Lost in Translation

The last week has probably been the most hectic of my life. We've met with different people for lunch and supper on several days. We had to finish packing and move out of our apartment--praise God, we got all of our deposit back! We had to rush around to get different accounts closed out. But now we're in Chicago with family, and we can relax for a day or two.

Yikes, the last week has been hectic. We move out of our apartment tomorrow. Then we're off to Chicago for a family get together. God is good! It looks like we might get almost everything done before we leave . . . but sleep hasn't been high on the priority list. Gotta run.

I just uploaded our December prayer letter. You can read it at December Prayer Letter.

Lucas with boxes

Hey, I like to thank God for the small blessings in life. Today our new laptop arrived! I'm so thankful for God's provision and timing. I didn't need a new computer. I told the Lord I was satisfied with our old laptop. He allowed us to finish our last presentation at a church and use the old one for two more weeks, then its hard drive died, rendering the whole computer dead.

I really enjoy dialing a new computer in too. I'm not a major techie, but I like computers. Here are a few things I just downloaded today:

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 -- Why continue to use Internet Explorer when there's an open source browser with more power? (Open source software is cool).

ZoneAlarm firewall -- another freebie. It's amazing how many people try to tap into your connection when you don't have a firewall. This one alerts you to any outgoing program trying to access the Internet, and it stops incoming attacks.

I also use a small free password program called Password Safe. It stores all my passwords for me so I don't have to try to remember all 20 of them.

Packing is going pretty well too. We're going down to the last of it. Thank you Lord for the little blessings in life!

I've tried to post to Blogger a few times this week, but each time I get thwarted. I think that the problem is on my end (minor computer trouble). Right now I'm borrowing a laptop, so it's not configured to my connection, etc. Praise God, our new laptop should be arriving this week!

I've been to a gov't office three days in a row. Yes, I know that you wish that you could do that too. On Tuesday, I went to the Story County office to turn in the plates on my LeSabre (I know, it's an end an era). Yesterday, Lucas and Eliana and I went to the Story County office again, then down to the Polk County office for certified copies of their birth certificates and our marriage license. We also took a quick tour of the capitol building, which Lucas really enjoyed. Today he asked, "Dad, could we go back through those doors that beep?" [security checkpoint] when we were back down in Des Moines to get a seal of Apostille for each of the documents. The seal of Apostille is an internationally recognized way of certifying documents. Oh, by the way, we got this done in the "Lucas Building," a fact that impressed Lucas.

The house continues to become less cluttered with stuff and more cluttered with packed boxes. That's good!

This year I set a goal to read at least 16 books . . . four on Colombia, four on ministry, four on the New Testament, and four on theology. It's been a good exercise to write down what I read. Last count I had read 31 different books. I'm on the last of my 16 "required" books now. Jesus as God: the New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus by Murray J. Harris, which of course falls in the NT category.

I'm enjoying this book immensely. Reading a good exegete work through NT texts always thrills my soul. He examines nine times in the NT where the Greek word theos may refer to Jesus. So far I've read his sections on John 1:1; 1:18; 20:28; Acts 20:28; Romans 9:5; and Titus 2:13. Very compelling! (Not that I doubted the deity of Jesus Christ!) I especially liked the chapter on Romans 9:5 because I'd never studied that one in depth.

The other book that I'm really enjoying right now is Baptist Centennial History of the Philippines by one of ABWE missionaries, Elaine Kennedy. The Philippines offer perhaps the best "success" story in our mission's history. Our Filipino brothers and sisters have started over 1,000 churches, various seminaries, and are sending missionaries around the world. I've enjoyed learning about how God blessed in the ministry in the Philippines. One thing really surprised me--to learn about the persecution faced by the believers in the early 1900s in the Philippines.

We've started the full-time packing routine. Sort of. Holly has gotten about 12 boxes of books, etc. packed already. We emptied off several bookcases and a corner cabinet.

