| Sanford News, April 2019 Dear Friends and Family, Now that our training is completed and our beautiful baby is healthy and growing, what’s next? Our goal this year is to make preparations to move to Asia-Pacific! The plan is to arrive there in March of 2020. In the meantime, we are looking to serve the church and develop partnerships with believers who want to be a part of what God is doing in Asia-Pacific—reaching the unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That means that we will be traveling around the country making connections in order to encourage others and see how God wants to provide for this ministry. This is His work and He is the Provider. |
| Asia-Pacific – 4th largest population – More than 700 individual language groups – More than 350 of those need the Bible translated into their heart language |
In English we have over 400 different translations of the Bible and churches on seemingly every street in North America. However, millions of people in Asia-Pacific don’t have a Bible translated in their own language and have no access to a church. They need someone to learn their language and culture, translate the Bible, and teach them what it means. We want to be a part of doing that for one of the language groups there.
| 2019 Travel Schedule June – Brother’s wedding in Michigan July – Redding, California August – Northern Maine September – North Carolina Traveling may not be our favorite pastime (especially with a baby!) but we count it a privilege to share what God is doing with believers all over. We also get to see lots of family and great friends along the way. |
| Bonus Reading Moriah is doing really well—she’s been learning a lot in her 2 months of life, but we’ve probably learned just as much from her! She doesn’t like to sleep so much, but she does like being held so we are soaking in the snuggles! We have learned in a whole new way what God means when He says that He loves us like a father. No matter what Moriah does, we love her. It’s unconditional. The same is true of our heavenly Father—even if we are difficult or disobedient, He loves us unconditionally! That’s incredible. I have been encouraged lately by the fact that God’s Story—History—as recorded in the Bible, is all one cohesive story. From the very beginning when man rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, God has been pursuing mankind to win our hearts back to Himself. His desire is for everyone to accept the price He paid on the cross for our redemption. That’s what we just celebrated on Easter. And now, as Christians, we have the honor and privilege of telling the world about this God of love who is pursuing them and has been since the beginning. We get to fit into God’s Story and there is no greater privilege on earth than to partner with the Lord of the Universe and see man return to Him—freed from the grip of Satan. As Paul put it in Ephesians 3:7-8, “By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving Him by spreading this Good News. (8) Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, He graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.” |
