Off to New York City!

Tomorrow morning, I'll leave for New York City with a dozen or more student and adult leaders from Waxhaw Bible Church. We'll be in NYC to be trained at NYSUM (New York School of Urban Ministry). We'll have the opportunity to serve in food kitchens, homeless shelters, and to do homeless and Jewish street evangelism. We'll be there until Friday, July 6.

Please pray for me and the members of our group as we undertake this mission trip and seek to serve the less fortunate citizens of New York City. Please pray specifically for safety in travel to and from NYC and around the city as we move from location to location.

Please also pray for Leah and Christie, who will remain in Waxhaw while I'm gone.

Praise the Lord for a great first two weeks at my new job. I'm enjoying the environment and team members very much. They were very generous to let me take a week off to go to NYC and another week later in July to go to Norfolk, VA, even though I just started my work assignment there.

May Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

The month of May was a great time for us, as we enjoyed a camping trip with friends and the pleasure of announcing a new baby on the way! Yes, that’s right; we’re expecting again and enjoyed seeing the first pictures of the new baby last week in our first ultrasound. The projected due date is December 19th.

What we’ve been doing
In the past six weeks or so, I have had the privilege of leading a series of training courses in Web Development with ASP.NET 2.0 at a mission organization's Charlotte headquarters. The time we spent together has been profitable in helping them develop a strategy for software development using the power of the Web.

Leah and Christie enjoyed having me around the house, as I was working from home as a freelance Web Developer. I treasure the extra time I was able to spend with them these past weeks.

Leah is feeling well and her first trimester has gone smoothly, without undue amounts of discomfort. Of course, if you ask her, she might tell you differently! The new baby is growing well, and we pray that the Lord will continue to make it strong and healthy.

Making plans with an eye for the future
The expected arrival of a new little one will necessarily postpone our departure for the Philippines, and we have moved our hoped-for departure to sometime next summer. During the extra time, I have been blessed with the opportunity to begin a three-month contract next week at one of the major banks in Charlotte. I'll be working as a Web Developer in their e-commerce division, and I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that will present. I praise God for continuing to provide generously for our needs each day.

Partners in the Adventure
We have also been blessed with several financial partners who have already begun donating towards our monthly support needs! We praise the Lord for these folks and thank them for their willingness to share with us and to follow God obediently as He leads them to give. I would ask any of you who have considered supporting us to let us know about it! I imagine that there may be many of you who plan to do so, either presently or in the future, and we'd love to hear from you.

Summer Missions Trips
I plan to participate in both of our church’s summer mission trips this summer: first to New York City, June 30 to July 8, to be trained in and perform urban street evangelism, then to Norfolk, VA, July 21-28, to do construction work. Please pray for me, as I’ll be traveling with large groups of adults and students and helping to oversee the ministry during these weeks. Please pray also for Leah and Christie, since we’ll be apart.

With love from the Andersons!

John, Leah, and Christie

Personal Correspondence:
John and Leah Anderson
7015 Davis Road
Waxhaw, NC 28173

Financial Support:
Interlink Ministries
P.O. Box 460
Apple Creek , Ohio 44606
Include a separate note stating: “For John and Leah Anderson”

New Baby on the way!

We're proud as can be to announce a new baby on the way! Leah is about 12 weeks pregnant, and all is going very well. We had our first ultrasound this week, and the due date is expected to be about December 19th. We're nicknaming this one "Jackrabbit" because of the way he (or she) was bouncing around in the womb. If you're one of those who can actually see much in an ultrasound picture, click here to see the rest!

Camping at Panther Creek Falls

In May, Leah, Christie, and I, along with several friends from Waxhaw, traveled to Toccoa, Georgia, where we met up with another friend for a great weekend of camping at Panther Creek Falls!

We came prepared for what you might call "car camping", with two big tents, a large cooler, lots of camp chairs, a baby bassinet, etc. What we found out was the trail down to Panther Creek Falls is more suitable for hikers with very light gear, as it's a half-mile almost straight down! We lugged all of our gear down the ridge, making two trips on the way down, and two more trips on the way back up, but what a view! The waterfall was beautiful, and we had the camping spot all to ourselves, since there was intermittent rain.

Several day-hiking groups did come down to see the waterfall and to swim in the pool at its base. When they saw our first-class accommodations, they shook their heads in amazement that we'd carried all that stuff way out here. See, not many know about the half-mile trail that we took. They were only familiar with the four-mile trail along the side of the ridge. We just smiled, sat in our comfy chairs, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

Check out the rest of the pictures from the weekend!

Davao Pictures

A friend of ours took some great pictures of Davao, Philippines during his recent travels and was kind enough to share them with us. There are several of Faith Academy - Davao, where Leah will be teaching music lessons, and a couple of MICA, where I will be teaching computer and business courses. Check them out!