Dear Friends, Family and Ministry Partners,

     What a year of transitions this has been! In this newsletter we would like to share some of the highlights of the past three months of our new home and ministry in Nairobi. We have spent much of our time learning: visiting some of the ministries with which SIM partners both in Nairobi and outside, meeting with pastors and pastors’ groups, and listening to some of Nairobi’s slum residents and those who minister to them. Through these contacts and site visits we can see that not only are the needs great, but the opportunities to work with committed believers are vast. We pray for wisdom as we begin to establish our ministry goals and strategy. It is also clear that we need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers.

Holiday Greetings

     As Christmas approaches in Nairobi, a flurry of political activity has replaced the Western shopping mania as Kenya prepares for its general elections on December 27. Please join us in prayer for this critical time in Kenya.
 Instead of evergreen and red, we see lime or orange tee shirts displaying their party’s candidates. A young man in the Kibera slum was killed by a small angry crowd because he was wearing the wrong color tee shirt. Demonstrations of protest over that violence are scheduled today. We desperately need God’s blessings of peace and goodwill.
On the flip side there are signs of hope and joy in the midst of abject poverty in Nairobi’s slums. Youth conferences are being held in many churches and ministries. Support groups for those living with HIV are preparing special Christmas celebrations and searching for ways to provide some special food packages for those who would not otherwise have much to feed their families. Churches everywhere in Kenya are preparing for their Christmas Day celebrations with choir music, pageants and special speakers to bring words of encouragement as they remind us all of the real reasons to celebrate the coming of our Savior into the world. We hope that you too can hear the message of peace on earth, goodwill toward men in the midst of all the superficial commercialism of Christmas. May God Bless your Christmas celebration with the reality of the hope that He gave us in Jesus!

Blessings for a Hope-filled Christmas and a joy-filled New Year!
Bob and Hope

Carter Kids Update

Nathan - October and November found him on the upper peninsula of Michigan going through an orientation and further training with American Eagle Airlines. He completed the course well and is now gainfully employed as a mechanic/inspector by AE Airlines just outside Little Rock, Arkansas. He enjoys keeping up with his friends all over the world by internet and skype. You can email him at: nathancarter@lavabit.com.

Levi - After a wonderful summer working at Quaker Haven Camp, he is now back at Taylor University for his second year. He is studying computer science and communications along with some courses in new media. Last week he had a tube put in his ear to treat a chronic ear infection unresponsive to antibiotics. He can now hear much better. He will be spending his Christmas break with his grandfather in Plainfield. You can email him at: LeviCarter@Taylor.edu.

Hannah - This term she played the role of Henry Higgins' mother in the school drama, “Pygmalion”. Aside from drama and choir, her studies at Rift Valley Academy are very consuming as she looks forward to completing high school next July. During her December school break she is busy studying Calculus to prepare for the AP exams, which will be given after the second week of term three. She is considering a gap term after completing high school to volunteer with our SIMPact Program here in Kenya before beginning university the following spring. You can email her at: hcarter08@kijabe.net.

Josiah - He is enjoying his job as the sound technician for many of the school’s activities. Since he was already doing sound for the drama, he was talked into taking on two minor roles in the play: that of the cabbie in the first scene and of the butler in the second. While home on break he is volunteering with our construction crew to build a small fitness center, and in the process is learning new skills. He is proving to be a valuable member of the team. You can email him at: jcarter10@kijabe.net.

MINISTRY REPORT
Usually, a change in location and start up of a new ministry requires some time before one expects to see much activity develop. It takes time to make contacts, cast vision, build networks and gain credibility. We were expecting to wade through a similar “slow start” period in Kenya. How wrong we were!
Three days after arriving in Kenya in mid-August, Bob flew to Johannesburg, South Africa for a week-long ‘HOPE for AIDS’ conference. Shortly after his return to Nairobi we took Hannah and Josiah to school at Rift Valley Academy, then we flew back to Zambia for the month of September. We spent the entire month sorting and packing up personal effects, selling off furniture, saying our “goodbyes” to many dear friends and colleagues and finalizing the handing over of various ministry activities. It was both physically and emotionally draining to wrap up ten blessed years of life and ministry in the space of one month.
October is when our new life and ministry in Kenya really began. That was when we began to set up housekeeping in our new “maisonette” with our own things, to put together a new office at SIM Kenya for ‘HOPE for AIDS’, to commence making new acquaintances and contacts among churches and organizations, and to envision and pray about the “way forward” for SIM to assist the national Church in its AIDS ministries. We also took a week off to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary (Oct. 16) on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, using some of the “time away” as a prayer retreat as well. What a delightful time! We came away rested, refreshed, and spiritually energized.
The following week our household goods arrived from Zambia. We praise God that a Corelle serving dish was the only loss we sustained. Not long after that we also received word that our faithful Nissan Patrol had sold in Zambia at the price we were requesting. Thanks so much to each of you who prayed for our transition from Zambia to Kenya. Please do continue to pray for our settling in, especially that we will find a suitable vehicle in Kenya at a price we can afford. The sale of the Patrol is a huge step in the right direction, but vehicles are nearly twice as expensive in Kenya as in Zambia.

MAKING CONTACT
Over the past two months we have had so many “chance” encounters with people we needed to meet and get to know, and some of these have resulted in key doors of opportunity opening up to us. We can tell that many of you are indeed praying faithfully for us, because the Lord has been answering so abundantly!
One of the connection “highways” we have discovered has been the local Nazarene church. They seem to excel at networking! Through the Africa Nazarene University and the nearby Africa East Field office of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries we have been put in contact with pastors and leaders of several different denominations and even a few interdenominational pastors’ fellowships. Through these we are learning much about the visions for AIDS ministries being pursued by various churches and about the significant constraints and difficulties they face. This is helping to shape our vision for ‘HOPE for AIDS’.
Other key contacts so far have included:
• Dr. Peter Okaalet, General Director of the Nairobi office of MAP International, a Christian medical relief program that has long been a pioneer in community health and now in AIDS prevention and care efforts. He and his wife graciously hosted us in their home for over 3 hours, shortly before he was due to leave for several commitments in the U.K. and U.S.
• Dr. Miriam Were, Chairperson of the National AIDS Coordination Council. She is a gracious and humble yet dynamic Quaker woman who has long been a key person in the Kenyan government’s increasingly successful efforts to turn back the tide of AIDS.
• Rev. Paul Ngie, Coordinator of ‘Church Leaders United in Fighting Poverty and AIDS’. Paul is a visionary with a passion much like ours: to train up church leaders and increase their effectiveness in Gospel ministry and social outreach.

