Dear Friends,

WOW!! This year has just flown by; it is hard to believe that 2001 is almost over. It has been a very busy year for our family and the Church here in Washington, England.

I would just like to give you a brief glimpse into our year. In January we began working with a loose knit group of volunteers from churches in Washington on a program to help Asylum Seekers who were being placed in our town. There are families from most of the war-torn countries of the world coming to Washington, we have people from Turkey, Iraqi, Chechnya, Bosnia, Poland, Chech Republic, Iran, Kurds, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Somalia, the Ivory Cost and more. This has become a very big part of the work for the Church here in Washington. We now hold the weekly Drop-in Centre for all the Asylum Seekers in our building every Tuesday.

January was a very busy month. We bought a small car since our van was beginning to show signs of old age and metal fatigue, (Jonathan was also going to start driving lessons). Rodney was sworn in as a Magistrate for County Durham. He is the first person who is not a citizen of Britain to be given this honour. As a Magistrate he sits in court with two other Magistrates and makes judgements on all kinds of cases. He is really enjoying this, and it has opened some very interesting doors. In February Rodney was asked to do an interview for the local BBC radio station and several newspapers ran articles concerning his position as a Magistrate, Preacher and American.

In the spring we also had a group of students from David Lipscomb University come over for their spring break. The group came to do presentations in the schools. We also had a student from the British Bible School come and stay a week with us and do some work with our kids as well as working with the Asylum group, his name is Naeem and he comes from Pakistan.

In April, Rodney had the privilege of performing the wedding service for Amanda and John Lowden. Amanda and her two children are known to many of you that have been to Washington before. About this time Rodney became involved with the Sunderland Refugee Network, a larger umbrella organization that covers the whole City of Sunderland. Eventually he was elected a vice. Chairman for this group, and I have been asked to be a trustee for the Washington Asylum Project.

During the spring we were blessed with the baptism of Richard Gillit from Newcastle and Linda Graham from Washington who has been acting as our secretary at the church.

AS many of you know, this was our furlough year; so on the 1^st of June, Heather, Jared and I flew to Lubbock to start a wonderful three-month vacation! Jonathan and Joshua joined us on July 4^th, and Rodney came a week later. While in the States we had a chance to visit with family and friends. By far the best thing to happen to both Rodney and I, was the opportunity we were given to attend an Emmaus Walk. This was a wonderful growing experience for us and we have continued to be blessed because of it. My family was truly blessed to be able to visit with our relatives while we were there. It was the last time we would see many of them before we meet again in Heaven. My Father lost a sister; Beulah Redwine and Mom lost her brother Maxi Hayslip and her sister-in-law Nell Hayslip. It has been hard for me to be so far away from my family in this time of grieving and loss.

We all returned together on the 31^st of August full of energy and high expectations. Our world came to a halt on September 11, as we watched and listened in disbelief to what was happening to our country. Not only were we horrified by what was happening in America, the ramifications for the Muslim Asylum Seekers that we were working with were something we had to consider. There has been a backlash against some of our families, they are very afraid. But even in this time of fear and mistrust, God works. In early November Farmeher Sheikhaliangolchin formerly Muslim woman was baptized into the Lord family with the blessing of her husband, who has not yet made that commitment.

In November Rodney was once again asked to lead the Remembrance Day service for the Town of Washington. It was held at the 11^th hour, on the 11^th day, of the 11^th month at the cenotaph in the middle of Washington village.

I know that I have not said much about the kids. Many of you talked with them in the Summer, but for those of you who did not get to visit with them, here is just a little of what they are doing. Jared is six and into everything, he had developed a fascination for insects if you can believe it. At school he is considered to be a quiet child, I just laugh every time they say that. Jared seems to take after his brothers, he is very artistic and loves to draw and paint. Heather is taking three languages in school; French, German and Spanish, she is doing very well in all her work. Heather has also shown an interest in ground hockey, since I have never played this I can not tell you much, except it is hard to find a team, they are all boys and will not give her any time on the field. She is taller than I am and still growing. Joshua is taking his first year of “A” level courses. He has also taken up karate and doing very well in that. In March Joshua will start his driving lessons, I can’t wait! Jonathan is in his last year of “A” levels and as I said earlier - driving. He has hopes of returning to the states in the summer to live and work as an artist.

We have had a very exciting year, and have been greatly blessed by the Lord. I hope you have been blessed as well. May God bless you and Keep you all in his care.

Have a Merry Christmas

And a

Happy New Year

The Thomas Family

Rodney, Michele, Jonathan, Joshua, Heather, and Jared