The Cost

We have had two wonderful days of training. Our students are really making progress in understanding the concepts of inductive bible study and the concept of context. We were so pleased with their answers to the home work we gave them to study on the book of Jonah. What a blessing it has been to me to see the gigantic progress since the first time I came 2 years ago. One pastor illustrates the change. He told us at lunch today that he used to go to church on Sunday morning and open his bible to decide what to preach on. Now he realizes that he actually has to study to see what God says in His word and then prepare a sermon on that to give to his people. Others have told us that they are starting to notice how some pastors are preaching passages out of context and making all sorts of errors. They really want to learn how to be faithful to the Word. I cannot tell you how exciting it is to me to see these changes and the sparkle in their eyes as they gain new insights and new skills.

The discussions during the training are lively and the men have a great time critiquing one another in good-natured bantering. They are not at all afraid of being corrected. The really have humble teachable hearts. More than once we have seen the Lord intervene with the timing of questions, etc. to help move the learning process forward. After each session the men continue discussing the ideas in small groups during the breaks. In the evenings they study hard for the next day.

My two training partners, Eric and Brad have been excellent to work with. We are all so different but share the same passion to see our students grow in the Word and in their ability to communicate it. It’s been fun to have a good team pressing forward toward the same goal.

We are concerned with one major aspect of the training process. None of the men we trained last August actually took what they learned and passed it on to other pastors. It is essential that they do this if all the pastors in the denomination are going to learn to study and teach the word effectively. We are really stressing the need to equip others with what they are learning. We will be making some recommendations to the leadership about how they can press this forward. I especially ask for your prayers on this issue.

This has been a very hard trip physically. We have battled the heat, I have some strange rash that started on my feet and gradually worked its way up my back (praise the Lord it doesn’t bother me much), we have had some stomach upset from the food, and sleeping is difficult with a poor ceiling fan, 85 degree nights, and 60 noisy young people staying in our guest house. Edie has had to teach the women in the afternoon when they are all tired and have to sit mostly in the sun. I could go on. I do not say this as a complaint, although sometimes I do complain. On the way home tonight with 4 of us crammed into a tuktuk with wet seats from the rain, I thought about all this. I just want you to know that it is challenging doing this work. We think it is more than well worth the effort and will be happy to come back again in August. But it does take a toll and we covet your prayers and encouragement as we persevere. We are certain of the Lord’s help, “you helping us with your prayers” (2 Cor. 1:10-11). I thought as we rode along that I am happy that it “costs” us something to serve the Lord. What a privilege to do something that requires a little bit of suffering to serve Christ and His church. It doesn’t really compare with what our brothers and sisters here pay but it is our small contribution. Thanks for helping us.

Al

Hot & Humid in Kenya

We just returned from preaching at a village church for Sunday service. The service began at 10:30 and I began preaching at noon. The people in the small church were so attentive and appreciative. We spent the afternoon with the pastor talking about ministry and scripture. It was a great day.

This last week has been very fruitful. We had a good training time with Eric, a ReachGlobal staff person from Dar Es Salaam, and Daniel, the bishop of our partner churches here, who we were introducing to the material we will use this next week with the equippers we are training. It is so good to just study the bible together with other godly men. Eric has been a great blessing. He is younger than us and full of energy and enthusiasm. He has a great heart to train pastors so we look forward to partnering with him in the future. Daniel is such a godly and humble leader. We really enjoy working with him as well. Brad, my training partner, and I were able to work out some of the bugs in our training as we worked with Eric and Daniel. Edie was a great help to us in letting us know what areas were unclear to her and might then also be to the pastors. We can’t wait to see the other pastors tomorrow and to renew our relationships.

We continue to battle with the heat and humidity. It gets down to about 85 at night in our room so it is a challenge to sleep well. A large group is here in the guest house tonight so it also very noisy. Thank the Lord for earplugs!

Pray for us as we begin a week of intense training with the pastors. Pray that we will purpose to exalt Christ as we give them skills for understanding the word for themselves. Pray that the men will not grow weary with the long hours of learning. Pray that Edie will be able to touch the hearts of the women with God’s word and practical applications. Al is contending with a scratchy throat so needs the Lord’s healing hand. We ask you to lift him up with that as well.

Al & Edie

Good Morning from Kilifi!

Good Morning from Kilifi, Kenya! It is hot and humid and our prayer yesterday was that we will survive this shocking change. Our praise today is that we have made it through the night and are feeling relatively good today. I know the Lord’s grace is with us because we have a day to regroup and prepare for the good times ahead. We are here at the same guesthouse we have stayed in for the last 2 times in Kenya. We were greeted so warmly by the staff here and it felt like we aren’t so far from home after all.