DISCERNING THE VISION
Our approach to discerning the vision of ’HOPE for AIDS’ in Kenya has been not only to understand the churches’ vision for (and constraints against) AIDS-focused ministries; but also to learn first-hand from those living in the midst of AIDS what their needs are and how they think the Church can most help them in the midst of their circumstances. But how could we, newly arrived foreign strangers, connect with the very people who would least have reason to entrust us with such personal information?
Our housing compound is within a 30-minute walk of Nairobi’s infamous Kibera slum. In the space of 1½ square miles, Kibera is home to approximately 1 million people, or ¼ of Nairobi’s metropolitan population. Half of these are children, with most of them either orphaned or under the care of unemployed widows. Kibera’s population density is 30 times that of New York City. One source estimates that of the 2 million people living in Kenya with HIV, one in five of them lives in Kibera! The average household consists of five people living in a rented 10’ x 10’ mud-walled room partitioned by sheets of worn fabric. One pit latrine may serve between 10 and 100 households. Many just use plastic bags for human waste instead (called “flying toilets”.) Open sewers run through the streets and clean water must be purchased. Clearly, if we want to connect to the people most affected by Kenya’s AIDS epidemic, the Kibera slum would fulfill Sutton’s Law for us. But how and where to begin?
Through another “chance” encounter we met Martha. Martha has lived in Kibera for 17 years, attends Mashimoni Friends Church in Kibera, and was trained a few years ago as a self-help project coordinator. When the funding for that project expired, the other coordinators all left for other things. Now Martha alone remains, purely on a volunteer basis doing what little she can from her own resources. Although she herself sometimes sleeps hungry at night she continues to look after the welfare of 60 AIDS-afflicted impoverished families. Many have come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through Martha’s compassion and care. Many are still alive today because of Martha’s interventions. Needless to say, Martha has earned a high degree of trust and respect in Kibera.
Martha’s offer to show us around Kibera and to introduce us to some of “her” families was the breakthrough we needed. We were truly humbled by how readily people shared even the most intimate and personal details of their lives with us – a testimony to their trust of Martha. What we have been learning in Kibera is also now helping to shape our vision for ‘HOPE for AIDS’.

A DREAM MATERIALIZING
AIDS in Africa is so huge and all-encompassing that no aspect of life, society or culture has been left untouched. Fifty years of development gains have been erased. Education is failing, health systems are overburdened, agricultural production is dropping. Hunger, illiteracy, poverty and mortality statistics – all are increasing. In some villages much of the middle (parental) generation has disappeared, leaving frail grandparents to care for increasing numbers of dependents and giving birth to a new phenomenon: child-headed households. In the face of such social devastation, what can the Church do? Many churches, in fact, are struggling with (and weakened by) these same issues.
The truth is, there is a great deal the Church can do. Individually, churches will have limited impact compared to the scope of the impact of AIDS. But if churches can join together across denominational lines and recognize their common membership in the same Body; if they can unite under the leadership of Christ with a common heart and common vision to utilize their unique gifts, callings, resources and abilities towards a common goal – then the impact in communities can be profound and the effect on society and culture be transformingly powerful. This is our dream.
On Nov. 29 we saw this dream begin to materialize. Bob had been invited to address a group of 35 pastors from different churches at a day-long workshop on AIDS prevention and care. His assigned topic was on “the role of the Church.” At the last minute he scrapped his prepared presentation and just spoke from the heart, sharing the personal stories of some of the HIV-infected slum residents we had met and challenging these pastors to consider how the Church can bring “good news” to such as these. How can the message of the Cross be made relevant to the sick widow, abandoned by her entire family, with four hungry children, no income and no food? What answer does the Church have for her?
The message was anointed, but not unique. The Lord was present in the workshop and other speakers were similarly empowered. At the conclusion of the workshop the pastors all agreed that they wanted to forge an alliance to work together in their various AIDS ministries in order to encourage, support and strengthen one another in the work. Praise God! Then and there they established a steering committee, and Bob was asked to represent SIM Kenya on the committee. Please pray for the work of the steering committee and for this new interdenominational alliance of Nairobi-area churches. Pray that the vision for cross-denominational cooperation will expand to involve many more churches and denominations as well.
FRIENDS HOSPITAL, KAIMOSI
In October Bob was informed of his appointment to the newly-reconstituted governing board of Friends Hospital, Kaimosi, a Quaker hospital in Western Province. The hospital serves an estimated population of over 200,000 people, but in the past its reputation drew people from all over Kenya.
Sadly, the past 2-3 decades have seen a progressive decline in its services and reputation due to a complexity of factors that include: disadvantageous trends in health care financing; declining revenues; unfortunate choices in senior staff appointments; dependence on the government for essential personnel and services; and erosion of sound business practices. During the decline patient attendance dwindled, indebtedness grew, equipment could not be repaired or replaced, physical structures deteriorated, and employees began leaving when they stopped receiving full salaries.
Frustrated in their efforts to turn the hospital around, Kenyan Quakers appealed to Friends United Meeting to take over the hospital on an interim basis and assist them to restore it to its former capacity. Under FUM’s oversight, a number of important “first steps” have been taken including the reconstitution of the hospital’s board of governors. Bob was asked to serve on the board’s Business and Development Committee and to chair its Clinical and Standards Committee. In recent months there have been some crucial staffing changes, progress has been made in sorting through confusing and incomplete financial records and in restoring effective accounting procedures, full salaries have been restored with the aid of FUM’s “Adopt-A-Nurse” program, and staff morale has decidedly improved. Renovations have begun with funds provided by FUM, starting with the long-overdue replacement of the roof. (As Dr. Kamau observed, “It doesn’t matter how good the care is – if the roof leaks on you when it rains, you will leave with a bad impression of the hospital.” How true!)
There is new optimism now at the hospital and in the community. A variety of needed expertise is represented on the new board and the current senior hospital staff appear to be quite capable given the necessary support, although the administrator’s position is still vacant. Please pray for success in the search for a godly and capable administrator. Pray also that the new optimism will result in increased patient attendance, increased revenues, and increased capacity to service the hospital’s debts.

JESUS Film / Discipleship Training Project

Many of you have been interested in and praying for this project (SIM Project No. ZM 94549.) Since the start of the project this year the JESUS film has been shown to over 5000 people, with 110 making new commitments to Christ and 79 making re-commitments. Frequently there are additional commitments made within several days of a showing that are never reported but are no less genuine. An additional 100+ responders at a recent showing will result in a new preaching point, and follow up plans are being made. This has all been accompanied by the training of area church leaders in discipleship skills. Please consider this project in your end-of-year giving. We encourage you to read more about this project on our web site.

Praise and Prayer
Praise God for:
1. Safe travels and good closure to our ten years in Zambia.
2. Safe arrival of our household goods in Kenya.
3. Good start to the JESUS film/discipleship training project in Kenya. (And pray for adequate funding.)
4. Successful sale of our Patrol in Zambia.
5. So many good contacts so quickly in Kenya.
6. Progress already made on renovations at Friends Hospital Kaimosi, and for improved morale among staff.
7. The blessings of 25 years of marriage.
8. The wonderful gift of His Son.

Pray for:
1. Wisdom and divine guidance as we develop the vision, goals, strategies and partners for our new ministry in Kenya.
2. Finding the right vehicle at an affordable cost.
3. Kenya as it prepares for general elections on Dec. 27.
4. Levi's ear to heal completely and without any hearing loss.
5. Martha and others like her who minister faithfully in the slums of Nairobi, bringing both physical and spiritual comfort.
6. The Body of Christ to unite across denominational lines in the battle against AIDS in Kenya.
7. Friends Hospital Kaimosi: its new board, management and staff; and for FUM's efforts to oversee its restoration.

Mailing Address
Our correct mailing address is: c/o SIM Kenya, P.O. Box 60875, 00200 City Square, Nairobi, Kenya. It is not “P.O. Box 00200, Nairobi.” Some misaddressed pieces of mail have failed to reach us. Thanks for making a note of this. (And thanks to those who have written!)

Web Site: We now have a web site that is up and running at: http://carter.with.sim.org. Note that there is no “www” in the web address! Our son Nathan is helping as our “webmaster.” (That is, we can blame him if it is not kept up to date!) If you have any ideas on how to make the site better or more informative, you can email him at: nathancarter@lavabit.com.

