Tech classes and looking to be a teacher in these classes down the road.    We are excited and nervous about these changes.  We are excited about this as it gives Rodney a chance to use some skills and talents that are more in line with his background.  On the “nervous” side of things, Rodney is still not sure how he is going to handle being in the same room as Jr. High kids who are using power tools!  He is not a teacher by training but does love to come along side the kids to teach in a hands on environment.  We are praying this will be a good fit for him, please pray with us about this too.

Since Rodney will not have as full of a schedule nor be off campus so much, he has a chance to step into the coaching realm as well.  This is his first time coaching soccer after many years of playing and he is excited about the opportunity to coach one of the boys Junior Varsity soccer teams.  Another result of the reduced load and being on campus more is that he will be picking up on the driving the school bus to events as needed and as able.

Faith is looking forward to being at home and keeping things running.  She is hoping to do more baking to “bribe” the dorm boys down into our apartment to hang out and talk with.  After all, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?  Please pray for her as she looks for ways to get to know the boys better.  And if you have any suggestions, email back.=)

Our first two children will both be attending school this year and are super excited!  Kelly has been counting down the number of days till Kindergarten starts!

We have one more year here in Kenya and then are due for our home assignment and are planning to be in the US for one year.  Please be praying as we look to the future year in the US, for God to direct our steps in regards to schooling for our kids, and for support raising.  (We are currently about $1000/month short on support.)  We have never had kids in school while on furlough before and the thought of being on long road trips with our kids in school is daunting.  Please pray for wisdom.

We truly appreciate your prayer as we could not do what we do without your daily prayers bringing us before the Throne.

Thank you for praying for us!

Rodney & Faith Unruh