I(Eric) have heard about the deep freeze happening in the States, and although we have only been here for about six months, I really feel adjusted to the temperatures here, when it drops below seventy-five it is almost noticeably chilly, and I am not sure how long I would survive anymore in such a frigid wasteland such as Michigan. But I am glad to hear that you all have survived the weather and are now somewhere about 90 degrees warmer than you were, I didn’t really think that much of a swing was possible. As for us, when we move to our next region (hopefully in July this year) it will be quite a bit warmer than here since we will be around sea level. The temperature here maintains pretty steadily in the 70’s-80’s all year long. We are currently in the rainy season which is a little cooler but more humid. It can take days for our clothes to dry if the sun doesn’t come out and many things mold easily.
It was difficult for it to feel like Christmas here without snow, Cherie also found it difficult but for other reasons: she grew up in a place that had a hot climate during the holidays. Although when you grow up in Michigan even if there isn’t snow on the ground there should at least be freezing cold weather during the holiday season. Overall the biggest reason for both of us is that Christmas was always a time to get together with family and we really missed that this year.
We were so encouraged to have a pastor friend visit us for a week and a half. We treated him to all of our favorite foods and places here in this town of about 20,000 people and he certainly seemed to enjoy his time here. We really appreciated his desire to really know what it is that we are doing here and experiencing a bit of it for himself. He told me that he is so much better equipped to help the folks in his church pray for us and communicate how things are going. It was great for me (Eric) to so tangibly feel how much our supporters are behind us. We are not able to communicate very much of what happens in our life here by only sending out a monthly(ish) update. It was rewarding to be able to fellowship and share truths from God’s Word with each other, and being able to show him firsthand what our ministry and school life looks like here. Now that the holidays are over and our pastor friend has gone back home, we are glad to be back in a normal routine of language learning again.
We are plugging right along in our language learning and are still on track to move to a new field region in July. We are greatly looking forward to being able to move to a place where we plan to do ministry for a longer time period than just a year or two which has been the pattern of our lives over the past 10 years.
We had a great time visiting one of the regions for a conference, we have received a lot more information about what our future will look like if we will end up serving in that region. Please pray for us to consider wisely which field region we will move to, Cherie and I have this region in mind as of right now but we want to be open to the Lord’s leading if He desires to lead us in a different direction. I can give more information on this privately if you would like to more about regions and how they work here.
Praise God for Joshua growing up so fast and strong, and right now we are all finally healthy at the same time! First time in a couple months.
Please pray for us to finish our language study in a timely manner so that we can have the green light to advance to our next region.
I was reading the book of Acts the other day and I read about a gentleman named Simon Tanner. It was interesting to me that his name was mentioned 3 times in Scripture however, he is not a part of the story in any way except that he allows Peter to stay at his house during his time in Joppa. The Lord used this passage to remind me of all the people who have supported us over the past couple years, and how they are not “on the front lines” of this ministry here, but they are the support that we need to thrive here. Thank you all so much for responding to the Lord and being our support while we are here.
Missing you and praying for you.
Hello to y’all (gotta show my Southerness). I really get a lot from your blogs. Makes me feel that I’m almost there with y’all. I can tell from the pictures that the native women are fascinated by Joshua. They can’t keep their hands off him!
From my point of view, it seems that both of you are making excellent progress learning the language and planning ahead to your next assignment. We here at Calhoun Baptist are proud to be a part of your undertaking and we are proud of you.
Until next time,
Clarence
Good morning, Eric and Cherie — so good to hear from you. Your dad (father-in-law) has been keeping us abreast of any major things happening in your lives. I will be more earnest in my prayers for you. My life is a little up in the air as well. I have sold the two homes I owned and am trying to buy another (all of this happening at the same time has been a little stressful). The purchase of the home I am looking to buy has a major and challenging issue involved. Pray that God works it all out. Through it all God keeps speaking to me. He has taught me that even though His answer can be “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait,” (We always want the answer to be “Yes” and “Yes” right now!), we should celebrate the “No’s” and “Wait’s” as joyfully as the “Yeses.” After all, He love us and knows what is best for us even if we can’t see it in the moment. Stay in touch! Chris