Monthly E-mail Updates!
Some of our serious prayer partners have requested regular updates, so we are now sending brief email updates with prayer points on a monthly (almost!) basis. If you wish to receive these updates, please email your request to: bob.carter@sim.org.
If you do not have a computer or internet access but you still want to see these updates, most local libraries now have internet access. You will find past and future updates on our web site (http://carter.with.sim.org).
Please do remember to add us to your email “white list” so that our emails will not be blocked as “spam.”

     Greetings from Nairobi! This is a brief email update for those of you who pray for us regularly. Our intention is to send these updates out on an as-close-to-monthly basis as possible. We will continue to send out our quarterly 4-page "Carter Chronicles" as well. Please let us know if you do not want to receive these updates. Unfortunately we are not able to send these updates to those among our partners who do not have email.
     A word of explanation: where you see an asterix (*) or an "M", substitute the letter or word that makes sense. We have been advised to do this because there are certain terms that some radical Isl*mic elements search for on the internet and this is one way to "fly under the radar" a bit better. SIM Kenya does have some ministry activities in heavily "M" areas and would like to avoid inviting trouble as much as possible.
     So now for our update... Setting up house and establishing an office are not exciting activities to write home about! Therefore, much of what has kept us occupied this month would be too mundane and uninspiring for us to bore you with it. So this will be brief (aren't you glad!) Here are the highlights:

• We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary (October 16!) by spending a week at Malindi on Kenya's coast. The first two mornings we actually spent in a prayer retreat seeking divine guidance on how to begin setting up the 'HOPE for AIDS' program here. It was a productive time of prayer and helped give us some focus and direction. We also discovered another missionary couple staying at the same place and enjoyed some spiritual fellowship and mutual encouragement with them. We enjoyed swimming in the warm surf and snorkeling in the nearby Marine National Park, and even spent half a day deep sea fishing! Hope caught a 3-ft. kingfish that we are pretty sure the hotel served up during its dinner buffet two nights later. (But if we ever do that again we'll take some Dramamine first!) We even came home with no more than mild sunburns!
As we were checking out the clerk asked us, "Are you Christians?" (The coast of Kenya is heavily Isl*mic.) "Why, yes," Bob responded, "are you?" "Yes I am," the clerk replied. "We've been noticing you this week and you seem to be changed people." We assume that "changed people" is a safe term to use to refer to Christians where most people are Mus*ims. So that encouraged us. You never know when others are watching and noticing the kind of values that rule your lives.

• During October we had several "divine appointments" in which God caused us to meet people who may become key contacts for us in the future, including bishops of two different denominations, senior administration officials at the Africa Nazarene University, and the director of the AIDS department at the Kenya headquarters for MAP International. We also met Professor Miriam Were, head of Kenya's National AIDS Control Council and a very gracious and humble woman.

• Bob was recently appointed to serve on the newly reconstituted governing board of Kaimosi Hospital in western Kenya. The last Saturday of October was the new board's first meeting. Bob was chosen to sit on the Planning and Development subcommittee and to chair the board's Clinical Services subcommittee. A number of areas requiring the board's attention were identified, with physical renovations being particularly urgent and the board is moving quickly on this. We were also pleased with those currently exercising leadership in the hospital's administration, although recruitment of a new administrator is another urgent matter. Restoring Kaimosi Hospital to the level of service and reputation it once enjoyed will be a challenge. But the task is do-able and the team assembled is capable. Nevertheless, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain." (Ps. 127:1) Please help us to lay a foundation of prayer as efforts commence to restore Kaimosi Hospital.

• We are pleased to report that your prayers for safe delivery of our household goods from Zambia have been answered. The shipment arrived in Nairobi on Oct. 24, was cleared without problem and delivered to our door on Oct. 29. Our only breakage was a Correlle serving platter, so we feel very blessed by the outcome. Thank you for praying.

Key prayer points for Nov/Dec:

• Thank God for a safe, refreshing and spiritually productive week, and for 25 years of blessing in marriage.
• Thank God for the contacts He is already giving us and the relationships that we are beginning to build.
• Thank God for the safe and timely delivery of our household goods from Zambia.
• Intercede for the new board of Kaimosi Hospital and ask for divine guidance in the restoration of the hospital. Pray for the hospital's administrative leadership and staff. Ask for more involvement in the "Adopt-A-Nurse" program by churches and individuals back home.
• Pray for us as we gather information, make contacts, conduct interviews and begin to establish a "way forward" to build a strong and effective framework for SIM Kenya's 'HOPE for AIDS' program. Pray also for clarity on Hope's role in all of this. Her current legal status in Kenya is based on Bob's work permit (as a dependent) which restricts her from any formal "work" role. Ultimately we plan to apply for a separate work permit for her, but first we need to have a clear sense of what her "work" will be.

Thank you for praying.

