It was a really great experience for Ben and Tabea, visiting an existing work in a remote village in another area of Asia-Pacific. They enjoyed meeting up with the missionary families who are serving there, meeting some of the local believers and helping a little with the building project. It was a holiday for the kids, lots of friends and open space to run and play.
After about a week Ben had an accident when a metal splinter hit him in the eye. At first it looked like nothing and then it turned very red. It was a bit worrying because they were very far from any hospitals. The eye doctor in the city told him it was fine, but it could have been a lot worse.
Since getting back from their trip they have been pushing themselves to get back into language study, mostly working with material that they have on their laptops. Finding language helpers still proves to be a challenge.
With the help of a friend, Ben finished his last project, which was the dining room table. Also, two other western missionary families have now moved to their area, so they have enjoyed more times of fellowship.
Two of their national co-workers were able to go on a survey trip and present the work of the mission to the people group and the response from the village leaders was positive. This people group experienced a famine a few years ago and so the government helped them move from the mountains to a government-built settlement but after a while about half of them moved back up into the mountains. They were given an unofficial invitation to live in the settlement but told that they would not be allowed to live in the mountains. There are still lots of things to be worked out before they can come to a decision of whether or not this will be their long term ministry location and before they would be able to move there. Ben and Tabea will probably go on home assignment before moving closer to that people group, and by that time it should be more clear.
Praise Points:
- For the valuable time in an existing work
- That Ben’s eye recovered
- That two other families were able to move to their area
- For the survey trip and open doors so far
Prayer Points:
- For Language helpers
- That they will be able to officially finish their language study before home assignment
- Wisdom as to whether or not the tribe that was surveyed should be their future ministry location