Unusual has been a theme for Sasch, Charissa and family this year.
They made the decision to move the kids’ ministry (Sunday school) from Sunday morning to Saturday afternoon. It only took a few weeks to adjust and has encouraged the kids to also show up for the church meetings. Several new ladies also joined the team and dove into teaching, a wonderful blessing!
They also officially opened a kids’ ministry in their dorm ministry location. Their teammate helped kick that off and most of the teaching and leading is being done by the older girls who live at the dorm and nearby. Charissa now needs to prepare two lessons or more per week! The goal is to have all lessons checked and formatted to make things easier to distribute in the future.
Mid January Sasch headed off to a two-week translation workshop on another island! Partway through he was joined by his parents, brother and sister-in-law. Once the workshop was over they accompanied him home for a week before they all headed out to town for a much-needed holiday. Their visit was a lot of fun and was a great opportunity for them to see and experience life in Asia-Pacific. In June they received more visitors, this time Charissa’s parents. When they left, Sasch and Charissa were able to have a short three night trip by themselves, the first time in ages!
Between the two visits from family their lives didn’t slow down. For Good Friday and Easter the kids practiced a mini drama which they incorporated into the services.
The next day they headed to the coast and hopped on the mission plane to go to another island for their two oldest boys to attend a “Third Culture Kids” TCK camp. Sasch also went along and helped out. The younger kids got to experience holiday Bible club at the same time, and while sometimes overwhelming, it was a good experience for all.
Then they rushed back home and immediately set up for a translation check! This time the translation consultant was able to do the check remotely. The book of Mark is nearly ready for print.
Sasch’s main translation helper had the opportunity to receive some massage therapy. He has been partially paralyzed for six years now after a bad fall from a tall tree. Thankfully, the therapy is showing some good progress and he has regained some mobility for the first time since the incident! However, he is still not back in the village, which means that Sasch’s translation routine has been interrupted temporarily.
Sasch has been taking a six-year backlog of recorded sermons, editing them and putting them online so they will be accessible. They hope this will eventually prove to be a valuable resource for all the believers, and maybe even a tool for evangelism in the long run.
Charissa and some local ladies continue to meet weekly and several of older girls have joined as well. They are currently studying through 1 John, which has been a new experience for Charissa, and a big blessing for all of them.
Two other big things have been happening this year that are ongoing and need urgent prayer:
1. Several months ago, three brothers and another man from their village were accused of a murder. While they maintain their innocence, no actual evidence of guilt has been produced, and they have not yet been to trial, they have been held as suspects, and most recently transferred to prison. Pray for these men. One is a believer, the others are not. Pray that this hard experience will lead them all to faith. Pray for truth and justice. Pray for the father of the three brothers, who lost his wife last year and is not a believer, he is taking this situation very hard.
2. Progress is finally being made towards reopening their airstrip! Recently, a meeting was held with ‘all’ the interested parties, and the overall conclusion was favourable. Now they are waiting for them to meet again to discuss particulars. Pray for the parties to be reasonable and fair as far as price and terms, and that the process of getting the airstrip reopened will be able to get started soon. Pray for funds, as it will definitely cost more than the team has available at the moment.