Thank you for all of you who have been praying for me these past months! Last time I posted, which was over two months ago (yes, I'm quite late getting this post out...promise I have good reasons), I was sharing about milestones, many of which were taking place in Papua New Guinea.
Today, I get to share with you a few exciting ones for me. I'm praising God because I've officially passed the 50% support mark! Woohoo! I'm amazed at God's faithfulness and so humbled to see the passion and willingness of individual believers and church families who are excited about being part of taking the gospel to people who've never had access to it before!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you who are giving and praying! It is a joy to be serving the Lord with you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you who are giving and praying! It is a joy to be serving the Lord with you!
In additional to reaching the halfway point in my support raising, I'm also halfway through my training here in Canada. I'm not sure how that is possible! (Wasn't August just last month?) These past two months have been really intense and exciting in my classes! We've dug into the "nitty gritty" of phonetics and phonemics, learning how to accurately recognize and record the sounds of any language we encounter. Lord willing, these linguistic classes will allow my team and I to develop an efficient, usable orthography (the fancy word for alphabet) and make accurate choices in the Bible translation process in the future.
Oh yeah, remember that confusing looking chart I showed you in January? (See here if you don't remember.) I understand all of those symbols now. Along with my class, I've been studying, drilling, analyzing, listing, sorting, and charting these symbols to prepare for the work ahead.
We've also been digging into the animistic worldview, and understanding the cultural barriers that are present when we begin to teach the Bible in an animistic culture. (This video gives a heartbreaking glimpse into the life of animistic people).
Throughout each step, God is continuing to increase my passion for this work, and my excitement to GO!
SERVING NOW
Although the training is certainly my primary focus right now, the reality is that I'm not in a waiting period to serve God "someday." I'm called to serve now, and one of my desires when I moved to Canada was to find ways to actively get involved in outreach here.
One of the really exciting opportunities God has provided has come through my friendship with a Syrian refugee family who came to Canada last fall. Because of my prior ESL teaching experience, I volunteered to work as a language helper to guide them as they work very hard to learn English and integrate into life here in Canada. While I started out in a teacher role, over the months as I've spent time with them each week, they really have just become my dear friends.
I spend most of my time with the girls, and they have been very curious about my faith, asking question about what I believe. Although there is still a great deal of our communication that is "lost in translation" because of their limited English (and my non-existent Arabic), some seeds have been planted. Please pray for "my" Syrian family to understand the love of God and the gospel of grace! Also, pray for me as I struggle to clearly communicate and answer their questions about my faith while dealing with the significant language barrier.
Follow me on Facebook to get more regular updates, prayer requests, and pictures of my everyday life here at the training center.
Click HERE to see a summary of who I am and what I'm doing.
Click HERE to find out more about financial partnership.
Click HERE to download a pdf bulletin insert of this update.
Follow me on Facebook to get more regular updates, prayer requests, and pictures of my everyday life here at the training center.
Click HERE to see a summary of who I am and what I'm doing.
Click HERE to find out more about financial partnership.
Click HERE to download a pdf bulletin insert of this update.
