Hi again! Summer is quickly slipping away. If you are like me, you are probably wondering where the time has gone! It has been good to have some time with our kids. This weekend we decided to go camping with them, even though we have been warned by friends that in Florida August is not the time to camp. What started this, is that we took the kids canoeing a few weeks ago for Heather’s birthday and the kids found a secluded spot along the river that they thought would be great for camping. Phil and I
weren’t sure that we want to do that “primitive” style camping so we chose to go to a recreation area in the Ocala National Forest. Got rained on but got to go swimming and canoeing. Had lots of fun and made some memories!
Phil and I enjoyed visiting Pathways Community Church, one of our supporting churches, last weekend. It was a two hour drive over to Largo on the west coast of Florida but we enjoyed renewing past friendships and meeting some new folks. It was encouraging to see their interest and involvement in world missions and to hear the pastor’s challenge for the believers to not only be saved but to be disciples or followers of Christ. We were able to share a little bit of our passion for seeing the tribes reached with the Gospel.
It sounds like Jason, Tiffany and Jaxon are doing well out in Colorado. I hate not being able to go out and visit them as I’ve only seen my little grandbaby once since he was born but am thankful to at least be able to see pictures of him through Facebook!
I think that we mentioned before that Cody was looking for a car and we are thankful that he found an inexpensive one that seems to run fine so far. That was an answer to prayer for him. He has been working for the mission but they won’t have much more for him to do so he will have to find a full-time job somewhere soon. He wants to save up enough money so he can start pilot training in the near future.
Heather is finishing up her summer classes at UCF and will then start a new semester as she still lacks about 1 ½ years to finish up for her degree. Haley is enjoying her time off this summer and I am sure isn’t looking forward to school starting again this month.
News from the Field:
As I read about the Dao tribe in Indonesia I thought about what Pastor Bill shared this past week as we visited Pathways. He was encouraging believers to be disciples and to follow Christ and it sounds like these tribal believers are practicing what he was preaching! See if you agree after reading about them below.
Dao Bible teachers faithfully ministered to the believers while Scott and Jennie Phillips were in the USA for a year of home assignment, and now two tribal families have moved to another village to teach God’s Word.
Scott and Jennie were out of the tribe for 52 weeks. They left the Bible teachers with enough material to teach one lesson each week for the entire time of their absence. When the missionaries returned they found the people were on lesson 51. During the missionaries’ absence the believers also started planning an outreach to another good-sized village more than a day’s hike away.
“God gave them the desire and strength and they proved themselves faithful,” the couple wrote. The wife of one of the Bible teachers shared with Jennie how she was a little nervous about her and her husband going down to start the outreach. “I know that my kids could get sick and die,” Moipi said, “or my family might not have enough food, and I am not looking forward to living in a village that is so far from my own home, but God’s message is a big message and I know that the people need to hear as well and so I will go. God’s message is worth it!”
Please pray for the two Dao Bible teachers and their families who are leading the outreach. Pray that God will prepare the people’s hearts when they begin to hear the teaching from Creation to Christ. To read the full story go to: http://www.ntm.org/news/9911 online.
Thank you again for your prayers and for those who give financially which makes it possible for us to stay here in Sanford and serve our missionaries who are on the field sharing the Gospel with tribal people and then teaching them to be disciples and to disciple others. Praise the Lord we can all be a part of this great mission!
Phil and Jackie
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