It was pretty funny last night trying to figure out how to transport a bookcase and corner shelf to a friend's house. We put the corner shelf on top of our van, but we didn't have the right size bungee cords. So we hauled it back up to our apartment. The shelf fit snuggly in the back of our van, pushing into the back of the passenger seat. I talked about just throwing things from our apartment into the parking lot below--but of course I was just kidding--it's good to keep a sense of humor.

I'm still reeling from all of the things that need to be done. Paperwork, packing, shipping, etc. But God is good!

After three weeks away, we're back in Iowa. Our co-workers in language school called us yesterday. They're excited to have us join them soon. It's amazing to think that we'll be leaving in about a month.

Holly has started packing. We've already got almost all of the books boxed up! I'm at the library right now because we no longer have internet access at home (our laptop died). Oh well, that's kind of a blessing because the computer can steal so much of my time. Now I have to plan my computer time at the library (yesterday I couldn't get in when I wanted to because a high school class was using the lab).

After the last month of missions conferences, Field Prep. Seminar, and holiday meals, we're ready for some simpler meals (I'm not used to dessert at every meal!). I told Holly that it's the start of boot camp. We're walking every day in preparation for living in Costa Rica. We won't have a car there, and our home is about a 15 minute walk from the language school.

Well, I gotta run.

Dear friends,

Our e-prayer letter may not get to you this month because of computer troubles. Please read it on our site at November Prayer Letter.

Thanks!

Aarghh . . . I've been caught for spamming. I'm at my parents house trying to send our e-prayer letter. I kept getting frustrated while AOL kicked me offline. Until finally they said something like, "Your account has been frozen because of a Terms of Service" violation. All I wanted to do was send an innocent prayer letter. That'll teach me!

At any rate, I'm giving up on trying to send our prayer letter to everyone this month. I can't send it efficiently through my parents' e-mail account, and our laptop went to laptop heaven on Sunday. So, when I get home we'll be without a computer for a couple of weeks (we ordered one, but it may take a while to come).

Thanks for your patience!

We've just started to think about homeschooling materials. It's amazing to think that Lucas will be starting kindergarten in less than two years. Our year in language school will fly by, so we've been looking at some materials now before we leave the U.S.

So far we've been thinking about the Sonlight curriculum. It focuses on reading as the primary component. For example, the students learn history through reading books related to different time periods.

If you have any experience or opinions on homeschooling, let us know. You can e-mail us at jon@boydhome.com.

We're still at ABWE for our Field Preparation Seminar. Today we started talking about how to adjust to the field. Very practical! We had a panel discussion with the field administrators and their wives. Tonight we'll go out to eat with our field administrator and his wife--Bob and Lynne Trout. I've enjoyed being able to ask questions that haven't been answered.

It's amazing to think about being in Costa Rica in less than two months. Our coworkers, the Carters, just e-mailed us with some suggestions on housing. They are loving Costa Rica.

Well, gotta run.

I'm sitting in one of the training rooms at ABWE, typing on my laptop. Wireless networks are pretty cool! (Once we got it set up our computer.)

The first three days of this training are devoted to Language Acquired Naturally through Cultural Encounters (LANCE) training. We devoted yesterday to phonetics and began our language learning today. The class was split into about six different groups learning different languages. Holly and I are with Kenny, who is from Hong Kong. May I say that Cantonese is difficult? Yikes, I couldn't even pronounce the word for "I." But it has also been encouraging. Within two hours we were responding to some basic commands in Cantonese and reproducing our own version of those sounds. I'm thanking God for Spanish . . . but if He wanted us to learn Cantonese we'd be up for it.

I've become reacquainted with driving a manual transmission (it's been about ten years), and Holly and I took two wrong turns last night on the way to her uncle's house. That was fun. We finally made it to their house after our 30 minute scenic detour.

Lucas and Eliana -- Harvest Festival 


I just downloaded a program called "Hello," which will allow us to quickly post pictures to our weblog. You know, I'm almost to the point of changing our whole website into a blog because it's so much less work. At any rate, you'll now be seeing pictures, rather than just reading my pedestrian prose. Enjoy!

