Your interest in what God is doing here in Amdu is so appreciated. It is particularly encouraging given the fact that we are unable to paint you a very detailed picture of all that is going on in our lives. Looking back at the updates and video clips that we have posted over the last two years, we realize that we create more questions than we answer. All the more reason to take time away from ministry here, to come home and give you the scoop in person, right? We are planning on doing just that next year starting in May 2015. We will be home in the USA for about eight months, returning to Amdu in January 2016.
In our last update we asked you to be praying for us in regards to the literacy and grammar goals that we were trying to achieve. Thank you for doing that for us. The Lord enabled Missy to put together an excellent literacy report that details our findings about the noises that the Amdu language is made up of and our recommendation for the symbols that should represent these sounds. It’s exciting to be able to say that the Amdu people now have their own alphabet.
Missy is now working on writing a report explaining how Amdu words work together to form sentences; the grammar side of things. Just like English, the Amdu language has nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. How they all work together is unique, but thankfully there is a structure to it. Continue to pray that the Lord would give Missy clarity of mind and physical stamina. It requires extended concentration and an ability to deal in the nitty gritty.
The Amdu way of life; their culture, lifestyle, values and worldview is steadily becoming more familiar to us. We see the great value of living here as a family in their world. The Amdu perspective is so different from our own. It poses its own set of challenges to God’s perspective just like any culture. The longer we live here the more empathy we have for our friends and the challenges that they face; most especially the challenge of not understanding the Gospel. We could not gain this understanding without immersing ourselves into their world like we are doing.
Each conversation that we have helps us to grow more fluent. We hear more and we can say more and ask more questions than before. We are hearing more of the subtleties of the language that gives us clearer insight into what our Amdu friends are thinking and feeling. This insight is going to help us craft the presentation of the Gospel in their language in a way that speaks specially to the Amdu heart. This has not been done for them before. Keep praying that we would remain curious and present in our friends lives so that we can continue to learn and reach that place where fluency becomes a reality.
Benjamin’s friendships with the Amdu men are paying big dividends in this regard. The more the friendships develop the deeper the conversations go.
Now Benjamin is not the only one asking questions. Recently some of the men have been asking Benjamin some of their deeper questions about ultimate things. This is so exciting for us even though we have no way to give them clear answers right now; the day is coming when we will and what a day that will be.
Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry. We could not be here without your generosity and faithful partnership with us in prayer.