NTM

Dear Friends and Family;

I intended to write an update a few weeks ago, letting you know that we made it home safely from our trip to get our Visa’s renewed.  Well, we did make it home safely, and actually a trip that I was dreading turned out to be just what our family needed after a busy summer of painting our house and keeping up with our other responsibilities!  The kids were great travelers with a little help from anti-motion pills .  We frequently stopped at beaches along the way, and once we arrived in Central Sulawesi our paperwork was completed ahead of schedule with no problems.  We also had the opportunity to see and meet other missionaries that we had either never met, or hadn’t seen in a while.  I was even able to visit quite a bit with other homeschooling moms, and hopefully encourage them a bit.  We made the trip home in two long days rather than the three it took to get down there.  Somehow receiving news that our dog had puppies encouraged the kids to need less breaks and to “keep on keeping on”.  So now the kids and I are set with visa’s for another year and Greg has a 5 year visa!

Once we got home I jumped into preparing for the new school year, and we started on August 10th.  I have six students this year,  one Kindergartener, one 2nd grader, a third grader, 4th grader and two 5th graders!  August also brought a whirlwind of birthdays (Nate turned 11 and Hannah, 9) and Greg and I also celebrated our 12th anniversary.  It was busy and fun month, but I am sure you can understand why we are just now getting a letter out

Greg has been busy with recording and editing material to be used for analyzing our tribal language, as well as dealing with our well that went dry, and a testy water pump.  He is planning a trip interior in the middle of the month and will be gone for 3 weeks or so.  Pray for him, his traveling mercies, and for me as I am home with more than a full plate.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us, for your encouragement and for your partnership in reaching the Buru people for Christ.

In Him;
Greg and Pam Berglund

Dear friends and family;

It hasn’t been too long since our last update, but we have some new developments and would love your prayers for us during the next couple of weeks.

On the ministry front:  One of the families on our team is headed back into the tribe today along with one of the young men who came out for our regional missions conference and some small engine repair training.  Please pray for their traveling mercies.  They will be on boats and in transit for the next week.  They are leaving their 12 year old son here in town to go to school, but are blessed to have his aunt and uncle living with him keeping an eye out for him.  This is a real answer to prayer for them.

I (Pam) am gearing up for school to start, I will have two extra kids this year so we have been spending alot of time planning and rearranging and figuring out how we are going to fit 6 desks and chairs in the little space (half of our family room) that we use for school.  It will be tight, and eventually we hope to add on a classroom, but for now we will make it work.  Please pray for the kids and I as we start school the 2nd week in August.  I will have 6 students in 5 different grades, so I am going to be very busy along with being a wife and mom

Caleb had his second birthday last week!  He is a healthy 32 pounds.  He is talking up a storm too, starting to put phrases together, in three languages.  I feel so blessed.  I know I should “get over it” but every little milestone he crosses I just praise God for what He has brought him through.  That image of him lying in the hospital with Doctors working to get his heart started and get him breathing again are forever burned into my mind, and it somehow makes him sweeter and cuter than he already is .  I included a few pictures below of Caleb and Katie on the boat Greg made for Caleb for his birthday, and of Caleb and his birthday cake.  Please don’t laugh at the cake.  Remember it is very hot and “melty” here, and there is no such thing as ready-made frosting or icing!

We finished painting the inside of our house, along with staining all the windows, doors and ceilings!  It was a huge job but it looks so bright and fresh in here.  The kids are enjoying their new “themed” rooms.  Things seem to snowball when you are working on finishing a house, and Greg has been more than patient when he hears the words, “We might as well do . . . . while we are at it”  But I think we are all ready for a break now!

Now for the main reason I am writing this little update!  It is time again for our visa renewals.  Greg will be getting a 5 year renewal this time, and the rest of us will be getting a one year renewal. This means we will all have to take a trip to the center of the island we are on in order to process our paperwork.  This is a LONG, grueling 3 day trip by car.  We are trying to think of it as a road trip, mini-vacation, since we haven’t done much in the way of vacation lately, but the truth is I am scared to death of the thought of 5 whiny, tired, car sick kids stuck in the car for 3 days of narrow, windy,  less that ideal roads (with no rest areas, playgrounds, and McDonalds to break up the trip).  So pray for us if the Lord brings us to mind.  (Especially that mommy can keep a positive out look on things, and we can face this as an adventure rather than a trial   But also that the kids won’t get carsick.  Nate, especially, gets car sick just driving into town.  We should be gone about two weeks (a week of travel and a week there doing paperwork.)  Please also pray for the finances for this trip, along with the expenses of renewing 7 visas.  Greg’s will be like paying for 5 years of visa’s all at once!

Thanks you so much for taking the time to read this update, and for continuing to hold us up in prayer.  We appreciate each of you so much, your friendship, support, and especially your prayers!

In Him;
Greg and Pam Berglund