the update

It’s now the end of May, and I have a brief moment to update you before heading out for another month and a half away from home!

My trip to the mountains was hallmarked by distinct Providence and privileges that I know resulted from pr.yer. We were able to meet a handful of young but mature believers who have a passion to take the News back to their own villages after being away (some for up to 14 years) at school. We were privileged to be able to encourage and connect these remote believers and train some for fellowship planting work.
Amber, our national partner, and I were able to visit every village in the area we trekked to—altogether 14 villages—some of which heard the News for the first time. Further, I was able to learn to share the story of creation with a bridge to the story of Christ in my new language, and had opportunity to practice it on this trek. One small step for this trip, one huge leap toward sharing without an interpreter on future trips!

The bulk of the month of June will be spent in H-district, the farthest northwest part of the country. As remote as it sounds, this underdeveloped region is ripe for harvest right now. Our trek will run through June 3rd -21st. During this time, Amber and I will be looking for people of peace among the schoolteachers and faculty at a remote school, encouraging and training young believers (only 2 months old!) and doing just about whatever else He leads us to do to gain a hearing for the News. Very likely I’ll be using my ESL training to train H-district teachers in ESL methodology. Who knew that even when hiking to the farthest corners of the earth ESL would still come in handy?!

Going to H-district with us are two national partners and four volunteers from the States. H-district has been experiencing water shortages and famine the past few months; this is a chronic, annual problem. Please remember Amber and I as we experience very basic living conditions (we’ll be in a tent a couple nights), and for our volunteers to have resilient stomachs and immune systems as they encounter a variety of foods for the first time. Please also remember Z. as he is diabetic, that his medication would remain at the proper temperature for the duration of the trek. If you'd like to know some more requests, I can email you a calendar full of them if you post a comment asking for one :)

The end of June will see me flying out again, this time to Thailand for an annual meeting for people doing M work in this region, and a week of vacation. I’m looking forward to seeing the beach for the first time in 2 years! You don’t get much of it in this little, land-locked country. . .