Of translation, termites and tickets

A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Hello from our jungle home. We trust this finds you looking to the Lord and resting in Him in these trying times.

Translation and Termites: We’re sure you’re thinking that those two words don’t go together. You’re right! And here’s the story: With only three chapters remaining, Monday, June 8, was the day we were planning to finish the final comprehension checking 2nd Chronicles. (That will make the seventh book we’ve checked on this trip! Praise the Lord for allowing us to get so much done this year!)

However, there was a huge swarm of termites throughout the village during the night which awakened our translation assistant at 2 o’clock and he never got back to sleep! We hadn’t gone very far into our checking session when we realized that he was definitely not “with it” so we sent him home to get some sleep and come back Tuesday. As for the termites, we have never seen so many. The only good thing from it was that the chickens were happy. Praise the Lord with us that we were able to finish checking 2 Chronicles Tuesday morning!

Tickets: Here is some long awaited news! We finally have tickets to return to the US. After waiting for two days for someone at Delta to respond to our chats (we cannot call them from here), we finally got an answer. A Delta representative worked with us the one evening last week until 11 o’clock; it took about two hours but in the end she was able to book flights for us to Dallas for the first week of July.

Getting home:  Even though there are no known cases of Covid-19 near us, we will be traveling through places where we could possibly come in contact with the virus. Consequently, upon arrival at home, we are expected to self-quarantine for 14 days. It will be weird being home and not able to go anywhere, see anyone or do anything. So please pray! We normally experience some culture adjustment just leaving the village. This time though, we expect to go through some intense culture shock as we travel and as we get back into the US. We won’t know how to act or react to things around us. Since we’ve been “tucked away” in our jungle village all this time, we have not experienced the things that everyone in the US has and is experiencing. Maybe we should get t-shirts that say “please be patient with us!”

Thank you: Thank you for praying for us over these past months. The above verse speaks to the fact that we can make plans but God directs our steps. Things did not go as expected on this trip, but God knew all along and He is never caught off guard. He is faithful and we praise Him for that wonderful truth. Thanks to those of you who support us financially, We appreciate your partnership with us.