These are some recent photos of our boys!

We are now into our final weeks here in the states… again! Joel's parents are here for the week visiting and playing lots with their grandsons. We have a busy week planned but it should be very enjoyable for us all. Joel leaves Saturday with his parents for New York. They will be there and in New Jersey for the week before Joel's brother's wedding. Mom and I will have a few days here in Missouri before going out there just few days before the wedding. Then we return home to Missouri for a little over a week and on the 22^nd, we will fly to Indonesia.

Our boxes to take back are all but packed with just the odds and ends to throw in before we leave. The other things we left in Indonesia are now in our new house awaiting us! We are sooooo eager to get back there and begin our ministry at the guesthouse.

The photo here is one we just got from our co-workers in Papua of a bridge that was just recently repaired. Yes, that is a light pole in the middle of the road at the end of the bridge. And yes, they did remove it - just a few weeks after. This is where we are heading to live! Not quite like America, eh?

Bethany

Summer Update from Eary July

Hey all, Life has been active lately and we haven't been able to communicate much. So in everyone's interest, I'm gonna catch you up on some things.
#1 Jack has been singing 'Tomorrow' from Annie, except that he sings it as 'Tonanno, tonanno, I yuv ya, tonanno. onwy day away!'. It's very fun, that kid has music in his blood. Wonder where that trait came from... #2 We had a really fun 4th of July. Finally a BBQ with no rain! We had several friends from church over. All the kids swam in our wading pool and the adults all swatted flies. But we had fun doing it. Yummy food, a good musical playlist, tiki torches, and homemade ice-cream!!! We watched fireworks from our church's parking lot. The biggest show in Springfield is shot from a location just north of us, so we had a great view... #3 Bethany and I had and have an awesome opportunity to put together a missionary Teamwork workshop with a group of folks who will be sent out of High Street as missionaries. Because our training with NTM is based on the premise of working in teams, our Pastor as well as Missions directors asked us to host this event and present some information about working as a team. We were really excited and honored to be able to do this. Our first meeting was on July 5 and our next will be the first week of August. #4 We're close to being done with the biggest stretch of fencing in the backyard. I've really enjoyed the 'manual labor.' There's something satisfying about that kind of work. #5 Mom Stroud went back to work this week after three weeks off for her surgery. She's just working half-days this week and then will move back to full-time next week. It seems she is healing well and the surgery was a success. #6 B and I are going away for two nights this weekend down to Tablerock lake to the south of us. We're so excited to have some time for just the two of us and to finally celebrate our 4th anniversary! That's the high points right now. We're really excited to see Dad and Mom Potter in 3 weeks and we're trying to use the time before they come to finish up the fence and some other projects.We are also trying to begin the packing process for returning to Indonesia. Our goal is to have most of our stuff packed and ready to go before we leave for my brother's wedding the first week of August. We also finally have a date set to return to Indonesia. Our tickets are booked for August 22nd. We still have no word on how our visas are coming along but we are just going to assume they will be granted and will progress forward!

That's all for now! Enjoy your summer! Joel for the Potter 4!

packing

Well, the time has come for us to begin sorting through our things in preparation for us to go back to Indonesia.  We have about 10 boxes of stuff that we've pulled out from our storage unit to see what we can actually take with us.  We will have to do some trial runs on packing to see how much we can cram in and then decide how many extra totes we can afford to take.  Mom's dining room will be sorting central for awhile and we will count today as the first day in our preparation to return "home". 

 

Joel's parent's will be here in 2 weeks and then the wedding and just a week later, we will be leaving once again, on a jet plane!  Let the games begin!

One side of the fence completed

Installing a fence panel

Jack

Owen - Indonesia or Bust!

Our friend Rachel Burch made Owen this fun tshirt! He's ready to go!

Some of the flowers from Mom's garden

Putting in a post for the fence

After many weeks, we finally are getting the posts in the ground. This is no easy process!

Jack's Thomas Train and Makeshift Track

jack absolutely loves Thomas the Tank Engine!

Daapoi and Wikipai

This is Good News!

This is what it's all about!

As we prepare to return to Indonesia, we are reminded once again why we go.  Please read this article we received a few weeks ago from some of our future co-workers in Indonesia, Scott and Jennie Phillips.  They have been working on translating Bible lessons into the language of the tribal people where they live, the Dao.  The two men that have been helping them with the translation process, have now heard the complete Truth, the Gospel, start to finish.  From creation to Christ's resurrection.  Read on to see what can happen in the lives of those who hear for the first time…

 

As our two translation helpers Daapoi and Wikipai were hearing about the torture and death of Jesus Christ this last week they were astounded at what Christ went through. "The words that you are telling me make my heart hurt, this is a talk that would make us cry. Jesus could have easily fled from those men or killed them all by merely speaking, but he did not." - Daapoi responded as he was hearing that Jesus had been beaten, whipped and then nailed to a cross. As the lesson went on and they heard up through the death and then burial of Jesus Christ and why he had refused to fight back but instead died a willing death on the cross for our wrong doings, they were both very quiet and I could tell that they were thinking hard over what they were hearing. They were realizing that Jesus had died on our behalf just as the lambs had been sacrificed over and over again throughout all the stories they had heard from the Old Testament.
 
As we came to the part of the story after Jesus had died where three days later the tomb was found empty and the angel announced that just as Jesus had promised, He had risen again from death, Wikipai could not help but laugh with joy at what he was hearing! "Only the Son of God could do something like that! Only Jesus could come back from death! Is there anything at all that He is unable to do?! I don't think so!" . We continued on hearing through how Jesus appeared again to his disciples and walked the earth another 40 days to prove he had conquered sin and death itself. These two Dao men were soaking it all in with smiles on their faces as they were hearing that Jesus had come out victorious! I began to question them to make sure that they understood what they were hearing. Daapoi was the first to respond.
 
