Symanzik Family Update

I love the determined look on Kirsten's face as she goes for
the ball. It reminds me of the verse in Hebrews 12:1-3 to "let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

Here are a few other photos from Baguio ISAC....

Eventually when we move to the USA we will most likely move to Colorado Springs, Colorado so Kurt can work out of the LightSys headquarters. Here are some pictures of the office.

Recently the high schoolers took a short week-long mission trip to a nearby island to help build an orphanage. Here are some pics of Kirsten at work. She enjoyed the physical labor, cement mixing, and sense of accomplishment projects like these bring.

team building activities at the camp ground they stayed at

Faith International Academy girls soccer and boys basketball recently travelled to Baguio in northern Luzon (about 6 hour drive north of Manila), for the yearly International School Athletic Competition held three times yearly for the various sports.

Kirsten was part of the Faith Girls Soccer team that travelled to Baguio. Kurt and I were blessed to be able to travel up with the teams to cheer the athletes on in the competition.

The girls soccer came in 4th place overall and the boys won all their games to place the champions of the ISAC boys basketball tournament. It was fun to watch the students and cheer them on.

Kurt and I took a little time away from the tournament to do some sight seeing of Baguio - the vacation capital of the Philippines because it is up in the mountains and cool. It is 5050 feet above sea level. It felt so wonderful to be in 70-80's and cool breezes!!!

Since January Mercy Maternity Clinic, the largest Christian maternity clinic in the Philippines, has been piloting the
software that Kurt has written. This software allows them to computerize their ministry.

The Mercy staff are very pleased with phase one of this software.

Mercy Maternity has been in existence for many years and has rooms full of paper records. This just isn't conducive to efficient patient management.
Midwife-EMR allows for electronic record keeping for lay-in clinics. This has been a very satisfying project that Kurt has worked on. "This project has been the most satisfying project that I have ever worked on in over
20 years of professional software
development. I thank God for that."

Midwifery and the Gospel
What does maternal care and the advance of God's kingdom have in common?

The Christian Midwife Initiative,
http://www.midwifemobilization.com/,
exists to mobilize Christian midwives to serve on the mission field.

"a midwife can provide an entry point into
areas where typical missionaries may not
be able to gain access due to some restrictions."

The missions / midwifery combination is opening doors that were previously shut to the gospel of Christ. We thank God
that we are in a position to write software that helps advance the gospel.