Arielle and Nanny

Nanny, a fellow believer who is 96 years old was a little confused last week as she said she was going to get out of her wheel chair and walk to her home four blocks away.  The only problem is the nursing home is on a country road and there are no blocks.  To say the least she was confused.  However, she did remember that her true home is in heaven and that is never going to change for eternity.  Each weak we have the opportunity to serve God in a nursing home.  It says in Leviticus 19:32, “Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God.  I am the Lord.”

Del helping a lady bowl.

God has given us an opportunity once a week to brighten the days of the elderly.  Even though it is sometimes hard to relate with them, God has called us to take part.  Del plays Wii bowling with the elderly and Arielle usually will watch or talk with the ladies who are watching.  Pray for us that we would have boldness and clarity of thought as we interact with people like Nanny and those who are unbelievers.

Arielle helping a lady bowl

Del and a friend Sam

One of Del’s birthday gifts was to run in a 10K race.  Training, preparing and running the race were all such a good reminder of this race called the Christian life that we are in:

1Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Are you focused on the prize?

Do people even know you are running a race?

Are we focused on the prize that will last forever?

*Pray that we stay focused as we train to take the gospel to those who have never heard.

Arielle has felt great during the pregnancy, only a bit tired at times.  The doctor says that they baby is healthy as far as he can tell.  A pregnancy is 40 weeks long, and this week we are in week 20; we are already half way closer to meeting this new little person!  In case you were wondering, we are waiting to find out if our new little family member is a boy or a girl until the grand entrance…

The babies face from an ultra sound

we like surprises!

This coming week we have to cook all our meals by scratch (which includes bread, noodles, any snacks like crackers or granola bars etc), turn our lights off by nine, not use our microwave, and many other limitations to help prepare us for living in the jungle where this would be the norm.  Thank you for your interest as we prepare to reach the unreached with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Arielle made me cinnamon rolls on my B-Day

God has given me (Del) the privilege of living another year on this earth.  I am now a quarter of a century.  God reminded and encouraged me with a few verses:

Psalms 34:5, “You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.  Each man’s life is but a breath.”

This is sobering and a good reminder of where our focus should be during this short life God has given:

Psalms 63:3-5, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”

BIG cake to celebrate with friends

B-Day sign

Arielle making cinnamon rolls

Arielle labeling

What have we been up to?  We are staying busy with classes, outreach, church, and work detail.  On arriving we were both excited to find out we are on the same work detail crew.  Our crew is called general maintenance/carpentry. We spend 7 ½ hours working on this crew each week.  Arielle has been labeling and organizing screws, nails, and little gadgets.  One day at Church she was looking at a screw holding down a handicap railing and thought, “Hmmm that looks like tapcon.”  It was a rather amusing moment as she would have preciously never thought of such a thing.

Finished Labels

Del has been helping out with remodeling a farm house.  His main job is demolition and clean up.  This crew has been a nice change from last semester.  We are both learning and acquiring new skills and love it!

Del's work boots

You may still be wondering what is this “Dobu” you are talking about?

Dobu is a mock culture that we enter into a couple times a week.  It is during these times that we build a relationship with a Dobu man.  This Dobu man is actually one of our teachers who dresses up and gives us a simulation of what we could possible run into when we are living in a tribe.  After each session with our Dobu language helper we go back to our small group and discuss the good and bad of what happened.  This discussion time is run by a teacher who watches us interacted with the Dobu man and then helps us debrief after we have come back from Dobu land.

This class has presented real issues to wrestle with of which we are going to need an answer to when we are in a tribe.  We praise God for this excellent training we are receiving!

picture of campus grounds

We are thankful to God for his creation all around us!

Psalms 19:1-4 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

Pizza on Friday night!

This is one tradition that both Arielle and I experienced growing up and one we want to bring with when we go overseas.  It is homemade pizza with a whole wheat crust…delicious!  Imagine you are going overseas, what family traditions would travel with you?  We would love to hear about them.

Del and Arielle holding primer

We are taking a class called Literacy. In this class we are learning how to teach some one how to read that has previously never read their own language. It is a task that looks easy at first until you start to find out all the details and exceptions that need to be taken into consideration. We had the privilege of practicing writing a primer with Melanesian Pidgin. We only wrote eight pages for the first primer that normally would have 28 pages. But it was good, fun, hands on practice. All together when we teach this to tribal people there would be 4 primers. God is preparing us to, Lord willing, one day teach tribal people how to read God’s word. This is the ultimate goal in teaching literacy, and it is a thrilling thought!

Close up of primer

A page from in side the primer