Prayer and Praise from RVA 3rd March 1999 The main talk revolves around the death and life of Ruth Evans. It was good to hear so many made it to her memorial service in the States. Amy Owen represented the alumni in her talk out here. She's here working in Habitat for humanity. Janey Berry and a few other alumni managed to attend here. Keep praying for Stephanie Law as she takes over Ruth's dorm. Mr. Terry McCall is attempting to take over Ruth's classes. Two students claimed to have become Christians at the memorial service here and one senior girl became a Christian a few days later as she contemplated the things said about Miz and her faith. On the other side several kids have had to be sent home to be with their families as they sort out issues in their own lives. Banquet was a huge success despite the recent passing of Ruth [who was a dorm mom to several of the junior girls involved in the banquet] The theme was the hanging Gardens of Babylon and the entertainment was a modernized version of Shakespeare - AS you like it. The stage side of Downing was made into three tiers with tables - The back of Downing was a very low stage made into a garden complete with pond and lush vegetation. There was a generous abundance of plant life strategically placed everywhere, the ceiling was draped black and made to look like star constellations shining down. SAwdust covered the floor. Servers wore Roman style togas. Mike ARensen was a hit with his facial expression as he made his move on his woman in the entertainment. A love story - another RVA success story. Baptism Sunday is this Sunday. We need rain desperately but don't pray for it for this week if you can help it. The Shilling is falling as the finance minister resigned. Security is being beefed up around the station with perimeter gates and guards. The extension on the CB building has reached the stage where they can put a roof on it. It will house a couple of computer labs plus some more classrooms. Junior high is preparing to move into the classrooms where the computer labs used to be over the science rooms. Outreach weekend is March 6-7 and we're heading out to Maasai to paint a church before dedicating it in the service on Sunday. We're still feeding 3500 kids daily in the valley as things stay dry. There haven't been any car jackings for a few weeks now. Dave Pollock is preparing to come out next month for our transition seminars one more time. It looks like we'll be doing them at the Methodist Guest house in Nairobi. Some seniors are already struggling with leaving [or staying as the case may be]. Some need to be accepted into colleges yet. Some are just thinking about Safari next term. The administrative team is working well together and there seems to be a general sense of good team work. Our dorm parents are showing signs of fatigue as are many of the students. We're trying to figure out how Y2K is going to affect us as a school with flights, computers, economy, and life in general likely to be affected. An activites/ calendar has been set up to explore options for next year. We've got an honors committee exploring more ways in which students can be honored. We need specific suggestions. If any alumni have anyput we'd appreciate it. We're in a severe water shortage these days and our power supply keeps being disrupted. Pray for those responsible to keep us going. Some of us need sleep. It's almost mid-night again. May God strengthen each of you for the day that you're facing. He is good and his faithfulness endures forever. - Jack Taylor