It feels good to be back home, back to work, and back together! We flew back to Pal with my sister and brother-in-law after our family break in the middle of June and spent a week showing them around the jungle. We had to struggle through good-byes again, but getting back into the swing of things wasn’t as hard as I was thinking it would be. The kids are happy to be home and playing with the Claasen boys again every day. Literacy class started up and is going extremely well; the students are committed and working hard, and they get more excited as each day passes and they can read a little better. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for the literacy program in Pal! From July 1 – 4 we had a visit from our literacy consultant, who sat in on a couple classes and gave us lots of encouragement about how we can be teaching our friends more efficiently.
Then, on the 4th of July, our new teammates moved in! We are grateful to God for bringing Axel and Sandra in to join us and have already appreciated their input in the work and their fellowship. Soon they will start to learn the Pal language and we’re hoping to be able to speed that process along for them a bit. Please pray for them as they continue to settle in to Pal and that they would get a good start on the language before they go back to Germany to have their second child in December.
Chris and I have both transitioned out of full-time language study and are really enjoying this new phase of the work. Chris is spending every morning out at the literacy school teaching with Nate, and the rest of his time is spent between working on the literacy teacher’s manual (how do you say, “hold up the flashcards one at a time and have each student repeat after you” in Pal??) and going out to practice language and fill in the gaps in our understanding of Pal culture. I am happily installed in the office three afternoons a week diagraming sentences, analyzing grammar, and translating short stories. Thank you Freshwater Church for my new computer that allows both Chris and I to work at the same time!
Thanks for praying for us, supporting us, and reading this long blog post. I have been challenged lately to remember how short our lives on this earth will be compared to eternity, and that nothing that I try to cling to is even worthy to be labeled “sacrifice” in light of God’s promises.
