Family trip Interior

Thank you all for praying for us as we went interior last month. We were able to spend a whole week with Pak Aska and his family and Pak Viola and his family. These two families are currently ministering in a small village interior. Their plan is to join us when we move into an unreached people group after we have finished the last bit of language study here. We loved our time spent there with these families. Their love for the Lord and their hearts for reaching the lost was clearly evident and such an encouragement to us. Please continue to pray that God will give us wisdom in knowing when and where he would like for us to go.

While we were interior, all three of our families lived in one house which was challenging but also fun at the same time.

The kids took a day or two to adjust living out there but overall really enjoyed being there. One of their favorite things about being in the village was the chickens that would run under the houses to eat any rice that was dropped at meal time. We were able to try many different kinds of foods that we had never tried before. Most of the food was great although their were some that were difficult to eat like sloth and porcupine.

I (Cherie) was very encouraged with my time out in the village. I felt that I was able to communicate well in the language even though I could see the areas I still needed to work on. Mak Aska and Mak Viola were such sweet ladies and were so gracious in helping us adjust to living interior with them. We felt very spoiled by them in our time out there.

Our goal in going out interior was primarily to visit these two families and encourage them. It was definitely a time of encouragement and also a time of prayer and discussion as to where the Lord might be leading our three families coming next year. As our time ended there we did not feel that the Lord had given us a definite location yet, but we did feel that the Lord shut the door to one area that we had been pursuing. In November Eric is planning on going on a survey trip with these two guys and we are hoping that the Lord will begin to make it clear through that trip where he would have us go. Please pray for wisdom as we seek the Lord’s will in that.

Every day we feel the Lord’s hand in our life stripping away our pride and revealing to us how much we still have to grow to be like Him.

I (Cherie) have been reading through Romans and one thought that keeps repeating itself in my mind is this. Romans 12:9 says “Let love be without hypocrisy….” I find it is hard to genuinely love people and so often I look over the people the Lord has put in front of me and instead I focus on a “task” that I can do to serve the Lord. I have used people just to learn language instead of looking at them and saying “Lord how can I love this person today”. This is something I am trying to learn. I want to genuinely love people and not just pretend I care for them in order that they like me or that I don’t offend them. I don’t want to see people as a task I have to do well in but instead as precious souls created and loved by our Father. Please pray for us that God can allow his love to overflow through us and into these wonderful people who touch our lives every day here.

We love you all and are so thankful for you. We pray that God will continue to grow you into knowing him more and understanding his vast and unchanging love for you.

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