Wow! What a whirlwind trip…20,000 miles or so in a variety of ways. From the largest of airplanes (400+ seats) to the smallest (6); up and down a mountain road (if you can call it that) many times in a covered cantor (truck with bench seats for 20 in the back); hours in a little skiff boat with hundreds of kilograms of supplies; hours and hours of hiking in the bush to get to a remote village in West New Britain PNG; and then do it all again in reverse to get home to the US. Praise the Lord, the team touched down in L.A. Sunday at 1PM. Most should be home by now with their families. I arrived in Detroit to Shirley’s open arms at 6AM Monday, after a great time in LA with Megan and AJ watching the Super Bowl.
It always seems surrealistic, these trips…what contrast…to go from the least important (in the world’s eyes…tribal people and their hearing the message of life)…to the greatest (in the world’s eyes…the SUPER BOWL!) in a matter of hours. Millions and multiple 10’s of millions of $$$ spent on advertising and entertainment, while in 1,000’s of villages around the world, people are waiting to hear the message of the Gospel; waiting until someone who is willing to go has enough financial support to get there. Just seems strange doesn’t it?
If the church could get as excited about missions (it’s real reason for being on this planet) as the world does about entertainment, people night just get to hear the message that will keep them from hell a bit quicker. We were so reminded of this wherever we went this past month…so many people without the Gospel in their language. John 3.16 in their language looks like this… “ “.
Some of the students on the team seem convinced now after all they saw and heard, that they want to be a part of taking God’s Word to those without it. Please pray that they would continue to trust God for all they need in their lives as some of them step out in faith, and begin training for missions. They are all back now, but they are not the same ones I met in L.A. on December 31. God has done amazing things in their (and my) lives. I can only begin to tell you how encouraging this trip has been to my heart too. Prayer and praise have filled my days as I heard the students respond to the teaching and express their hearts in so many ways. What an incredible privilege to invest in them like this. Thank You Lord! And thanks to those of you who wrote and encouraged me with comments about the emails. Thank you for praying for Shirley and me and for the team! You have had an important part in this trip and these lives too! Thanks so much for taking us before the throne of grace!
Oh yea…there is a new name for a creek near one village…here is a picture of it and the reason for it…the shorts were khaki before the jump…the small puddle in the lower left part of the picture is where I sat after a standing long jump; I should have made it, but my feet sunk about a foot and then I could only go one direction…backward…and sat down…Daniel tried twice to pull me out, but the mud sucked me back in…third time was a charm. The village now refers to this body of water as Rex Creek…what a time of laughter we had!
Well, thank you again for your time and interest in what God is doing around the world and in Jackson…we have 21 freshman at NTBI who are just beginning to discover what NTM is about. We appreciate your prayers…Shirley has several meetings with the women throughout the week. She is scheduled to be part of a women’s retreat in April here in Jackson. We are scheduled to be in FL for a missions conference later this month. Lots going on and we are thankful for the opportunities the Lord brings our way. Please let us know if we can be of service in your church/area, and please let us know how we can pray for you as well.
Yours for the tribes,
Rex and Shirley
Isaiah 26.3,4
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