May Update
posted by Jesse on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 5:10 am
Click here to download a printable copy of this letter on our letterhead.
So much has happened since our last update that it’s difficult to know where to start. Our container arrived in port on April 24, and we expected it to be out of the port and in our city of Kara within about a week. There were some major complications, however, and the port authorities decided to open and search the whole container. Because of the fact that they can assign any value to anything in the container, we were very fortunate to come away from it paying the reasonably low amount of tax that we did. After two weeks, the container finally arrived at our house on May 9. What an exciting day that was! We have spent the past week trying to get everything unpacked and put in its place, but we’re finding that this is taking much more time than expected!
Our hope is to be completely settled into the house as quickly as possible so we can move on to focus on the more important things. I’ll be picking back up with the institute course, and continuing to work with Pastor Nicodeme. Also, as soon as I’m able to, I am going to begin studying the Kabiye language, which is the primary language of the people here. This is all simply preparation towards the eventual goal of planting a church somewhere within the Kabiye people group.
I would like to share something personal with you that God taught us through this whole ordeal with our container. I know that typical missionary letters aren’t supposed to be personal (tongue in cheek), but I want to take the opportunity to praise God for what He taught us. First of all, imagine that you take every single thing you own and you put it in a container. Then that container goes on a ship that might sink. Then it arrives in a port and gets opened and searched by people who could easily take anything they want. Then it gets loaded onto a truck and driven through a mountain range where there are numerous trucks just like it at the bottom of the mountains, but not on any road. The worst part of it all is that you are completely unable to control any of it. This might all seem very unspiritual, but that was the reality we were continually struck with, of loosing everything we possess. There were two things that we realized in those moments: that the worst thing you can do to an American is to take away all his junk; and, that we were way too attached to our junk! God truly brought us to the point of complete dependence on Him and trust in Him that even if we did loose everything, He is still in control and has a purpose to glorify Himself in every situation of our lives, whether good or bad. We also learned a lesson of contentment, to be content in Jesus Christ alone in letting go of everything else. So often we find our identity in what we have or what we do, but so rarely in who we are in Christ. So, we praise God for teaching us these things and I hope it can be an encouragement to you as well.
Thank you to all who are praying for us during this time of adjustment. We greatly appreciate it!
Category: all updates, prayer letters
