Dear friends and family,

It has come to our attention that some of you have not been receiving our email newsletters and updates in the last few months. We were not aware of this situation. Several people recently informed us that they had not heard from us "in a while" and so we had no idea that some were not receiving our news. In fact, we are still unaware of how many of you have not been receiving our communications.

We have always had some cases when we were aware that our emails did not make it from Brazil to the U.S. and visa versa and so we have often written a note at the bottom of our communications asking that folks let us know if they received it. In talking with other Americans and expatriates living in Brazil, we've been told that they often have problems as well and so we had accepted this as a normal occurrence. In an attempt to improve our ability to stay in touch, we have changed our internet service, changed our server, and even purchased a new computer (through a generous gift from one of our supporting churches) in the last two years. Forgive us if you were one of those not receiving our notes and have felt neglected. It has always been our desire to keep in contact with all of you and we are truly sorry for any lack of communication.

We just recently heard from one of our supporters in Kentucky who told us something that might explain the problem. He just happened to notice one of our notes in his spam folder not long ago and he contacted his server in order to get our address off a "spam list" so that he could receive our notes again. They told him that if one person on our bulk mailing list inadvertently flagged one of our notes as spam then the system automatically goes back to the main frame and it is blocked to everyone the mailing was sent to. Then in the future, those people would be blocked from receiving our updates. Upon hearing this news, we were afraid that many more people had not been receiving our notes than we originally thought. In hopes to resolve this situation, we decided to send out a letter (by snail mail) to all of our supporters and try and get everyone "up to speed" on our current situation. Hopefully the U.S. mail is more dependable than the internet. Ha, ha!

We had sent out a letter in December and email updates trying to keep you all abreast of our developing plans for returning to the States. But for those of you who didn't receive them, you were unaware of our travel schedule and thus may not even know that WE ARE IN THE UNITED STATES NOW for Home Missionary Assignment (HMA or furlough). We are living in a mission house that one of our supporting churches, Arden Presbyterian Church, near Asheville, NC, graciously offered for us to live in while in the States.

Our mailing address is:
2225 Hendersonville Rd.
Arden, NC 28704
828-687-9144
datkisson@mtwla.org
dalasdg@yahoo.com

David is busy setting up appointments with supporters and scheduling mission conferences. I have decided to take advantage of my time here and do a nursing refresher course to update my BSN license. Taylor and Jacob are here with us and have started attending public high school in Arden. Hilary is back in Brazil working and attending university. She and Caé are both in the Clinical Psychology program. They hope to get married in Johnson City, TN in January if he is able to get a visa. He has had one interview at the American Consulate in São Paulo but was rejected for his visa and so now we are appealing that decision. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for Brazilians (or anyone else for that matter) to be issued a visa due to all the recent terrorist activity.

Besides the computer problems, I have been struggling with depression for over a year and I have not been able to keep up with written communications thus, no Christmas cards or personal notes were sent out. David has had an extra load besides his usual work trying to take care of me, the kids, and keep the house running. Even though you may have not known about my illness, I know many of you were faithfully praying for us regularly and that was a comfort to me. I am sure that your prayers gave me strength to keep going. I am so grateful to be a part of the body of Christ. After Christmas, the Lord led us to a Christian psychologist and a very experienced psychiatrist in Brazil who helped get me "back on track" with a combination of therapy and medication. Although I was making good progress, the stress of finding Hilary an apartment, packing up and finding a place to store our furniture, and then coming back to the States has taken its toil. I would appreciate your prayers for continued healing and strength to deal with all the pressures of being on furlough, not just for me, but for our whole family. We would also ask you to specifically pray about Caé's visa situation and decisions about the wedding if he is unable to secure one. We know that the Lord is in control of the whole situation and that He already knows the outcome, yet in our weakness we are concerned about what lies ahead.

Soon, you will be receiving our next newsletter which will fill you in on our last six months in Brasil and future ministry plans. We value your partnership with us and we know that your prayers have sustained us through this last term. We look forward to spending time with each of you and relating our experiences in Brazil and what the Lord seems to be leading us to do for our next term of service. We would also like to hear how things are going with all of you. So, give us a call, or better yet, come and visit us in beautiful Western North Carolina.

Blessings,
Lynn for all

- October 23, 2006