Once again, we're ok!

Hello once more!  First of all, the latest earthquake, which happened on Sunday afternoon off the Island of Sulawesi has not affected any of our personnel or those they are working with.  If you are wondering what in the world is happening to this island nation with all its natural disasters, well, the folks here are wondering the same thing too!  Questions are being asked like, “Is God judging us?  Why so many things in a short amount of time?”  Please pray that as these questions are being asked, we might have some avenue to share the answers we believe can change lives.

We are into week 3 of unit 2 and are continuing to learn.  Today, while I was sharing my “pengalaman” – experience from yesterday (something we have to do in front of our class every day, in Indonesian), I came to a word I’ve heard a dozen times but so far hasn’t sunk in to memory, and all of a sudden it was there!  Joel let out a “wahoo!” on my behalf, knowing how I’ve struggled to remember this word!  I was so pleased! 

We are each getting out just about every day to speak with our neighbors and friends and are continuing to build relationships.  I am now teaching 2 English classes a week at our house. One for the neighboorhood kids and one for 8 adults from our neighborhood.  It has been a lot of fun and is also a great chance to learn Indonesian at the same time.  Pray for us as we have these folks in our home that they might begin asking questions about our faith.  We are not permitted to bring it up in an effort to evangelize so we must pray that they will be curious and ask, We are then free to share. One of our Pembantus was sharing with me the other day that all of the Christians she has ever met have been so friendly and helpful to her.  When she had a sick family member it was her Christian friends who came to her house to pray for them, not those of her religion.  Then she said, “I don’t know why, but they have all been so kind”.  It is doors like this that we hope for.  Pray for me to have wisdom as I share with her on these occasions.  She sees us day in and day out and so what I say must match what I live.  Please pray for that for us.  We want to be lights before these people but with our helpers, especially, that can be very hard!

I have one other prayer request tonight.  Many of you know that my dad has had some health problems in the past few years.  Right before we left to come here, we finally were given some answers as to what might be wrong and since then my Mom and Dad have been to several new doctors seeking concrete answers.  We still don’t know for sure what is wrong, it could be dimentia, it could be obsessive/compulsive disorder, it could be a reaction to a medication he took over a year ago, it could be alzheimers or it could be all of these combined.  It has been very hard for my family as my Dad seems to be slipping away from us.  It is hard to know that Mom is facing this and that I am not there to help her but I know our God is able to supply her every need and to be her strength.  Would you pray for us in this.  For Dad that daily life could be enjoyable and that the things that are consuming him would lessen and that he could have a clear mind.  For Mom to have strength each day to go to work and then come home to care for him.  For my brother, who is now living with them to know how to help best. And for us to trust God to care for them all.

We are so blessed to have so many people “following” us here and praying for us daily.  We are so thankful that you are interceding for us! 

In His daily care, Bethany