As we say in Nigeria, "We thank God for bringing us through." 1997 was a year of transition as we completed our furlough, returned to Nigeria in August and began Hausa language study. Thank you for your prayers, support, letters and e-mail.

Marie lost her first tooth on December. It refused to come out so Bill wrapped it in dental floss and after a quick jerk it came out. She is doing well in school and spends most of her waking hours with her classmate, neighbor and best friend Monique.

 Heather and Anna’s personalities continue to bloom. Heather is always in a hurry and seems to know exactly where she is going and wants everyone else to go. Anna is still our cuddler and deciding exactly what to wear each day is her hardest decision. They are sleeping better but last week Anna came into our bedroom complaining there was a lion in her room. A few nights later Heather woke and cried she had a fly in her eye, it was bleeding and she needed an operation!

 We had a wonderful Christmas at Miango. Some of the girls' presents from family and friends in the States didn’t come until the second week of January so we had two Christmases. After opening her stocking on Christmas Eve and getting a Beanie-baby toy, Anna said, "Daddy, this is the best Christmas ever!" For a four-year-old that’s not too many, but we are pleased they are grateful.

Dorothy was in charge of the annual SIM spiritual life conference this year (January 7-11). We invited a team of 12 young people from East Swamp church in Quakertown, Pennsylvania to help us with the children’s program. They did an outstanding job - allowing parents to enjoy the worship sessions with SIM International Pastor Bill Schmidt. He spoke on abiding in Jesus from John 15 and challenged us to a new commitment to abide in the Lord. We can expect pruning in order to bear fruit and persecution because we are identified and loved by Jesus - reminders of the importance of fruit bearing and not just being busy in the vineyard or inspecting the fruit on other vines!

Pat Miller, one of the East Swamp team members, is a master carpenter/ cabinetmaker. He came to renovate our leaky and crumbling kitchen roof and add a screened porch. He enjoyed working with several Nigerian workmen but confesses he never saw such awful timber in his life. "Bananas" was what he called the planks. The mahogany was so hard he had to predrill for the nails. We are grateful for Pat’s help and gracious attitude.

Dorothy has been busy with the ever-expanding Gidan Bege ministry with the street children and destitute in Jos. We have hired several new staff to help with teaching and evangelism. Several staff took a workshop in using puppet s in children’s ministries. The puppet team has been extremely effective in reaching children and has opened many church doors and provided a forum to tell them about Gidan Bege. We now have two staff attending an intensive Moslem evangelism course.

The rent on the building we are using for the Gidan Bege ministries expires in March. We are in the process of purchasing a building for the many Gidan Bege ministries. We will need $90,000 for this building project (#NG 96909). I f you are interested in helping toward this building, contact SIM at the address below. We would appreciate your prayers as we seek the Lord’s provision for this much needed facility.

As we look ahead to 1998, we wanted to let you know about several important events. Bill will be going to a medical meeting the first two weeks of February. Pray for Dorothy especially during those days. Bill will start working at Evangel Hospital mid February. He is looking forward to getting back into the hospital. Pray the Hausa he has learned will be useful in communicating with patients and staff. Dorothy will be more involved in the Gidan Bege ministry also and looks forward to using her Hausa.

There is supposed to be a presidential election in Nigeria in the last quarter of this year. Pleas pray for a peaceful and fair election. Much can happen to destabilize the political situation and endanger the many ministries of SIM and ECWA. Thank you for your prayers.

Bill recently printed the story of our evacuation experience in Liberia. The book is called Where Elephants Fight. If you are interested in a copy for $3.00, write to East Swamp Church, 2405 E. Swamp Road, Quakertown, PA 18951 (215)536-4532 (E-mail: esc@mail.enter.net)

 As a reminder, we have e-mail (Billardill@maf.org) and enjoy hearing from you. Because we pay for e-mail we send AND receive, don’t send us pictures, junk mail or chain letters. Our web page is now (http://www.camp-of-the-woods.org/ardill/homepage.htm) for those connected to the Internet.

Thanks for your interest in us and the many ministries of His kingdom here.

In His wonderful care,

Bill, Dorothy, Marie, Heather and Anna 

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