Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Hafa Adai #3

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HAFA ADAI

from Brad and Cheryl Boydston ~
preparing to serve the church
in the Western Pacific
and along the Asian Rim

"In His teaching the islands
will put their hope."
Isaiah 42:4

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Tuesday, 27-May-06

CONTENTS

1) Updates
2) Schedule
3) Encouragement Team Partners
4) Staying in Touch
5) Prayer Requests
6) Communication
7) About This Email

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1) UPDATES

June has been a crazy month ~ way too much good stuff packed into such a short period. We're tired but doing well.

• As we write this, Kent is in the air en route to Chile for a semester abroad at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. (They have an exchange program with the University of California.) He'll be there until mid-December, then hopefully join us in Guam for a couple of weeks, before doing an internship in Washington, DC. At least that is the current plan.

• Last Sunday was our final Sunday at Cornerstone. It went well. Sean Curtis is the transitional pastor at the church and he will start July 2nd. There will be a send-off event for us at Cornerstone after worship on Sunday, August 6th.

• Kirk graduated from UC San Diego a week ago and is back in Turlock with us as he looks for work. I've put a copy of his resume up on the web at Kirk.Boydston.us. Kirk has an aptitude for language and would like to do something which takes advantage of that. He gets along well with people and he's not afraid of work.

• Betsy graduated from Pitman High School on June 2nd. She was the valedictorian and there is a video of her 2-minute graduation speech online. She is working this summer at an area fruit stand.

• Our house is on the market. Interest has been low up to this point. Keep praying. Brad and Cheryl at commissioning service

• We've purchased a 45-foot cargo container which will be delivered to the Muller Ranch this week. Then we can start to move items for storage out of the house.

• We participated in the missionary commissioning service at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids on June 14th.

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2) SCHEDULE

• We plan to be at Mission Springs Family Camp, Scotts Valley, CA, July 4th

• Brad preaches at Trinity Covenant Church, Livingston, NJ, Sunday morning, July 9th

• Brad meets with our Liebenzell Mission partners in Schooley's Mountain, NJ, July 10th-12th.

• We plan to do a presentation on our new call to Pacific Islands Bible College, 7 p.m., Thursday, July 13th in Cedar Lounge at Covenant Village of Turlock, 2125 N. Olive Ave., Turlock. All are welcome ~ even non-village residents.

• On July 16th we will be at the Bayside West Church in Roseville, CA for a short presentation during their Sunday morning service.

• July 21st-24th visit with family in Arizona.

• Sunday, August 6th, farewell event at Cornerstone Covenant Church follows worship.

• Sometime between August 8th and 14th Brad travels to Guam.

• Cheryl travels to Guam sometime around August 22nd, after getting Betsy situated at UC Berkeley.

• New student orientation at Pacific Islands Bible College starts Saturday, August 26th.

• Classes begin, Monday August 28th. Brad will be teaching classes in basic spiritual formation and preaching.

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3) ENCOURAGEMENT TEAM MEMBERS
We have received commitments for 75% of the funding that we need to have in place before we leave for Guam in 6 weeks. We're shopping for airfares ~ acting in faith that the commitments for the remaining 25% needed will come in by then ~ and that those who have made commitments will keep the support flowing. If you've been thinking about becoming a prayer and/or financial partner, time is of the essence for us as we have to satisfy the Covenant World Mission department (to whom we are accountable in this project) which requires us to have commitments for funding the first 2 years of our 3-5 year project in place before we go.

We are very encouraged by the response to this point and are grateful for your partnership. We know the sacrifices that many of you are making to be a part of our encouragement team and feel a great responsibility to use the funds wisely. So far we have not tapped into any of the account funds that we have raised, as we have been able to self-support during this time of missionary training and fundraising. Overall we expect to self-support 30% of this project using money from the sale of our house, a couple of small Internet consulting jobs that Brad has, and a part-time job that Cheryl expects to pick up once we get to Guam.

If you would like to support the ministry you can send a check or commitment response to:

PM Support for Boydstons
Department of World Mission
Evangelical Covenant Church
5101 N Francisco Ave
Chicago IL 60625-3676 USA

Checks should be made out to the "Evangelical Covenant Church" with the clear designation "for the support of Brad & Cheryl Boydston." If possible print and include this .pdf form .

Some of you have actually already started making contributions to our support account (this is good!) and we appreciate it greatly. You all are a great source of encouragement to us!

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4) STAYING IN TOUCH
We're discovering lots of little tools for staying in touch as our family scatters across the planet. One of the most helpful is Skype, which is an Internet telephone system. Two computers with microphones (and/or optional inexpensive webcams) can connect for free. I've carried on conversations with the staff on Guam -- where I can see them and they can see me here in Turlock. Often the quality is better than what we have on our regular home phone (and certainly better than our cellphones). An added bonus to the system is that you can actually call any phone number in the US (including Guam) or Canada from any computer in the US or Canada ~ for free ~ via Skype.

Skype can be downloaded at http://skype.com or Cheryl@Boydston.us

Cheryl's music

Brad's website/blog

Guam Visitor's Bureau

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7) ABOUT THIS EMAIL
Hafa Adai is Chamorro for hello. You are receiving this email because you are a friend or associate of Brad and Cheryl Boydston. A few of you are probably receiving duplicates because at this point we are also sending these updates to the Covnet and Abet lists. If you are on one of those lists and would like to be added to our more permanent update list, or if you would prefer to receive Hafa Adai at a different address, email Brad at Brad@Boydston.us.


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Brad's blog, updated almost daily, can be found here.