Blessings,
Bob and Hope

Dear Friends, Family and Ministry Partners,

     Greetings from Nairobi, where we have just returned from a final month in Zambia. It has been a successful but grueling month and we are still quite tired, but we wanted to let you know what's been happening and how to pray for us at present.
     We thank God for safe travels from Nairobi to Lusaka to Mukinge and back again. During the month of September we were able to meet with most of the people we had hoped to see, to say our final farewells and to wrap up a decade of fruitful ministry. We spent many tedious hours and late nights sorting through ten years of accumulated papers, children's school projects, and assorted knick-knacks and "things of life" that tend to pile up in quantities unrecognized until it's time to move. We sold most of our furniture and many other items not being shipped to Kenya, and barely made our deadline for having everything else packed up and ready to truck to Lusaka. Unfortunately, the hospital lorry broke down half-way to Lusaka and we had to hire another lorry to complete the delivery for us two days later. We managed to get our goods delivered to the shipping agency barely 15 minutes before they closed for the weekend! We then waited until Monday to complete all the paperwork and make final arrangements for their delivery by air freight to Kenya and final arrival at our new home (a townhouse) in Nairobi. Our flight back to Kenya was Tuesday (yesterday.) That was close timing!
     On our way to Mukinge, with about 30 miles still to go and dusk approaching, we passed a school soccer pitch and noticed to our delight that the familiar screen we use for showing the JESUS film had been erected there! We stopped to inquire and found our friends and colleagues in the process of preparing for an evening film crusade. They had earlier completed an interdenominational discipleship training program for church leaders in that community and had now returned with the JESUS film. It was a joyful reunion, and we would have stayed to participate in the event with them except that people in Mukinge were expecting us and would worry if we failed to show up soon. We learned that the past few months have been very busy with training seminars and film showings, and that the main obstacle to the program being even more active has been a lack of financial resources. The program still lacks $1500 to meet what was budgeted this year. If you want to help this worthy project, send your gift to SIM-USA designated for Project No. ZM-94549.
     One highlight of our month in Zambia included the chance for Bob to "catch up" on the progress of the AIDS treatment program he started at Mukinge Hospital. It is now actively providing care for over 500 people who are on daily anti-AIDS drugs. Bob was even able to see Chongo, the first child he ever started on anti-AIDS drugs. He hardly recognized him! He has put on so much weight, and according to his proud and happy mother is doing very well in school. The program is doing so well, in fact, that it has been asked to take over management of a similar but struggling effort in the adjacent Mufumbwe District. Kingsley Kuwema, the director of Mukinge Hospital's comprehensive AIDS program, anticipates having over 1000 people being actively managed on AIDS drugs by the end of this project year.
     Another highlight of our time in Zambia was the opportunity for Bob to preach final messages of encouragement and testimony in three different locations. One of those locations was in the village of Kelongwa, where we did our first six weeks' "village live-in" experience. We always claimed Kelongwa after that as our "home village." We made occasional visits back to Kelongwa as often as opportunity allowed during our ten years in Zambia, and were always warmly welcomed back. This time was no different. After the service one of the church leaders told us in a heartfelt tone of voice, "You are not the only white people who have come to visit us in Kelongwa; but you are the first who have ever come back to say goodbye."
     While in Kelongwa we also stopped in to see the new Chief Kisengwe. He is a well-educated man who has traveled in several African countries while in the Zambian military assigned to various UN peacekeeping forces until his retirement several years ago. He was rather abruptly installed as chief without prior warning by the village elders three years ago after the death of the former chief. We had not met him before. We had been told by Dyton Kima, our close friend and mentoree who is now coordinating the Jesus Film and Discipleship program and who is also from the village of Kelongwa, that the new chief is a strong believer and a member of the Kelongwa Evangelical Church. He still has only one wife in spite of strong pressures from traditional elements to take on more. He also has refused to allow witch doctors to practice in the area. We wanted to encourage him to stand firm in his faith despite the considerable pressures that believing chiefs often experience to revert to traditional ways. Dyton told us that although he had an English Bible he had no Bible in Kikaonde, the mother tongue. How did he know all this about the new chief? It turns out that Dyton is a double nephew of the new chief! So we gave him our own Bible in Kikaonde as a parting gift, which he was delighted to receive. We urged him to read it daily, praying over what he had read, praying for widom to govern in righteousness, and praying for his people. He assured us he would do so.
    We also were able to pay our final respects to our friend, Senior Chief Kasempa. He continues to gain strength and mobility slowly in the limbs affected by the stroke he suffered two years ago. Some of you have been praying for him, and God has been faithful to answer your prayers. His voice is strong and clear, he walks without assistance and he is using his right hand for many things although it is still not as strong as his left hand. In many ways, the sudden physical weakness he experienced two years ago has only served to considerably strengthen him spiritually. He knows how tenuous physical life can be and understands the importance of paying attention to the life of the spirit. He thanked us for the spiritual support and encouragement we have given him over the years, and we presented him with some Christian books we thought he would find useful, including a very good daily devotional. Like Chief Kisengwe, we urged him to be faithful in taking time every day for Bible reading and prayer.
     We also noted that the Lord seems, in these days, to be raising up increasing numbers of chiefs who have made a commitment to follow Christ. Among them is Chief Mumena, who used to be the director of Scripture Union before he was made chief.) We suggested to Senior Chief Kasempa that he use his leadership among chiefs to establish a fellowship of Christian chiefs. In such a fellowship they would be able to discuss issues of practical concern facing Christian chiefs, to pray for one another and to encourage each other to remain strong in the faith. He thought that was an excellent idea and said he would follow up on it. Please continue to pray for him. Pray that God will protect his health, extend his life, increase his strength and stamina, and expand his Christian influence among the Kaonde people and among the other chiefs.
     Finally, we would also appreciate your prayers for us. Pray that our household goods will arrive in Kenya safely and in good time, and that there would be no problems clearing them through Customs. Pray also for a buyer for our Nissan Patrol, which we had to leave behind in Zambia. We need to use the money from the sale of the Patrol in order to buy a suitable vehicle here in Kenya. We are finding it awkward to run errands and accomplish certain tasks without a vehicle. We can only impose upon the good will of others for so long, and taxi fare becomes rapidly expensive. So please pray that the Patrol will sell soon.
    We also need your prayers that the Lord would guide our thoughts and plans as we begin to strategize how to start an effective AIDS ministry under SIM Kenya. Pray that we would be given wisdom to ask the right questions, insight to understand the dynamics in play, and vision to know how to proceed. Pray also that the two of us will be able to work well together and will wisely divide up the roles and tasks involved.
    Thank you so much for praying for us as we launch out into this new venture. Thanks also for praying for those we have left behind.

Yours in Christ,
Bob and Hope

Bob and Hope Carter
PO Box 60875
00200 City Square
Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: +254 20-2713074

Dear Partners, Friends and Family,

     By the time this reaches you, our August 16 departure date will be only about one week away, and we will be frantically trying to tie up all loose ends, finish the sorting and packing and get our household back into storage. As always, we will appreciate your prayers during this time, especially that nothing truly important will be left undone, and for the uneventful arrival of ourselves and our luggage in Nairobi on August 17.
     We are amazed at how quickly the year has sped past, and have enjoyed immensely the many opportunities to reconnect with family and friends. Although nearly constant travel has been exhausting, the blessing of shared love and fellowship has made it more than worthwhile.
     Even so, we are excited to be so close to starting our next chapter in ministry. We look forward to settling into our new roles in Kenya coordinating the "HOPE for AIDS" program, and to renewing many old friendships from our former years in Kenya. The same incredible God who led us in Zambia will lead us in Kenya, and we expect to see many exciting things in the years to come. You, our partners, will witness these wonderful things together with us.
Although raising support is inevitably a part of what has to happen during home assignments, we have been unusually at peace concerning our finances this time. The Lord has confirmed in many ways that He would be sovereign over our support if we focused primarily on these other issues: being accountable to our ministry partners concerning what has already been accomplished with their past support during our time in Zambia; sharing the new ministry vision God has given us in calling us to return in a new capacity to Kenya; and raising awareness of the great need remaining for more laborers to respond to God's call to go out into the harvest. We are particularly aware of the need for health professionals, but many other skills are also needed such as: teaching; youth work; maintenance and repair; business and administration; finances; theological education; leadership development; mechanics, computers and technology and various other technical skills, etc. There is no one that God cannot use somewhere in the world if he/she is willing to be used by God.
     This peace concerning our finances was vindicated in early July when we received word of a new church partner whose support lifted us just over the 100% mark of our support requirement. We want to express our deep gratitude especially: to everyone who sent us response slips from the last newsletter; to all those who have so faithfully supported and encouraged us in our ministry in Africa over the years; to all of our church partners who have maintained their support of our work (even when times have been hard); and to our new partners, both individuals and churches, whose pledges of new support have helped enable us to return to Kenya to begin a new work there. Without each of you we could not be going. Thank you for sending us.

Partners together in the work of Christ,
Bob, Hope and Family

Dear Partners, Friends and Family,

     Once again we write to you with hearts full of gratitude for the many ways you are special to us. What a joy it has been to spend time with so many of you and to learn something of your busy and varied lives. Your support and encouragement of our ministry and family are so very much appreciated. Our burdens have been lifted in so many ways by you throughout this year that it would be too difficult to mention them all for fear of leaving some out. So we just say a deeply heartfelt, “Thank you.”
     We have also been saddened by the news of the deaths of two well-loved Mukinge Hospital workers, James (hospital tailor) and Harad (theatre assistant). Please pray for their bereft families.
     Toawrd the end of this newsletter is our “Support Report.” SIM requires that we be fully supported before we may return to active service overseas. You will want to know our progress in that respect. Enclosed with this newsletter is a response slip in case you feel led to make a faith promise pledge towards our financial support, and a self-addressed envelope (please apply postage.) We are close to reaching our goal, but still need a little more help.

