Sunday, June 1, 2014

Time

This coming September will be 9 years since we came to the Philippines. This August marks 17 years since we first went to Bible school. And this July will be 20 years since Chuck and I first started dating and committed ourselves to being missionaries together.

Time sure goes by fast. We never thought 20 years ago that we would be where we are now. We actually didn’t think we would be Tribal Church Planters but thought we would be support staff. As the Lord led us to be Church Planters we never thought that we would be at this point in our ministry after so long. I’m pretty sure we figured we would be at “phase out” stage by now.

But here we are still in Tribal Language and Culture Study. And we are still here wondering when we will get to the point when we will be able to share the Gospel with our friends the Ga’dang people. As we look at the mountain of work ahead of us in learning their language and culture even after 2 active years in it and 5 years after beginning building houses among them, we feel lost and discouraged many days.

Many people wonder what is taking so long. And ask us these types of questions: Why haven’t you taught them the Bible yet? Are you preparing lessons yet? Why can’t you just teach in the national language that you spent 2 years learning? When WILL you start teaching? How many believers do you have?

Those are tough questions to hear and sometimes tougher to answer.

When we decided to become missionaries we decided that we wanted to work with New Tribes Mission. Not because they are the best mission group out there. Not because they are perfect and have a winning plan in how to get people saved. But we believed that they understood the value in people hearing the Gospel in their heart language and they want to see the believers then grow deeper in their understanding of who God is and how He wants them to live.

These values make it hard to answer some of those questions. Teaching people who God is and His plan of salvation doesn’t happen overnight when you have to learn the language and culture of the people you are teaching. Filipino languages are hard to learn. And Ga’dang is one of the hardest languages here.

 Then there is culture. How do they think? What are they thinking when they do certain things? The Philippines has had many religious groups come through and teach so many things over the years. Even ‘tribal’ people know who Jesus is. But then they mix it all together with what they already believe about God and the universe around them. This makes for a very confused person. But reminds us of the value of knowing and teaching in the language of the Ga’dang people.

But then in order for these people to grow deeper in their knowledge of God, they need to be able to read His Word for themselves. This then leads to the question of can they read and write in their own language? And what does that really mean? Do they read and write at all or just at an elementary level or high school? And what language are they doing that in? Then what do we do if they can’t read or write well.

Chuck has been away this week learning about literacy. Just 2 days in and he was feeling overwhelmed even more so now with the task ahead of him. He still has a long ways to go in language and culture study. But what if we need teach them to read and write better than they can now? That takes time.

 As we look to the future we don’t know what God has in store of us. Our oldest son, Elijah, has just finished 11th grade. Hala is 15 yrs old and at some point will need extra help to adjust to life in Canada because of her special needs. Kyle is going to start high school in the Fall. And then there are the other 4 kids growing up so very fast.

So how do we fit all the things related to ministry and family in over the next few years??? We sure don’t know but we know that HE knows. Many days that is just a head knowledge response for me. Then my head goes on to plan the next 4 years out for our family and ministry. But God is working on my heart. He wants me to trust in HIM and His plans for the future. We don’t know if we are here for just another day or many years. We don’t know if we will get to actually share the Gospel with the Ga’dang people or if we are just preparing the way for others to do this. So we trust in HIM.
Please pray for us as we take each step forward. Pray that we have peace about where He has us each day and what He has us doing each day. Pray for peace and contentment in knowing that we are doing the task He has set before us.

These are some verse that the Lord has used to speak to me this week:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. Psalm 62:5

This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Hebrews 6:19

Job 40:6 “Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm.”

And a quote from Beth Moore, “He’ll never take you anywhere He has not already prepared for your arrival. Keep trusting Him.”

Thanks so much for praying for us and supporting the work that God has us involved in with the Ga’dang people.

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