We
arrived safely in the US and are so thankful to the Lord for His care for us as
we travelled and for the rest He is giving us here! It doesn’t seem possible
that it is over 3 weeks already since we left Lapoc but this photo of us
sharing a meal and enjoying family time with our uncle and aunt and some of our
cousins is evidence that we really have been transported out of our familiar
and remote mountainous missionary life into a totally different country and
life-style!
Please
pray for the ministry team we have left behind in Lapoc during the 2 months we
are away. We are hearing regular reports via Skype from our co-workers back in
Lapoc and we praise the Lord that there was no loss of life in the recent
typhoon that passed right over Lapoc. We did lose 2 bridges though, so our trip
to Lapoc will take a lot longer now as we will have to go around the long way
to get home. Please pray with us that they will rebuild these bridges quickly.
As
far as our family is going, it has amazed Paul how much ‘lighter’ his body and
his soul feel already as he allows himself to enjoy the refreshing rains of
rest and change of pace. We all felt very groggy from jet lag for about a week,
and I (Deb) immediately came down with a bad cold but I am over it now and we
are all feeling re-energized and so, so thankful to the Lord for this time away
that He has given us and Jubab is thoroughly enjoying meeting other young
people and making new friends.
We
have been enjoying sharing what the love of our lives – Jesus – is doing amongst the
people groups we love in Mindanao, and also seeing what He is doing amongst His
people here. One of the highlights was sharing at an AWANA group and the most
amazing thing happened. A little tiny girl, about 5 years old, had some
questions for us at AWANA that she wanted to ask us so she could fill out her
book in the section called, “Interview a missionary.” And at the end, it said
in her book, “Pray for your missionary.” So she put her book down, stood there
right beside us, and in a very audible voice prayed, “Dear God, please help the
missionaries teach people about Jesus and..... God, please keep them safe,
Amen.” It was so precious it brought tears to our eyes.
When
you see this picture of the beautiful, clear skies the Lord has been giving us,
you will have an idea of the wonderful, peaceful days we are having.
Last
week we had a wonderful reunion with family – my Uncle, Aunt and cousins and
their families.
This
week the Lord has brought us to Amish country in Pennsylvania where we are
having a family break at the moment – something unplanned, and it wasn’t on the
schedule, but God worked it out for us!
We
have loved being in the country, the open fields, the beautiful farm animals,
the Amish way of life of driving buggies and ploughing their fields with horses
or mules and the country restaurants with the wonderful Dutch-German cooking.
These little goats on this farm were enjoying showing off and were quite happy
to show us their expertise in climbing and jumping.
Yesterday
we were also blessed to see a wonderful production on ‘Jonah’ at a theatre
called Sights and Sounds, and it was a real thrill to us and a memory we will
treasure. The picture below is outside the theatre with the Lion and the
Lamb statue – how wonderful that our Saviour is both our Lion and our Lamb!!!
Our
time with Grandpa is coming up next – and knowing my Grandpa and his love of
story-telling, eating ice-cream, watching old videos and playing board games –
this is going to be a very special time with him leading up to Christmas and to
his birthday the day after Christmas. Shortly into the new year we are
scheduled to speak at a missions conference and then begin our journey back
home to Lapoc.
We
praise God for you and for your prayers for our safety as we travel and for
this time to be one of healing of our wounds and sorrows so that God can
shortly take us back into the thick of the battle.
