You never know what a day might bring. Do you believe that? Of course you do, you have all had those days when, you know the neighborhood kids are calling for you at 5 in the morning asking if you are awake yet or not, or you get asked to come and help someone who was attacked by jungle wasps and are going into allergic shock, or just before dark you have a 6 foot cobra crawl under your house.
Well maybe you have not had those exact things happen to you but each of us are faced with circumstances that we never imagined would be before us the night prior. The real question I think is when faced with the reality of the unpredictability of life, how do we respond?
Since our last update in May we have had lots of activity here in the village. Among other things we enjoyed a full week with a team of friends from Jacksonville.
We had such a great time with them and felt refreshed and revitalized after their visit. Not sure how they felt after traveling around the world, and then being thrown into tribal life for a week, and then back out for another trek around the world. After arriving home from their visit we had another group of church leaders visiting us for an extended weekend. Now we are back into full swing here in the village.
Andrea is plugging away at language and culture study making great progress and building some really good relationships. Because there is no access to the on off switch of activity here in the village we have very little control of our daily schedule. Sometimes people will come and sit on the porch for a few hours in the morning or they will ask us to check on someone who is sick or to go to the rice field for a few hours or to help pull down a tree that they are cutting down in the village. And then there are times that the village seems empty, not a person in sight. The Lord is faithfully giving the grace that we need in the moment to be faithful to His calling.
Something that we have started doing as an outreach to needy families here in the area is to help them drill wells. We are using a 5 inch wide drill bit that can be attached to metal bars. After getting into water then 4 inch PVC is lowered down into the hole to keep the water clean. So far we have started 3 wells in the last three weeks. Lots of other people are asking to drill as well.
We hope with the start of summer and the refreshing times that can bring with a cookout here or a day at the beach there, that you will also look for refreshment from the Living Water. Only He can truly satisfy your every need and bring meaning and purpose to the humdrum or discouragements or unpredictability of life. May you be encouraged by a line from David’s song: “Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms” Ps 68:1
Blessings,
Tim & Andrea Ullum
