Step by step

If you listened to Christian music in the 90’s you will remember the song Step by Step by Rich Mullins. It was a simple yet powerful prayer song declaring our hope to, day by day and step by step walk with God. Along the way there will be highs and lows, victories and failures. In all of it though we hold on to the hope that our stumbling and weakness will never leave us beyond God’s reach.

Sorry for the lull in updates from us, I lost track of time I guess. Summer has begun at the Ullum house for the teacher and the kids! Kindergarten and 9^th grade are behind us. We’re thanking the Lord for a good school year and are all glad for a change of pace and schedule!

In May we were a part of a large gathering that happened on the complex where we are living in town. It was a denomination specific meeting to elect leaders within the denomination here. We were able to be involves in lots of different ways. I helped organize and cook several meals, Tim was a taxi to and from the market each morning. After that set of meetings a friend and I helped to organize a Ladies Fellowship. It was a big group of both local believers as well as the mission community here in town. We got together for encouragement and trying to build community among the ladies in town.

Tim starts 2 weeks of travel on Wednesday. He will be going in with our partner Paul to connect with the believers and also take a hand full of them to a neighboring language group. This other group is about 5 hours away. They have a group of maturing believers who are functioning as the body of Christ in that area. The hope is to connect these brothers in the Lord and facilitate discipleship among these two tribal groups. Tim will then bring some of the guys to town to meet with our partner Phil who will work on some translation checking.

Thanks for praying for safety on the roads, we just heard the roads are not in good condition so it will certainly be an adventure for them. Pray for good fellowship among the believers and that God would challenge then in their walk of faith. Also pray for the translation checking that God would direct and bless the time and efforts.

Two days after getting back out to town from interior Tim will fly up north to teach at an Elder and Deacon fellowship for a few days. The theme is discipleship. He will be teaching along with some other men. These are great opportunities to have input in these church leaders lives. For many of them this is one of their main means of Biblical training.  

As often happens during long stents of intense ministry it’s easy for Tim and I to feeling warn out and lose the bigger perspective of what we are doing here. We are really thankful for the opportunity the second half of June to get away as a family. We will be connecting with a friend from Jacksonville FL who is coming to our “neck of the woods”. Part of his ministry is supporting and encouraging missionaries. We are looking forward to a few day with him.   

Pray we could be refreshed and rejuvenated to love others and fulfill the ministry God has called us to. Thanks.

Shortly after that we will be headed back into the village for a few weeks as a family. We want to support the believers and continue to help them reach out to others in their area. Paul and Irene our co-workers will also be making a trip into the village, so we are looking forward to being in there together. 

We will try to update you on these different summer events. We are so appreciative of each one of you who give and pray in support of what God is doing here in Asia Pacific! We would love to hear how you are and what your family will be doing this summer. We are praying for you guys as well!