I don’t like writing updates like this. I like the updates where we get to tell you about the translation that’s happening in one of our villages or how a certain people group is hearing the Gospel for the very first time! Those things are fun to write about because that’s why we are here…and these things ARE happening! God is so good and so faithful and new groups of people are hearing about His love for the very first time every day! Praise the Lord! Nothing can compare to the joy and excitement of knowing that someone who has never heard the Truth is hearing it now, for the first time, and is finally being given the opportunity to put their trust in our Savior.
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What’s not so fun to write about is the day-to-day stuff. We know, though, that you guys want to know how to pray for us so here it is: while Brian and I are feeling excited and encouraged with all that’s happening right now, our truck isn’t feeling the same way. We have a Landcruiser that is almost 30 years old. It has made it through floods and typhoons and lots of harsh treks into the jungle when the airplane hasn’t been available. It has served us well the past 7 1/2 years but recently, it has begun to show its age. We love our truck and really don’t want to get rid of it but we are beginning to feel that our time is more important than keeping a truck we love.
Since we returned to the Philippines in January, Brian has spent much of his time trying to fix the truck so that it will become the reliable, family car it once was and it is just not happening. It has failed us several times now on big trips and is at the point where Brian has to be the one to drive it anywhere so that I don’t get stranded somewhere alone. It’s been a bit comical because our coworkers here are in the very same situation with their vehicle. Theirs is just as old and tired as ours and so we’ve been taking both of our vehicles on big trips, just in case one of them gives out. And it’s been good that we’ve done that because we’ve needed it several times!
I’m not sure that this is really managing our time or our finances well. We have a helicopter to import and reassemble, land to find and a hangar to build, a house to find and likely renovate plus everything else like homeschooling our kids and taking care of each other and our missionaries.
Neither one of us want a new car but when we think of all the things we could do here if we weren’t spending our time working on vehicles, it seems so worth it! It’s not a small thing to ask of the Lord but we know that the same God who brought us here and gives us everything we need is the same God who provided the millions of dollars to purchase airplanes and helicopters in order to further His kingdom. Why not ask Him for a new car? So that’s what we are doing…we are asking God to provide a new car for us.