December, 2008 Newsletter of Darv and Carol Smith
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from our home in Boulder, Colorado to all of you nearby and those living in various parts of the world! This year of 2008 brought many blessings and some disappointments and challenges. We traveled to Uganda in Africa from January 1 through April 15 to help lead our first Youth With A Mission (YWAM) University of the Nations, Addictive Behavior Counselor School (ABCS) in Jinja, the city known as the source of the Nile River. We took a boat to see this bubbling spring between Lake Victoria and the Nile. The students in this first ABCS numbered 23 from 7 different African nations. The theme for this school was Hosea 6:1-3 (please read this). As we repeatedly read these verses in class both students and staff were greatly impacted. The verses were amazingly relevant to the students’ life experiences – their lives being torn apart through war, family violence and more. All students experienced some measure of healing and restoration which they will in turn take back to impact their own nations. This is what we pray will happen in each of our ABC schools. After the conclusion of the school we traveled to Durban, South Africa and enjoyed visiting our daughter, Melanie and her family. Melanie is working in an HIV-AIDS project, while John is working on a graduate music degree.
We attended a Life Model/Thrive Conference in Illinois dealing with brain science and trauma recovery taught by Drs. Karl Lehman and Jim Wilder. We were especially encouraged by this cutting-edge teaching/ministry because it is an area in which we ourselves want to grow and heal. We would like to include many of these concepts in our ABC curriculum since trauma is the soil of all addictions.
The much anticipated ABC School to be held in Canberra, Australia was cancelled due to a limited number of student applications. This was a great disappointment! We hope for another school in Australia at a later date.
We are especially amazed and grateful for the leadership for ABC Schools around the world – Linda Subris (Palau) and A. Kasar (India) in Kona, Hi; Sylvie Bolay in Chatel, Switzerland; Jong Kuk, Jungwoo and Jin Ho in Jeju, Korea; Emmanuel Muchanga (Kenya) in Uganda. In 2009 we look forward to R. in Lonavala, India in January; Linda Subris in Hawaii in April; Debra and Jeremaia Nakora in Fiji and Jonathan Mumbi (Zambia) in Worcester, South Africa in September 2009. Each school in the University of the Nations has a 3-month classroom phase and a 3- month outreach/practicum phase – 6 months total. In between ABC work, Darv has been working as a locum tenens emergency medicine physician in hospitals in Texas. We’ve also been active in a small group in which we study a book and pray for various personal, local and national concerns.
We are thankful that Jesus was born and gave his life for us. May you experience His kindness and His presence especially during this Christmas season and throughout the New Year – 2009.
With blessings and love, Darv and Carol
In 2006 we set up a non-profit 301c corporation, Addictive Behavior Ministries International (ABMI) for tax deductible donations so that others may partner with us in this addiction and trauma recovery ministry and vision. Contributions will help support our international students and staff.