Yesterday I clocked out at Perishable Distributors of Iowa (PDI) for the last time. I have worked at PDI for over seven years—one year on the PDI side (affectionately known as “the dark side”) and six years on the Sunrise side (ice cream freezer, 15 degrees below zero, etc.). As I leave PDI, I want to offer a tribute to the company and my coworkers, sharing a few of the lessons I have learned there.

1)A company culture makes all of the difference in the world. I worked at another company with three initials (you can guess), and the contrast was vast. At my previous job, I got hurt and the supervisor chewed me out. Our crew always worked with one or two fewer guys than we actually needed. In contrast, I crushed my leg at PDI my first week on the job, and the supervisor was actually concerned about me! PDI has cultivated a culture of care for its employees. Almost all of my supervisors became my good friends. I’m going to miss those guys! Management and warehouse guys are not at odds. We were on the same team. They focus on win-win situations—do things that help both employees and the company. PDI fosters that attitude by offering incentive pay, quarterly bonuses, flexibility in scheduling, etc. I was never denied a day off in seven years.

Lesson for ministry: How we minister in Colombia is just as important as what we minister. Do we build up our Colombian brothers and sisters in every way possible? Do we encourage our fellow missionaries? What kind of team do we want to be a part of? Team ethos is key!

2)Some people will complain about a big raise because they have to pay more taxes. In my seven years at PDI, we encountered many changes in how we did our job. We used to select orders by following a printed out sheet of paper. We used to write the store name on our ice cream cart with a black marker. Now we don a $4,000 computer that talks to us (“Vocollect”), and the labels print when you call for them. The productivity has sky-rocketed. But some people fought against every change. Instead of taking an open view of things, they said to themselves, “This is change, and I don’t like it.”

Lesson for ministry: Ministry in Colombia will change over the years. More Colombians are being trained. They have creative ideas for ministry. We younger missionaries may have creative ideas. Each of us will be stretched as ABWE challenges us to plan strategically in a more effective way. The Colombia Baptist Seminary will undoubtedly change over the years. How will we handle that change? Will be open to God using us in different ways over the years?

3)Never say never! I never pictured myself working in a warehouse. Now I can drive pallet jacks and fork lifts like they’re an extension of my body. I’ve gained a different perspective from the warehouse—that’s a good thing.

Ministry lesson: God may use me in unexpected ways, but I need to be willing to do whatever He wants.

4)The personal touch is vital. I led a Bible study at PDI for about two years. We met for 15 minutes on Thursdays during a break time. I would invite people, and they would say, “Oh yeah, I’ll be there.” But they usually didn’t come unless I followed up with them five or ten minutes before the study started. Praise God that two people have come to know the Lord as a partial result of that Bible study.

Lesson for ministry: I must continue to improve in my interpersonal skills. Colombians probably won’t be impressed by a seminary degree or fluency in reading Greek, but they will notice when we show love in a personal way.

5)Enthusiasm opens doors. I’m thinking of three supervisors in particular who always greeted me with enthusiasm. They let me know that they were glad to see me. They even gave me hugs on occasion (that would fit in well in Colombia). How did that affect me? Well, I always looked forward to seeing those guys at work. I wanted to work hard for them.

Lesson for ministry: Apathy has got to go! I can become too laid-back. I need to daily drink from the fountain of God’s love, so that I overflow with joy and enthusiasm.

6)Life is short. In the last year, two employees have died suddenly (one drowned and one got in a car accident). At times I forget how short life is. We’ve got to be ready! The Bible is clear about what happens to those who have not received the Lord Jesus by faith. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Those of us who have a relationship with the Lord have hope. We know where we’re going when we die.

Lesson for ministry: I need to remember that life is short. I need to live this day fully for God. I need to lovingly and courageously share how God has opened the way for us to come to Him through His Son, who died for our sins.

These are just a few thoughts from seven years at PDI. I will miss the environment and my coworkers. I thank God for the lessons that I learned as I “stacked ice cream on carts.”

Our time in northern Minnesota blessed us with rich fellowship. We especially enjoyed getting to know the Franks, who are from India. Dr. Franks preached two incredible messages that really encouraged me.

