Sheppard March 2005 Update

Dear Barry and friends at Grace,

Greetings again from Liberia, West Africa. How we thank God for your
faithful prayers for us.

We have been busy on many fronts. The various rebuilding projects continue
on schedule, despite heavy rains. How thankful we are to those who
participated financially with this project. We've had many overnight guests,
including 12 pastors and church leaders from upcountry who stayed with us
two nights last week. We praise God for these faithful men. I finished
teaching my class on Romans at the Jake Memorial College and Nancy continues
working with her ladies' leadership training program.

The Liberian elections are slated for October 11. The streets are full of
people chanting and shouting slogans for the candidates of their choice.
While they will also be voting for Senators and Representatives, the main
focus is on the race for the presidency. There are presently 22 candidates
running, but only three or four of them appear to have large followings. If
no candidate gains 51% of the vote there will be a runoff in November.

John-Mark (almost 23) has been busy with a local Christian NGO doing
projects and was recently hired as their evangelism director. This has been
a dream come true for him. He gets to do what he wants to do in missions and
get paid for it! (He must work to pay off a rather hefty college debt.) He
has made two trips into the bush over unbelievably bad roads, where he was
able to preach and encourage some churches that have been started recently.
His goal is to one day have a ministry to Muslims in West Africa and these
trips have just "happened" to be to the region of Liberia where there are
many Muslims. He just returned from a four day trip where they had to turn
around go back to the village they had just left because they came to a
half-mile sea of mud that their 4WD van was unable to pass through. I wish I
had time to share these experiences with him but my work in Monrovia now
makes my trips upcountry few and far between.

Please pray for our daughter Melodie. She is almost 21 years old and
presently in the U.S. attending Cedarville University. She is planning to be
a missionary after she graduates. A few weeks ago she called to say that she
had some chest pains and had gone to the local emergency room. After a
fairly thorough checkup, they said they couldn't see any problem with her
heart and perhaps it was muscle pain. However, on a recent follow-up visit
another doctor said he thought he heard a valve prolapse while listing to
her heart. She is supposed to be going in for an echocardiogram in the next
couple days. Pray with us that whatever the problem is can be solved without
major surgery.

Nathan (19) has been planning to make a trip to Lebanon for some time. He
feels a deep burden for the Lebanese people. The Lebanese are the business
class in West Africa and so we have made many Lebanese friends and
acquaintances through the years. Nathan is hoping to go on a "survey trip"
(for a lack of a better name for it) in the next week or two.  Please pray
with us that this dream of his would become a reality and for safety on the
trip.

Heidi just turned 11 last week. She is growing very fast and is definitely
starting to get her pre-teen look. She is now in fifth grade and doing well.
She loves to read and to draw.

Jared is nine and still our "baby." He continues to delight us with his love
of life and his unabashed love for us. He is in fourth grade. He is
mechanical and loves to know how things work.

Merri, our little Liberian girl, is still with us. We are expecting her
adoption to go through in the next couple of weeks. We will miss her. She
continues to grow taller and gain weight. She has turned from a sullen child
who had obviously given up on life, into a darling smiley little girl. She
still does not speak and has a problem with drooling. We trust God to
continue to help Merri to progress (tonight we measured her and she had
grown at least an inch since we last measured her!). Thank you for your many
prayers and for your interest in her.

Please pray for the following requests:

1. A free and fair election of the president and other officials and
   that they would be people who will seek to honor God. Also for
   God's protection on Liberia as some might try to disrupt the
   election. The election is scheduled for October 11th.
2. Melodie's health condition. Please pray the echocardiogram would
   reveal what is causing the pain.
3. God's continued work in the lives of our children.
4. Merri's successful adoption to her new family.

Thank you for your continued interest in our ministry and for the financial
support and prayer support. God bless you!

In Christ,

Mark, Nancy, John-Mark, Melodie, Nathan, Heidi and Jared Sheppard

Serving with:
Baptist Mid-Missions
7749 Webster Road
Box 308011
Cleveland, OH 44130
http://www.bmm.org