Fall 2015 Update

Dear Friends & Family,

Here is an update (long overdue) from the Derksens.  We will walk you through some snippets from the last few months.

In February we had an amazing week of meetings in Canmore (Three Sisters above) with Canadian leaders and the regional leadership team that we get to work with in Latin America (all seen below).  We had a special week of encounter with the Holy Spirit.  Wow!

Meeting with the Global Ministries Leadership Team is always a privilege.  These are people who really understand us as they give leadership to other regions of the world.  What a great team to be a part of.

A few weeks later we were in Costa Rica for a retreat with our language students and team mates.  It was good to be “home” again in Costa.  We miss living there, but are thankful that the work there continues.  The four boys above are the Ulriksen boys and they had received Lego toys from their Venezuela colleagues.

At the end of March Murray was able to be in Manila for the Global Diaspora Network meetings.  This is a group of people dedicated to reaching the 300 million people on the move (outside of their home countries) around the globe.  What a task!

In April we made a trip to Venezuela.  This particular shot was just too funny to not capture :0)

Mexico City was also an April trip where we signed some important documents.  Not a “fun” picture but a good idea of how we spend some of our time.

In Regina, SK, we celebrated the life of Muriel Kelly.  These two men, Eugene Kelly and Arnold Cook, have been mentors to us for well over 25 years.

In May we were back in Costa Rica for the Leadership Matters Course (lmccourse.org).  It was great to work with our CMA and LMC colleagues.  This is some of the best leadership skills training out there!

We also got to reunite with some close friends – Joe & Lori Pent :0)  Our Costa family.

We were able to spend a couple weeks at home in June.  Kelowna is not a bad place to base from.

Later in June we were back in Canmore, AB to meet up with our Global team once again.  What a beautiful place both in the winter and summer.

We celebrated Murray’s mom’s 80th birthday at the beginning of July (her birthday was in March but we couldn’t get the family together until summer :0).

In July we took some holidays and Murray had a chance to ride with both of his sons.

At the beginning of August we were in Calgary for the Home Ministry Seminar for the international workers coming back to Canada for a season.  Well, this was their Canadian welcome – in August!

The end of August held another trip to Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Mexico City.  In the evening picture above, we are standing in Brazil, Paraguay are the lights to the right, and Argentina is the lights to the left.  Quite the convergence.  The waterfalls are the Iguazu Falls – known as one of the seven wonders of the world.

Some people ask us how we can live a “normal” life with so much travel.  Well, let’s just say that this mug helps to inform Michelle about the Murray projects around the house :0).

Thanks for taking some time to go for a ride with us.  We will bring an update soon.