He talked about being a servant. Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of servanthood. Dr. Franks painted a picture in our minds about how Jesus would have been in his carpenter's shop. He would have shown patience with rude customers. He would have gladly walked an extra mile for a disgruntled Roman soldier. Everywhere he went, people were drawn to him--not because he stood out in any physical way, but because he came as a servant. I'd never thought about how Jesus would have acted in his shop. Thank you Dr. Franks!

We're up in Minnesota for a round-robin missions conference. It's pretty interesting! Five churches go together for the conference, and each one hosts a missionary family. Then each missionary family rotates to each church, presenting their ministry to each of the congregations.

The other missionaries are to the fields of India, Yap (Micronesia), Venezuela, and Zambia. Wow, that's a diverse group of mission fields. The Zimmers to Yap have some incredible stories about living in the South Pacific. They've had people threaten them with machetes; he almost died from eating a root without preparing it correctly, and they almost got washed away by a typhoon. They don't have any language schools in Yap, and they also mentioned that the Yapese people often disagree on the "proper" way to say some things. It was neat to hear how excited they are to return to Yap to share God's love with the people.

What a blessing to see how God calls every one of us to serve Him somewhere. Whether that be Ames, Iowa, or Yap. May we grow in our faithfulness to serve wherever we are.

I've just completed the transfer from our desktop to our laptop. That may not sound like a big deal, but it's one of those things that hits you--we're going to be leaving the country! A former missionary told me to either journal or blog my experiences during this time of our lives--otherwise I'll never remember them.

So, Holly and I got our major physical exams done. It was different being hooked up to an EKG and going to the hospital for a chest x-ray. We started boxing some books up. I sometimes look at my shelves and lament my weakness for books.

We leave tomorrow for a round-robin missions conference in Minnesota. That should be fun, and it's our last scheduled time of sharing our "ministry" at churches during our pre-field ministry. It's been a blessed journey!

We just got back from a great missions conference in Council Bluffs, IA. We thoroughly enjoyed the people at Valley View Baptist Church and spending time with the other missionaries.

Our host couple was such a blessing to us! They made us feel at home (we got the run of the downstairs), and we had a number of really encouraging times of fellowship with them. I firmly believe that being a layperson is no less of a calling than being a missionary. Our host couple shared many ways in which they have used their jobs for God's glory, and how they have volunteered for community causes, which has opened doors for witness about Jesus Christ.

May every one of us faithfully serve Christ where we're at!

We also received official financial clearance today from ABWE, so I'm going to order our tickets to Costa Rica.

We're gearing up for a missions conference at Valley View Baptist Church in Council Bluffs, IA, which starts Wednesday night. I'm preaching on Wednesday night and Sunday morning from 2 Corinthians 4. That chapter has things in it that send chills down my spine. I'm going to preach a two-part series, entitled "Treasure in Earthen Vessels." The first sermon will emphasize the treasure of Christ, and the second one will highlight how we need to embrace our status as "earthen vessels" in order to give God all the glory in our lives and ministries.

The church is also taking us to the zoo in Omaha on Friday. That'll be cool!

Tonight I'll be joining "dorm devos" for one of the dorms at Faith Baptist Bible College. It'll bring back some good memories from my years in the dorm at Faith ('94-'98). I'm hoping that I can encourage the guys with some things that "I didn't learn in Bible college and seminary."

We've been "busy" lately with things that sometimes drive me crazy. A good type of busy is when you're preparing lessons and sermons, preaching and teaching, having lunch with a co-worker to share the gospel, etc.

But alas, I've been keeping many appointments for things that need to be done but aren't necessarily "rewarding." Like today I had an extensive physical exam. Earlier this week I was looking into the logistics of shipping our stuff to Colombia. You get the idea.

We were able to hear John Piper preach this last weekend in Minneapolis. We went to hear him on Saturday night and then shared Sunday with one of our supporting churches. I was struck by his intensity in the pulpit. I need to become more intense about what I say from the Bible because eternal destiny hangs in the balances.

