Marathon at Sprint Speeds

We hope that all of you in the northern hemisphere have had a great “summer vacation.”  We know that for many of you this time of year is just as busy with work and responsibilities as any other time of the year.  For us the last couple months (and especially the last few weeks) have been the busiest time of our whole year (at least we sincerely hope not to have to maintain this pace for the rest of the year!)  In the past two weeks I (Jennifer) have led 3 evaluations (with another one coming up next week), taught 2 kick-offs to get both of our main groups here started into the next sections of their studies (with another one to teach in the next week or two), and observed 5 sessions (with 5 more left to observe next week).  I’m very thankful for the Lord’s sustaining grace and the language students’ understanding when my brain gets to the end of its ability to form clear thoughts.  I miss my fellow consultants and will be so thankful when they are back.

DJ has been overseeing our maintenance workers, leading a weekly Bible study with them, doing some accounting, and getting houses ready for the arrival of two new families to begin their culture and language study.  Please pray for these two new families during their final days of preparation to move here.  They both plan to arrive on August 5.  One family is from the USA and one is from Germany.  Both have young children.  Pray that their adjustment here will go smoothly and that we’ll be able to be a help and blessing to them.  We are so thankful that the Lord has led them to come and serve with us in this needy part of the world.

This summer the Lord answered a prayer that we’ve been praying for many years by providing someone (Miss Hanna, who is studying language and culture here and also has an extensive background in teaching children with learning differences) to tutor Areli and Galilee.  All this week Areli has been studying with Miss Hanna from 8:00 in the morning till 3:30 in the afternoon, and next week it will be Galilee’s turn.  After that they’ll have afternoon classes together for an hour a day, and then work to implement what they’ve learned in their classroom once they return to school to begin sixth grade.  We are so encouraged to see the progress they are already making in their reading and writing ability and in their confidence.  Please pray they’ll be able to apply the things they are learning and continue to make good progress.

Thank you so much for praying for us.  Keep praying for our visa renewal process.  From what we hear it has been started and is so far going smoothly.  Thanks to the blessing of gifts from some of you, we now have all but about 1/5 of the anticipated cost saved up.