For a note of God’s continual presence with us and His interest in seeing to the work He has for us, I must tell you of our first miracle. We were in London, had a few hours of catch up sleep and then we were to meet up with Brad, our partner for this training trip. He and his wife came a few days earlier to celebrate their anniversary. We were supposed to call them to set an exact time to meet in London. But it turns out that the apartment they were staying at listed the wrong number on their site so we had no way to connect with them. We had only two options: find their apartment according to the address or go with what he and Al had talked about; meeting at the Paddington station (underground rail system). We found their apartment but had no way of knowing which room was theirs, so we decided to go back to the station and look around. We had prayed that God would somehow join us together but by now that prayer seemed a long ways off and “nigh to impossible”. We decided to walk around the station to see if there was another entrance when lo and behold we ran into each other on the crowded sidewalk! They had given up, gone to eat and then said they would try one more time. I thought, "only believers could have a shred of hope in a situation like that". But really our hope has much more substance than that. To consider the fact that our God who is Lord over all, holds everything together and created everything hears our prayers from anyplace in the universe and answers such a thing as “make it possible to find our friends in London” is amazing to consider. It is beyond my understanding and so we simply praise our wonderful God and trust Him for the days ahead and what He intends to do in the hearts of all of us. More miracles to come!

We didn’t have time to give a report on Al’s trip to Venezuela before we left. The trip went very well and his teaching was well received and stirred a lot of discussion. Al met a ReachGlobal missionary there who may make some connections for future training in Latin America. I (Edie) met Al in Minneapolis after he returned so we could attend our team meetings. Al’s leadership of our Global Training Team is going to take more time in the future so we are trying to figure out how to prioritize our schedule. Thanks for helping us through your prayers.

Final report from India

I apologize for not keeping up the reports for the blog. Between internet problems and a very hectic schedule, I have been unable to write. The conference went well in Ahmadabad after the team finally arrived. Everyone’s teaching was well received and at the end several pastors and women were asked to give testimony about what they had learned and how the conference had affected them. Each one mentioned several specific things they had learned from the various teachers, which showed how well they had paid attention. Several mentioned my teaching on marriage and one leader even said he had been struggling in his marriage and asked the whole congregation for prayer that he might implement what he had learned. It is very unusual for any of them to mention such private things and to do so in such an emotional way. I have committed to pray for him and his wife.

I had some good meetings with the leaders of the ministry here about the training network we are creating. They are all beginning to understand the concept and are getting excited about the project. Over the next several months they will be prayerfully choosing the initial master trainers that we will train to start the program. Pray for them that they will choose the best candidates for this position. Much work needs to be accomplished on their end and mine but we hope to get started with the training before the end of the year.

We concluded the conference with a time of simple carnival games for the slum kids who had been coming for the children’s program. They loaded about 130 kids in the back of a truck and brought them each day. The kids were super well behaved, a real testimony to the work that has been accomplished in their lives. Their changed lives is what is leading many of their parents to Christ. It was fun to see them so joyful with each little game we created for them.

We got up about 4:30 on Sunday morning and travelled all day to Goa, a more tropical area on the West coast of India. We were all quite tired by the time we got here. It is very warm and beautiful here and a good place to refresh and debrief from the conference. I have enjoyed getting to know the other team members during this time.

Tomorrow we get up at 3:30 to go to the airport for the trip back. I have a 12 hour layover in Delhi, an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam and a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. Altogether I think it will be about 52 hours before I am home in Fort Dodge. Pray for my stamina and patience.

Al

Editors note: My Dad will be arriving home sometime on Thursday evening, the 13th.

Pictures from India

The pictures are: The slum houses, the pastor and family serving there, and a typical India intersection experience.

An Interesting Day

Today was an interesting day as we traveled across the city to a slum area where the ministry here, Logos Holistic Ministries, is doing some work. They just built a ministry center and we helped dedicate it. The building is quite small, I think they said 15 by 30. The pastor working there will live in this building as well as use it for ministry to the community. Actually it is bigger than the allotted 10 by 12 homes the government has built for the poor residents. The immediate area houses 20,000 people and the nearby area another 30,000. The pastor started this ministry about 5 years ago and was visiting once or twice a week. They felt that the Lord was telling them to move to the location so that they could better identify with the community. They lived in one of the small houses for three years and have seen real growth in the effort to reach these people. The people were at first very resistant to having them there but they have won them with their love and persistence. They now work with 2,000 children, and as the kids come to understand the message they go home and share with their families. This is just another example of the good work God is doing in India.

Tomorrow the training starts and the team from Valley will be a day late because their flight from Chicago was cancelled. So I might be doing a lot more teaching tomorrow than I expected. But this type of thing often happens and the Lord always helps us through. My internet access is sketchy but I will try to give updates as I can. Thanks for praying for me.

Al

A New Year in India

I arrived here in Ahmadabad, India around 10 in the morning on Sunday. I left early Friday morning from Ft. Dodge and somehow I feel I lost a day in there somewhere. Actually it is 11 ½ hours different, so I lost only ½ day. The trip is always grueling and this one was no different. But I am glad to be here and greatly enjoyed seeing Wilson and Nish’s bright smiles as they greeted me at the airport. I spent about 7 hours overnight in the Delhi airport and it was very cold, around 45 degrees; they do not heat the place. I had not expected that and had some trouble staying warm. Actually it is supposed to be in the 70’s with lows around 50 all week which is a bit cooler than I had expected. I hope I stay warm enough in the summer clothes I brought.

This week I am teaching on taking heed to your doctrine, from I Tim 4. I am reminded of the need to set our minds on the truth and to always be checking what we believe against the Word of God. It is so easy to casually drift in subtle ways away from the truth ,and when we do we always do so to our peril. I am so thankful for the Word and its constant correction in our lives. Pray for me to clearly teach these dear men from that very Word.

Al