Ten More Sacks of Rice

During a recent language helping session when I told my language helper “I’ve got a lot of rice to eat still.” (see previous blog entry), he responded jokingly (or not), “Oo nga e’, siguro sampung sako.” – Yes, that’s right, maybe ten sacks.

Our highlight for the month of March was a second language review which confirmed what we already thought, that I (Robert) am progressing nicely with Tagalog towards a capable level.  It’s been one year since my first review and afterwards the language evaluator responded, “Uy!  Ano ang nangyari sa dating Robert?” – Wow!  What happened to the previous Robert?  Meaning to say she was both surprised and pleased with my progress. 

Language review though is not just about seeing where one is at and how one has progressed but it is also about giving guidance to progress even further.  And so while I am quite excited about where I am at and all that I have learned thus far, I feel as though I’ve just been handed another ten sacks of rice.  It’s all quite intimidating.  Please pray that I will continue to press on, one sack of rice at a time, or better still, one spoonful at a time, and then entrust the results to the Lord.

Other Praise & Prayer:

1. Please be in prayer for an upcoming VBS @ Manda Bible Christian Church from April 11-16.   We are hoping to have as many as two hundred kids, most of whom are unchurched.  Please pray for our time of preparation, for faithful workers, and for good follow-up.
2. Praise God for an opportunity to share the word of God in church one Sunday this past month.  I preached a message titled “Christ:  The Perfect Picture of God’s Faithfulness” from Genesis 9:8-17. 
3. We are praising God for time we spent this past month with two couples that we previously worked with in Palawan.  The Gammelsaeters are back in the Philippines from Norway and the Okeefe’s are one their way back to the States for furthough.
4. We are still hoping to visit two different tribal areas in the near future as part of our allocation process.  We have also been made aware of a couple of key support roles that need to be filled so please pray for discernment as to what God has for us post NCLA.
5. Please continue to be in prayer for Cirena’s sister Josephine who recently underwent a hysterectomy to remove a cancerous tumor.  She is now undergoing a month of radiation therapy to remove any remaining cancer cells.
6. Finally, please remember us as we look forward to celebrating sixteen years of marriage on April 16^th.  No big plans but just very grateful to the Lord for bringing us together to serve Him together.

Thank-you all so very much for standing with us in this incredible journey.  There is actually a lot more to pray about and be thankful for but we’ll leave you with the above for now.  Lot’s of Love.