Challenge and Joy: We are thankful to have four of our kids at home right now. Our big memory maker was a night sleeping out on a deserted island with just the six of us! Savannah will be starting her last year of high school later this month. We have decided to let Zachary join her for his ninth grade year at our mission school. This has been a hard decision to make but we feel like it is the best thing for Zachary and he can’t wait! He spends hours each week shooting baskets, hitting a volleyball, etc. with the Tigak teenagers. Unfortunately we currently have not seen the Tigak teenagers come to Lord and therefore they are not good influences for Zachary to spend so much time with. Please pray that the Lord would move in the hearts of the teenagers and young adults! They desperately need to see their need for a Savior.
Joy: Ned was able to be a part of checking about 2700 verses of Scripture for the Maleu and Mengen tribes. It was a real joy to be able to see the Maleu New Testament completed and ready for printing! Ned is busy finishing up II Corinthians in Tigak and starting on the book of John. It is a great privilege to be able to translate God’s Word into the heart language of a tribal people group!
Challenge: The Tigak believers have had many opportunities to walk with the Lord in challenging situations recently. It has been disappointing when they have chosen anger over righteousness. Can you imagine if your entire community saw every time you raised your voice at someone or had a disagreement with your spouse? This is what it is like in the Tigak culture. They only have houses to sleep in and cook in so basically their entire life is lived out in the public eye! We feel like we have no privacy here but at least we have a house we can go into and shut the door and live when we want to. Even with us – they can hear everything we say through our screen windows. Please pray for the Tigak believers to truly learn to walk minute-by-minute with the Lord. Some of them need to restore their testimony with the community. As they begin showing restraint when provoked to anger – the unbelievers will be challenged that there is a difference in the lives of the believers. We have seen great growth in many of the believers as they mature in their walk with the Lord!