{"id":581,"date":"2019-04-25T20:47:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T01:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/?p=581"},"modified":"2019-04-25T20:47:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T01:47:27","slug":"ups-and-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/2019\/04\/25\/ups-and-downs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ups and Downs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Isaiah 63:14b \u201c\u2026So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We praise God for the purpose and plan that He has for us just as He had for Israel. Were it not for God\u2019s redemptive plan and His desire to have all men worship Him, we would be living life without hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IMG_3924
Asking questions and recording words they say.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Since we\u2019ve moved into the bush last December, there have been ups and downs. Officially kicking off our time of CLA (culture and language acquisition) in January was great as we looked forward to one day being able to communicate clearly with the Tanguat people in their own language! It\u2019s also been great to feel very much at home as a family there and enjoy getting to know the people. It\u2019s been exciting to see how some of the people there will refer back to Biblical truths that they\u2019ve had taught to them. However, not everything has been great and exciting. It\u2019s been humbling\/frustrating to realize that even though I\u2019ve spent a lot of time trying to learn the Tanguat names of different things, I sometimes find myself realizing; \u201cI just called the moon, water.\u201d  We find it difficult to remember even the trade language names of people in the village (only have started learning a few Tanguat language names) and to learn to recognize some peoples\u2019 faces.  It is also challenging to see a baby church that\u2019s in need of much discipleship and not be able to effectively disciple until we finish learning their language. Also, it\u2019s hard to see the large workload that our teammate Promise has as she works on translation and getting the literacy program revised so that literacy classes can start up again. It has also been hard to see our friends, teammates and fellow language learners, the Chens, not be able to be here in PNG right now as Chantal undergoes cancer treatment. We are praying with them that the treatments will be effective and that they will be able to return to PNG later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through all the ups and downs, were it not for the unshakeable foundation on which we stand in Christ, life would be overwhelming at times. However, in Christ, we have hope and know for sure that God knows what He\u2019s doing as He builds His church and as He refines our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IMG_3680\"
Tying up sago leaves for roofing thatch.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for continuing to pray for us, our teammates, the greater team (our pilots, mechanics, doctors, teachers, and MANY others), and for the Tanguat people. Please continue to pray for more laborers (both for church planting and those with vital skills to support church planting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IMG_E5439\"
Swimming at a hotel in town.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve posted on our blog because we\u2019ve been living in the bush. We hope that you\u2019ve been able to follow us through our email newsletters, etc. If you haven\u2019t been receiving those and would like to, please email us paul_swenson@ntm.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 63:14b \u201c\u2026So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.\u201d We praise God for the purpose and plan that He has for us just as He had for Israel. Were it not for God\u2019s redemptive plan and His desire to have all men worship Him, we would be living life without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1095,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1095"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-swenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}