REYMAN E MAIL REPORT – 14 DECEMBER 2007
Warm wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year! This is Karen in partly sunny and warm Alberton, South Africa.
NATIONAL YOUTH SEMINAR
 This year’s National Youth Seminar (NYS) was the third in a five-year partnership with Christ In Youth from Joplin, Missouri, USA. It was held in Margate, on the beautiful south coast, from the 4th to the 8th of December. Paul and I went early and stayed a day late to help transport the eight member CIY team, which came to teach, preach, and share in the NYS.
Preceding the NYS is the ISYM (International School of Youth Ministry) with classes for the South African youth workers. The NYS uses the CIY curriculum, which is based around having small discipleship groups (D-groups) meet twice a day. Devotions and sermons based on the same subject material are facilitated by CIY team members as well as South African speakers. Additional topical classes are taught and a Bible exposition class is offered for the adults.
It rained the entire week, which made having outdoor sports difficult, but we did have a mystery hunt, a soccer game, and spent one afternoon enjoying the beach. One evening was a choir concert and another a movie.
It was a good week of teaching, fellowship and enjoying getting to know the CIY staff members as well as the youth ministers on the team. Joining the CIY team on the necessary “coffee runs” was always enjoyable.
TIGANE CHURCH OF CHRIST
 Patson Phiri, the minister at Tigane, and two of the young people were able to attend the National Youth Seminar in Margate. Patson has attended the last two National Youth Seminars and is also a D-group leader.
As the year ends we note that we have accomplished a great deal on the church property even though it is not as much as we had hoped we would. All of the pre-building preparation has been done and the minister's house and the toilet block are at slab level.
We have stopped construction while we wait for some administrative procedures to be completed and for more funds to accumulate. We hope we will be able to begin building again early in 2008.
FAMILY FOOTNOTES
In Africa, most businesses close about the middle of December and will not reopen until the 7th of January. Even though our offices are closed and the workers are gone, we will continue to be busy with people who are staying here at Angels' Rest as well as catching up on year-end work.
Our son and daughter in law, Lonnie and Beth, have gone to Portland for a week to have an early Christmas with her family as she has to work on Christmas. They took Harold, Paul’s father, up to Portland to visit with Charles and Lois Dailey, Harold’s sister. Then he will go to Boise, Idaho, to visit Deanna, Paul’s sister for Christmas.
Laurie has enjoyed and survived her first semester as a graduate student at the University of Georgia doing her master’s degree in International Social work. She will be spending Christmas with Paul's cousin, Carol and Bruce Rodda, in Florida.
We plan to spend Christmas here in Alberton and hope to go on a picnic with friends. The weather will be pretty warm and the fauna and flora will be brilliant in color, but, hey, we might as well enjoy it. A highlight of our holiday will be seeing the stage production of Lion King next week.
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