Patience for the long haul

Well it’s not always as straightforward as it should be writing updates to send to our friends  and  family.  In some ways it feels like so much happens in a given week or month but then going to write it down, it just feels so ordinary.   Even more wishing we could help you understand and feel what’s going on in this jungle , village, ministry, life.  So much of what happens is on a spiritual and mental level.  We’ve dealt with a lot of discouragement regarding the slow or no fruit we have seen so far as we’ve been teaching.  But then we remember that a farmer who plants his seeds does not see the growth for quite awhile.  It’s a lot about perspective.   But the weight and mental energy to keep the right perspective can be exhausting at times.

Another thing that weighs on us often in this area of “patience for the long haul”, is that of wanting to help people and see them make healthy choices for their families.  Things like seeing our young neighbor suffering with tuberculosis and likely spreading it to his wife and 4 children, and yet all the advice you give him about quitting smoking and getting medical help are not headed.  A young girl with chronic boils and skin sores all over her body for months, her parents have not given her the correct dose of  antibiotic we  gave her and doesn’t keep her clean, and so she is still suffering with problems.   And these are just 2 examples of things we daily deal with as we try to be sensitive to the people and their ways and not condemning them, while also trying to really help them.  Even the simple fever is still deadly here as most of our friends do not know how to treat someone with a simple fever.  So sad.  One by one we try to teach and advise and help but change comes VERY slow sometimes.

With all of this said we want you to know how important you are to us as you pray and support us in a variety of ways!  Thanks for your patience with us over this long haul of ministry as well! We know that it’s in humility and dependence on the Lord that we find our strength.  But He also uses you to strengthen us with your prayers and gifts!

We are currently teaching through Abraham and his faith choices.  We have around 13 people in each of the 3 homes throughout the week.  We’ve combined the teaching with some short video clips of the story we’re teaching.  It’s always funny to hear the comments of the people as they see the culture and norms of the people in that day and time!  “Why are the young people using canes(walking sticks)?  Why do they wash clothes like that?  Boy Abraham was really old wasn’t he and still no children???   That’s what sheep and lambs look like?  Just a few of the comments from this last week.

We would like to ask you to continue in prayer for our health and safety here.  We have had some scary close calls in the last month and are so thankful for God’s watchful eye and guardian angels.  The kids were swimming down at the river and were close to a snake that went swimming by.  A huge tree that seemed as healthy and strong as anything, just totally fell over in our backyard just a couple feet from our co-worker.  It went right in the place where the kids ALWAYS play and it just so happens that they were all inside at that time.  And if it would have fallen slightly differently it would have smashed our whole house where we all were.  Whew that was scary.  That with the other daily jungle, tree-climbing children of ours  and crazy sicknesses that are frequently going through the village sure keeps one in prayer for safety. 

Thanks again, we appreciate you very much and would love to hear how your summer is going!!!

Tim & Andrea