Epic trip

Ben, Tabea and family who serve in Asia-Pacific, often feel like they are walking in the dark and feeling their way along. Trusting the Lord to give them wisdom for each hurdle. However, that is what they signed up for when they said they wanted to open a new ministry location.

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? Proverbs 20:24 (NLT)

Recently, an important bridge was destroyed by the rain, making it impossible to get to the villages where they still needed permission signatures.

After hearing that the emergency bridge was safe to cross on foot, their national co-workers went on a four day trip to the Island and drove over 1,000km backwards and forwards between officials and village leaders trying to track down what was causing delays. It was an epic trip but thankfully, they were able to find out the reason for the delay. Please pray that the paperwork will continue to be processed, otherwise it has the potential to stop them in their tracks.

As a team, they have taken the next most obvious step, which is not too dependent on this paperwork being finished or the bridge, which is to rent a house in the biggest town on the Island with the goal of using it as a guesthouse. It has six rooms so it is big enough for a couple of families or a team of men on a survey trip and space for storage. Starting survey trips from this location, cuts a whole day off the trip.

A couple of weeks ago, Ben and Tabea used the opportunity to go and stay in this new guesthouse for a week and it was nice for the whole family to get a chance to see the Island. Ben’s sister Beth, who visited for four weeks, also joined them on this trip. Beth’s visit was a real highlight for them.

Chatting through her future plans with Ben and Tabea helped Beth to see that they are struggling with similar uncertainties, even though they are further down the ‘missions’ road than her. It comes back to trusting the Lord and taking one step at a time. There will always be a certain level of uncertainty.

Praise Points:

Finding the underlying cause of the paperwork hold-ups.

The emergency bridge is almost finished.

They have a guesthouse to facilitate travel on survey trips.

Beth visited and brightened up the place with her presence.

Prayer Points:

That the paperwork issue is resolved quickly.

Finishing language and culture study (it is becoming a test of character at this point).

For the start of team formation (that will be challenging) as the other families return from home assignment.