"If it were not for Jesus, our sins would have never been cleared away, if Jesus had not become the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us, we would have faced eternal punishment! I believe that this message is true, I believe that He died for me!" .  You could see the joy on Daapoi's face as he was realizing for the first time that his past had been forgiven and that because of what Christ had done, he was now part of God's family and would spend eternity with Him some day.
 
At this point Wikipai chimed in "If His sacrifice would not have been enough, God would have never raised him from the dead, if Jesus sacrifice had not been enough then the curtain in God's temple would have never been ripped in half to show us that we could now come into God's presence. I also believe that Jesus death on the cross was for my sins and that His sacrifice was sufficient!"
 
As we closed the teaching that day by hearing that Jesus had given one last command to "Go into all the world and share God's message with all the others that had not yet heard" and that He then ascended back to heaven to be with His father they got that much more excited and kept on getting up and trying to act out what they were hearing about Jesus ascending back into the heavens. The last verse that we covered was Acts 1:10-11 where the angels asked the disciples "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky? Jesus, whom you saw taken up into heaven will come back in the same way you saw Him go!" At the moment they heard these verses they immediately began asking me "When will he come back? Will he come back today? Tomorrow? Will he come back quickly?" to which I responded that He will come back when there has been people that have believed from every language and group of people and every body that He has called to believe has heard His message. They then said, "Well then we have to tell the others! We have to tell our families! We have to tell the Kupekuye clans and the Mokotaka clans! We have to tell the Taomi clans too so that Christ will come back! We have to tell them His message!"
 
…the Bible lessons and scriptures needed to teach have at this point all been completed, and on June 11th, they began together with Wikipai and Daapoi begin teaching their first Dao village so that their wives and families can also have the opportunity to place their trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Please pray for these two men and their families and the other Dao people so that they can also come to repentance as they hear His Word, just as Wikipai & Daapoi have done.

 

 

Scott working at his computer on the translation of the lessons

Dads

Yesterday was Father's Day and what a lovely day it was.  The boys gave Daddy his Father's Day gift and each gave him a card.  The gift I "helped" them pick out was kind of in honor of my Dad.  For as long as I can remember, my dad has shaved using shaving soap and a brush rather than shaving cream.  He had this fun little nubby brush that he would lather up with a special soap and he always got new soap in his stocking for Christmas.  Well, as I was shopping for Joel's gift the other day, I stumbled upon the same kind of shaving set that my Dad used.  Joel is very into Gentlemanly type things like handkerchiefs, dresser valets, cuff links and such and so when I saw this set, I knew it was just the thing.  He is very excited to use it, so thanks Dad for the inspiration!

 

Yesterday afternoon, we met my brother and his 2 boys at Phelps Grove park for a dinnertime picnic with Dad.  It was such a nice afternoon, warm but not too hot and a nice breeze was blowing.  Dad was in good spirits and enjoyed getting out to play with his boys. He even threw the frisbee with me – he still can throw it better than me! In all, there were 7 men and me, the only girl in the bunch (mom was still home recovering from her surgery).  We took a great picture of all the boys together with Dad, what a group they are! 

 

Thanks to all you Dad's out there who do so much to provide for and love and guide your families.  Thanks Dad for your love for me and thanks Joel for all you do to lead our family!  I love you both!

 

Bethany

Father's Day 2007

Jack, Dad, McGwire, Owen, Jeremy, Kael and Joel

Challenges

Today some friends are returning home from their field of ministry due to some health problems.  My heart is heavy for them as I know they are battling discouragement right now.  But I was also encouraged from the Word this morning that as we wait on God and trust in Him and His ability to strengthen us, we will find we have strength when we thought we had none.  We have direction when the road ahead seemed dark.  We can have hope because He is our rock.  I am challenged again that I need to be redirecting my own thinking at times.  I should be thinking on things that are true and not just how I feel. I need to think about honorable things, righteous things, pure things, things that are lovely, of a good reputation, things that are excellent, and praiseworthy.  This is how I can see my feelings change and follow truth.  How often do we just look at our circumstances and then let them be our guide to how we feel.  It's so easy to do.  J & B, we are praying fervently for you.  Set your minds on things above – God's grace and peace be with you.

 

 

It's a small world

Today we will get to see some friends that we haven't seen in several years.  While we were at the Bible School in Jackson, Joel was in the same class with a couple from Malaysia.  Little did we know back then that we would be living and working in their "backyard".  They have since returned to Malaysia to be tribal church planters there but low and behold, their daughter is going to school here in Missouri at my alma mater.  They are right here in our neck of the woods and we get to have lunch with them today.  The fun thing is, we can now not only communicate with them in English, their 4^th or 5^th language, but also in Bahasa Indonesia, our 2^nd language and the sister language to what they speak in Malaysia!!  How fun is that!  Welcome Doug and Ruby!

A WORD FROM MOM

Words can't begin to expess my thanks to each of you who have upheld me, and my husband, Steve, in prayer these past several months.   I am so very blessed because God has his very best for us, no matter what the answer would be.  I know it's not about my faith, but all about His grace towards us. 

 

Even if God's answer regarding the medicaid had been no or wait longer,  God still has answered an even more urgent prayer, that being Steve is doing so incredibly well.  The difference between December, when I had to put him in the nursing home, and today is amazing.  Just to know that people around the world, who have never met us, yet are praying for us, is so humbling.  I know that God truly hears the prayers of His people.

 

With a grateful heart,

 

Lynn

Aka Bethany's mom