On the Family Scene

     Nathan graduated on May 5 from LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas with a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Science with an Aircraft Systems concentration. You can send a congratulatory card to: Nathan Carter, CPO #1501, LeTourneau University, P.O. Box 7001, Longview, Texas 75607 (good through the summer) or you can email him at: nathancarter@letu.edu.
     Levi - A freshman at Taylor University in Upland Indiana, Levi imported enough AP credits from RVA to make him technically a sophomore this semester. He has chosen a major in computer sciences. Three jobs keep his schedule full: one in the computer lab, one in the computer area of the library and one building theater sets. He has just been accepted for a summer job on the staff of Quaker Haven Camp at Dewart Lake in northern Indiana.
     Hannah just began her third and final term as a junior at Rift Valley Academy. Term two highlights included the junior-senior banquet in which she played a major role in the production based on “Around the World in 80 Days.” The term ended with a week-long “interim” experience in which she visited some ministries in Uganda and spent a day white water rafting down the Nile. We enjoyed having her home with us for four weeks between terms, during which time we took her to visit several Christian colleges as she begins her college search.
     Josiah will soon finish ninth grade at Plainfield High School. He continues playing his saxophone in the band, where he has made some friends, and recently he enjoyed participating on the stage and technical crew for the school’s drama, “The Grass Harp.” Although it has been a good year for him, he is looking forward to returning to RVA next fall.
     Hope is recovering from back surgery on Feb. 28, when she had a successful laminectomy and cyst removal to release a trapped nerve that was causing severe pain in her right leg. She now has a fresh appreciation for relatively pain-free and upright walking! Her life is back to normal (with some restrictions on lifting), and she is now keeping busy trying to organize the details of our few remaining months on Home Assignment. (If you want to be included on our schedule, call soon!) Thanks to so many of you for your prayers, thoughtful notes and the meals so graciously given. Please pray for continued healing and restoration of stamina.
     Bob was challenged with the task of keeping our ministry and family moving forward throughout the long weeks of Hope’s incapacitation, surgery and recovery. He spends many hours daily trying to keep up with correspondence and business matters while also traveling and speaking. Writing remains on his back burner while he plans for coming presentations including a course on AIDS (together with Hope, see below), for winding up our home assignment and for returning to Africa in a new capacity.
     When you meet yourself coming and going, each of you step to the right...
     Since Christmas we have been blessed to visit churches and friends in Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina and western New York. It has been a joy to renew old friendships and to begin new ones, and to be encouraged by the stories of how God is working in so many of your lives and in your churches.
     On one of our trips to North Carolina we visited SIM and made a DVD about our ministry in Zambia with the help of the SIM Media department. If you are interested in having a copy, please contact us. When we have enough copies we plan to mail one to each of our partner churches.
     Coming up rapidly is a trip to Texas for Nathan’s graduation from LeTourneau University on May 5. Next will be a visit to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Plant City, Florida followed by Bob’s attending the annual meeting of Christian Connections in International Health in Baltimore while Hope participates in the annual conference of the American Academy of Physician Assistants in Philadelphia. We hope to visit members of the Shippensburg (Pennsylvania) Evangelical Free Church, our newest church partner, on our way back to Indiana.
     We will then shift our focus to North Carolina beginning with a very unique and, we believe, God-appointed opportunity. June 4-8 we will teach a one week intensive introductory course on “AIDS and the Church” to US and international students being trained in practical church ministry at the Global Leadership Training Center in Winston-Salem. We would appreciate your prayers as we work on preparing the lessons.
     Then on Saturday June 9 Bob will be a panelist at a special ‘HOPE for AIDS’ fund-raising event being organized by the Adams Farm Community Church near Greensboro. It sounds like it will generate a lot of interest, so those living in the area should keep their eyes and ears open for the publicity announcements. We will then share in Sunday school and worship the next morning.
     The remainder of June and first half of July will be dedicated to visiting churches and friends in North Carolina. If you would like to have us visit, please contact us as soon as possible. By July 19 we will have returned to Indiana for the United Society of Friends Women (Hope) and Quaker Men (Bob) triennial sessions being held in Indianapolis July 19-22. The two following weeks will find us attending both Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings of Friends to wrap up our home assignment time here in the USA. Please pray for God’s merciful watchcare over all our many travels.

Going “home” – where is it?

     By mid-August (and assuming we are fully supported by then) we hope to be headed back to Africa. For now the plan is to fly to Kenya for at least a couple of weeks as visitors and to see Hannah and Josiah settled back into school at RVA, then return to Zambia to say good bye to our friends and colleagues and to pack up our belongings for shipping to Kenya. It is uncertain how long we will need to stay in Zambia because we will have to await the issuing of our work permits in order to re-enter Kenya as residents. Submission of our work permit applications was delayed by the long wait for our new passports, both of which expired in February. Please pray for our work permits to be granted expeditiously.
     Needless to say, we will be excited to be on our way to our new home and ministry. Many, many thanks to all of you who are helping to making this possible. Please know that we love and appreciate each of you and are very grateful for your continued friendship and generous support throughout the years of our ministry in Africa.

God’s Blessings to you all,
Bob, Hope, and family

Announcements

Discipleship books to be available through the SIM bookstore: This is the discipleship manual we co-authored with SIM missionary Judy Wadge, and used to train discipleship trainers. It is now used by the Evangelical Bible College and was included in the Pastors Bookset Project. Enquiries into this book have been coming from outside Zambia. It is published and copyrighted by the Christian Education Department of the Evangelical Church in Zambia. Due to the amount of unexpected interest generated in this book during our home assignment travels, we have arranged for a limited supply of this book to be shipped from Zambia. The book will sell for $5.00 + NC tax and shipping, and the proceeds will benefit the Christian Ed. Dept. of the Evangelical Church in Zambia.

To reserve your copy of "Discipleship", contact the SIM bookstore at:

(704) 587-1435 or e-mail.

JESUS Film / Discipleship
Coordinator Project

     This project (described in our October '06 newsletter) has finally been approved through all levels of SIM. The total 3-year budget (salary, housing, supplies, transport and communications, etc.) is $10,000 or just under $3500 per year. Since last fall Dyton Kima has been faithfully filling this position voluntarily out of his passion for the work, while supporting his family through subsistence farming. If you want to help, designate your check to SIM for Project No. ZM-94549. Contact us if you need further information.

Praise and Prayer

Praise God for:

1. The volunteer doctors serving at Mukinge this year.
2. Hannah’s safe travels between the U.S. and RVA.
3. Nathan’s graduation from LeTourneau University on May 5.
4. Hope’s successful back surgery.
5. The many helpful contacts God has given us on this home assignment.
6. The generous financial support we have received so far this year.
7. The new ministry partners God has raised up.
8. Dyton Kima's faithful volunteer ministry as JESUS film / Discipleship coordinator while awaiting a final project number.

Pray for:

1. The bereft families of James and Harad at Mukinge.
2. Hope's healing to continue until completion.
3. Levi's summer job at Quaker Haven Camp.
4. Continued safe travels for our family
5. Our efforts to plan the AIDS course in Winston-Salem.
6. The planning going into the "HOPE for AIDS" fundraising event, and for a good response.
7. Our Kenya entry documents to be processed speedily.
8. Wisdom as we prepare for our new ministry role in Kenya.
9. Our remaining financial needs; and for a few more new ministry partners to join us in our work.
10. The JESUS film / Discipleship Coordinator project to be funded.

Support Report

     "Raising support" is often perceived as the bane of a missionary's life, particularly by missionaries themselves. But trying to live and serve faithfully without financial resources is about as successful as trying to drive a car without fuel. The fact is: without support we can't serve. SIM requires that we be 100% supported (and rightfully so) before we begin our new term of service in Kenya.
     SIM has calculated that for us to be fully supported we will need to average $8100 per month during our next term of service. This sounds like a lot, but includes nearly $1000 per month alone for family health insurance. It also includes $1250 per month for school fees for two children attending Rift Valley Academy, our monthly living stipend, housing, taxes and social security (including Kenyan income taxes), retirement, administrative expenses for SIM's home and field services, escrow for travel expenses to and from the field ("passage"), etc. The general breakdown of SIM missionary support is shown as a graph on the right. Our figures will be somewhat different due to the addition of our children's educational expenses.
     Fortunately, we do not have to raise this entire amount afresh. SIM is willing to assume that those who have a history of supporting us will continue to do so unless we hear otherwise from them. So our target is to raise, as new support, the difference between last fiscal year's average monthly support ($7000) and the end goal of $8100 per month. This gives us a target of $1100 per month in new support pledges.

