Updates
Life.
This was our April update. I wrote this a few weeks ago, and before I had a chance to send it out a massive windstorm from the South came through and blew over our communications tower. The “frio” brought almost a week of delightfully cooler weather – in the 60’s and 70’s, but we’ve been without Internet since then. So, on top of the many things on Vann’s plate to finish in less than a month, he now also has to rebuild our tower, which is going to cost a pretty penny. Whenever it is all raised and fixed, we’ll send this post out. As my daddy would so often say, “This didn’t come as a surprise to God”. We trust that He is in control!
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Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me,” Jn. 14:6
This life can be so busy, so full of work and worry, and so distracting from the real life; the Life that we have in Jesus. The one in which he calls us to commune with Him while we’re in our busy. The one in which we have joy and strength abounding if we abide, and stay connected to the Life.
It’s all of the little things, the many little things that make up our busy life right now. Building and painting windows and doors, installing siding, doing paperwork for driver’s licenses, and imports, State apostilles for Immigrations, dinners and visits with saints and seeking souls. Here are some of the little things that have taken up the fleeting time of this past month.
Windows. There are 27 sliding windows in this mission lodge, with two sashes apiece in order to open by sliding them vertically. Each sash is double paned with a grate of steel sandwiched between the panes of glass. The process to make each window is to cut the ½” solid square steel to length, mill notches in it where the bars will cross, weld the joints, grind the welds smooth, bondo the open crevices, sand the whole grate, paint it with primer, install it into the wooden sash frame that gets glued and doweled together, then sanded and primed as well. Once it’s all well painted then it’s ready for the glass to be installed with silicone on both sides of the steel grate in an air-conditioned room so the air that gets trapped between the glass is dry. Then, with a bit of molding to secure the glass, it’s ready to install in the wall with all of it’s framing that’s been milled with grooves for the slides, and painted… 54 times. I will always be grateful for the light that these windows will let in!
The heavy, solid ironwood doors are another long and arduous process altogether, but these will not be able to be kicked in, or shot through, for that matter. They each weigh well over two hundred pounds apiece.
The siding is being installed by a two man crew that we’ve hired to help us progress - which works great when they show up. They won’t come if it’s raining, or if it looks like it might rain. That’s just the way things roll here in the rainforest, when it rains for half of the year straight. When they are here, they work hard. Vann also has the opportunity to teach them and disciple them while he works with them. He has been focused on one guy in particular, whose name is Alexis. He began to attend our church, and has helped many times in the past with our church camps here at Petra. He seems very willing to learn, and we are hoping to leave the security of the mission base in his hands while we’re gone this summer.
Paperwork takes Way. Too. Much. Time. In this blessed country. Especially when we live an hour from town, or a plane ride to the capitol where there is the one and only Interpol office, and authorized document translator in the entire country. Truly, just to stay legal here takes a ridiculous amount of effort and time and money. To renew Vann’s driver’s license, it only took five separate trips into town over the course of two weeks. The process also included a psych exam and bringing the notary’s assistant out to our house to prove that we live here. Really, an electric bill with our name on it isn’t enough proof. This last week we just had to leave our kids with some friends who are like family, and hop on a plane for Lima for a less-than-24-hour trip to Interpol. Again. The first papers from Interpol (from Feb.) were actually still good through August, except for the fact that Immigrations messed up, and stamped them, so they aren’t valid anymore… Sigh. So, here we go again, and all to try to get permanent residence in this fine country. But after it’s all been said, and we’ve done everything and more than they’ve asked us to do, it still might not work. We are the first missionaries to try to change our visas to permanent ones through the new laws, so no one here knows exactly what they’re doing (surprise!). Please, please help us pray this through! We have less than a month before we leave for furlough, and we are trusting that God will work a miracle!
Just in case you thought that a drive into town was a normal experience….
We just got some news about the son of friends of ours having been in a motorcycle accident this week. He has severely injured his foot. His name is Harry Jr. if you would remember to pray for him please. As you can imagine, the medical care available to him here is sub par.
Ethan turned 12 this month! A bunch of our expat community came out to help him celebrate his birthday by playing a fabulous game of American Baseball! He loves this sport that he never gets to play. This kid… He feels deeply, and loves Jesus and his family so much. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for him!
Vann has passed another kidney stone since you heard from us last month. He is wearing himself to the bone, and he is stressed to the max. When he gets so worn down, the mono from his youth flares up leaving him even more depleted. Please pray for him.
The children and I are all passing around a gnarly flu virus that comes with fevers that last two weeks. We’ll eventually recover, and it’ll be time to pack up the house and come your way! The kids are super excited about coming Stateside. They are looking forward to things like “super good food”, “cooler weather”, “seeing cousins”, and “Rollercoasters”! It’s kind of like heaven to them. Oh, we should so look forward to heaven! If you don’t know for a fact that heaven will be your eternal home, please know that Jesus is the only way to eternal life with our heavenly Father. He is so good to have made a way for us to become His sons and daughters. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
Thank you so very much for your constant intercession on our behalf. Your prayers help protect us, they hold us up, and sustain us. We also pray for each of you, that God would do mighty works in your lives and that He would be glorified!
“The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us.”
Oswald Chambers