We Have A Truck!

We have been praying for over a year, expecting God would provide the right truck… and now it’s here!

After a dealer who had been helping us found the truck, we waited until he said it was ready to be picked up. Jordan got the call while we were in El Paso, ready to return to Mexico. We scrambled to make new plans, and before we knew it he was flying to South Bend, Indiana, while the kids and I (Amy) got a ride back to Chihuahua. From South Bend he drove back to El Paso, on the way enjoying the unexpected blessing of a night spent with his brother Joseph in Kansas City. Unfortunately, as the truck’s title was held up in the mail, Jordan was unable to begin the importation process right away. The truck had to stay in the US a little longer.

Over three weeks later the title arrived in El Paso, and Jordan took a bus north from Chihuahua to start the importation. Everything went smoothly, and he was happy to drive the truck around a bit more before leaving it with the importation company, and busing back to Chihuahua. Our whole family was so excited at this point, knowing that any day the importers would tell us to come get the truck. It was only a week and a half before the anticipated news arrived: it’s ready! Jordan made one more bus trip – this time to Juarez, Mexico – and came back that same day with our new rig.

Every day since then our kids have thanked God for our new vehicle – as have we! – and in each we have had reasons to need it, leaving us wondering how we had survived the past 14-plus months (only by God’s grace!). While working on vehicle registration, getting Chihuahuan license plates, traveling to language events, picking up kids from school, going to the grocery store, and driving to church… we have been so grateful for how much simpler life is with a vehicle.

This past year, so many people have helped us run errands, sacrificing their time to bless us as we have had needs. During our first Sunday at church with our truck, God gave us an opportunity to bless someone else. A new family was at church that day, and as we headed home on the dirt road we saw them walking past. We stopped, pick them up, and were able to take them the considerable distance to a bus stop where they could get home. What a joy for us! This coming week, I will be able to use the truck to help with a school outing for Titus’ class. These small things remind us to intentionally stop and thankfully praise God for His provision in our lives!

Speaking of God’s work, what has He been doing among the Nahuatl lately? We are happy to report that our team is just heading back to the village after a much needed break. They were able to finish teaching the Old Testament portion of the chronological Bible lessons before they left! Now just a couple of lessons remain before they will begin teaching through the life of Christ. The Nahuatl will get to hear the truth about Jesus for the very first time in their own language! Our coworkers will have the opportunity to share this news in two locations. Some people from another village who were attending the teaching invited the missionaries to go to their location as well. We’re excited to see what God does through this second presentation of His Word!

One of our teammates, Katie, has been here in Chihuahua for the past couple of weeks, teaching a literacy class at our local missionary training center. What a joy it was to see her at various times, and to hear her speak at our monthly ladies meeting! As she was staying outside of the city, we had another opportunity to use our truck – picking her up so we could see her before she left. She will finally get to take a few days off after all her hard work, both here and in the mountains, then rejoin our other coworkers back in the village.

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Praise God with us!

• We have a truck… not only to our name, but physically here with us in Chihuahua, licensed and everything! We thank God for the things He’s enabled us to do with it, even just in the first week we’ve had it here.
• Jordan has had a lot of freedom to study these past months which had not been available for some time thanks to life circumstances… and as a result of that freedom, is learning much and gaining a lot of confidence regarding his progress.
• For the next two weeks, Jordan will receive training in discourse analysis – a deeper level of language study newly available for language students in our field. It will be make a huge difference in Spanish now, our future study of Nahuatl, and potentially to other missionary teams Jordan may help consult in years to come!

Ways you can pray:

• For the clear proclamation of the Gospel among the Nahuatl people, both in Las Moras and the new location where teaching will shortly begin. Pray that God continue to sustain our recently refreshed coworkers, and work through them to bring forth a truly Nahuatl church – which in turn will make Him known in the surrounding communities!
• For Jordan, his fellow classmates, and the teachers of the discourse analysis workshop these next two weeks. Pray that all grab hold of these deep linguistic concepts, and that each can apply them well in the work of making Christ known among the nations!
• For our whole family, most of which are battling with tiredness in different arenas of life. Whether mental, physical, sleep-related or another form – it seems this has been a challenge for us, and we hope to return to a more rested phase of life… while still truly finding rest in God, who has so faithfully sustained us!