Are We There Yet?

     Although we have not yet reached our target, we are getting close! So far we have received pledges totaling $850 per month, which leaves us with a difference of only $250 per month more to raise!
     In addition, we have an immediate need for $2500 to pay Rift Valley Academy for Hannah's school fees for last term and this term. And we need to raise an additional one-time amount of about $6000 to ship our household from Zambia to Kenya and to replace the appliances and furniture that we will be unable to ship.

What Can I Do?:

     If you would like to help us meet our financial target, our moving expenses or this year's RVA costs then there are two things you can do:

1. Firstly, please pray about your own financial partnership in our work. Can you make a new "faith promise" pledge towards our support, or give a one-time gift towards our moving expenses or RVA fees? (For your convenience, faith promise pledges can be recorded on the enclosed response slip and mailed to us in the enclosed pre-addressed envelope.)

2. Secondly, please pray for the Lord to raise up new financial partners to support our ministry.

     The past has been amazing! Join us in anticipating the awesome things yet to come!

Dear Friends, Family, and Ministry Partners,

     For the first time since 2001 we were blessed to have all four children with us at Thanksgiving. In addition we were joined by Bob's parents plus his brother John's family, making a delightfully full house! We look forward to being together again over Christmas, rejoicing in the blessing of being together.
     Shared love is such a deep and rich blessing! Knowing this, perhaps that is why God so willingly made the ultimate sacrifice—in order that He might also forever enjoy the ultimate blessing, that of shared love.
     But many around us are not as blessed with shared love as we are. Some are quite alone: isolated by circumstances; shut in by poor health; estranged by destructive or abusive relationships; institutionalized in hospitals or prisons; kept in shelters or perhaps even homeless. Some wrestle against depression, and view with envy and despair the joy and laughter that others enjoy at this time of year just as a hungry beggar might look through a bakery window—stuck on the outside, looking longingly in. Others have suffered the recent loss of a beloved friend or family member and will try to bravely endure the season's celebrations while silently nursing an aching vacancy in their hearts that no medicine can take away.
     Sometimes sharing love means helping to carry a burden not our own. That's what God did through Jesus, after all. No doubt each of us is personally acquainted with one or more of these "silent sufferers." How many of us will grasp the opportunity to share a little more love this year with someone feeling empty, burdened or alone and thereby also share with God in this ultimate blessing?
     While corporate America does its best to cash in on the most lucrative public holiday of the year, strategizing over whom they most want to attract and whom they can best afford to offend, the Carter family wishes you without reservation a most heartfelt MERRY CHRISTMAS! May peace, love and joy be much more than just a sentimental wish for each of you, but may it be in truth a shared experience.

In celebration of Ultimate Blessing,
Bob, Hope and family

Travel Update

     One of the blessings of home assignment, as we shared in our last newsletter, is the chance to renew so many special friendships and discover new friends while sharing all the exciting things we have seen the Lord doing in Zambia. So far we have enjoyed this blessing in Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and Kentucky. We have been privileged to attend some dynamic and inspiring missions conferences, enjoyed too many wonderful meals and met with several individuals who will always have a special place in our hearts.
     December will see much less travel but will be no less busy. It will be a month of re-tooling, prayer and strategic planning. Our new prayer cards have been ordered and will be ready to send to you in January along with our Term Report. Our ministry brochure is ready to be proofed, but work on our video report has hit a delay and may not be completed before late January. December will also be Bob's opportunity to begin preparing not one but two curricula: the first to teach people living with HIV how to live healthy lives longer before having to start taking anti-AIDS drugs; and the second to train current and future church leaders to be agents of community transformation in an era of AIDS.
     Hannah is eagerly looking forward to returning to Kenya and rejoining her friends and classmates at Rift Valley Academy for Term Two. Please pray for her as she flies alone across the ocean for the first time (and for her anxious parents as well!). She will depart Indianapolis on Dec. 30 and arrive in Nairobi four hours before 2007.
     From January through April we hope to do the bulk of our Indiana traveling and speaking, with trips into Wisconsin, Illinois and possibly Florida as well. Please contact us if you would like to be on our itinerary. Late April and May we have earmarked for Iowa. We invite Iowa churches to let us know if you want us to visit you. Finally, we plan to move to North Carolina for June and July to visit as many of our partner churches there as possible before returning to Africa in August. Please pray for safety in travel, and that the many gaps in our schedule will be fully filled according to the Lord's will.

News Flash! Carters Kenya-Bound!

     That's right, assuming our support is fully raised by the end of our home assignment, we expect to open a new chapter of ministry in Kenya in August. Although the decision was just finalized last month (November), this possibility was actually under discussion before we left Zambia, enough so that we did our best to prepare our various ministry activities and church colleagues to keep the work going even if we did not ourselves return. Nevertheless we will really miss Zambia. We had a very full and satisfying ministry there and felt we were making an important contribution. But most of all we will miss the people: the wonderful hospital staff, local and national church leaders, missionary colleagues and dear friends who made our years in Zambia so special.
     But God has now called us back to Kenya to begin a new and exciting work in Nairobi, where we will provide leadership for SIM Kenya's "HOPE for AIDS" program. This position will require that we bring together under one ministry focus the skills developed and experiences gained over the past two decades in medical missions, spiritual ministry, community development, social interventions and networking.
     The 'HOPE' in "HOPE for AIDS" is an acronym standing for Home-based care, Orphans and

vulnerable children, Prevention and Equipping the Church. Within SIM Kenya we expect to be building an AIDS component into everything SIM does. Reaching outward to all SIM Kenya's partners and beyond, our vision is to equip the Body of Christ in Kenya to be true agents of transformation in every local community in which it ministers, responding to human need and fears with selfless compassion, sacrificial love and Spirit-empowered Truth.
     In over a decade of sustained efforts to roll back the AIDS epidemic in Kenya, heavily-funded secular and governmental programs have failed to make more than slight progress. Meanwhile, AIDS deaths have surpassed 150,000, the average life expectancy has declined to 47 years, and the number of orphans has swollen to over 650,000 out of a total population of 33 million, and is still rising.
     More programs, more money and more condoms will ultimately fail to be the solution the secular world hopes for because these fail to address the root of the problem: human behavior. It takes a change of heart to change behavior, and we know the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change hearts. That's what transformation is all about: changed hearts and changed lives. Taken to its logical end, the ultimate result can be the transformation of families and communities, nations and cultures.
     We believe the Church is God's chosen vessel to bring such transformation in this day of pervasive AIDS. Whether the issue is the need for medicine and health services, stigma, sexuality, economic deprivation, orphans or victimization of the powerless, the Church has the key and the responsibility to be effective agents of transformation. The secular world has largely failed; now it is time for the Body of Christ to step up. We would love to see the Church fulfill this vision in Kenya, and are excited to be moving to a position where we will have the chance to help make it happen! Please pray for us as we prepare ourselves to take up this wonderful new opportunity.

