Trip to Kenya

I arrived in Kenya on Sunday morning 12/3 around 2 am and got to bed around 3. We were up at 8 am and off to preach at a local church. It was quite a switch to go from -2 to 88 and humid. I am trying it adjust. I imagine 88 degrees sounds good to most of you right now, but after a full day of training in the sauna-like conditions I am pretty wrung out. Yesterday I came down with respiratory problems probably from either allergies to something in the air here or due to a cold. Either way it will make things a bit more challenging.

Our first day of training went well, although 5 of the 12 did not make it. Most of those there had worked pretty hard on their study of Colossians. We did a review of some of the tools and worked through an overview of the book. Everyone finally arrived and the students began preaching yesterday, the second day. I was overjoyed and pleasantly surprised by how well they did. Everyone had made significant improvement and handled their text quite well. I think back to where these guys were just a couple of years ago before we began training them. The growth in their ability to understand and teach the message of the text is simply amazing. Praise The Lord! This is a real confirmation of our training program to produce significant results over time. 

That is the good part. On the other hand I am finding that few of the other pastors in the denomination have taken full advantage of the training as it has been handed down to them. Only 3 have followed through on the whole program. The leadership and organization of the denomination is just not strong enough to overcome all the issues that keeps pastors from being involved. I am not sure what the solutions are here, but we will have to think carefully about this in the future with other groups we work with.

Thank you for your prayers,

Al

Pictures From Our Recent Trip

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to India & Thailand.  In order: a meal in S. India, Al training in S. India, the students in S. India, and a meal with our friends the Callahans, who are ReachGlobal missionaries in Thailand.

 

Home From Travels

We have been home for almost a week and are just starting to get adjusted to the Midwestern time zone. Edie and I enjoyed a couple of down days in S. Thailand. We were so thankful for that time to relax before we came home and jumped into our work again. We rode a bus almost 4 hours south of Bangkok to a hotel that we knew little about. It turned out to be just what we wanted. Nice but quiet and off the beaten path, yet still only a 5 minute walk to the beach. It had rained hard there the night before we arrived and there was water everywhere. They got just the outer ring of the hurricane that hit the Philippines which was hundreds of miles away. The storm surge there was high enough to carry weeds, etc., over the road that runs along the beach and almost all the way up to our hotel, probably 1/4 mile from the beach. I cannot imagine how bad it was in the Philippines.  

We rode a scooter around the area on the second day and had a great time. It was really beautiful and restful for us, just what we wanted. We had good times with the Lord and with each other without the pressure of being prepared for the next day. On the third day around noon we headed back to Bangkok to ready ourselves for the long trip home. In the hotel that evening Edie was trying to get the lamp on her side of the bed to work and got shocked, and tipped the lamp over and it fell on her foot. Her big toe took the blow and she was hobbled all the way home. We laughed as I pushed her around Minneapolis airport in a wheelchair once again because of the pain of all the walking we had to do. We reflected on how these "minor" afflictions are nothing compared to the privilege of serving Christ in the way He has called us. 

Al

Wrapping up in Thailand

It has been a very interesting week here in Thailand. Edie and I both find it to be very pleasant and enjoyable to be here so that has been great. Our missionary friends and hosts the Callahan's have been super as usual. We really love them. But, there have been some challenges also. On the first day of training I discovered that none of the students had completed their pre-assignments because they were never handed out. It is too hard to distribute them to the men because they all live in rather remote areas of the mountains. We hope to solve that by passing out the assignments for the next workshop tomorrow.  

In addition only about half of the men had passed the training on to others. It is one of the conditions of our training that they will all pass the training on to other pastors. We had a discussion together about that and I was able to be straight forward about our policy and the reasons for it, but at the same time being gracious and gentle. I think it turned out to be a good time for them to really think about God's calling on them to be trainers and the importance of the task. I emphasized their need to train others throughout the week. This afternoon, Thursday, they had a planning meeting and they all worked together in groups to make plans to do trainings in their areas. They all seemed committed to the task and we prayed for each training group. It was a special time for me to see them express that commitment and desire.  

