Since Missy’s return from the United States this summer we have locked
ourselves into the most intense season of tunnel vision here in Amdu, to
date. The Lord has enabled our team to take significant last steps to
finish the first phase of our ministry that we refer to as Culture and
Language Acquisition. In previous updates we have described important
projects we needed to complete to help consultants gauge our readiness for
the next phase of ministry. We are thrilled to be nearing the end of this
massive undertaking. Our final report is a week away from being sent off
for consultant approval.
Most of our energy, though, has been funneled into preparing literacy
materials for the Amdu Literacy Program. This collaborative effort is hard
to quantify in terms of hours spent, but the number is obnoxiously high. We
have come through the final steps of the process and we are days away from
the materials getting printed. Many of you participated in our “Amdu
Strong” fundraiser for these expenses, so thank you. You ‘put your hand’ on
this (the Amdu expression for participation) so thank you!
All of these efforts will culminate in another language evaluation September
25th and 26th. Lord willing, we will be able to demonstrate ability in the
areas of persuasion and teaching in the Amdu language. Explaining abstract
concepts and making practical application with exhortation is the area of
weakness identified in our last evaluation some six months ago. We’ve been
working hard on these areas since, and trust that God will enable us to
adequately demonstrate this to our consultants next week. Thanks for
continuing to pray with us.
Whether we pass our language evaluation next week or not, we are at a place
in ‘ministry readiness’ to be able to proceed with our plans to launch the
first Amdu Literacy Class at the beginning of October. We have been leaking
information about this course week by week for months and are thrilled with
how eager our friends are to participate. We have selected the first
fifteen students and are putting finishing touches to our teacher’s manual
that will help guide us through the well-structured steps of teaching each
day.
This week we are taking time to encourage students who are apprehensive
about not being able to keep up. We’re explaining that the course is like a
father and his small boy walking the trail to the garden. Does the father
go at his own pace and leave his son behind? Of course not. In the same
way, we won’t leave the slow students behind as we learn. Sometimes the
family, coming home from the garden, picks up the smaller child and
shoulders them home. In the same way, each class will work together as a
group to learn and graduate together if at all possible.
We are also taking time to encourage those who aren’t in the class to
support the effort. Everyone likes to eat bananas, so when the banana plant
starts to produce, a wise person goes and cuts a support stick from the bush
and comes and props his banana plant up. If he doesn’t do that, the wind
might come and knock the plant over. The bananas will smash and rot and no
one will enjoy their sweetness. In the same way, make sure that you are not
like the wind, blowing and knocking down the literacy school. Be like the
support stick and prop up the literacy school so that we can all enjoy the
sweetness of literacy success. We trust these words and our example of
kindness will encourage each heart.
Thank you is not enough for the ways God uses each of you to prop us up
against the wind that would blow us down and smash us on the rocks! Hurry
the day, Lord, that the Gospel goes out to the Amdu people. Thank you for
partnering with us in this piece of eternity.
Benjamin and Missy We are also taking time to encourage those who aren’t in
the class to support the effort. Everyone likes to eat bananas, so when the
banana plant starts to produce, a wise person goes and cuts a support stick
from the bush and comes and props his banana plant up. If he doesn’t do
that, the wind might come and knock the plant over. The bananas will smash
and rot and no one will enjoy their sweetness. In the same way, make sure
that you are not like the wind, blowing and knocking down the literacy
school. Be like the support stick and prop up the literacy school so that
we can all enjoy the sweetness of literacy success. We trust these words
and our example of kindness will encourage each heart.
Thank you is not enough for the ways God uses each of you to prop us up
against the wind that would blow us down and smash us on the rocks! Hurry
the day, Lord, that the Gospel goes out to the Amdu people. Thank you for
partnering with us in this piece of eternity.
Benjamin and Missy