Tuesday I spent the day at a workshop on Baptist distinctives by Colin Smith from Baptist Bible College. I may share more about that later, but it was very helpful. Why am I a Baptist? What makes Baptists distinct?

We just returned from helping with our international dinner at church. Ah yes, it brings back good memories of working with international students. Holly and I did the children's program for kids Kindergarten through 3rd grade. It went pretty well--we had eleven kids.

Our church's motto, "Reaching Ames to Reach the World," is being realized through our international ministry. How else can you gain access to the creme of the creme of students from around the globe? They are usually open to the gospel too. They know that the U.S. is "successful," and they wonder why. Many of them think that all Americans are Christians (If only that were true!), so they visit churches looking for what makes our country great. They hear about Jesus Christ, and some of them respond in faith to His offer of eternal life. They later return to their countries to spread that Good News around the world. Now that's exciting!

Did you know that libraries are flourishing in Bogotá? I didn't either, but I'm pleased (How could I live without a good library nearby?). You can read about it in an article by The Wichita Eagle:

Libraries lure residents out of the slums of Bogota

I began rummaging through one of my "memory boxes" last week. You know the kind . . . stuffed with things you just couldn't throw away from high school. I found things like the placemat that we used at my senior year swimming team banquet. It had clippings from the Hibbing paper about our swim team. As I looked at them, I remembered how I felt upon reading about myself (or seeing my time) in the paper. At one invitational I placed 15th in the 100 yard butterfly, which put me behind two other Hibbing swimmers. I felt bad about that. But at the regional meet, I took 5th place, and I had the best time from my team. That felt pretty good! I remember how I was mildly disappointed to have fallen short of my career goal of breaking one minute in the 100 yard fly. I swam a 1.00.37! Aarghh! I missed my career goal by .37 seconds.

I also looked at my handbook on Nintendo games. We had a club that was dedicated to them. I had drawn pictures, listed passwords, named all the games I'd "conquered," etc.

I also looked at some old pictures from years gone by. My brother as a little kid with his shirt off hoeing in the garden. A picture of my legs as I soared through the air to slam dunk a basketball (Okay, I'm only 5'7" now, but I was using a trampoline), taken by my sister who was lying on the ground.

Looking back causes various emotions to swell. Some happy. Some not so happy. But what I really think about much of those things is -- who cares? In view of eternity, the only things that matter are things of eternal significance.

And I wish I could go back to high school to live it for eternal purposes. Whether I broke one minute in the fly won't matter in heaven. But the chances I missed to share about Jesus Christ will matter. Those friends who never heard that Jesus Christ has opened the way for us to receive salvation through faith in Him . . . what about them?

Lord, help me to center my life around You. Help me to beat down that which squanders my energy for You with a consuming passion for Your glory.

Have you ever tried moving to another country? Hmmm . . . neither have I. I'm amazed at how many things I could forget to do before we leave. Actually I'm amazed at how many things I don't even understand yet about what I should do. For example, I'm still not totally sure how important mail will be handled. Rest assured, ABWE's Field Prep. Seminar in November will answer many of these questions.

I've been reading Missionary Methods; St. Paul or Ours? by Roland Allen, a classic missions book originally published in the early 20th Century. Here is one helpful quote from the book:

"Slavery is not the best training for liberty. It is only by exercise that powers grow. To do things for people does not train them to do them for themselves. We are learning more and more in things educational that the first duty of the teacher is not to solve all difficulties for the pupil, and to present him with the ready-made answer, but to awaken a spirit, to teach the pupil to realize his own powers, by setting before him difficulties, and showing him how to approach and overcome them" (p. 145).

So true! Allen strongly urges a trust in the Holy Spirit's work in the nationals' lives. "But they won't get it right!" we protest. Perhaps true, but we must allow them to make some mistakes. They have the same Bible we have. They have the same Holy Spirit we have.

