7-16-06 Berglund Bulletin

Dear Friends and Family;
Wednesday morning Greg and Herman left on a nearly three day voyage to our village. They traveled by boat one day and night from Sulawesi to the shore of the Island we minister on, then after checking in with the authorities there, traveled by car an few hours and then by foot one full day into our village . I just received word that they arrived safely..

They will stay there for 3 days, then travel down to our other village for another three days and then another couple of days of hiking to the southern shore of the Island. After that they with take another boat to a nearby island with an airport and Greg will fly home from there. He will be gone just under two weeks.

This is Greg’s first trip to our tribe in over 7 years. He is VERY excited to see the people that are so close to his heart again. He carried a set of Tupperware canisters in that he promised in trade for a spear for our display table years ago! 🙂 That always makes me smile, where else in the world would you trade a spear for tupperware?

The goals of this trip are to first of all, encourage the new believers as well as our co-workers who have been interior by themselves for many months. Secondly, to check the parts of the Bible that they have translated by reading them to some native speakers and then asking them questions about the meaning of the text. And finally to plan and work on some community improvement projects like water systems for both villages.

Please pray for their trip, that the Lord would use them for His purposes and that they would remain strong and healthy.

ON THE HOME FRONT
Well, the very moment Greg pulled out of the driveway we started having problems with our well and water pump! It is dry season here, so water is hard to come by and our pump is having a hard time pumping water up from the depths of our well. So just suffice it to say, I now know more that I ever hoped to (or really even had the slightest desire to know) about wells and pumps and water levels! So if you ever need a hand just give me a call!

They kids and I are keeping busy with school, I started the 2006-2007 school year early trying to get ahead so we well have a little extra time to play with while we are on furlough. The kids are really enjoying the curriculum we are using and so am I. I am embarrassed to say I am learning quite a bit from our 2nd grade History curriculum!

FUTURE PLANS
In December we will be headed home for a short, 6 month furlough. We will spend Christmas in Sacramento and then will head up to Bozeman. We will make short trips throughout Montana and to Wyoming and Washington from there. We are really starting to get excited to see each of you again. We will let you know as we get closer to the time when we will be in your area, and you can let us know if there is a time that is best for you.

PRAYER REQUESTS
1. Pray for Greg and Herman and our people, that this next two weeks will be profitable and will be a blessing to all of them. Also pray for their health and safety.

2. Pray for the kids and I as we get along with out Greg and with very little communication form him. Pray that I will trust the Lord that He is able to keep Greg safe, and also pray that I will have an extra dose of patience with the kids as I am trying to be mommy and daddy and teacher and handyman all at the same time! Pray for the kids as they are missing their daddy and have a tendency to break out in tears for no apparent reason.

3. Pray that I will continue to be able to keep the water pumps working enough that we will have water until Greg returns. And that everything else will run smoothly while he is away.

4. Pray for an Airplane for Central Indonesia. There are many ministries that are on hold or severely limited right now because of lack of transportation in and out of the tribes, and many more works in this areas that could be started if we had a flight program. An airplane would enable our family to move interior, which would make our ministry much more effective!

Thank you so much for your prayers, support and encouragement. We love getting letters from you and hearing how we can pray fro you and yours. Itwould be especially nice to get and email from you right now, while Greg is away, the days seem extra long and lonely!