Newsletter 1 - 14 May, 2003

Hi there,

Well, this is it, the first ever newsletter for the Josh'n'Jo Yahoo! group. (And we haven't even left the country!) We've paid for our tickets and fly out on Friday 13th, June on Malaysian Airlines, stopping once in KL before we reach Cairo.

We've had a sausage sizzle lunch at church two weeks back and an information night last Saturday. At both we realised the amount of support that we are getting from friends and family. It's fantastic to know you are interested to hear more about what we what will be doing.

Josh has given notice at work and will finish next Friday, on the 23rd May. After that we'll be tidying up at home and then packing our stuff for long term storage.

Also, we've recently spent some time listening to Egyptian Arabic tapes on longer car trips. Most encouraging is that when Josh has tried speaking it at work to two Egyptian guys, they understand what he's trying to say. However, we're out of tapes now and will probably have to wait until we arrive and do more intensive language study.

If you are willing and able to support us by praying, some things to consider are:

• We keep our priorities of God first, marriage second, especially when there are a lot of tasks to do and many people to catch up.
• When we tell people about what we're doing, not to be proud of our decisions rather recognise and admit our 'normalness' as we are used by God.
• Our adjusting to life in Cairo when we arrive. In particular our limited language skills.
• Finalising the little details with CMS and the Bennetts for when we arrive.

Thanks,
Joshua and Joanna

Note: This has been edited from the original email sent out in consideration of the bad grammar in the email.

Email me - joshua at kuswadi dot com