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Family, Furlough and our First-ever Leadership Conference.
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Gwartney's in Uganda

GSF Leadership Conference

When we found out that several friends and family were all going to be in Uganda the first week of November, it looked like a major schedule conflict.  God took our problem and turned it into the first ever GSF Leadership Conference!  Mark's brother, Scott, had been scheduled to visit for several months.  Then two friends separately notified us that they would be in Uganda at the same time.  Steadman Harrison and Jimmy Renslow are great encouragers of the ministry and have lead retreats for us in the past.  So God put it on our hearts to host a conference for 25 GSF staff members who have management or other leadership responsibilities. Scott, Steadman and Jimmy would all speak at the conference.  We were even able to include a video session from the Willow Creek Association's 2014 Global Leadership Summit.

The Lord has also been impressing us to find more ways to use the resources here to help others in our area.  We decided to invite local church leaders and others to the conference and expanded our plans to accommodate 60 people.  The invitation list grew to encompass leaders of local schools, NGOs, other children's homes and government officials. In the end, 120 people showed up at the conference!  Everyone asked us to host conferences like this in the future, expanding to two or three days.

"To whom much is given, much is required."  It is our prayer that the presence of GSF will make wonderful resources available to others in this rural area - resources that they wouldn't have access to otherwise.  God took our conflicting plans and did something much bigger with them!

Family Visit

The two brothers and their families at Lake Nakuru, Kenya.
We were blessed to have Mark's brother, Scott, to visit us with Cathy and two of their children, Casey and Chandler.  They experienced life with us here at GSF for a week: church in the village, staff Bible studies, knocks on the door, shopping in Jinja, and so on.  After the leadership conference, we headed to Kenya for a safari before they flew out of Nairobi.  They brought many supplies for GSF and our family. We were grateful for their time here and the way they encouraged and refreshed us.
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Furlough Plans

Our family during our last furlough in 2012.
In April 2015, Caralina will graduate from high school.  She has been accepted to Word of Life Bible Institute in Hudson, Florida for their one year program. Therefore, our next furlough will be a little longer as we want to make sure to help Caralina in the adjustment back to life in America.  This is actually a difficult challenge for missionary kids returning to the states and we have been advised to stay longer than our typical 3-4 month furlough.

We would love your prayers for us as we plan and prepare for this.  At this point, we will be based in Lynchburg, VA so that Megan and Titus can stay with Amy's parents and attend school while we do more of the traveling.  There are many logistical challenges with our next furlough and we would covet your prayers.  Thank you!
In America, parents tend to go a little overboard for Kindergarten graduation.  Here at GSF, "overboard" is not the word that comes to mind when you consider the graduates' stories, which will pull at your heartstrings.  All 8 of our K5 graduates have dealt with death, malnourishment, abandonment or disability. Amy shared a glimpse of these kids on our blog... 
Check out their incredible stories here!
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