It has been quite a learning experience for me this week. Lahu, their native language, is quite different than English and is much more simple. The structure, subject, predicate, etc., is backwards to ours but they also often do not speak in complete sentences, leaving out verbs or subjects completely sometimes.  "Go store" leaves you wondering if they are going, they already went, you are going or if it is a question. "Me store" is also possible but seems inexplicable to us. They must have some kind of contextual clues or body language to give meaning because it all makes sense to them. Anyway, it is hard to talk about studying scripture when it is difficult for them to even tell you what some phrases mean or when they do not have a word at all for some concepts. Often when they are faced with that they substitute a Thai word which makes it even more complex. In addition their bible is a translation of the Good News bible which is a poor version in English. Some of them use a Thai bible, which is excellent, but then they discuss it in Lahu. I think you can get the picture. But even with all of that the Lord has done a good work this week and they have made good progress in learning how to study and in getting excited about learning to study. I have learned by necessity some new ways to explain concepts and tools that will help me in future settings. God is really demonstrating His desire for them to learn and teach His people properly His Word.

It has been a long three weeks since we left home with lots of heat and long days. It is not as hot here but much more humid. We have had our ups and downs but are satisfied with what has been accomplished. We have enjoyed our brethren in each location. They have all become quite dear to us, and us to them. But we are getting tired and it is time to come home. Thankfully we planned a couple of days in Southern Thailand near a beach for some rest and recoup before we come home and hit the ground running. We are looking forward to a bit of time off and some good time together alone. We will let you know how that goes in a few days. 

Blessings, 

Al

From India to Thailand

Friday, November 1: We are beginning our journey out of India and on to Thailand. How does one describe India; old and new, ancient and modern, ornate and shabby, dirty, unkempt, and congested, people and animals together everywhere, religious, traditional, changing but oh so slowly, distinctive, spicy food and colorful clothing. God in his infinite wisdom at the fullness of time is intruding into this country with truth, breaking the bonds of slavery and setting people free. By his grace he has brought us here and given us a dear family of believers to minister with and to. It is amazing all he can do by bringing together people of different nations and tongues to accomplish his purposes for India. We are in awe of the God we serve and the Spirit who makes us one.

We never quite know the plan until it happens. Currently our flight from Ahmadabad is postponed for awhile. We have tickets to fly to Bangkok from Mumbai early tomorrow morning. We will see.  Thank you for your prayers, we have "handled" the couple of free days well especially since Nish and Pinky have been excellent tour guides  for us. It has also been a blessing to have Steve and Eric with us as well. We are now looking forward to being with our missionary friends the Callahans, and getting to know the Lahu pastors better in Thailand.

Edie

Good Days & Other Days

Time has gotten away from me, it has been a week since I last wrote. We finished well in S. India. Thursday morning we spent an hour of our training time going over all the places these men are training and talking strategy about the future. They now say that they are training in 35 different locations and have 9 more in the planning stage. One man continues to talk about needing a training center and more funds to carry out the trainings since they are footing the bill for all the trainings they are doing. I had a frank discussion with them about our financial policies and how I thought they should proceed with the resources they have. One man said that I had an American perspective on all that and I agreed but reminded him of the scriptures we have looked at previously concerning finances and that perhaps I also had a biblical perspective. He quickly saw my point. I talked about how through multiplication they could do more training while doing less themselves. They are just beginning to get that concept in practice. All in all it was a very good discussion. They have a big vision but need guidance to carry it out well in a non dependent way.

As well as the training went in S. India it went in a different direction here in N. India. Only a few of the students had done their pre-assignments so they were not well prepared. I was quite surprised since they had done well in the past. I am not sure what the problem was. They had a meeting to talk about it after we left for the day and I am told they were quite repentant and made commitments to do better in the future. But it still meant we had to train with the students poorly prepared. This is the way ministry goes. Sometimes it is great and sometimes not. But God is gracious. I had to remember all the times the Lord has been gracious concerning my inexcusable failures. Overall, I think that we accomplished a lot in spite of the setbacks. We made significant progress in understanding how to preach the Psalms. The students are going home with renewed commitments and a fresh look at the grace of God.  

We had planned to do a conference with the Church of North India pastors starting tomorrow. But last week a major lawsuit by one of the constituent groups within the CNI was settled, after decades of fighting. The small group took many of the church buildings and parsonages and many pastors were put out in the street. The whole denomination is in turmoil. So, the conference was canceled. We now have 3 days to kill until we travel on to Thailand. We do not understand but as usual we just follow what the Lord provides.  

Al