And we are off! Thank you for your prayers and support!
If all goes well, we will arrive in Oregon at 5am EST Thursday. After spending a few days there, I will arrive in Boston Tuesday night.
Please pray for safe travels and a smooth transition back to the USA.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Prayer for the Partnership
As this is our final week here in Asia, we want to spend time praying for the partnership that we have spent the last seven months exploring and working to develop. As we have met with more and more network pastors and leaders, it has been exciting to dream about what this partnership may look like in the coming years! We do not yet know how it will develop, but we pray that leaders on both sides of the world will continue to follow God's leading in the growth of this joint network of churches.
Please join us as we pray for the network, the pastors and leaders, and for continued direction in how to best reach this country with the amazing news about Jesus.
Please join us as we pray for the network, the pastors and leaders, and for continued direction in how to best reach this country with the amazing news about Jesus.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Prayer Week Three
The theme for prayer this week centers around unity, both for the church and the country as a whole.
The country is divided into many different ethnic groups who each have a different state or region. There has traditionally been tension between these groups ranging from discrimination to all-out war. This is still the case today: there is fighting going on in at least two different parts of the country, and many minority groups are looked down upon or actively persecuted by the government and society.
The churches we have visited seem to be leading the way to accept members from all ethnic groups. However, there often appears to be a hesitation to work together with other believers. Our prayer for the church is that they would grow in humility and enthusiasm for spreading the gospel with their fellow Christians. There are many ways God's truth might advance in this country if only His people learn to come together as one body.
The country is divided into many different ethnic groups who each have a different state or region. There has traditionally been tension between these groups ranging from discrimination to all-out war. This is still the case today: there is fighting going on in at least two different parts of the country, and many minority groups are looked down upon or actively persecuted by the government and society.
The churches we have visited seem to be leading the way to accept members from all ethnic groups. However, there often appears to be a hesitation to work together with other believers. Our prayer for the church is that they would grow in humility and enthusiasm for spreading the gospel with their fellow Christians. There are many ways God's truth might advance in this country if only His people learn to come together as one body.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Another Week of Prayer
This week's prayer topic here in Asia is for the health and education of the people. There is limited access to both of these necessities.
The number of doctors compared to population is quite low here. (According to The World Bank website, the count in 2012 was one nurse per 1,000 people and about 0.6 doctors per 1,000 people.) Approximately half of the population will get diabetes during their lifetime. Health education appears to be on the rise, but has a long way to go.
This is the case with education in general. In the rural areas, many villages do not have their own schools past a certain grade. So if a child wants an education, he or she must travel to another town or live away from their family in a monastery or children's home. In the places where government schools are present, corruption is also present: teachers are not paid a livable wage and therefore charge extra tuition for the information necessary to pass each grade. Many public universities offer distance learning degrees where a student will study for two to three weeks, have a week of testing, and then earn a bachelor's degree. This satisfies the population's demand for accessible education while producing college "graduates" who are essentially uneducated.
Please join us this week as we pray for these broken systems, that God would heal and bless the people of this nation and that His followers would use every opportunity to do good.
The number of doctors compared to population is quite low here. (According to The World Bank website, the count in 2012 was one nurse per 1,000 people and about 0.6 doctors per 1,000 people.) Approximately half of the population will get diabetes during their lifetime. Health education appears to be on the rise, but has a long way to go.
This is the case with education in general. In the rural areas, many villages do not have their own schools past a certain grade. So if a child wants an education, he or she must travel to another town or live away from their family in a monastery or children's home. In the places where government schools are present, corruption is also present: teachers are not paid a livable wage and therefore charge extra tuition for the information necessary to pass each grade. Many public universities offer distance learning degrees where a student will study for two to three weeks, have a week of testing, and then earn a bachelor's degree. This satisfies the population's demand for accessible education while producing college "graduates" who are essentially uneducated.
Please join us this week as we pray for these broken systems, that God would heal and bless the people of this nation and that His followers would use every opportunity to do good.
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