A view from the field.

Hello there, I know it has been a while since I have written, but allow me to share my heart with you. Let me start by saying a sincere thank you for all your prayers. Those of you that have spent some time overseas, especially in Africa, have an idea of the struggles that we can/do face on a daily basis. The language is different and no matter how well you study and learn it, it STILL is not your language and you will have days that all you want to do is find other Americans and hear nothing but your heart language; English. Then there are the cultural differences, and these involve Religious cultural differences as well. No matter how well you study the differences and TRY not to make any mistakes, you still will. And you will have, almost daily, things happen that make you say “Why in the world are they doing this that a way?!?!” All you can do some times is just bite your tongue and just say that this is NOT America, and there ways are not always wrong. If you watch close enough you might even learn something new or a new way to do things. The physical climate here can also be brutal. While the temps here are similar to what we knew in the States, back home we had air conditioning…EVERYWHERE! Here you have it in some of the big French stores and some government buildings and doctors offices, and if you are lucky your car has it and it works well. So what is missing from that list? That’s right…IN OUR HOUSE!! None of the houses here have it in every room, and those that do have A.C., only have it in the bedrooms. Our house you ask…NONE, only LOTS of fans!! So when the heat rises, we sweat!! Then of course there is the reliability of the electricity here. I had to stop typing this in mid paragraph because the electricity went out…again! Now for the last 2 days our phone has been out. And everyday the phone company says in the morning they will come out in the afternoon, only to change that in the afternoon and say in the morning. We will see.

These are all facts of life for living overseas for anyone. But on top of all that, we as believers have the added stress and pressure of the daily and constant spiritual struggles to deal with. While I know that there are these battles in America, they are NOTHING like what you face when you are in the enemies territory. They tag team with all the other stressors at times to make them that much worse. Sometimes it is just the little things here that can affect you in big ways. Sometimes it is some of the issues and personal things you face in America, only here, well as the mission board truly says “What bugs you in America will buffalo you overseas.” The anger, tension, depression, loneliness, fear, withdrawal or whatever else is dealt with back home comes up and can bite you in the hinny and REALY effect you and your work here.

All of this is where YOU come in. You are our support network, and without you, we would NOT stay here!! We can NEVER say that enough nor explain everything we deal with on a constant basis for you to get the full impact that your prayers have on and for us. You are part of our life line and we thank God for you OFTEN. And we pray for a lot of you by name as God lays you on our hearts, which He does OFTEN. So together we are each others support system and for that, I am TRULY grateful!!!! So keep the prayers and words of encouragement coming!!