Doug & Barb Petersen Newsletter (Fall 2022)

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from the USA this time. We pray that you are all well and blessed. Again, we want to say thank you to all who pray for us and support us in so many ways. God is using you to make possible our ministry in Zambia. This is our love and we are in awe of the way God works out His plans in our lives. He watches over us continually.  We appreciate our ” Zambia TMI family” who care and love us, making sure we are doing well while we are there. They will always be a part of us wherever we are just like our family in the States does as well.

USA

We are using our time to see family and to get appointments with the doctors and the dentist. That is not the fun part but we are thankful to have the opportunity. We don’t usually share a lot about our family in our newsletters, but since this will also be the last letter before Christmas, we will include an update.

We are really enjoying our family time. We see Steve, Gay, Tim, and Faith a lot since they are on our street. (Or are we on theirs?) We can pop in and out and we also spent a long weekend with them at a beautiful getaway home in Ocala, FL. Steve and Gay are very busy at the office and making trips wherever needed overseas. They have spent much time in southern Africa this year. Tim (20) spent his summer leading a Preteen team to Honduras. He has joined TMI staff as a start to his ministry calling.  Faith (17) served as a team member to India this past summer. She absolutely loves Teen Missions, especially Boot Camp!  She and Tim would love to lead a team with their parents this summer. (We told them they are invited to Zambia!) 

 Sarah and Rob are empty nesters. Rob just switched jobs and has a new job at the Kennedy Space Center as a crane operator. He has some great stories already. Sarah continues to work for the sheriff’s office as a 911 dispatcher. She loves this work and has the multi-tasking skills of taking calls, talking to three or so people at once while typing the details (the caller, the police, the fire dept, checking addresses, running license plate numbers, etc.). She didn’t get that talent from me.   

Here are some notes about the special ones who made us “grand and great.”  Sarah’s eldest is our granddaughter, Courtney, with her husband, Sam Rohde, who live in San Antonio and have two small children, Langdon (4) and Caroline (1). Langdon is a perfect picture of his dad. Caroline is a real sweetie and resembles her mom, at this time. Next, Chad and Cristina Codding are living in western VA. Chad is an X-ray tech and Cristina is a nurse working on becoming a “stay at home mom”. They have little Leland who is just under one year old. He is the happiest little guy and so much fun to love on. They have visited us already. Joshua Codding is living in Cocoa, FL, not far from us. He is working with the Brevard Sheriff’s office. He loves serving with the police force and we are grateful for him and for all of those who do the same. You may remember he lost the use of his arm in a motorcycle accident. He is thankful for all the prayers and the doctors still are working on repairs to see if some of the use will return.  He stays hopeful and patient looking to Jesus. Jessica Lena, Rob and Sarah’s youngest, is also in VA near her brother Chad. She also has a servant’s heart and is working as an ambulance EMT with a fire department and in and out of hospitals. She handles emergencies with great calm and expertise. She’s amazing!

Zambia

We continue to praise God as He works in the three Bible schools and the four Boot Camps, as well as the Rescue Units, the Sunday School Circuits and the Matron Units.  We have shared those ministries before in detail so we won’t again at this time. We have about 100 staff who are dedicated to ministering in all of the various ministries. Doug is primarily doing administration and overseeing the financial part of the ministry.  Doug has been teaching a local woman, whose name is *Mwiche (Mwee-chay) Makaliki and who has a degree in bookkeeping/accounting, to little by little learn the system and be ready to carry more of the accounting load. She is getting familiar with details and doing very well. While we are gone, the ministry is being overseen by Oscar Chama and Thomas Kabwata. They have been doing much of the oversight with Doug for many years so we know things are in very capable hands while we are here. We know that they would appreciate your prayers as they are really stretched and rarely get any break.The three Christmas Boot Camps are preparing to run the month of December.

As For Us

We are very thankful to be able to continue to teach in the Bible school in Zambia and for the first time, we are able to teach the US students this term. We both love having this opportunity. While home, Doug is still involved with the day-to-day things in Zambia by phone using WhatsApp. He also is in on staff zoom calls with the US office staff and the Zambia staff.  

We will be with family over the holidays and traveling back the 3rd of January, the Lord willing. We would appreciate prayers for all to go well. Your prayers are so appreciated.

Prayer Requests

• Thanksgiving for the overall constant watchful care of our heavenly Father
• Continued good health
• That God would continue to develop faithful men and women through the ministry, bringing fruit that lasts.
• Strength, wisdom, and rest for all the staff as they labor in the Kingdom of God
• Pray especially for Steve and Gay. As you may know that he is now serving as President of Teen Missions, Int’l.

Prayer Items:

• Steve and Family
• Wisdom for direction (to be led by the Holy Spirit personally and in the ministry).
• Health and safety
• Fruit that remains

Thank you again so much for standing with us! You are so faithful ministering to us and praying for us all of these years! We love you! Thank you for joining your hands with ours.

In His Harvest,

Matt. 6:33 & Gal. 2:20

Teen Missions International (Zambia)

Email: [email protected]