Financial Report

     On September 30 we closed the fiscal year over $5300 under-supported. Fortunately we had enough money in our ministry account to make up the deficit, but this has left our ministry account with just over $1000 remaining. During home assignment, the major need for our ministry account will be for Hannah's tuition at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya (about $2500 per term, with two terms remaining.) We also use this account to pay for our travel expenses, for printing and mailing our newsletters and for producing materials such as our prayer cards, brochures, term reports and ministry video.
     In the new fiscal year, October ended with a support deficit of $2100. We have not yet received November's statement from SIM. As you consider your year-end giving, we would be grateful if you would give prayerful consideration to our support needs and to Hannah's education.

Praise and Prayer

Praise God for:
1. Safety in travel, including Nathan's long drives between Texas and Indiana.
2. The love, hospitality and fellowship we have enjoyed as we have traveled and shared the wonderful things God is doing in Zambia.
3. God's gift of Himself to the peoples of the world.
4. The wonderful and exciting new opportunity God has opened to us to serve Him in Kenya.
5. Late breaking news: praise God that a Christian Zambian doctor has been successfully recruited to join the staff at Mukinge Hospital! (Now pray for finances!)

Pray for:
1. Continued health and safety for our family members.
2. Time and finances to complete the many important tasks remaining.
3. Hannah's upcoming trans-Atlantic flights, as she flies alone.
4. Our speaking schedule in 2007: that appointments, times and locations would all be ordered by Christ.
5. The Lord to raise up more career missionary staff for Mukinge Hospital, especially a surgeon, other doctors and registered nurses.
6. The Lord's provision of our financial needs and for new prayer and financial partners.
7. The Church to follow Christ's example with His empowerment, giving itself without reservation to the peoples of the world.

Bob & Hope Carter

1420 Miami Ct. S.
Plainfield, IN 46168

317-839-2284 (home) or 317-225-0874 (cell)

Dear Friends, Family and Ministry Partners,

     Our home assignment has arrived, and we're all six of us now on U.S. soil. Levi had a remarkably smooth and uneventful solo journey on British Air in mid-August except for just missing his final connection from Chicago to Indianapolis. But he caught the next flight only one hour later. (He missed the connection due to a delay in his flight out of London on the day after terrorists had planned to bomb several London-U.S. flights.) Many of you joined us in praying for Levi during his solo travels, and we thank God for answered prayers. Levi is now a freshman at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana—only complaining of being under-challenged. (Just wait!)
     Hope, Hannah, and Josiah followed just a few days later on Ethiopian Airlines through Addis Ababa. This was the first time any of us had flown Ethiopian, but it went well and was less expensive. Bob stayed behind an additional month, awaiting the arrival of Drs. Curtis and Lisa Rabuka to whom he handed over his hospital responsibilities. Please pray for them and their two young boys Jacob and Isaiah as they fill in through April of next year. After finalizing a myriad of household, mission, and ministry details, Bob finally rejoined the rest of the family on September 22. (Nathan, of course, is in his final year at LeTourneau University and hoping to graduate in May.) We are grateful for your prayers, and thank God for His traveling mercies for each of us.
     Whenever home assignment is approaching, we always wonder where we will end up living. This time, Bob's father found a house for rent only a few blocks away—how convenient! So we have set up house in Plainfield, Indiana where Hannah, grade 11, and Josiah, grade 9, now attend the public high school. Until next summer we encourage you to contact us by any of the following ways:

Mail: 1420 Miami Ct. S., Plainfield, IN 46168
Phone: 317-839-2284
Cell Phone: 317-225-0874

     Since Bob arrived last month we have been "on the road" more than we have been at home. It has worked out well for Hannah and Josiah to stay with their grandparents while the two of us travel. Bob would like to supplement our SIM stipend with some part-time employment when we are not traveling, but we are doubtful of finding anything flexible enough. God is good, and is providing faithfully for us through His people. We are very grateful, for instance, to Grace Bible Church in Pompton Plains, NJ, who invited us to their "Christmas in October" weekend and then showered us with many helpful gifts that are useful as we set up housekeeping and prepare for a cold Indiana winter.
     In the rest of this newsletter we will share with you our goals and plans for this home assignment, the status of certain projects as we left them and an exciting new development at Mukinge. We thank you deeply for your faithful partnership with us over the past term, and hope you have been blessed along the journey by these "Chronicles", in which we have tried to keep you informed about the ministry challenges and opportunities around us and about the many exciting accomplishments your partnership has made possible. Please do keep us in prayer throughout this home assignment, and know that we would be blessed to hear from you.

With heartfelt gratitude,
Bob and Hope Carter

Home Assignment - What's the Scoop?

Definition: "Home Assignment"—the price all faith missionaries must pay for the privilege of serving the Lord on foreign soil. Formerly known as "furlough," it involves leaving the place and work of one's calling and returning for a period of time to a place considered "home" by everyone except the missionary.

Description: During this time, the missionaries report back to their support partners and raise the financial support required to return to the mission field (a.k.a. "Resource Development Ministry" or "RDM.") This involves long hours of travel, living out of a suitcase, and sleeping in a succession of different beds. But these are offset by the blessing of renewing old friendships and making new ones, the joy of seeing long-missed family members, the excitement of sharing the work and experiences that have captured and impacted one's heart, the encouragement of true fellowship in many locations, and the delight of wonderful church dinners in which everyone brings their best cooking. Weight gain is an occupational hazard. The missionary is also strongly encouraged to exercise the little-used discipline of "taking some time off" for the rest and rejuvenation of body, mind, and spirit, and also to take advantage of opportunities for personal or professional skills development.
     Although some misunderstand RDM as "begging for money," the truth is that RDM involves much more than securing pledges for financial support. Through RDM the missionary can build a strong corps of intercessors who commit to regular, faithful prayer on behalf of the missionary—undeniably the most essential resource for any effective ministry. Also through RDM the Lord often supplies much-needed materials and equipment and even, occasionally, He raises up people. Many missionaries on the field today were motivated to pursue their call through the witness of another missionary.
     In contrast, the term "furlough" implies a time of extended holiday, as in the military. This impression does not lend itself to the sympathies of hard-working parents or fixed income seniors as they consider the missionary's continuing need for financial support while "on furlough" - hence, the name change to "home assignment." Indeed when "at home" the missionary must often contend with greater financial need than when serving on the mission field; and yet the time demands of an extensive travel schedule often prove a difficult challenge to the securing of any helpful supplementary employment. Blessed indeed is the missionary whose faithful partners understand the unique demands of Home Assignment and continue undiminished their support and ministry involvement.

Application: So what are the Carters planning?
     This home assignment we want to focus on four goals: 1) Family - We want to make quality time with our nuclear and extended families a priority. 2) Recruitment - We hope to share widely the need for Christians, especially health professionals, to share the love of Christ in other cultures. Who knows? Perhaps God will lead us to a surgeon for Mukinge Hospital!
3) Financial - Before we can return to Africa we must raise an additional $800 per month in new support pledges. We would like to ask our current partners to help us find additional new financial partners. We will also need to hear at some point from each of our current partners whether or not they intend to continue their support. 4) Vision - We will be prayerfully seeking discernment from the Lord concerning His vision for our next term of service, and how best to prepare for it.
     In addition to these four goals, if time permits Bob would like to write up a "Positive Living" curriculum useful for training community AIDS counselors in Africa how to instruct HIV+ people in the skills of healthy living. Such a curriculum would fill the only remaining gap in what would otherwise be Mukinge's comprehensive array of AIDS-related services.
     Home assignment provides opportunity for us to be held accountable to our partners, and we want to be found faithful. For those who have been partnering with us through prayer or financial support, there are three ways we are preparing to communicate our ministry report to you: 1) In Person - always the best (and most enjoyable!) way. Please contact us if you or your church would like to have us come and share about our work in Zambia. 2) In Print. We plan to write a ministry report summarizing the past four years. 3) In Media. By December we hope to have available a videotape and DVD summarizing our ministry in audio-visual format. Let us know if you will want one. Eventually we also hope to have a web page available on the internet.
     Since last month our travels have already taken us to North Carolina and New Jersey. Next month we will be in Kentucky and N. Carolina again. Currently we are making plans to visit Iowa and possibly Florida in the first part of 2007. We have lots of unscheduled time still available, so please do feel free to contact us about a visit!

