Since Missy’s return from the United States this summer we have locked
\nourselves into the most intense season of tunnel vision here in Amdu, to
\ndate. The Lord has enabled our team to take significant last steps to
\nfinish the first phase of our ministry that we refer to as Culture and
\nLanguage Acquisition. In previous updates we have described important
\nprojects we needed to complete to help consultants gauge our readiness for
\nthe next phase of ministry. We are thrilled to be nearing the end of this
\nmassive undertaking. Our final report is a week away from being sent off
\nfor consultant approval.
\nMost of our energy, though, has been funneled into preparing literacy
\nmaterials for the Amdu Literacy Program. This collaborative effort is hard
\nto quantify in terms of hours spent, but the number is obnoxiously high. We
\nhave come through the final steps of the process and we are days away from
\nthe materials getting printed. Many of you participated in our “Amdu
\nStrong” fundraiser for these expenses, so thank you. You ‘put your hand’ on
\nthis (the Amdu expression for participation) so thank you!
\nAll of these efforts will culminate in another language evaluation September
\n25th and 26th. Lord willing, we will be able to demonstrate ability in the
\nareas of persuasion and teaching in the Amdu language. Explaining abstract
\nconcepts and making practical application with exhortation is the area of
\nweakness identified in our last evaluation some six months ago. We’ve been
\nworking hard on these areas since, and trust that God will enable us to
\nadequately demonstrate this to our consultants next week. Thanks for
\ncontinuing to pray with us.
\nWhether we pass our language evaluation next week or not, we are at a place
\nin ‘ministry readiness’ to be able to proceed with our plans to launch the
\nfirst Amdu Literacy Class at the beginning of October. We have been leaking
\ninformation about this course week by week for months and are thrilled with
\nhow eager our friends are to participate. We have selected the first
\nfifteen students and are putting finishing touches to our teacher’s manual
\nthat will help guide us through the well-structured steps of teaching each
\nday.
\nThis week we are taking time to encourage students who are apprehensive
\nabout not being able to keep up. We’re explaining that the course is like a
\nfather and his small boy walking the trail to the garden. Does the father
\ngo at his own pace and leave his son behind? Of course not. In the same
\nway, we won’t leave the slow students behind as we learn. Sometimes the
\nfamily, coming home from the garden, picks up the smaller child and
\nshoulders them home. In the same way, each class will work together as a
\ngroup to learn and graduate together if at all possible.
\nWe are also taking time to encourage those who aren’t in the class to
\nsupport the effort. Everyone likes to eat bananas, so when the banana plant
\nstarts to produce, a wise person goes and cuts a support stick from the bush
\nand comes and props his banana plant up. If he doesn’t do that, the wind
\nmight come and knock the plant over. The bananas will smash and rot and no
\none will enjoy their sweetness. In the same way, make sure that you are not
\nlike the wind, blowing and knocking down the literacy school. Be like the
\nsupport stick and prop up the literacy school so that we can all enjoy the
\nsweetness of literacy success. We trust these words and our example of
\nkindness will encourage each heart.
\nThank you is not enough for the ways God uses each of you to prop us up
\nagainst the wind that would blow us down and smash us on the rocks! Hurry
\nthe day, Lord, that the Gospel goes out to the Amdu people. Thank you for
\npartnering with us in this piece of eternity.
\nBenjamin and Missy We are also taking time to encourage those who aren’t in
\nthe class to support the effort. Everyone likes to eat bananas, so when the
\nbanana plant starts to produce, a wise person goes and cuts a support stick
\nfrom the bush and comes and props his banana plant up. If he doesn’t do
\nthat, the wind might come and knock the plant over. The bananas will smash
\nand rot and no one will enjoy their sweetness. In the same way, make sure
\nthat you are not like the wind, blowing and knocking down the literacy
\nschool. Be like the support stick and prop up the literacy school so that
\nwe can all enjoy the sweetness of literacy success. We trust these words
\nand our example of kindness will encourage each heart.
\nThank you is not enough for the ways God uses each of you to prop us up
\nagainst the wind that would blow us down and smash us on the rocks! Hurry
\nthe day, Lord, that the Gospel goes out to the Amdu people. Thank you for
\npartnering with us in this piece of eternity.
\nBenjamin and Missy<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-1061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","tag-ethnos360","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}