An Appeal for Prayer

This is an important week for the Ritchies. We have met with the head of Africa & Latin America with Mission to the World about future work with MTW. We have a meeting Saturday with the Congo Bridge Team from New City Fellowship, PCA about plans to serve on their orphan care team this summer in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We humbly covet your prayers for wisdom, love and support. Wisdom to dicern our involvement in these ministries, love for the national workers and orphaned children in Kinshasa (and the world) and a strong and faithful support team for our service. We believe that this trip will be an excellent opportunity to seek training and experience in orphan care. Over 120 children are in need at this site and we seek to encourage the national workers, bring much needed relief to the caretakers and orphans, provide training opportunities-- all while learning from the Congolese model of care. The training will allow us to serve more effectively in future sites where quality care is not in place. Please join us in prayer! If you feel led to support our mission donations can be made to our account at MTW or through New City Fellowship. Contact info is on the blog! In humble service, Skip and Keary

Christmas Update 2009 - Thank You

Merry Christmas from St. Louis. One semester of classes (15 hours) has come to an end. We were able to return home for Thanksgiving and see family and friends. Thankfully, we are still a family. It was a stressful and challenging fall semester. Pray for us how we reflect on this semester and decide how God wants us to balance work and school. Keary and I continue to work part-time.

Keary and the girls were able to host the annual Christmas Tea Party in our home. Sixteen (16) girls enjoyed goodies and tea. Praise God for allowing us to have a special community of friends here in St. Louis.

Remember Dolly - Cusco Milk Cow Gives Birth

Remember Dolly? God has blessed the orphanage with the birth of a calf from Dolly. We praise God and thank the Covenant VBS children and you all for your prayers and support. Dolly giving birth means milk for the children and financial support for the children's home.

Keith and Ruth Powlinson(MTW) sent us the photo yesterday from Cuzco, Peru.

Please continue to pray for the children of Josephine House, Dolly and calf, the people of Cuzco and the missionaries serving there.

Fall Update - Kids

We are proud to announce - Stephen had 51 Excellent grades #5or A's, Olivia had 45 A's, Maddie had 62 A's and Sayer got many "as expected". Sayer's teacher wrote he is a "sweet child and natural leader". Imagine that!

They are adjusting nicely to the Freedom School with a couple of sad times here and there. Stephen got a perfect 100 on his Civil War history project on Turner Asby. Olivia got some nice comments from her music teacher. Maddie is a strong reader. Keary and I help with Maddie's class on Mondays. Sayer says the best part of school is playing at the different stations. Sayer has learned a new song "This is how we know" about Jesus.

Thanks from St. Louis

Thanks for all your prayers -- We are now all united in one place. Skip attended the orientation at Cov. Pres. Much to think about -- Calling -- it was a big wake up for him. Check out the school - www.covenantseminary.edu

We live nearby Cov. Pres - Creve Coeur, East and north of the school. We worshiped at New City Fellowship (PCA) -- http://www.newcity.org/ucity/index.asp - it appears they are intentional about orphan care -- Their mission statement says -

Seeking first the kingdom means these types of ministries will mark us as the church. We will care for the widow, the orphan and the immigrant in our midst. It also means we will seek justice in marriage relationships, parenting responsibilities and work issues. God is concerned that his justice fill the earth, and that means justice both personally and socially. In his love and graciousness, these ministries are not the "calling" of a special few of God's people, but it is the privilege of all God's people to live such lives of service.

It has several ministries that we are interested in. Many different backgrounds and nationalities. Our kids are in School at Freedom School. Please check out the school --
http://tfsstl.org/

Back From Dalton, GA -- Thank you Grace Pres. Church

Our family had a wonderful time of worshipping the Lord by helping a man dying of Liver Cancer fix up his home. Dalton, Ga is the carpet capital of the world. The gentleman had two sons age 10 and 11. The church offered to fix up his home to help his children financially when his home was sold at his death. He was expected to die in 2 months and hospice was called in while we were working on his home. Grace Pres.'s Pastor challenged us to show the love of Christ and not expect anything in return for our construction help. We also did VBS all week and had 20 to 40 Latino children come to our bible club event. We were so blessed to be able to serve as a family. During the week, we invited many people to the church's annual Fiesta event. We heard this week that 300 Latino people came to the church for the event and heard the gospel.

See http://www.gracedalton.org/ for church information and their ministries.

Pleading The Cause of Orphans So They Prosper

Please pray for us as we consider what God says to us in his Word about Orphans/Fatherless. Jeremiah 5: 28-29.

We are headed to Dalton, GA soon

We have just over 4 weeks before we embark on our next family mission trip. This time we are staying state-side and will be in Dalton, GA from July 25-August 1. We look forward to serving the Latino community there. We are very excited that 1/2 our team is bilingual and the other half is learning Spanish! Our hearts still remain with the orphaned and we hope to serve in another orphanage soon. Please be praying for that next location (possibly Africa) and the remaining $1500 our team needs to raise to get to GA! Thanks for your prayers!

Josephine House Needs Your Prayers and Support

Orphan Painting - Special People of Peru

Peru Painting- A local artist painted this child. This is an excellent portrait of what the special little ones look like in Cusco, Peru-- Please pray for the neglected and abandoned children in this area. Our friend Jessica is working in Cusco and counseling children through Mission to the World (MTW). Please pray for her.