Lost in Translation

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!