Jonathan and Dian Langhardt with Benaja and Lukas serve at the missions national training centre in Asia-Pacific and are at the end of the summer break. They had hoped to be able to visit Dian’s family but it was not possible. They have not been on vacation either. Life on campus just kept going. For example, their home was one of the renovation projects the stranded students could do to earn money. In addition, an office building and three employee apartments were repainted, three large ponds cleaned, several coconut palms cut down and processed into beams and boards, the fence around the campus repaired, etc. The ponds have to be cleaned annually in order to supply all houses on the campus with filtered stream water for showering.
The new term and a new challenge is ahead of the them. Because of the corona virus situation no new students are able to enrol until January 2021. They will continue to teach and nurture the remaining 29 trainees.
In August, the mission course and the Bible school can finally take place in the classrooms again. Everyone must keep their distance, put on mouth and nose protection, take longer breaks between hours and wash their hands more often. Nevertheless, everyone is happy that the time of online learning has passed. Praise and thanks to God!
Some activities that are normally part of their training will not be possible. The house groups, the sports programme in the afternoon, and childcare during school hours and on Thursday afternoons are currently cancelled. For Dian, and the boys, that means that they will continue to be at home a lot. Pray for a suitable learning assistant for Benaja (from mid-2021)!
Despite the strain of the past few weeks, Dian was able to continue working on the ongoing Bible lessons for children. A little relief is in sight as their housekeeper is due to return soon. Dian still really misses visiting her friends to chat. However recently she was able to spend an afternoon with a lady, showing her how to make pancakes. They were able to talk a lot and that was really good.
Because the nursery remains closed, Dian and her staff will once again prepare materials for childcare at home. There are four student families with children and three employee families with children (there are currently fourteen children on campus: toddlers, pre-schoolers and elementary school students). Once school life starts again, the mothers will stay at home to take care of their children. The husbands are then responsible for explaining to their wives what was discussed in class.
Jonathan is scheduled to teach the second year of the mission school for the entire term. The focus of all subjects, until Christmas, is on language and culture studies. He has already gained a lot of practical experience in this area but this is the first time that he has been involved in teaching these subjects. He has been intensively studying the course content to prepare himself for the task. He will also take care of the bookkeeping. Please pray for strength and wisdom.
Jonathan’s visa expires in mid-August! Pray that God opens all doors so that the visa is issued in time!