Woodbridge, VA (October 26, 2021) The Woodbridge Flute Choir (WFC), directed by Debbie Gilbert and assisted by Lisa Sheldone, will present a Holiday Concert and Benefit for Farthest Corners on…

The past couple of months have been particularly hard as fighting continues and an all-encompassing national uprising looms. With the increased conflict, the economy has collapsed, and many people without…

Woodbridge, VA (October 26, 2021) The Woodbridge Flute Choir (WFC), directed by Debbie Gilbert and assisted by Lisa Sheldone, will present a Holiday Concert and Benefit for Farthest Corners on Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 3:00PM at Greenwich Presbyterian Church, 15305 Vint Hill Rd, Nokesville, VA 20181. Twenty-one members of The Woodbridge Flute Choir will perform songs of the season on piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute and contrabass flute and will be joined by harpist Cambria Van der Vaarst and percussionist Colson Meeks. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the flute choir, composer Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda was commissioned to write a new piece for flute choir and harp. This new piece, Refiner’s Fire, will have its World Premiere at this concert. The concert will feature Helen Freeman, the winner of the WFC’s 13th annual High School Concerto Scholarship Competition. Helen is a rising senior at West Springfield High School and…

The past couple of months have been particularly hard as fighting continues and an all-encompassing national uprising looms. With the increased conflict, the economy has collapsed, and many people without jobs are running out of food. We’re blessed to have relationships on the ground and in the USA to find avenues to support Myanmar (Burma). In the USA, one church seeing a great need provided a significant gift to help those suffering. Even with almost all of the banks closed in the country, we could get funds into the country and work with partners that we have strong relationships of trust to support those who need it most. Below are some recent pictures of rice distribution to people throughout the northwest region of the country. On top of this, in the past month, COVID-19 has ravaged the country, and we’ve lost several friends. We’ve been able to coordinate and get…

As many of you know, violence forced our family to leave our mission field in Myanmar (Burma) this past spring. The country became too dangerous for our children, with shootings and killings often occurring around our home. After praying and discerning with our partners in the field and our mission sending agencies, we left for the USA, unsure where the Lord would call us next. Now in the USA, our hearts and minds remain with our friends and family in Burma (Myanmar). The transition has been a difficult one. Still, we are greatly loved by our family and friends here in the USA and we also believe the Lord calls us to be a witness wherever we are. This month, our home church, Greenwich Presbyterian Church, offered a call to serve temporarily as Missionaries in Residence. The assignment allows for Austin to work on his ordination process and for Sinte…

In a few weeks, our family plans to put in some peanuts and sweet potatoes in our orchard for some cover crops. We’ve spent the week clearing the ground by hand and getting things ready. As I’ve been thinking about peanuts, I remembered a quote by George Washington Carver: “When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is for me alone.’ So I said, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well George, that’s more nearly your size.’ And he told me.” Well, as George already has covered peanuts, I’ve spent time reflecting on banana trees. We have a lot of orange, lime, lemons and lychees trees in our orchard.Yet, the ‘tree’ we have the most of is bananas, with around 120 planted. I think they are one of our most interesting ‘trees’…