Ben and Tabea with their young family, serve in Asia-Pacific, and were visited by Tabea’s parents from Germany. They stayed a whole month and were able to meet with all their co-workers which was a rare and special opportunity. It was a refresher course in German for them and Ben whose first language is English got a fair share of practice translating between two foreign languages! It was a special time for the children too, they even learnt some new board games from Germany.
It has been a couple of years since Ben and some co-workers surveyed a location for about six months. At that time, it didn’t work out, so they had to look for another location. Recently they went there to see how things look now. There used to be a gravel road but since the bridges got washed out it has overgrown again. Hopefully this can be fixed soon as they had to walk about 6km from where the car was parked into the village/camp. They were able to get an update on the situation and it seems that the remaining families in this camp would be very excited to have them live there and learn their language.
Most of the families remaining can speak the national language well, but they still use the tribal language as their main language in everyday communication. A change since they were there a couple of years ago is that the main leader from a church that started outreach there has passed away and so they hope to build new and better relationships with the new church leaders and be able to serve alongside them.
Although they did not ask about it directly, the king and the village leader, offered houses for them to live in and are in favour of an outreach in the tribal language. This is a big deal because they are the people who have the authority to give the permissions to live and serve there.
If they were able to get permission to live in this camp/village, it would be an ideal place to learn the tribal language in a bilingual context, before trying to contact the people living in the mountains who are still monolingual, which might make it possible to approach them slowly in a way that would be more comfortable for them.
Praise points:
• That Tabea’s parents were able to visit at a time when they were not too busy.
• That Ben was able to preach at church last month.
• For the exciting and positive news from this last survey trip.
• That Tabea has been able to finish the first phase of the chronological Bible teaching (Creation to Christ) with their house helper and that she is hungry for more and they have been able to start with New Testament lessons.
Prayer points:
• That the door would stay open for this location and that they might be able to move there within the next four to five months and start learning the language!
• For their co-worker to pass his language evaluation in May.
• That their house helper will find another job when they move house and will continue to deepen her relationship with the Lord and become a witness to those around her.
• For their good friends in Team 1 to know what the next steps are for them as their location has not worked out. Also, for good health as some have/are suffering from suspected dengue fever.