Plans & Dreams

Hi Folks, I'm back again! Here in the Philippines we are in Pacquio fever ... the one and only Manny Pacquio has done it again! This fantastic little Filipino boxer really is the pride of the nation. On Sunday he beat Marquez and truly is one of the best boxers in the world! Well done wee man!

We had a great week last week. On Friday we had the Graduation at KMGLC ... our Lydia graduated! She had cap, gown .. the lot! I will do a blog about this later this week. Wee Josiah sang his heart out and has now done one years nursery. We are so proud of them. On Saturday Matthew & Claire had a Birthday/Dedication for their youngest daughter Ariella. What a special time we had together. Sefton family is a wonderful family!

Apart from that, life goes on here at Sefton Village. Mary and Claire are working like Trojans (whatever that means!) getting the new school plans done. The enrollment for the Kinder and Elementary schools are finished already! Parents queued for hours just to get their kids into our school. May the Lord reward their commitment to their children! Here in the Philippines, the most wonderful gift parents can ever give their child is a good education.

Still no sign if my laptop. I emailed every Apple Mac reseller today with details of my stolen prized possession, but I feel I will never see it again! Never mind ...

This year is going to be a busy old year for us Ritchie's. What has happened to January, February and half of March? Seriously, no jokes. Where did it go? Seems like a few days ago we were watching the New Years Eve fire works! But there's been a lot of water under the bridge in these last few months.

Really really enjoyed John Andrews and the Mattersey bunch being here. What a fantastic missions team. I know by the emails they have sent that they have been deeply impacted by their time in the Philippines. They have made a Group Page in Facebook called 'Philippines 2008 - The Best Missions Trip Ever!' Certainly was up there!

So now we are waiting for a team from Aberdeen AoG to arrive. There are 19 of them - including 4 children - and they are a mixture of builders, business men, teachers, doctors, nurses, students, housewives .. you name it! We have tried to make a programme that will stretch them and show the many new experiences and challenges. Pray for them - and us - as we believe God for a great time of blessing. The first group arrive on Saturday night with the rest arriving next Monday.

When they go home on the 3rd April ... so do we! We will be going back to Scotland to visit our families and have a rest. One of the main reasons why we come home every 1.5 years is so Mary's mum & dad can see & spend time with Lydia and Josiah (and us!). I think that 3 years not seeing your grandkids is a bit too hard for any loving granny & granda! We really miss our families but last year I was so blessed when a heap of my folks ventured out to Santiago!

We come back in May 6th and it is all go from then to get the new school ready. Initially we will have to meet in the Fire Centre or Bible School, but hopefully by October we will be able to use the new school. We have started the school in faith, believing that the Lord will touch the hearts of His people to give to this amazing project. We start in faith ... that the Lord is with us and He will finish His work.

In July I will attend the Cornerstone Pastors Summit in Singapore and in September 8-12 I will take a team of our Bible School teachers to the tri-annual APTA Conference (Asian Pacific Theological Association). From there I will fly to UK for a 3.5 week visit. I am planning to take some Filipino pastors with me - Marlou, Winston, James A and maybe August. It would be a great opportunity for me to bring these great young guys with me because Mary will stay in the Philippines with the kids. Pray that they will get their UK visas and that I can find two more sponsors for James & Winston.

The main reason for coming over to UK in September is that John Andrews has asked me to speak at their missions conference in Rotherham from Oct 2-5. When he was over I did ask him again if he was sure it was this Mark Ritchie that he wanted to speak and not one of the other two ... but he assured me it was me! It is a great honour to be asked and I know that it is going to be amazing! This week God has already been showing me some stuff to share. Look out for details and if you can get there ... I'll see you there!

My mum is going to come to the Philippines to help Mary for the 3.5 weeks I am away from home. My mum is amazing. She is absolutely fantastic. She has just retired ... but she is pushing the boat out so much to help us. Than you mum. you are our hero! My dad will come back with me and we will have a few weeks here in the Philippines all together.

In November we are all going as a family to the AoG World Ministries Action Asia Conference. It is a conference/retreat for all Missionaries in S-E Asia. We have only been to one, but it was great! So brill to catch up with everyone and meet new friends. Tough life.

In between all this we will be having missions teams, starting a new school, staring a new Bible School year, planting two churches, planning a 10th Anniversary conference for the Bible School etc etc. Life is never dull!

So, before we know it we will be in 2009!

But hey, but let 2008 be YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!