The Crawford Chronicles #1
“You’re going where?”
November 16, 2019
Prayer Requests
1) Senegal! - Kathleen and I have accepted positions with Dakar
Academy in Dakar, Senegal. Please pray
for us as we begin the process of preparing and support raising to head back to
West Africa.
2) Kathleen - Kathleen is doing amazingly well. We would appreciate continued prayers as she
continues to battle with anxiety.
3) Austin - Austin is doing well and will soon be having his first
birthday (November 27,2019). Pray that
he would be as ready as his parents for this big adventure we are about to
embark on.
4) Support - Pray that we would be able to raise the necessary
prayer and financial support to enable us to be involved in our ministries at
Dakar Academy.
5) Logistics - Pray that
all the necessary things with regard to selling our house and packing to setup
a new one overseas would go well.
Introduction
Greetings to everyone from Oromocto, New Brunswick! It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost a
year since we last wrote all of you.
From my perspective it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed. I
guess we must have had a lot of fun because the time just seemed to fly
by. With Austin’s surprise early entry
into the world, a new home and new jobs, we have lived very busy lives. Nonetheless, it is time to break the silence
and update you all on some very exciting news!
Year in Review
I imagine most of you have been wondering what we’ve been doing
the last year. As most of you may
recall, I (Graham) started a new job at Skillsoft in Fredericton, New Brunswick
back in December. Kathleen was on
maternity leave with SIM and spent her days taking care of our son Austin until
she started working at the Allergy Clinic here in Oromocto.
In February we stopped attending Geary Baptist Church and started
attending Oromocto Baptist Church (OBC).
The reason for this is because I found out that Oromocto Baptist Church
was in desperate need of a drummer for their worship team. After speaking with Pastor Devon (OBC’s
Worship and Youth Pastor) and Pastor Robert (Senior Pastor of Geary Baptist),
everyone agreed this would be a great thing for all involved. It’s been great playing the drums on a
regular basis again. We have really
enjoyed the people at OBC and have made some great new friends there.
When we came back from Benin, we were living at Kathleen’s parents
place in Geary, New Brunswick. Once
Austin was born, we felt it would be best to find a place of our own. We began searching and eventually found a
house in Oromocto that suited us perfectly.
We moved into the house in April and we have absolutely loved it. Our house is very close to Oromocto Baptist
Church which has been very convenient for us.
 |
| Our new house in Oromocto, New Brunswick |
In May I was promoted to a new position at work with a better
salary and a few extra benefits.
In August I took some time off work and Kathleen, Austin and I
travelled from Oromocto to Niagara Falls.
We took a week to travel there and back and it was quite a challenge as
Austin was only 8 months old, but we had a great time. We were able to attend the wedding of one of
Kathleen’s close friends which made the trip extra special. The very next weekend we travelled to Prince
Edward Island for a weekend getaway.
Austin and I had never been to the island before. We had a great time and would recommend PEI
to anyone if you haven’t been already.
 |
| All of us at a Blue Jays Game |
 |
| Having fun on the beach in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island |
As many of you know, Kathleen was struggling with anxiety while in
Benin and when we returned to Canada.
Kathleen has been going for regular counselling ever since we returned
in July. She has been doing very well
over the last year and is enjoying feeling like herself again. Thank you so much to those who prayed and
continue to pray for her.
Austin
Update
 |
After a bit of a difficult entry into the world, Austin has really
thrived! He is a very happy smiley kid
that loves crowds and connecting with people.
He will be celebrating his first birthday on November 27th
and we are glad we’ll be able to do it with family and friends here in New
Brunswick.
Ministry
Opportunity
 |
| All dressed up for the cold. |
Recently, Kathleen and I were talking about the progress she has
been making in her mental health. She
surprised me by telling me, “I think we should start looking at opportunities
to go back to Africa.” When we came back
from Benin, I wasn’t sure what our future as missionaries would be. My fear was that we were done. That our experience overseas would have been
too much for Kathleen and that she wouldn’t be interested in going back. I feared that Kathleen’s recovery would take
years or that she may never be the person she was. However, God has been good. God is healing Kathleen and He has given us a
calling to head back overseas.
Some of you may remember that we visited Senegal last year. Some friends of ours had let us know about an
opportunity at a Christian missionary kid’s school in Dakar, Senegal called
Dakar Academy (https://www.dakar-academy.org/) for an IT position so we stopped in to
check it out. Unfortunately, Kathleen
was just not in a state to consider it, so we never continued in pursuing the
position. However, when Kathleen began
talking about the desire she had to return to the mission field, it was the
first place we both thought of. We
contacted Dakar Academy and the IT position was still available. We also discovered that the current school
nurse will be leaving next year which opened up a possibility for Kathleen to
work at the school as well. After lots
of discussions with SIM and Dakar Academy we applied to the positions and we
were both accepted. We have now signed
contracts with Dakar Academy to start working at the school in August 2020! We are very excited about this opportunity
and are thankful to the Lord for directing us to it.
When will you be leaving?
This is a very
good question. We will definitely need
to leave for Senegal by July 2020 as we both will begin working at the school
in August. However, Dakar Academy has
asked us if it would be possible for us to come sooner. This relies on a number of factors. First of all, we need to raise financial and
prayer support before we would be able to leave. Depending on how long that takes, we may be
able to leave sooner. I (Graham) am
planning to finish working at Skillsoft at the end of January 2020 so that we
will be able to dedicate ourselves to support raising and beginning the work of
selling our home and possessions and all the rest that goes into moving
overseas. I also plan to take some
French lessons to get my French back up to where it was when I left Benin.
What is Dakar Academy?
Dakar Academy is
a missionary kid’s school in Dakar Senegal that was founded back in 1961 to
provide education for the children of missionaries in Western Africa. As time has gone by and the school has
expanded, the school has opened its doors to not just missionary kids, but to
children from all walks of life. For
more information on Dakar Academy, feel free to visit the about page on their
website found here: https://www.dakar-academy.org/mission-vision-values
Support Raising
All the staff
serving at Dakar Academy are missionaries.
In some ways, it is similar to the organization I was with in Botswana
where there were missionaries from all sorts of different countries and from
all sorts of different missions. As
such, Kathleen and I will need to raise financial and prayer support before we
can head to Senegal. Kathleen and I will
be seconded to Dakar Academy by SIM Canada.
So, as before, we will be receiving donations through SIM Canada. If you would like to give to us, you can do
so by visiting our SIM Canada’s donation website at https://www.sim.ca/graham-and-kathleen-crawford/. You can also
contact SIM Canada directly by phone at 1-800-294-6918. We will be planning various speaking
engagements at churches in New Brunswick, Alberta and BC and are looking
forward to reconnecting with our past supporters as well as with new ones. We’ll be updating you all when we have our schedules
finalised.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we want to thank each and
every one of you for your prayers for us.
We know that people have been praying because of the work the Lord has being
done in our lives. We are so happy to
have such a great group of people supporting us as we walk through life
together. Until next time!
Blessings,
Graham & Kathleen Crawford (and
Austin)
The opinions expressed in this letter
are our own opinions. They are not
necessarily the opinions or views of Serving In Mission (SIM).