News Top-Ups

CHAZ, MAPP and AIDS

     The Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) is an umbrella organization bringing together all Christian health institutions and community-based programs in Zambia. As chairman of the AIDS Advisory Committee for CHAZ, Bob also sat ex officio on its board and on the editorial team for its "AIDS Brief" publication. We were excited to learn that the U.S. Congress recently commended CHAZ for its anti-AIDS work in Zambia.
     This past term Bob has also been supervising the Mukinge AIDS Prevention Program (MAPP), which works with communities throughout Kasempa District. It provides community-based prevention education; training, and supplies for home-based AIDS care; peer-to-peer youth training; micro-credit loans to village orphan-care groups; and school fees plus other helps for needy orphans in the area. At the hospital MAPP provides voluntary HIV testing and counseling services. This term MAPP implement two new free services; one to provide short-term anti-AIDS drugs to HIV+ pregnant women to prevent the virus from spreading to their unborn babies; and the other to provide life-long anti-AIDS drugs to medically suitable patients living with HIV.
     This second program is just over a year old and already has over 200 enrollees. There is a backlog of people desperate to enroll in the program, and the hospital is enrolling new patients as fast as it can without burning out its laboratory, pharmacy, and clinical staff. We expect to enroll 200 new patients per year, reaching 1000 by the end of the fifth year. Already lives have been transformed as the throb of despair has given way to the flame of newly re-kindled hope. Sick parents are able to provide for their families again, and sick children are back in school. Please pray for Kingsley, Lason and Beenzu as they oversee the administration and expansion of this program. All three are exceptional people: solidly committed to Christ; enthusiastic in their labors and gifted in their skills. But the challenges are immense and they need your prayers.

New Location, New Director
for JESUS Film Ministry

     We inaugurated the JESUS Film ministry in February 1998 and God has consistently blessed these showings with His Presence and His power. Planning and holding these film crusades

Setting up and gathering for showing of the "Jesus" film

have been among the highlights of the past nine years. However, the time has come for us to hand over this ministry to national leadership.
     Dyton Kima was in our very first discipleship training class. He has traveled with us widely for both discipleship training programs and film organizing. As a result of these experiences he developed a hunger to go for Bible School training. During his 2 years at the Evangelical Bible College (EBC) in neighboring Mufumbwe District, he continued to teach discipleship classes to church leaders in several congregations. His heart and passion are still in this work. Now the EBC (site of the film's translation into the Kaonde language) has enthusiastically agreed to take on the JESUS film and discipleship training ministries, with Dyton serving as the coordinator. But funds are needed to help this energetic and keen evangelist take care of his family and cover his expenses in this ministry. If you have any interest in assisting in this exciting venture, contact us for more information. Meanwhile, please pray for Dyton and for the EBC as they begin incorporating Bible students into evangelism and discipleship outreaches into Mufumbwe communities.

Prison Chapel Going Up

     At long last the construction plans for the prison chapel have been finalized and work has begun. Members of the Prison Fellowship committee have been working alongside prison inmates hauling sand and ballast for the cement and molding bricks for the walls. The project will construct a chapel and an office large enough for both a chaplain and a Christian library. After several years on the drawing board, the committee hopes to complete the physical structure by the end of the year and before the next rainy season. Prisoners who have come to Christ through the prison ministry are greatly encouraged to see the work progressing, particularly as the rainy season draws closer because until now they have only been meeting under a tree.

VSAT Telecommunications
Coming to Mukinge!

     New and exciting on the horizon is the promise of assistance by a Netherlands IT research company to install a comprehensive VSAT telecommunications system at Mukinge. The vision for this project began at Macha, another rural mission hospital in southern Zambia, when a similar system was installed to assist a malaria research project. The system there not only benefits the hospital and staff, but the whole community through a public cybercafe and a computer lab at the local school. Local Zambians have been successfully trained to operate and manage the system. At Macha they have seen improvements in staff recruitment capacity, staff satisfaction and general community development. Another part of the vision is to connect all rural mission hospitals in Zambia to each other and to the internet for improved sharing of vital information. Mukinge has been chosen as the "test of reproducibility" site. It is hoped that the system will be functional by the end of the year. Equipment is already being procured and ground is being prepared for the new tower.

Praise and Prayer

Praise God for:
1. His traveling mercies for each of us during our staggered return to the U.S.
2. Comfortable housing conveniently close to Bob's parents.
3. The good work of CHAZ and MAPP that is being recognized by the secular world, transforming lives and bringing glory to Jesus Christ.
4. The commencement of construction on the prison chapel after a very long delay.
5. The resources being mobilized and the work being started that will bring VSAT communications capability to Mukinge.
6. His anointing on the JESUS film and discipleship training ministries that are impacting people, churches and communities.

Pray for:
1. Safety throughout extensive traveling during this home assignment.
2. Invitations to report back to partner churches on our work in Zambia.
3. Success in acheiving all of our home assignment goals. Pray particularly for the Lord to raise up a career surgeon for Mukinge Hosp.
4. The Lord to raise up for us new prayer and financial partners.
5. The Lord's provision of our financial needs while we are home.
6. Kingsley, Lason and Beenzu and the rest of the MAPP team as they continue strengthening and expanding the ministry of MAPP.
7. The medical ministry of Mukinge Hospital and the all-short-term doctor staff now caring for patients.
8. The work being done to construct a chapel at the Kasempa Prison.
9. The EBC and Dyton Kima as they integrate the JESUS film and discipleship training ministries into the work of the college.

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Nathan

Levi

Hannah

Josiah

Hope

Bob

The Carter family: Nathan, Hannah, Bob, Hope, Josiah, and Levi
—Thanksgiving, 2006

Mukinge Hospital - located in Kasempa District, Northwest Province, Zambia.

Blessings, a pediatric HIV patient, is now healthy because of the free care she receives at Mukinge Hospital. Her mother died from AIDS before free treatment was available. Here she is with her grandmother and Bob.

Hope helped to care for severely malnourished children at Mukinge Hospital.

Bob helped a poor subsistence-farming community to exchange maize for Bibles in their own language, which are highly prized. See how happy these farmers are to now have their own Bibles!

Hope taught quilting to a group of mothers wanting to earn money to help orphans
in their community.

Bob and a specially trained RN from Mukinge taught new protocols in the prevention and treatment of malaria to mission hospitals and clinics all over Northwest Province on behalf of the Churches Health Association of Zambia.

Bob brings a message from the Word of God in a village church with the translating help of friend and former hospital chaplain Golden Lusoma.

Graduated "Discipleship Trainers of Trainers" ("DTOTs") met for a reunion last summer at the Carters' house. Here they show off the new Bibles they were given
to distribute.

DTOT graduate Ba Sandala has enthusiastically taken up his new role as the first appointee to the new position of Discipleship Coordinator for the church's District Council.