Hello,
First of all, I apologize if you got a duplicate email. I sent the email from the wrong address on accident.
We have one month left, and then we are on to 2024. In that month we have to finish out 2023, do all our end of year meetings, plan for 2024, and celebrate the holidays. December always seems like it should be so quiet and productive since the Battalion is gone, but it usually ends up full of parties, traveling, and meetings, and it is hard to stay productive when you'd rather be festive. Also, I can’t speak for the rest of the office, but I tend to schedule about two months’ worth of work into December by the time it rolls around, “since it is furlough and I’ll have time.” You can pray that we all prioritize well and get the necessary things done next month. The Battalion leadership all arrive on January 2, so once 2024 starts we are off to the races and it won't slow down till next summer.
Looking back on 2023, we have had a really good year this year. There have been some big challenges, many of which I’ve shared already. Our Basic Training numbers are still lower than we would like, and our fall quarter 3rd Phase classes were all at their minimum numbers to run. The lawsuit is ongoing, and will be for the foreseeable future. There are still staff positions that are not filled on a permanent basis, which cases some organizational stress as we shuffle people around. | But God has been so good to us this year, and there are so many things that we can be thankful and rejoice over. One of our students accepted Christ last semester. This is always a cause for celebration, but especially in this young man’s case as he had already graduated from ALERT, and returned for additional training last quarter. He was very open about his unbelief during his previous semesters of training, and it was really encouraging to see God work in his life over the past couple of years, and the change that came with his salvation. He is truly a different person than when he first came to Basic Training, and even from when he graduated. Please pray that God would continue working in the Battalion in 2024.
Another area that God has really blessed us in is our scholarship fund. As we have made more of an effort to promote financial aid to current and prospective students, our scholarship request have increased significantly. We were able to give out over $50,000 in scholarships this year, which is almost double our 2022 yearly scholarship award total. We have also been able to double the average scholarship award over our 2021 averages. Our scholarships are entirely donor funded, so these numbers are only possible thanks to generous donors and their support. We are incredibly grateful to each person who donated money towards student scholarships, and the doors that has opened for our students. Please pray for continued scholarship donations so that we can keep increasing our financial aid numbers next year.
A final area to mention is God’s protection of us through another year of training. As you all know, our training is physically demanding, and there are elements of danger in each of our training courses. And that is to say nothing of all the travel miles that we put in over the course of a year. We deployed students to places as far away as Maine, Florida, Panama, and Colombia this year, and they all returned home safely. We were also spared during the massive power outage this summer, when we were one of the only places in the local Arkansas/Louisiana/East Texas area to keep power. Housing hundreds of SWEPCO linemen and a batch of nursing home residents on campus made for an interesting few weeks, but we not only had power, we were able to help in the efforts to restore power to our community. It is so easy to take God's protection for granted, but we want to recognize the gift that it is and thank Him for it. Pray for His continued protection over all the staff holiday travels through New Years, and for continued safety in our training in 2024. | In closing, here is the obligatory reminder to you all to register for the Reunion next year. The dates are February 8-11, 2024, and you all not only need to come, you need to help convince everyone you know to come as well. My goal is to sell out all the available on-campus housing that weekend, and throw the biggest party ALERT has ever had. All the schedule and event details, registration information, and the attendee list is on the website. Hope to see you there! Posteritatis commodis servientes, |
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