You who teach Sunday School know the feeling. You sit down to prepare for your lesson (or write a new one), and you sit. You tussle your papers. You fumble through your Bible. You write a page, then crumple it up. You feel utterly exhausted by the prospect of grasping God's Word, translating it into our culture, and then teaching it to others.

We've all been there. Simply put, teaching God's Word is tiring work. When we routinely deal with matters of eternal destiny, it can be draining. Maybe that's one reason Paul speaks of ministry as "striving" (Col. 1:29).

In contrast to my description above, I just wrote a Sunday School lesson for teens in less than two hours. I guess it went easy because it's an "overflow" lesson. Flowing from the overflow of God's Word in my life, I could easily write a lesson on prayer today. Not that it would be easy tomorrow, but today it was.

In my ministry, I need to focus on not becoming lazy. When things don't go quickly, I shouldn't give up. Also, as Paul did, I need to strive "according to His working which works in me mightily" (Col. 1:29). In God's limitless strength, I find strength.

Holly has done it again. She just updated the kids' pages with some great commentary and pictures. If you like seeing cute kids, visit the two pages devoted to Lucas (Lucas' Playground) and Eliana (Eliana's Meadow).

I also posted our September prayer letter online: September Prayer Letter

I tried to produce a better looking prayer letter on our site, but alas, it looks a wee bit pedestrian. I'll try to do better next time.

I didn't add any new content to Jon's Workshop, but I changed the format a little (e.g. changed "Notable Links" to "Sites of Interest"), especially revamping the look of the Sites of Interest. I'm trying to get our whole site in good shape before we get to Costa Rica, since I probably won't have as much time while we're down there.

Speaking of language school, I sent in our application today. We've starting talking to Lucas about being in the "Rayitos del Sol" preschool. The preschool is all in Spanish, so the kids will learn it while I do. Holly will be taking advanced grammar and composition classes.

In about an hour, we'll hit the road on our way to Pana, IL. It's about a 6-7 hour trip. The pastor at the church we're visiting wanted me to prepare a sermon that would prepare the congregation for the communion service. That will be a new experience for me.

I've been mulling over the idea of a communion service lately. Should our communion services always be the same? Or should we vary them, so that people are drawn to reflecting on a new facet of what Christ did for us? As you can tell from my question, I gravitate towards the latter approach.

Christ's death for us is something we can't fully grasp, yet we must try to more fully grasp it. Like Paul prayed that the Ephesians "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge" (3:18-19).

With these thoughts in mind, I'll be preaching from Colossians 1:15-20, trying to draw people's attention to the supremacy of Christ. Oh, that passage also teaches that through Christ's death the entire universe will be reconciled to God (v. 20).

We shared an update at Campus Baptist on Sunday night, explaining that we lacked $104 per month support.

After the service, a couple came up to us and said, "We wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about that last amount of support. We want to finish it off for you."

What a blessing! Thank you for your faithful prayers.

We had Pastor Joe Humrichous speak at our church on Sunday evening. He shared his paradigm for ministry, which is summed up in the words, "Christ obviously present and actively in charge." If Christ is those things in your church, you are on your way to having a church that pleases God. He also talked about how that starting point for ministry is the platform upon which any problem can be solved.

He offered some encouragements to prayer, especially from Rev. 3:20, which best applies to a local church. Here are a few of his encouragements: 1) Christ wants us to pray and fellowship with Him, 2) He already knows all our works, 3) We don't have to do all of the talking because our fellowship with Christ is not one-sided.

Pastor Humrichous works with the Bible Prayer Fellowship. You can visit their website for some helpful resources on prayer: Pray With Christ.

I've been doing a little reading on-line about the G12 Movement, which was started by Cesar Castellano in Bogota. G12 stands for Government of the 12. One person is supposed to gather twelve disciples, training them to gather twelve of their own, and so on.

If you haven't heard of G12, you probably will, as it's spreading through the rest of the world. According to Castellano, God revealed the G12 method directly to him. This is another example of Third Wave heresy. I joked with Holly that when you enter the G12 website there really should be "Mission Impossible" music playing in the background. You'll see what I mean if you look at there site.

