Looking Back & Praying Ahead

It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been married for one year, and that we’ve spent the past eight months overseas. There’s definitely been a lot of struggles and new experiences for both of us. Grocery shopping by rickshaw, driving on the other side of the road, teaching in a school, waking up to the call to prayer, various insects invading our kitchen,and trying to pray together when everything seems to be a distraction.

Over our spring break in March, we were able to go to the mountains and spend some time praying and talking about our vision for the next year. We want to focus on both knowing God and making him known; which is how we’ve found ourselves over here!

•  to share the gospel with the least reached

•  to love and serve Muslims

•  to love and serve in the nation we are called to

In order to fulfill God’s purposes there are several areas we feel that we should focus on in the coming year.

1) Learn the Language --> Language Classes
2) Be Tentmakers  --> Professional Development
3) Be Examples --> Personal Discipleship & Accountability
4) Build up the Church --> Fellowship, Training, Prayer
5) Be Forerunners-->  Study End Times, Prayer
6) Use Spiritual Gifts --> Practice, Study, Prayer
7) Share the Gospel --> Strategic Outreach, Friendship

While we were in the mountains, we checked out the language school that we had planned to go to this summer. We really feel that if we want to be more fruitful in this region then we need to be able to speak the local language. Since sharing the gospel and discipleship take place best in the heart language, we are limited with our current language abilities.

The language school is the best option in the region and is always totally booked in the summer. Since all the students who attend the school are foreigners, the prices were a bit higher than we expected. With both of us taking four classes a day for ten weeks our course fees amount to $2750. There’s no discount for people earning in a weaker currency!

When we add up all our expenses for the summer, considering that we will be full time language students, we come up $4000 short of what we can afford on our local salaries. That includes food, utilities, classes, travel, visas, and housing for the summer months.

Would you pray about supporting us financially this summer so that we can spend these ten weeks focused on language study?

In faith, we’ve already put a $200 down payment to secure our housing for the summer. Praise the Lord for providing an affordable apartment through a local pastor.

We are really looking forward to what God has in store for this summer and this coming school year. Please pray for us:

•  That we could finish this year well and be a light in our workplace

•  That we would focus our time and energy on living out God’s purposes for us

•  That we would continue to encourage, challenge, and bless each other in marriage

•  That the Lord would provide all the finances needed for our summer language study