Dear Friends,
Wish you could have all been with me on my last trip just so you could have experienced the bone-jarring drive of 7 hours on an unbelievably rough road, sitting sideways in a 10 seater four wheel drive truck, with all the cargo and 12 fellow passengers. (It’s probably more like, “Misery loves company.”) I told my co-worker, Greg Greenlaw, that these trips are a test of endurance. But let’s not let the story get skewed by the travel arrangements. We went to introduce our Bible lessons to pastors and their wives and to teach them how to use them. The Lord used the time to encourage many hearts. Erave is in a very remote area of the country and the people there don’t get much outside help. God gave us a wonderful time with them, and the power of God’s Word never ceases to amaze me.
We got an amazing response from a tribal church leader when he read the recent book we translated. (I had 10 copies printed up and sent them out to various leaders for their input.) Here is what he said, “I want to say Good Day to you. I thank you for the book you wrote, The Characteristics and Qualifications of Shepherds in the Church. Because I’ve read it 3 times and received great help from it. Yes, when I read it, I reflected on the questions in it and thank God for the changes that have occurred in my life. And I also see many things that haven’t changed in me. I received great help from the book. I believe that this book will open the eyes of leaders and they will truly see what the characteristics and qualifications are for leaders in the church. Thank you. Your brother in Christ. God bless you.” From Kaiko. We are still trying to line up a printer for that book.
Tom and Melanie’s second son, Brett, is graduating High School this month. We are so proud of him. Next year, we may have two more grandchildren graduating high school and one graduating college. Speaking of next year, we plan on taking a home assignment for about 9 months and reassess what we should do after that. If we still have our health and mental stability, we’d like to return to PNG for a couple more years. At the end of that time, we will be 70 and need to do another assessment. Ha.
Thank you so much for your prayers.
Love in Christ,
Jim & Kathy