For the G12 website from Bogota, visit G12 Movement.

For a brief critique of the movement, visit Glancing at the G12 Movement.

A few of you have wondered about the language school we will be going to. It's called the "Spanish Language Institute" and is located in San Jose, Costa Rica.

If you want to look at their website for yourself, here's the link: The Spanish Institute.

We anticipate arriving in Costa Rica in time for the semester that starts on January 5, 2005.

We spent the weekend with the great folks of First Baptist Church in Brownsdale, MN (near Austin). They invited us to come for their Harvest Festival, which included a meal and a personal gift for getting set up in Costa Rica and then Colombia. Wow! They gave us a very generous offering, and also promised they would faithfully pray for us.

I just uploaded our August prayer letter, so feel free to read it at August Prayer Letter.

I'm sitting in the Faith Baptist Bible College library. All I can say is that God has been so good. I just handed in the homework to my last class at Faith for at least the next four years.

I'm thankful to God for all that He has allowed me to learn over the years. Thankful that He brought Holly to me. Thankful for our two children. Thankful for my parents. Thankful for our church. Thankful for the missionary team in Colombia. Thankful that God has brought almost all of our support in.

May Jesus Christ get all the praise for what He has done! (Col. 1:18).

I just ran across an interesting article on Colombia. The author talks some about music, which may not interest you, but the article gives you a feel for the country.

You can read it at A Brighter Side of Colombia.

I've been asked before, "What do you do on a Monday?" Our life is characterized by "transition" at this point, so it really varies.

I started the day in prayer, reading the Word, feeding the kids, and going for a jog. Now I'm at the computer getting started on my work day.

I need to get our prayer letter written for this month, but my big task is to finish my two projects for the Advanced Hermeneutics class I took in May.

Pray for Scott and Laura Carter, as they are flying to Costa Rica today to begin language study. Can you say "transition"?

I was just thinking last week (actually someone asked me about it too), "What have I learned as a missionary?"

Well, last year my biggest lesson was "Be a one-kingdom man." In other words, don't try to build (1) my kingdom and (2) God's kingdom (speaking in a non-technical sense). That really hit me when I'd feel pangs of jealousy towards other missionaries who had already gotten to the field.

This year I've really learned that we need to ask God to do what only He can do. I can pray for small things, but I really should be praying for God-sized things to be done in my life and in the world.

I just uploaded a page to our site that includes a brief description of our time at Family Camp 5 at IRBC. I also uploaded the Powerpoint presentation I did on "Becoming a Missions-Minded Family," so feel free to use that at your church.

Family Camp 5

I've had a number of different things to prepare for this summer. A junior camp, a senior high camp, and a family camp. I also spoke twice at prayer meeting at Campus Baptist.

All I have left to complete are two projects for my "Advanced Hermeneutics" class I took at Faith Baptist Theo. Seminary.

After that, we can start focusing on packing.

We just returned from almost a week away from home. We left on Saturday, and traveled to Bemidji. The trip took 10 hours, and Lucas got sick about half-way there. We had a wonderful weekend at Faith Baptist Church.

Monday we drove back to IRBC in Clear Lake, IA. I spoke on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. God gets all the glory for the week, as many people mentioned that they had been either encouraged or challenged by my sessions on missions.

The first day I shared about some basic concepts of missions. The second day I went through the stages of a missionary's life, and today we talked about becoming a "missions-minded family," by becoming an informed family, an interceding family, and an involved family.

I just got word that another committed supporter has been added to our team. That puts us at 97% of our monthly support! God has really been blessing there!

I talked to Scott Carter yesterday. He and his family are leaving for language school in about two weeks. It was nice to ask some of my questions about getting ready to leave for Costa Rica.

We're going up to Bemidji, MN this weekend to fill the pulpit and give a ministry update. Then we'll come back for three and a half days (Monday-Thursday) of family camp at the Iowa Reg. Baptist Camp in Clear Lake. We'll have three sessions with the adults and teens, and three with the teens alone. Pray that God will work in a mighty way in lives!