Time to Take a Breath

It has been a full month for the Hostetters. Here are the highlights.

After traveling across the world, we moved into our new house on our mission center in the Highlands. It is a great house, and we look forward to making it our home for the coming years.

After we spent about a week sleeping off jet lag, unpacking our suitcases, digging our stuff out of storage, and deciding in which drawer we would put the silverware, we took a family trip into the bush to visit our friends there.

We were so encouraged to see that the church is faithfully meeting together and teaching from God’s Word in two villages, as well as overseeing the literacy schools in three villages and running the dispensary. They had exciting stories to tell us about how God miraculously healed people who were on death’s door, the teachers had good questions to ask us about how to better handle church discipline, and we talked with the ladies who are leading the women’s Bible study and really want to do a good job at it. We also heard about some trouble or “heavies” that seem to be simmering under the surface–tensions between Bible teachers from different clans, anger over ground disputes and marriage debts… But the believers are trying to think about and handle these problems Biblically, and we were glad to have the time to pray with and encourage them as they continue to live out their faith.

When we left the tribe and came back to our home in town, it was a mad scramble to get ready for school. I (Maggie) am subbing as one of the 6th grade teachers for the first term, and I had about three days to get familiar with the curriculum, talk to the regular 6th grade teacher about what he usually does, and make lesson plans for the first week. It was stressful! But the other teachers at the school were great about offering help and doing all the things I didn’t even know needed to be done while I was in the tribe. In the end, we all made it to the first day of school, and I have loved every day since then.

The kids are also doing well in school and have enjoyed seeing all their friends again. Bailey doesn’t even mind having me as a teacher again, although she does refuse to call me “Mrs. Hostetter.”

Chris has also had a busy few weeks getting to know his new role as Central Area Coordinator, but I don’t have any pictures of him working because it would just be him sitting in meetings, and that’s boring. He is planning to split his time between his leadership position and his translation work.

AND NOW….. the moment you’ve all been waiting for…..

We bought a car! Well, YOU bought us a car! God provided a used vehicle that has everything we were hoping for (even the color :D) for a price that was within our range. Our mechanic friend looked it over and said it all looks good except for the gearbox, but it has given us no problems so far, and we are trusting that God will provide a way to cross that bridge if or when it comes. Thank you for your giving and your prayers, and now please praise God with us for His generosity.

It has been a busy month full of blessings, and now we are enjoying being settled into our daily routines. I hope that as many of you are gearing up for a new school year that you will also experience God’s blessings in the busy times and enjoy a little time to breathe when you make it through.