Prepping for Home

The Basics!

   – We are thankful for improvement in Allegra’s health and praise God for the strength He’s given her. Although she still struggles some with the same symptoms, it’s not like it was a few months ago and for that we are so grateful.  Baby is doing well also and we are enjoying feeling the little kicks and wiggles of miraculous life in the womb. 

    – We have tickets to return to the States at the end of June!  That gives us 2 months before the baby is due but since Moriah arrived a month early we decided we want to have a bit of extra time for this one.  We are really excited to be home and see family and friends.

    – There is plenty to do between now and departure.  The cultural expectations for when someone moves away are quite specific and extensive.  Since we don’t plan to return to this city, before we leave we’ll need to hand out small gifts to all our neighbors, church community, and any friends or acquaintances we’ve made over our past year here.  Besides the cultural expectations, our belongings need to be packed up (or tossed—it’s a good time for purging!) and prepped for shipping to our next city.  It’s likely that we’ll need to make a trip to that city for a week or so to deal with some paperwork issues.  In the meantime, we’re trying to study and finish well in our relationships here.  It feels like a lot but God’s grace will be enough to walk us through it.  

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   We would appreciate prayer for me (Tyler) as I get to share/preach at church for the first time this Sunday.  I am definitely not ready as far as language and culture ability goes, but it’s a fantastic opportunity to learn and practice.  The theme for the message is related to my insufficiency in language ability and really all of my weaknesses (or directly translated from this language, my “less-ness“).  

   The woman at the well—also known as the Samaritan woman—was a woman in a world of men; divorced 5 times, rejected by society, and had little to offer.  Yet because of her faith in Jesus through their interaction at the well, she was used by God to tell her whole village about Him!  Everyone believed in Jesus because of her story.  I feel like I have a lot in common with her: a sinful person with little to offer and few to listen. But if God can use her, then He can use me too. 

   Anyways, that’s what I want to share with the little church here.  We are weak but He is strong.  Maybe that can be an encouragement to you too.

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 12:9-10

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Bonus Pictures!

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